Project description
A new era in drug screening
Despite being at its infancy, microfluidics has the potential to become a widespread technology with numerous biomedical applications. The EU-funded COMMiT project proposes to exploit microfluidics for the high-throughput screening of large panels of drugs. Using the proprietary "free-flow textile chips" (FFTC) technology, scientists have the potential to produce 3D cell spheroids encapsulated within nanolitre droplets from a single tumour biopsy. The microfluidics platform can be employed to produce cell-based personalised models, replacing animal testing. The FFTC technology is expected to aid drug development in the pharmaceutical industry and support precision medicine.
Objective
The development of precision and personalized medicine, notably in cancer, leads to an explosion in the cost of research, clinical trials, diagnosis and treatment. It calls for a change of paradigm in cell-based personalized models, allowing-high throughput screening of large panels of drugs at low cost and on minute samples. We invented in ERCadg CellO a new technology “Free-Flow Textile Chips” (FFTC) proving a solution to the above problem. It allows the production of high-resolution complex microfluidic devices at very low cost using the power of the textile industry. Using this technology we developed an automated platform able to generate, from a single micro-biopsy, a large number of 3D tumor cell spheroids encapsulated within individual nanoliter droplets, and to screen them against tens of drug combinations. This platform will reduce the time, sample size, cost of screening and drugs consumption per assay by factors ranging from 10 to 1000. This will in turn replace animal testing, and allow low-cost high-content drug screening and affordable precision medicine. This new platform will be tested versus conventional techniques in a real world context, and steps towards industrialization will be taken. We shall first target the market of research laboratories and drug development in the pharmaceutical industry, but also prepare clinical applications to the personalization of anticancer treatments. Beyond this, FFTC represents a major breakthrough in microfluidics, a technological field that is currently revolutionizing biology and medicine. Currently its democratization and societal impact are limited by fabrication costs. FFTC will overcome this barrier. COMMiT will thus pave the route to a wide range of other applications, such as “point-of-care” devices or “organs-on-chip” to replace animal testing.
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.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy drug discovery
- engineering and technology materials engineering textiles
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences health sciences personalized medicine
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies microtechnology organ on a chip
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
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.
-
H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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) ERC-2019-PoC
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
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.
75794 PARIS
France
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.