Project description
Training scientists in bench-to-bedside rheumatology
Translating research findings into diagnosis and evidence-based treatment interventions is a multidisciplinary effort that involves many stakeholders and must be undertaken in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. The EU-funded ARCAID project has developed a platform for transforming evolving scientific knowledge into diagnostics and therapeutics. The focus of the project is autoimmune rheumatic diseases, a diverse group of rare, debilitating conditions where the patient’s immune system attacks joints, muscles, bones and connective tissue. ARCAID will train scientists in the field of translational immunology with the aim of improving healthcare practice through targeted interventions.
Objective
Autoimmune rheumatological diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthritis, vasculitis and systemic lupus erythematosus continue to exert significant tolls on the quality of life of millions of afflicted patients and on European societies in the form of loss of (work-)productivity and costs. Major advances in our understanding of the immunological processes underlying these diseases have been made, but it has not always been possible to translate these to improved diagnostics or therapeutic health care interventions. At the AMC and collaborating institutions and partners, we have developed the translational platforms for true bench-to-bedside development of the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics for these diseases.
To contribute to this effort, the next generation of scientists that work on translational immunological rheumatology need to be educated. Therefore, a multidisciplinary research team of scientists based at several faculties at Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands are applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND grant. In this programme, 20 PhD students will work in the field of translational immunological rheumatology. The ARCAID applicants at the Amsterdam UMC consist of leading and renowned research groups on this subject and we are confident that these groups can achieve the ambitious goals of the program.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Coordinator
1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands