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IN VItro Cavitation Through UltraSound

Objective

Disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) contribute almost 800 billion euros in annual European healthcare costs. New compounds, effective in animal models, hardly work in humans, mostly due to the inability to cross the Brain Blood Barrier (BBB). In these conditions cost-effective tools to alter BBB and, more generally, endothelial layer permeability is desirable before proceeding to expensive and time-consuming animal studies. INVICTUS (IN VItro Cavitation Through UltraSound) originates within the ERC-AdG project Bubbles from Inception to Collapse (BIC) and concerns the development of a biomimetic micro-fluidic platform to be made turnkey available to biologists, clinicians and pharmacologists. The integrated platform exploits endothelial layer permeability enhancement by cavitation bubbles and provides an integrated, low cost platform to develop cavitation enhanced drug delivery under well controlled and reproducible conditions. Its potential is significant, given the well known societal and economical impact of degenerative diseases and the enormous investment and the long times of pre-clinical trials, as confirmed by a leading company operating in the field. Limiting/avoiding animal experimentation has an evident ethical impact and is associated with substantial economic savings and organisational simplification. In few words, micro-bubbles injected into the bloodstream undergo volume oscillations under localised ultrasound irradiation, with local reversible permeability enhancement of the endothelium. Already pursed in in vivo animal models, this approach is extended here to a high-fidelity, in vitro biomimetic device that will bring to market new crucial features such as the three-dimensional geometry of realistic-size vascular channels featuring an actual endothelial barrier, the correct perfusion rate, the appropriate physiological shear stress exerted on the endothelial cells and the ability to reproduce biochemical interactions between different, healthy and diseased, tissues.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

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.

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.

ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2017-PoC

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Host institution

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 150 000,00
Address
Piazzale Aldo Moro 5
00185 Roma
Italy

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Region
Centro (IT) Lazio Roma
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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.

€ 150 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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