Project description
Synthetic silk fibres as scaffolds for tissue engineering
Seevix is an Israeli biotech company that has developed a production method for synthetic spider silk fibres using recombinant DNA technologies. Seevix’s technology targets biomedical applications where the fibres’ strength and biocompatibility can provide solutions for unmet medical needs. The current objective is to use Seevix’s fibres as scaffolds for tissue engineering and wound closure, supporting 3D cell growth. Preliminary results with primary and other cell lines have demonstrated that the fibres improve viability, function and overall health of cell culture, delaying cell death and maintaining spheroid integrity after prolonged culturing. The EU-funded SEEVIX Phase-1 project aims to perform a risk analysis, define a strategic growth plan and introduce Seevix’s technology to international stakeholders.
Objective
Silk from silkworms has been used by man for thousands of years. Spiders, however, are territorial and not subject to domestication. Consequently, their silk, which is much stronger than that of silkworms, cannot be grown in commercial quantities. To overcome this problem, scientists have attempted to create synthetic spidersilk through genetic engineering of its proteins by means of bacteria, yeast, plants, mammalian cells in tissue culture, and even transgenic goats, but fibers resulting from these efforts have proven dissimilar or inferior to natural spidersilk. Seevix has overcome the technology barrier and produces fibers identical to the fibers in nature.
Seevix’s fibers can be used as scaffolds for tissue engineering and wound closure, and can support true 3D cell growth. Seevix spidersilk fibers improve the viability, function and overall health of cell culture at several levels. Our fibers conserve cell function over time, delay cell death and maintain spheroid integrity even during prolonged culturing. These effects were demonstrated in primary cell lines used in drug and toxicity screenings, as well as in proliferating cell lines. Seevix expects to introduce its first revenue generating 3D cell culture product into the market in 2018. The Phase-1 is an excellent instrument to accelerate the risk analysis and define a suitable strategy to boost the market introduction of Seevix fibers at international level, bringing key conclusions for the company about the target segments, market size and internal operational and financial needs to successfully deploy a strategic growth plan to take advantage of the huge market opportunity.
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.
- engineering and technology materials engineering fibers
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology tissue engineering
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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.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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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.
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.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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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) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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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.
9112001 JERUSALEM
Israel
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
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.