Objective
SCALE-MYO will enable the large-scale deployment of New Approach Methodologies (NAM) for a tissue whose mass approaches half of one’s body weight and is one of the strongest predictors of healthy ageing: skeletal muscle. The project removes a key bottleneck to developing drugs in the multi-billion metabolic and neuromuscular disease markets and for predictive muscle toxicology: reliable and scalable supply of high-function human skeletal muscle tissues, standardised for use across quantitative assay formats. Our disruptive angle is to industrialise muscle NAM by making the cell input truly manufacturable. We will advance GERALT, a patent-pending hiPSC genetic-programming platform that strips out growth-factor dependencies, the hidden drivers of cost, variability and fragility. The result is ultra-robust cells that expand at manufacturing scale in high-density 3D and are then synchronously driven to myogenesis in just 4 days. Thaw-and-cast inputs are directly assembled into an industry-validated microphysiological system (MPS), delivering standardised engineered muscle tissues (EMT) for force and metabolic readouts within ~2 weeks. Phase 1 delivers a decision-grade package: a locked manufacturing and QC workflow, a standardised MPS assay with an analysis pipeline that has been replicated independently, and an end-user-shaped perturbation benchmark that sets pragmatic adoption thresholds (dynamic range, variability budgets, and throughput expectations), supported by targeted signalling and atrophy markers for interpretability. Adoption is executed via an adopter stack (decision, execution, distribution) with explicit gates for QC readiness, platform transfer, pharma acceptance criteria, validation/standardisation and exploitation planning. By month 9, SCALE-MYO will be ready to trigger Phase 2 scale-up and broad muscle NAM deployment, synergising with EIC portfolio projects to unlock shared standards, interoperable datasets, and faster NAM uptake across disease areas.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies microtechnology organ on a chip
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine toxicology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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HORIZON.3.1.3 - Additional EIC activities
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-EIC - HORIZON EIC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2026-AIC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
10124 TORINO
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.