Project description
Advanced gene-editing tools for safer gene therapy
Gene therapy offers a promising approach to treat incurable diseases by silencing, activating or recoding specific genes. In addition to conventional gene transfer strategies, newly emerged gene-editing technologies provide the potential for precise manipulation of the genome. The EU-funded UPGRADE project aims to address certain gene therapy limitations associated with insertional mutagenesis, off-target effects, or limited efficiency. Researchers will develop disruptive new technologies for precision gene and epigenome editing, as well as for gene insertion. Following stringent validation, the project will lead to advanced medicinal products and versatile tools that could be used for a number of diseases.
Objective
Gene therapy has recently shown remarkable potential to offer definitive treatments for otherwise incurable diseases. Currently, seven gene therapy products have reached the market and many more are entering clinical testing for selected indications. Moreover, emerging technologies for targeted gene editing are complementing the scope of conventional gene transfer, opening the way to precise gene correction and making possible to silence, activate or recode any sequence of interest in the genome. However, in order to realize the full potential of these strategies and broaden application of gene therapy, the field has to solve several major hurdles, including: risk of insertional mutagenesis by gene transfer vectors, limited efficiency and durability of some gene correction strategies, off target effects of editing tools, poor tissue targeting and immune response to editing components and delivery vehicles. UPGRADE will offer radical new solutions to overcome these hurdles. We will exploit and further develop disruptive new technologies for precision gene and epigenome editing and for site-specific transgene insertion, and stringently characterize their specificity and cellular responses. We will combine these improved technologies with advanced viral and non-viral vectors enabling cell/tissue targeting and immune evasion, to generate prototypes of advanced medicinal products (AMP). The safety and efficacy profile of each AMP will be stringently validated in tissues (hematopoiesis, heart and skeletal muscle, liver, retina) and disease models (muscle wasting, storage and blood disorders, hypercholesterolemia) paradigmatic for unmet medical need and potential long-term cure, if the limitations of current gene therapy strategies are overcome. These AMPs represent versatile products portable to the treatment of several other diseases because of related pathogenesis or correction strategies, thus providing the basis for tackling diseases affecting large patient groups.
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: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering gene therapy
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine ophthalmology
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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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.3.1. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3.1.3. - Treating and managing disease
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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.
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.
RIA - Research and Innovation action
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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) H2020-SC1-BHC-2018-2020
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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.
00185 Roma
Italy
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.