Project description
Delivering personalised nanomedicine at the tumour microenvironment
There are many diseases with unmet medical needs including cancer. Nanotechnology has emerged as a promising solution for encapsulating drugs and increasing their stability and biodistribution. The EU-funded ICARUS project is interested to improve the efficacy and therapeutic outcome of custom-made anti-cancer nanomedicines. These nanomedicines are biodegradable and demonstrate a great pharmacokinetic profile. During ICARUS, researchers plan to develop innovative state-of-the-art analytical methodologies that will help elucidate the distribution and behaviour of these nanomedicines at the tumour microenvironment. Results will pave the way for better-tolerated drugs in comparison to conventional treatment modalities.
Objective
Cristal Therapeutics (CT) is an innovative SME based in the Netherlands dedicated to the creation of the next generation of targeted nanomedicines (NM). CT has developed CriPec, a nanoparticle technology that can entrap a wide range of drugs, transforming them into custom-made NM. CriPec-based products have demonstrated excellent pharmacokinetics and tumour accumulation as well as highly improved safety, both in laboratory and patient settings. However, the full therapeutic potential of CriPec has not been obtained due to a lack of understanding of its tumour microenvironment (TME) microdistribution and behaviour, hindered by the lack of highly specific (bio)analytical expertise within Cristal Therapeutics.
ICARUS will enable CT to solidify its position as an innovative SME and provide them a competitive edge through hiring an Innovation Associate (IA). The envisioned IA will develop and implement state-of-art (bio)analytical methodologies (including advanced MALDI-techniques) that have not been exploited in the field of NM until now, and that will provide CT with essential insights that will guide the composition optimisation of all CriPec-based products.
Furthermore, the ICARUS project is heavily focused around the training of the IA, thereby greatly improving his/her career development. A training programme tailored to his/her specific needs and personal career development plan will be developed, allowing the IA to:
• Gain novel skills and experience on every aspect of the development of nanoparticles, encompassing the required multidisciplinary expertise from several fields;
• Gain innovation and business related skills in a multidisciplinary setting.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
CSA-LSP - Coordination and support action Lump sumCoordinator
6229 EV MAASTRICHT
Netherlands
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.