Objective
This proposal argues the case for a project aimed at developing a range of cyto toxicity assays which are very rapid, free from any hazardous chemicals and which can be performed by laboratory robots in 384 and 1536 well microplate formats. The resultant assays will be developed into diagnostic kits which will be sold to pharmaceutical companies, and medical research institutes in universities and hospitals. The kits will meet the demands of emerging high throughput screening for new drug discovery. There are currently no suitable cytotoxicity procedures capable of measuring cell viability with the speed and sample capacity required by the pharmaceutical industry.
The project aims to make major developments to bioluminescent technology involving site directed mutagenesis of biolum inescent enzymes, large scale recombinant production of these enzymes, the development of assay procedures and reagents based on the enzymes and development of novel drying techniques for these reagents. Cytotoxicity testing is applicable to a range of research areas and this project will address a number of these. Specifically, development of cell based cytotoxicity screening assays, a method capable of differentiation between proliferation, necrosis and apoptosis a nd the development of tumour chemosensitivity assays for individual patient tumours. The resultant kits will increase the speed and reduce the cost of new dru g discovery and will provide new rapid analysis procedures for use in cancer therapy. &L&L The kits will facilitate the measurement of thousands of samples per day in a fully automated fashion. They will also provide more information about the mechanisms of cell death than any method currently available. The complete avoidance of hazardous chemicals wili reduce the environmental impact of biomedical research. The risk associated with the project is high. However, a consid erable amount of work investigating the technical difficulties and assessing the market potential has convinced the consortium of the justification for the project.
The kits that will be developed after the RTD Programme have excellent export potential in a market which has been calculated to be in excess of 127 Mi llion ECU per year. In addition, indirect benefits from the project will result in improved methodology for food safety testing and for the assessment of toxic substances in environmental samples. The RTD Programme will provide the SME P roposers with unique, highly innovative products for a large and rapidly growing global biomedical research market. The results will also enhance the competit iveness of other EC SMEs in the world market for food and environmental 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 other engineering and technologies food technology food safety
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins enzymes
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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.
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.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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.
Coordinator
NG1 2GR Nottingham
United Kingdom
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.