Project description
Specialised hydrogels for combined anti-cancer treatment
Cancer immunotherapies have transformed treatment, yet many patients experience limited response or severe side effects, highlighting the need for new strategies. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BiorthoCat-Immuno project will develop an implantable catalytic hydrogel to improve chemoimmunotherapy using biorthogonal chemistry, which enables the activation of drugs without interfering with natural biological processes. The hydrogel will release two drugs locally: a chemotherapeutic to kill cancer cells, and an immunostimulant to trigger an immune response. By combining materials design with catalytic chemistry, the implant will promote tumour-specific cell death, antigen release and activation of immune cells, effectively creating a personalised cancer vaccine. The approach is innovative, localised, and aims to enhance both the safety and efficacy of cancer therapy.
Objective
In this fellowship I will leverage the recent advances in biorthogonal chemistry to develop an implantable catalytic hydrogel for chemoimmunotherapy through transition metal-mediated biorthogonal drug uncaging. The past decade saw incredible advances in the field of cancer immunotherapies, with immune checkpoint blockade therapies and chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapies demonstrating clinical efficacy. However, issues still exist, as life-threatening side effects and limited patient response. Therefore, there is a huge need for innovative solutions to improve immunotherapies outcome. This project seeks to apply the materials and reaction engineering competence of the applicant, together with the biomaterials expertise of the Stevens lab (Karolinska Institute) to design a nanocatalyst-doped hydrogel with tailored geometry, as the first biorthogonal catalytic system for cancer immunotherapy. The biomaterial developed in this fellowship will address cancer immunotherapy through a completely unexplored approach: catalytic uncaging of non-toxic prodrugs to their active form through metal-catalyzed depropargylation reactions, completely orthogonal to biological processes. The implant will enable uncaging of two toxic drugs: a chemotherapeutic – doxorubicin – inducing immunogenic cell death, and an immunostimulant drug – R848, a TLR7/8 agonist. The combination of drugs activated by the implant will enable localized cancer cells death with release of cancer-specific antigens, antigens then uptaken by antigen presenting cells, eventually eliciting antitumor immunity, towards a personalized cancer vaccine. The design of the scaffold will be guided by principles of biomaterials design and catalytic reaction engineering. Working in the Stevens lab I will access state-of-the-art equipment for materials synthesis and characterization, and cutting edge facilities to study the cell-material interactions in vitro and characterize the efficacy of the envisioned treatment.
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 pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology immunotherapy
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology biomaterials
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology implants
You need to log in or register to use this function
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.
-
HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
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) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
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.
171 77 STOCKHOLM
Sweden
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.