Project description
Targeting tsetse symbiont bacteria to fight trypanosome transmission
African sleeping sickness caused by Trypanosoma brucei is one of the major causes of poverty on the African continent. Apart from infecting humans, it also affects the development of domesticated animal farming causing nagana, a disease that afflicts livestock. The EU-funded Trojan project proposes a conceptual development in the therapeutic approach against trypanosomosis targeting the parasite in its vector, the tsetse fly, thus fighting both sleeping sickness and nagana. The approach exploits the advances of modern molecular biology designing a new expression system to reduce or eliminate vector competence using one of the endosymbionts of the tsetse fly, the Sodalis bacteria. Interruption of the parasite transmission will contribute to a drastic reduction in the impact of trypanosomosis on the African continent.
Objective
African trypanosomiasis has been a historic scourge on the African continent and one of the major causes of poverty. It is responsible for sleeping sickness in humans and it avoids the development of agriculture based on domesticated animals where it causes Nagana. It is a neglected disease with the worst drug control according to WHO. In this project, I propose a conceptual change in the therapeutic approach against Trypanosoma sp., being the goal of the proposal to eliminate the parasite in its vector, the tsetse fly, thus fighting both, sleeping sickness and Nagana. Taking advantage of the current methodological advances, the claim of this innovative proposal is the design of a new expression system to reduce or eliminate the vector competence, using for it one of the endosymbionts of the fly, Sodalis sp. The development of this idea involves a work of entomology, microbiology, parasitology and molecular biology. For this study, 2 research groups with solid and complementary expertise and skills are required: The French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (France) and the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). The methodology implemented in this project will be: (i) characterization of proteins secretion pathways in Sodalis for heterologous expression of peptides, (ii) identification of promoters overexpressed in Sodalis upon interaction with Trypanosoma, and their characterization by fusion to fluorescent proteins, iii) paratransgenesis assays in flies and evaluation of the in vivo activity in infected and non-infected flies, stability across time and inherency to progeny, iv) analysis of the vector competence, using the new expression system by the production of antimicrobial peptides active against Trypanosoma, production of insecticidal peptides to kill the flies infected and RNA interference with the fly/symbionts. Blocking parasite transmission, we will contribute to drastically reduce the impact of trypanosome on African health.
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 clinical medicine psychiatry sleep disorders
- medical and health sciences health sciences parasitology
- natural sciences biological sciences biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- natural sciences biological sciences zoology entomology
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology
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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.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF-EF-CAR - CAR – Career Restart panel
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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-MSCA-IF-2019
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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.
9712CP Groningen
Netherlands
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.