Project description DEENESFRITPL Industry and academia come together to expedite delivery of personalised immunotherapy Immunotherapy uses your body's own immune response to fight diseases like cancer, either by stimulating your immune system to work harder or by providing you with man-made immune system molecules. The immune system relies heavily on bioconjugates (two molecules stably linked together) like lymphocytes and fragments of pathogens (antigens). Bioconjugation is a flourishing field of research, both in the academic realm and in industry. The SPLITVAC project is integrating proprietary bioconjugation technology and extensive academic research expertise to streamline development of personalised anti-cancer therapeutics and vaccines. Exploiting tumour-specific antigens from mutated proteins only present on the tumour (neoantigens) should facilitate highly specific and personalised targets for anti-tumour immunity. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Immunotherapy for cancer has recently shown great clinical potential. However, only small percentages of patients do benefit from these therapies. The dual objective of the proposal is to understand and harness the immune system in vivo to develop truly personalized (individualized) anti-cancer treatments and to develop powerful bioconjugation technologies to generate new and better biotherapeutics. The project objectives will be achieved through the combination of ProteoDesign’s site-specific bioconjugation technology, with recent advances in the field of immuno-oncology, particularly the importance of tumor specific mutations (neoantigens), as drivers of anti-tumor immunity. The therapeutic candidates that will be obtained as a result of the project are personalized and have the potential to treat cancer at the individual level. These therapies are based on the mutational landscape of any given tumor, and so they could be applied to multiple cancer indications. The proposal will face specific challenges regarding the development of complex personalized bio therapeutics.The project will be carried out through the collaboration of Dr. Vanhooren and Barcelona based biotech ProteoDesign. Dr. Vanhooren has extensive know-how and experience in the pre-clinical development of biologic-based drugs, and ProteoDesign has a proprietary technology for the discovery and development of new therapeutic bioconjugates. Through the present proposal bidirectional knowledge transfer will take place between the fellow and the host, thus enhancing know-how and skills on both sides. Dr. Vanhooren will be focused on leading the project, setting and adapting objectives, designing experiments, supervising the team and analyzing results. During the project and through a specific plan, ProteoDesign will provide Dr. Vanhooren experience and knowledge in key areas of biotechnology and pharma industries, as well as senior management, to allow her to grow into high responsibility positions. Fields of science medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccinesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesgeneticsmutationmedical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologymedical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologyimmunotherapy Keywords cancer patients therapeutic anti-tumour activity immune modulators cell therapy anti-cancer treatments proteins antibodies Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2018 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2018 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator PROTEODESIGN SL Net EU contribution € 172 932,48 Address Baldiri reixac 10-12 08028 Barcelona Spain See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
