Project description
Not all cilia are created equal
Most of us think of motility when the word cilium is mentioned. Although motile cilia are very important to a few cell types like sperm or epithelial cells in the bronchi, non-motile (primary) cilia are found in almost all other cells and are intricately involved in sensing and signal transduction. It is only within the last several decades that we have started to realise the ubiquity and importance of these enigmatic organelles whose dysfunction has now earned its own classification, ciliopathies. The EU-funded DestCilia project will investigate primary cilia in both healthy and ciliopathy cell models to better understand their function in health and disease.
Objective
The primary cilium is a microtubule-based organelle that organizes a variety of cellular signaling pathways. Its importance for human health is illustrated by a large collection of cilium-based diseases, the ciliopathies, caused by mutations that alter cilium formation, structure, and function. Importantly, the mammalian Hedgehog signaling pathway is critically dependent on the primary cilium, dysregulation of which contributes to severe developmental defects and a variety of cancers. The ultimate goal of this work program is to enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of ciliary signaling in health and disease. This is accomplished through the development of advanced technologies that provide a currently unattainable level of spatiotemporal control over ciliary proteins in mammalian cells. Unraveling the mechanisms by which the ciliary compartment orchestrates signal transduction is challenging, because ciliary and cytoplasmic roles of proteins involved in signal transduction are tightly connected, difficult to resolve and, importantly, context-specific. Here, an innovative chemical biology program is presented that provides a powerful toolbox to overcome these challenges, allowing the intraciliary manipulation, and therefore study, of ciliary proteins. Combining chemical probes, synthetic ciliary targeting approaches, and a modular enzymatic tagging strategy, this program provides unprecedented opportunities to probe, visualize, inhibit or degrade proteins at specific times and selectively within the ciliary compartment. Specifically, these tools will be used to decipher the relationships between tubulin acetylation state, intraflagellar transport, and Hedgehog signal transduction in wild-type and ciliopathy-mutant cells. These innovative work packages synergistically provide enhanced fundamental understanding of ciliary signaling, and pave the way for novel therapeutic approaches to combat cilium-based diseases.
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.
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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-STG - Starting Grant
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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) ERC-2020-STG
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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.
1211 Geneve
Switzerland
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.