Objective
"ESNATS aims at developing a novel toxicity test platform based on embryonic stem cells (ESC), especially human ESC (hESC), to accelerate drug development, reduce R&D costs and propose a powerful alternative to animal tests (3 Rs). ESNATS will address current drug-testing shortcomings: - testing takes place late in the development cycle - animal test systems bear the risk of non-prediction due to inter-species variation - non-ESC assays rely on primary cells or cells of malignant origin that are hard-to-standardise and limited in regard to quantity, homogeneity and genetic diversity - existing assay systems based on primary animal cell lines do not reliably represent the physiological situation ESNATS will develop a battery of toxicity tests using hESC lines subjected to different standardised culture protocols. Tests will cover embryoid bodies in different developmental stages and differentiated derivatives including gamete and neuronal lineages, complemented with test systems for hepatic metabolism. Predictive toxicogenomics and proteomics markers will be identified. The individual tests will be integrated into an ""all-in-one"" test system. To enable future industrial use ESNATS will prepare automating and scaling up of hESC culture. The predictivity, quality and reproducibility of ESNATS will be evaluated in a proof of concept study. ESNATS benefits are to increase safety due to better predictivity of human test systems, to reduce, refine and replace animal tests, to lower testing cost, and to support medium/high throughput testing. ESNATS objectives will be achieved in a 5 year multi-disciplinary collaboration of leading European researchers in alternative testing, toxicology, ESC research, genomics, modelling, and automation. The consortium will also include representatives from regulatory bodies, the pharmaceutical industry and ethical advisors to provide guidance to ensure rapid applicability of the developed tests systems."
Fields of science
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug discovery
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsproteomics
- social sciencessociologyindustrial relationsautomation
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologycells technologiesstem cells
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinetoxicology
Call for proposal
FP7-HEALTH-2007-A
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Funding Scheme
CP-IP - Large-scale integrating projectCoordinator
50937 Koeln
Germany
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Participants (32)
1049 Brussels
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NE1 7RU Newcastle Upon Tyne
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1211 Geneve
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44139 Dortmund
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1030 Brussel
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SG8 5WY Royston
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51003 Tartu
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55129 Mainz
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4000 Liege
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56024 San Miniato
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413 46 Göteborg
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91121 Jerusalem
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78464 Konstanz
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SW1W 9SZ London
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2595 DA Den Haag
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EH8 9YL Edinburgh
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1050 Brussel
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81675 Muenchen
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75008 Paris
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WC1N 1AX London
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5349 AB Oss
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75103 Uppsala
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2500 Valby
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28760 Tres Cantos Madrid
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10589 Berlin
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EH3 6RZ Edinburgh
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30167 Hannover
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4070 Basel
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26100 Cremona
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UB8 3PH Uxbridge
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72074 Tuebingen
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LS2 7UE Leeds
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