Participants
exTra brings together a unique group of experts in Clinical Transplantation, Immunology, Pharmacy, Transfusion Medicine and Clinical Chemistry, supported by bioinformaticians specialized in predictive modeling.
Beneficiaries
1. University Hospital Regensburg (UHREG)
UHREG is the coordinating institution and will host two doctoral candidate (DC) projects. Founded 25 years ago, University Hospital Regensburg (UHREG) is one of the main academic hospitals in Bavaria. UHREG is one of the most modern and efficient hospitals in Germany, delivering state-of-the-art treatment for complex medical and surgical cases. UHREG maintains an internationally competitive scientific programme that prioritises research in Oncology, Transplantation and Immunotherapy. Over the last decade, the Medical Faculty has cultivated a cell-based therapeutics platform at UHREG to promote innovative regenerative and immunotherapeutic treatments. Outstanding research in cell- based therapies is epitomised by the EU FP7 project, “The ONE Study” co-ordinated by Professor Edward Geissler (Department of Experimental Surgery) and the EU Horizon 2020 project, “TREGeneration” coordinated by Professor Mathias Edinger (Department of Haematology). UHREG also contributes to the advancement of Medicine by delivering excellent medical training to undergraduate and graduate medical students, and clinical-scientists-in-training. UHREG is associated with two excellent-rated Graduate Schools – namely, BioMediGS (Biomedical International Graduate School) and RIGeL (Regensburg International Graduate School of Life Sciences).
2. University Hospital Erlangen
University Hospital Erlangen (UKER) is a participating institution and will host one doctoral candidate (DC) project. UKER is a university hospital of maximum care providing its patients the full array of the most modern medical therapies. UKER maintains an international competitive scientific program focusing on translational research in order to enable fast transformation of research results into new methods of prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The core research areas of UKER include Infection and Immunology, tumor research, kidney and vascular research, neurosciences and medical engineering. Structural support of young research is a key concern of UKER and includes several research training groups and graduate programs funded by DFG and other institutions.
3. University Hospital Freiburg
The Faculty of Medicine UKLFR is one of the most prestigious research-driven medical schools in Germany. Many of its researchers are active in the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS (Center for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies) recently established in the German Excellence Strategy; 10 of the CIBSS Principal Investigators are researchers established at the faculty’s institutes and at various clinical departments. The Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1479 directed by Robert Zeiser is located in Freiburg and includes researchers on oncogenic signalling and immune escape. The Medical Center – University of Freiburg is among the largest UMC in Germany, with around 14.000 employees, including 1700 doctors and 3.900 nurses and carers who provide healthcare services to more than 90.000 inpatients, and 820.000 outpatients every year. It engages in research, teaching and healthcare as its core responsibilities, always with the goal of offering current and future patients treatment informed by the latest scientific findings. Life sciences are a major focus in Freiburg with the University. The Ranking based on third party funding from the DFG for life sciences places Freiburg within the top-three German universities, and Freiburg ranks first in Germany with respect to the ratio of DFG awards per professor .
4. Medical University of Wien
The Medical University of Vienna is one of the most top-ranked institution in medical education and research with 8,000 students and approximately 6,000 members of staff. Moreover, it is an European referring medical center for several disease such as lung transplantation, idiopathic pulmonary hypertension and immunology. With its 30 university hospital departments, two clinical institutes, 12 preclinical centres and numerous highly specialised laboratories, it is included among the most important cutting-edge research institutes of Europe in the area of biomedicine.
5. Barcelona Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer
The Institut D'Investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) (https://www.clinicbarcelona.org/en/idibaps) is a public research centre dedicated to translational research in the field of biomedicine. Its mission is to integrate state of the art basic research and quality clinical research to improve prevention and treatment of the main health problems present in our society. Founded in 1996, the IDIBAPS consortium is formed by the Government of Catalonia, the University of Barcelona's Faculty of Medicine (UB), the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (HCB) and the Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques de Barcelona of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (IIBB-CSIC). IDIBAPS has a high scientific productivity (e.g. 1,805 indexed original articles and a mean impact factor of 6.5 in 2020).
6. Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute
The Health Sciences Research Institute of the “Germans Trias i Pujol” Foundation (IGTP) aims to generate, preserve, disseminate and increase multidisciplinary and translational knowledge in biomedical sciences. Several teams are devoted to innovative activity in protocols for clinical management and therapy, as well as to optimise healthcare services. IGTP is associated to a modern tertiary university teaching hospital the “Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol” (HUGTP) that provides state-of-the-art health care. IGTP is located at “Can Ruti campus” in Badalona, a biomedical area, where several other research and health care facilities are also located: Institut Guttmann, Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer (IMPPC), Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), Comparative Medicine and Bioimage Centre (CMCiB), Blood and Tissue Bank (BST) Center for Epidemiological Studies on STD and AIDS (CEESCAT), AIDS Research Institute IrsiCaixa , Fight Against AIDS Foundation (FLS) and José Carreras Leukemia Research Foundation (IJC).
7. Stichting Sanquin Bloedvoorziening
The Blood Supply Act stipulates that the Dutch blood bank Sanquin (SQ) is the only organisation in the Netherlands responsible for managing the Dutch need for a safe and efficient supply of blood and blood products on a not-for-profit basis. SQ routinely supplies red blood cells and platelets, and manufactures and supplies plasma products. SQ has a GMP-approved Laboratory for Cell Therapy that supplies stem cells and generates novel CBMP (including DCs, adoptive T cells, MSCs) for new tailor-made immunomodulatory therapies. The top priority of SQ is the health of patients and donors; consequently, specific divisions of SQ have specialised to provide Quality Assurance services related to blood and blood products. SQ Research is the research division of the Dutch Blood Supply Foundation. SQ research performs basic and translational research to gain state-of-the art knowledge and invent new solutions for medical problems in blood transfusion medicine, hematology and immune-mediated diseases, and to optimize safety and efficacy of therapies. SQ Research is affiliated with the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and coordinates and takes part in intensive bachelor and master training programs of (bio)medical students of the UvA. SQ Research employs ~75 PhD students who enrol in the (post)graduate school of Academic Medical Center (AMC) of the UvA.
8. Instituto de Salud, Carlos III
The Instituto de Salud Carlos III collaborates and provides technical advice on the design of internationalisation policies and strategies for Spanish research in health sciences and on establishing partnerships, in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. In this regard, it is a leader in Spain and in European and international policies, initiatives and programmes in the area of biomedical and health science research. The Instituto de Salud Carlos III actively contributes to the development of the European Research Area and is positioned in it, mainly through the Framework Programme, the Joint Programming, and the EURAXESS Programme. The ISCIII was one of the first institutions to endorse the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers in the European Union, and works to bring its human resource policies in line with European standards. The ISCIII signed the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers and has conducted an internal analysis to define a Human Resources Strategy for Researchers.
Associated Partners
9. King’s College London (KCL)
Institute of Liver Studies as part of the Department of Inflammation Biologyat King’s College London is one of the largest comprehensive academic liver units in the world, with a particular expertise in genetic disorders, transplantation and liver immunopathology. This will include fully equipped laboratory space to conduct the experiments outlined in this proposal, as well as access to state-of-the-art bioinformatics, cytomics and genomics facilities at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust.
10. Innovation Acta
INN-ACTA (www.innovationacta.eu) is a company specialized in managing H2020 and HE project proposals and actions. INN-ACTA Grants Managers are highly qualified and have acquired a renowned competence in grants management and dissemination activities from over 20-year experience in EU-funded projects, including Collaborative Projects in Health Programmes, Coordination and Supporting Actions, IMI projects, Marie Curie Actions. INN-ACTA’s expertise ranges from grants management to dissemination activities (e.g. printed materials, flyers, brochures, newsletters, project websites, videos), training activities, organization of meetings, conferences, workshops and Project events.
11. Therakos / Mallinckrodt
Therakos is a specialty brand of Mallinckrodt, a global business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and therapies. Therakos focuses on the delivery of ECP Immunomodulation. The THERAKOS™ CELLEX™ Photopheresis is used by over 300 treatment centres in over 30 countries worldwide.
12. Beckman Coulter
Beckman Coulter Life Sciences is developing and manufacturing flow cytometry instruments and reagents for research, clinical research and diagnostics. Immunotech S.A.S. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Beckman Coulter Inc. Immunotech S.A.S develops and manufactures reagents for Flow cytometry.Beckman will provide training and will host extra researchers for secondment periods.
13. Amedes
The Amedes group offers interdisciplinary and medical-diagnostic services for patients, general practitioners and clinics at more than 90 locations in Germany, Belgium, Austria and Dubai. In addition, we are specialists in the management of hospital laboratories and look after around 40 clinics throughout Germany. Every day, specially trained staff process more than 400,000 laboratory analyses according to the latest scientific and technical standards. Amedes specialists treat more than 450,000 patients a year. A special focus is on the fields of gynaecological and internal endocrinology, where we can link diagnostics and clinical medicine particularly closely. Further focal points are the fields of fertility medicine, rheumatology and oncology. Our range of services is complemented by a variety of services and consulting for laboratories in hospitals and medical practices. Amedes is one of the largest companies in this field with over 4,000 employees – including more than 480 physicians and scientific staff.
14. Quell
Quell Therapeutics is a London, UK based, private biopharmaceutical company. Quell’s vision is to be the leading engineered cell therapy company, bringing transformational and valued therapies addressing a range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, as well as preventing rejection in organ transplantation. Key Person Marc Martinez-Llordella
15. Aniling
Aniling is a start-up created in 2014 in Barcelona with the goal of pushing genetic analysis to fully contribute to genomic medicine, mainly through the acceleration of the epigenomics field. Currently, the company is focusing its activities on the development, improvement and implementation into the market of new technologies of massive DNA sequencing or Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), to achieve a true integration of the molecular data into biologically meaning information, fulfilling the high-quality standards required in clinics. Aniling’s technology aims to gain knowledge on the fields of genomics and epigenomics, but further than that, we propose it as an instrumental tool for predictive and personalized medicine, to help make it true.