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Content archived on 2024-05-30

Image Guided Local Drug Delivery from Nanocarriers using Focused Ultrasound

Objective

The principal objective of the Sound Pharma project is to increase the therapeutic index of potent, often toxic treatments through personalized image-guided treatment, which ultimately decreases adverse effects of drugs by better controlling the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of therapy. For local disease, exogenous energy will be used to to release drugs entrapped within nanoparticles circulating through the tumor. This will be achieved via a combination of Focused Ultrasound, and drug nanocarriers that are sensitive to bio-effects of ultrasound.
The drug ¿magic bullet¿ is at the heart of Pharma¿s business model. However, targeted drug delivery is increasingly being recognized as a key limiting factor of drug efficacy. Nanotechnologies are providing new formulations as well as novel methods for targeting. The combination of nanotechnologies and external triggering will provide novel technologies to achieve spatio-temporal control of drug delivery. The effect of ultrasound in tissue allows the local deposition of drugs from nanocarriers circulating in the blood, and/or their local activation. This is the case when using nanocarriers sensitive to mechanical forces and/or to small temperature elevations. Extravasation and membrane permeability are also enhanced by ultrasound. This new field of Image Guided Drug Delivery opens up opportunities for Pharma to expand applications for their existing small drugs (e.g. doxorubicin, cisplatin, irinitecan) in cancer by altered pharmacokinetics. This project intends to develop new focused ultrasound methods for drug delivery, based on local control of temperature and pressure, and by monitoring and validating intracellular uptake in real time using optical and MRI methods. The developed FUS methods will be applied to treatment of liver cancer using nanocarriers containing well known chemotherapeutica, via animal models, as well as in the clinic.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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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.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2010-AdG_20100317
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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.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM UTRECHT
EU contribution
€ 2 500 000,00
Address
HEIDELBERGLAAN 100
3584 CX Utrecht
Netherlands

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Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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.

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Beneficiaries (1)

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