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Disruptive fluorescent technologies for inflammatory bowel diseases

Project description

New diagnostic tools for inflammatory bowel diseases

In Europe, several million people suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases. Other inflammatory conditions, such as organ transplant rejection, cancer or sepsis, also show dysregulated immunological profiles. While endoscopies and tissue biopsies are currently the standard for monitoring some of these disorders, the optical reagents developed during the ERC-funded DYNAFLUORS project led to non-invasive and precise diagnosis as well as personalised treatment of various inflammatory diseases. The ERC-funded IBDIMAGE project aims to deliver a toolbox based on these reagents for measuring immune cell activity in clinical biosamples as real-time dynamic indicators of the progression and resolution of inflammatory diseases. The toolbox also holds potential to develop innovative point-of-care diagnostics for rapid detection of inflammation using human biosamples.

Objective

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are chronic immune-mediated disorders causing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, which affect around 3 million patients in the EU. Current monitoring of IBD is mainly performed in the form of colonoscopies, biopsies or tests which are invasive or cannot specifically report on IBD activity. There is a need for new technologies that can rapidly measure activity biomarkers of IBD and enable the monitoring of disease progression and response to therapy accurately. This unmet patient need is what drives the development of this ERC PoC project.

The ERC CoG DYNAFLUORS (Dynamic Activatable Fluorophores) project was funded to develop the first chemical toolbox for imaging the activity of immune cells in real time. In IBD, the activity of immune cells are important indicators of the disease state and can be used to assess how patients respond to therapy. DYNAFLUORS measure real-time immune cell activity; hence they are optimal tools to monitor disease progression in IBD patients facilitating a more accurate and personalised therapeutic approach. Based on our promising results in the ERC CoG, we aim to develop DYNAFLUORS into a new fluorescent technology for imaging IBD activity which will lead to: 1) new tools for IBD research and drug discovery in collaboration with companies covering the global fluorescent reagent market as well as Pharma, and 2) point-of-care technologies for clinical diagnostics in IBD patients.

Funding from the ERC PoC will allow us to commercialise fluorescent reagents for research, in vitro diagnostics and drug discovery as well as to establish the foundations for new translational technologies to measure IBD activity in patients. This project will be guided by input from existing and new industrial and clinical partners and will create numerous opportunities for accelerating the research, diagnosis and treatment of IBD.

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Topic(s)

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ERC-POC - Proof of Concept Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2020-PoC

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Host institution

THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 150 000,00
Address
OLD COLLEGE, SOUTH BRIDGE
EH8 9YL Edinburgh
United Kingdom

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Region
Scotland Eastern Scotland Edinburgh
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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Beneficiaries (1)

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