Descripción del proyecto
Optimización del enfoque de medicina personalizada en el tratamiento del cáncer de ovarios
La medicina personalizada es una forma novedosa de atención médica que personaliza el tratamiento según la enfermedad y el paciente. Las ventajas de este enfoque son patentes, pero sus aplicaciones clínicas son limitadas debido a la elevada complejidad y los costes. El proyecto ITHACA, financiado con fondos europeos, tiene como objetivo desarrollar una plataforma de medicina personalizada que incluya técnicas «in vitro» innovadoras, un simulador informático avanzado y datos clínicos estándar para un cribaje eficiente de los tratamientos del cáncer de ovarios y la optimización del tratamiento de cada paciente. Se validará este enfoque mediante líneas celulares primarias y estándar para determinar el resultado de la terapia específica del paciente en mujeres con cáncer de ovarios. Los resultados del proyecto proporcionarán a la comunidad científica herramientas de un gran valor para la futura aplicación de la medicina personalizada en el entorno clínico.
Objetivo
Personalised medicine (PM) is a novel approach to medical care that customises each treatment not just to the disease but also to the patient. While the advantages of this framework are widely recognised and its development is acknowledged as a fundamental societal challenge by the H2020 program, clinical applications are still limited, due to the increased complexity and costs, with respect to the current standard of care. ITHACA aims at developing an innovative PM toolkit that, relying on an advanced computational simulator, innovative in-vitro techniques and standard clinical data could provide an efficient and ethical framework for the screening of different ovarian cancer therapies and the identification of the most effective for each subject. This project builds on my experience with computational modelling and multidisciplinary research environments, to develop a programmable in-silico simulator capable of reproducing the patient-specific response to standard and novel ovarian cancer treatments. This tool will be extensively validated with both standard and primary cell lines and will then be used to determine patient-specific therapy outcome (RECIST 1.1 criteria) in women affected by ovarian cancer. Additionally it will be integrated in a novel bioreactor system for the in-vitro study of metastasization in HGSC. This compound device will allow for automatic treatment optimisation within an accurate and unique experimental model for this disease, and will thus provide an effective platform for personalised treatments development. Funding of this action will be a fundamental opportunity of career development, that will support my training in a highly innovative, interdisciplinary field while fostering the achievement of professional independence. Additionally the results of ITHACA will lead to high profile, impactful publications and provide the scientific community with enabling tools for the extensive application of PM in the clinic.
Ámbito científico
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Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
40126 Bologna
Italia