Description du projet
Recherche pluridisciplinaire sur les maladies vasculaires
Les anomalies vasculaires (AV) sont des maladies rares responsables de douleurs chroniques, de handicaps voire de mort soudaine, faute de traitements efficaces. Le projet V.A. Cure, financé par l’UE, entend découvrir les mécanismes d’initiation et de maintien de la maladie et utiliser ces informations pour établir de nouvelles stratégies thérapeutiques. Le consortium est composé de sept laboratoires universitaires de premier plan au niveau mondial et de cinq sociétés. Le projet permettra d’identifier de nouveaux gènes impliqués dans les AV des patients, d’anatomiser les mécanismes moléculaires à l’origine des maladies par une modélisation in vitro, d’effectuer une analyse approfondie des mécanismes tissulaires dans des conditions physiopathologiques grâce à des modèles in vivo, et de tester précliniquement les stratégies de traitement identifiées. V.A. Cure formera 14 chercheurs en début de carrière à plusieurs technologies avancées, faisant d’eux les futures figures de proue de la recherche vasculaire.
Objectif
Vascular anomalies (VAs) is a group of rare diseases defined by blood- or lymph vessel dysfunction causing chronic pain, disabilities, and even sudden death, and for which effective treatments are lacking. The European V.A. Cure network aims to address this unmet medical need by uncovering core mechanisms of disease initiation and maintenance and by leveraging this information for establishing novel therapeutic strategies for VAs.
V.A. Cure has assembled 7 world-leading academic laboratories and 5 companies, which will apply an intersectoral four-step approach: (1) identification of novel genes involved in VAs in patients, (2) dissection of molecular mechanisms behind the diseases by in vitro modelling, (3) in-depth analysis of tissular mechanisms in pathophysiological conditions through in vivo models, and (4) pre-clinical testing of identified treatment strategies. The knowledge gained will not only be relevant for VAs but also for understanding aberrant vascular function in other vascular-related diseases.
The composition of V.A. Cure and close interaction between the 14 ESRs, through secondments in academia and industry, guarantee a unique intersectoral training program at the highest level, ensuring a comprehensive perception of research and drug/technology development in pharma industry/biotech and academia. ESRs will be trained in a plethora of cutting-edge technologies including next-generation sequencing (up to single-cell RNA-Seq), CRISPR-Cas genome editing, generation of animal models with inducible deletion and mosaic analyses, generation of iPSCs, microfluidics, in vivo phage display to identify endothelial targets, and light sheet-, confocal-, and multiphoton live-imaging. In combination with advanced training in management and communication including writing, presentation, e-media and outreach, the graduates of the V.A. Cure network will be future leaders in vascular research, and also highly competitive candidates for positions outside academia.
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MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Coordinateur
1200 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgique