Project title: FROM PATHOBIOLOGY TO SYNOVIA ON CHIP: DRIVING RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS TO THE PRECISION MEDICINE GOAL
Acronym: FLAMIN-GO
Grant Agreement number:953121
Start-date: 01/01/2020
End-date: 31/12/2025
Abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder, primarily characterized by synovial joint inflammation, affecting ~0.5 to 1% of the overall population (~2900000 patients in the EU) and is more common in women than men (3:1). RA is a huge public health problem as it leads over time to permanent disability. There is no cure for RA but remission of symptoms is more likely when treatment begins early. However, approximately 40% of RA patients fail to achieve even 20% improvement in disease activity, with significant disability remaining in about a third of patients, and major work-related and social costs for patients and society. In addition, 10-20% of patients do not respond to any current medication, pointing to considerable disease heterogeneity and the need for testing and developing new drugs. A further point related to RA heterogeneity, is that there are no biomarkers of treatment response to individual drugs. Thus, a number of unmet needs still persist particularly related to response/non-response to powerful but expensive drugs. The main goal of FLAMIN-GO is thus to create an advanced, personalized joint-on-chip platform designed to faithfully replicate the complex characteristics of RA-affected joints, enabling personalised clinical trials-on-chip, for personalising treatment by identifying the most effective drug for each individual patient, as well as accelerating the discovery and testing of novel therapeutic targets, paving the way for the development of new drugs.
EUCORE’s role in the project: Within FLAMIN-GO, EUCORE is supporting the Project Coordinator in the day-to-day project management, reporting, and any other administrative issue stemming from project implementation (WP1, WP9, WP13). Furthermore, EUCORE is also involved in the management of ethics issues (WP16, WP17).
Consortium:
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DEL PIEMONTE ORIENTALE AMEDEO AVOGADRO (UPO)
INEB-INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE ENGENHARIA BIOMEDICA (INEB)
CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE (CNR)
QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY OF LONDON (QMUL)
ASSOCIAZIONE PER LA RICERCA CHE CURA ORGANIZZAZIONE NON LUCRATIVA DI UTILITA SOCIALE (ARCA)
RIGAS TEHNISKA UNIVERSITATE (RTU)
ENGINSOFT TURKEY MUHENDISLIK YAZILIM TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI (ES)
STANDARD BIOTOOLS FRANCE SARL (SBIO)
AO-FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT DAVOS (ARI)
TRUSTECH SRL (TRUSTECH)
MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV (MPG)
ZNANOST NA CESTI, ZAVOD ZA PROMOCIJO ZNANOSTI, LJUBLJANA (SoS)
