MAJOR DISEASES RESEARCH Catalogue of Research Projects (2005-2006) in the Sixth Framework Programme Volume II project synopses project Interested in European research? Research*eu is our monthly magazine keeping you in touch with main developments (results, programmes, events, etc.). It is available in English, French, German and Spanish. A free sample copy or free subscription can be obtained from: European Commission Directorate-General for Research Communication Unit B-1049 Brussels Fax (32-2) 29-58220 E-mail: [email protected] Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/research/research-eu European Commisssion Directorate-General for Research Directorate F – Health Unit F.2 – Medical and Public Health Research Contact: Manuel Hallen European Commission Offi ce CDMA 2/22 B-1049 Brussels MAJOR DISEASES RESEARCH Catalogue of Research Projects (2005-2006) in the Sixth Framework Programme Volume II Edited by Manuel Hallen 2008 Medical and Public Health Research EUR 23346 EN Europe Direct is a service to help you fi nd answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. 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Printed in Belgium PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE-FREE PAPER TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 7 CARDIOVASCULAR 9 ➞ 44 Cardiogenics 10 CONTICA 13 CVDIMMUNE 15 EUGeneHeart 17 GENECURE 20 HDLomics 22 HeartRepair 24 IMMUNATH 27 InGenious HyperCare 29 NORMACOR 31 PolyALA 33 PROCARDIS 34 PULMOTENSION 36 SOUTH 39 VASOPLUS 42 DIABETES & OBESITY 45 ➞ 57 EuroDia 46 HEPADIP 48 InterAct 51 PREDICTIONS 54 SAVEBETA 56 RARE DISEASES 59 ➞ 78 EURAMY 60 EuroCareCF 62 EuroGrow 65 EURO-Laminopathies 67 HUE-MAN 70 MYASTAID 73 TREAT-NMD 76 3 ANTI-MICROBIAL DRUG RESISTANCE 79 ➞ 110 ACE 80 CRAB 82 DRESP2 84 EACCAD 86 EAR 88 EURESFUN 91 GRACE 94 MagRSA 98 MANASP 100 MOSAR 102 NPARI 105 REBAVAC 107 StaphDynamics 109 BRAIN, NEUROLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES 111 ➞ 160 AGLAEA 112 cNEUPRO 114 DB workshop 116 ENINET 118 Enough sleep 120 EPICURE 122 EUSynapse 125 IMAGEN 127 INCF 129 INDABIP 131 INTELLIMAZE 133 MEMORIES 136 NEOBRAIN 138 NEURODYS 141 NeuroproMiSe 143 NovelTune 146 PHECOMP 148 PHOTOLYSIS 150 PNS-EURONET2 152 4 RATstream™ 154 SGENE 157 TAMAHUD 159 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND AGEING 161 ➞ 181 ARIG 162 CRESCENDO 164 ECONAG 167 ELAST-AGE 169 EWA 171 LifeSpan 174 PROTEOMAGE 176 RespViruses 179 SENECA 180 CANCER 183 ➞ 265 Anti-tumor targeting 184 Apotherapy 186 BAMOD 188 CancerGrid 190 CANCERIMMUNOTHERAPY 193 CAPPELLA 195 CHEMORES 197 CHILDHOPE 199 CONTICANET 202 DASIM 205 DEPPICT 206 DISMAL 208 E.E.T.-Pipeline 210 EPCRC 212 EPITRON 214 EuroBoNet 216 EuroCSC 218 GenoMEL 220 GROWTHSTOP 222 5 HERMIONE 224 HI-CAM 226 HighReX 228 Immuno-PDT 230 INCA 232 KidsCancerKinome 234 LIGHTS 236 MAMMI 238 MCSCs 240 MMR-related cancer 242 MSCNET 243 NORMOLIFE 245 ONCASYM 247 ONCODEATH 249 OVCAD 251 POLYGENE 253 PROMET 255 TCAC in Cancer 257 TRIDENT 259 TRKCancer 261 Tumor-Host Genomics 262 VITAL 264 ADDITIONAL PROJECTS RELATED TO MAJOR DISEASES 267 ➞ 272 ECRIN-TWG 268 EUROIRON1 271 INDEX BY ACRONYM 274 ➞ 275 FP6 INSTRUMENTS 276 ➞ 277 6 INTRODUCTION The “Sixth Framework Programme for RTD (FP6 – 2002-2006) of the Five different funding schemes, each with a different objective, were European Union” has dedicated some € 800 million to supporting research available in FP6 for providing support to research projects. Integrated in the fi eld of “Major Diseases: Application-orientated Genomic Approaches Projects (IP) and Specifi c Targeted Research Projects (STREP) were aimed to Medical Knowledge and Technologies”, with the aim of improving the at generating, demonstrating and validating new knowledge through quality of life and the health of patients in Europe (1) and around the world. research and development. Networks of Excellence (NoE) supported stra- tegic research coordination through extensive networking. Coordination The greatest disease burden in Europe is represented by non-communicable Actions (CA) and Specifi c Support Actions (SSA) promoted collaboration diseases (NCD): a group of conditions that includes cardiovascular disease and coordination of smaller scale projects, and other activities such as (CVD), cancer, mental health problems, diabetes mellitus, chronic respiratory conferences and studies. In addition, collaboration between industry and diseases and musculoskeletal conditions. This broad group of disorders; academia was strongly encouraged, in particular the involvement of small which are linked by common risk factors, underlying determinants and and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). opportunities for intervention, cause 86 % of all deaths and 77 % of the disease burden in Europe. In 2005 the fi rst Volume on project synopses was published, covering 87 projects selected from the fi rst and second call for proposals in The ultimate objective of any health research funding should, therefore, 2002-2004. This publication is available at ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/ be to reduce instances of, and eventually eliminate these diseases. The pub/lifescihealth/docs/major_catalogue_complet.pdf. task is huge since conditions such as CVD, neurological disorders and cancer are highly complex and thus can often be understood and ad- The present Volume 2 of project synopses on “Major Diseases Research” dressed only by multidisciplinary teams. For more than 25 years, European is a complementary publication featuring an additional 113 projects Union Framework Programmes have provided fi nancial support to medi- selected under the third and fourth calls for proposals in the afore- cal and life sciences research, including the training of new scientists. mentioned research areas. The budget of some € 800 million was divided Europe is fortunate in having an excellent research base and scientists unevenly across funding schemes. Approximately half of the budget went able to collaborate across national borders, producing top quality results to large integrated projects (IP), which represented less than a quarter of and a mutual respect of their respective neighbours’ skills and qualities. the number of projects funded. On average, an IP involved 20 partners with a mean EC contribution of around € 9 million per project. On the Due to the availability of the full sequence of the human genome and other hand, around one third of the major diseases budget was devoted many other model organisms at the beginning of the Millennium, the to smaller, specifi c targeted research projects (STREP), which accounted Sixth Framework Programme placed an emphasis on exploiting the for more than half of the total number of projects supported. These con- unprecedented opportunities for generating new knowledge. This know- sortia gathered an average number of 10 partners with a mean project ledge could then be used for the prevention and management of human budget in the region of € 2.5 million. disease and for advice on living and ageing healthily. Although the pro- gramme focused primarily on basic research, some areas, such as cancer, The structure of this “Volume 2” follows the structure of the fi rst were more directed towards translational research. This enabled the basic Volume, and brief reference is made to all 87 projects described in the research already completed to be transferred to medical and therapeutic fi rst Volume, including complete and coherent “Tables of Contents” and applications. “Indices” arranged by project acronym, contract number and name of project coordinator. This allows us to provide the full picture of all Close to 850 research proposals were evaluated by peer review and some research funded under the Sixth Framework Programme in this area. 200 projects have been funded across the seven priority areas of: Each research area has a chapter devoted to it and is introduced by the • Cardiovascular disease current Scientifi c Offi cer(s) in charge. • Diabetes • Rare diseases We would like to acknowledge the Scientifi c Offi cers in charge, praising • Anti-microbial drug resistance their competence, professionalism and commitment as well as the • Brain, neurological and psychiatric diseases invaluable input provided by the previous Scientifi c Offi cers in charge • Human development and ageing, and (Philippe Cupers, Mary Fitzgerald, Elmar Nimmesgern, Jürgen Sautter and • Cancer Christian Wimmer). We would also like to acknowledge Anna Lönnroth, Deputy Head of Unit “Infectious Diseases” and the preceding Head of An average success rate of around 25 % was achieved for proposals across Unit “Major Diseases”, Alain Vanvossel. all four calls. This rate varied depending on the type of funding scheme and area of research, with a lower success rate for cancer topics overall (between 18 and 22 %), but a higher rate for small projects (coordination actions and specifi c support actions) and Networks of Excellence (above 35 % of successful proposals). Maria Vidal-Ragout Manuel Hallen (1) WHO Europe fact sheet EURO/03/06, www.euro.who.int/document/mediacentre/fs0306e.pdf Deputy Head of Unit Head of Unit 7 9 ➞ 44 CARDIOVASCULAR Cardiogenics Identifi cation of genetic roots of coronary artery disease by combining stepwise genome wide association studies with transcriptomic and functional genomic investigation of relevant genetic variants Keywords Myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, been fraught with issues of replication and limited ability to interrogate genetic, association, genome wide, gene expression, the genome systematically.