Objective
Organ transplantation has revolutionized medicine as it became possible to replace an irreversibly diseased organ. However, the immune suppressive therapy to avoid rejection is associated to life-threatening complications. Finding a way to selectively induce tolerance to donor antigens, while maintaining immunity to pathogens and cancer antigens would represent a major breakthrough in medicine with the achievement of immunosuppression-free organ transplantation.
During development and early life immune T cell competence and central tolerance are specified in the thymus; thus I aim to dissect the complexity of this organ by rebuilding it in a controlled fashion ex vivo. In a first step, a natural scaffold will be prepared from fresh human and animal thymi by perfusion decellularization; subsequently cultivated human thymic epithelial cells (TECs) will be used for re-epithelialization of the a-cellular scaffolds. Finally, immature lymphocytes from an HLA-mismatched donor will be delivered to the thymus-scaffolds through the preserved vascular extracellular matrix structures and cultured in a customized bioreactor in optimized conditions for T cell differentiation and tolerance induction. Detailed phenotypic and functional analyses will be performed to identify the frequency of mature T cell subsets, including Tregs, and assess the level of tolerance to the HLA antigens expressed by TECs. Finally, the possibility of re-epithelializing scaffolds with pig TECs will allow testing its interaction in vivo in the context of organ transplantation, providing the very first proof of principle that it may be possible to achieve antigen-specific tolerance and avoid rejection without the need for generic immunosuppressive therapy.
Overall, this project takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of tolerance by combining stem cell biology, bioengineering technologies, a deep knowledge of immunity and tolerance mechanisms in transplantation for a rapid clinical translation.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies stem cells
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- natural sciences mathematics pure mathematics mathematical analysis functional analysis
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine transplantation
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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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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
ERC-STG - Starting Grant
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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) ERC-2014-STG
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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.
WC1E 6BT LONDON
United Kingdom
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.