Descripción del proyecto
La organización de la cromatina como marcador para el diagnóstico del cáncer
La reprogramación epigenómica es fundamental para la evolución del cáncer y la formación de metástasis. Además, fomenta la heterogeneidad tumoral, que dificulta el diagnóstico y su tratamiento dirigido. En el proyecto PROCHIP, financiado con fondos europeos, se pretende estudiar la heterogeneidad del cáncer a nivel unicelular basándose en la arquitectura de la cromatina y utilizar la alteración de esta como marcador del cáncer. El objetivo es crear un microscopio de superresolución con capacidades de alto rendimiento basado en una red fluídica tridimensional miniaturizada en un chip de cristal. El análisis por imagenología de una gran cantidad de muestras permitirá crear procedimientos específicos de fenotipado, necesarios para la medicina personalizada. En última instancia, esto debería permitir predecir la respuesta y la resistencia a tratamientos dirigidos individualizados.
Objetivo
Cancer is both a genetic and an epigenetic disease whose outcome is influenced by tumor microenvironment, which represents the major driving force of tumorigenesis causing the functional heterogeneity observed in most cancer types. Defining the 3D-organization of cancer-associated chromatin domains would represent a new frontier to decipher tumor heterogeneity. None of the currently available technologies permit to rapidly analyze thousands of cells and profile their chromatin organization at single cell level, as needed for medical diagnosis and therapeutic guidance.
The goal of the project is to build a high-throughput super-resolution microscope in a microfluidic chip smaller than a coin. With this device we will provide high resolution imaging of hundreds of cells at the diffraction limit and beyond, with minimal photo-toxicity.
Femtosecond laser micromachining allows fabricating with accurate precision optofluidic components as waveguides, microchannels and lenses in a glass substrate. We will integrate them in a single chip, to achieve the required illumination path for advanced fluorescence excitation and sample movement: in the same chip biological samples will be scanned along fluidic channels in a fully automatic fashion.
High-throughput data on chromatin distribution in hundreds of samples will be generated, allowing to decipher the pathogenic function of tumor heterogeneities in tumor progression. These data will be used as benchmarks for predicting differential responsiveness and/or resistance of cancer cells to targeted therapies opening brand new possibilities for medical diagnosis and therapeutic guidance.
The consortium is formed by young scientists from Universities in the field of photonics, computer sciences and epigenetics, and a leading company in microfluidics.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopysuper resolution microscopy
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciences
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsepigenetics
Programa(s)
Convocatoria de propuestas
Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoriaConvocatoria de subcontratación
H2020-FETOPEN-1-2016-2017
Régimen de financiación
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinador
00185 Roma
Italia