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This project addresses the scientific, technological and clinical problem of recovery of hand function after amputation. Despite decades of research and development on artificial limbs and neural interfaces, amputees continue to use technology for powered prostheses developed over 40 years ago, namely myoelectric prostheses controlled via superficial electrodes. These devices do not purposely provide sensory feedback and are known for their poor functionality, controllability and sensory feedback, mainly due to the use of surface electrodes. The consortium has pioneered the use of osseointegration as a long-term stable solution for the direct skeletal attachment of limb prostheses. This technology aside from providing an efficient mechanical coupling, which on its own has shown to improve prosthesis functionality and the patient’s quality of life, can also be used as a bidirectional communication interface between implanted electrodes and the prosthetic arm. This is today the most advanced and unique technique for bidirectional neuromuscular interfacing, suited for the upper limb amputees, which was proven functional in the long term. The goal of the DeTOP project is to push the boundaries of this technology –made in Europe– to the next TRL and to make it clinically available to the largest population of upper limb amputees, namely transradial amputees. This objective will be targeted by developing a novel prosthetic hand with improved functionality, smart mechatronic devices for safe implantable technology, and by studying and assessing paradigms for natural control (action) and sensory feedback (perception) of the prosthesis through the implant. The novel technologies and findings will be assessed by three selected patients, implanted in a clinical centre. DeTOP bridges several currently disjointed scientific fields and is therefore critically dependent on the collaboration of engineers, neuroscientists and clinicians.

The main concern in cancer treatment is its high rate of recurrence. It may happen soon or years after treatment and it’s very hard to predict/prevent. Removing residual tumour cells is the best way to avoid recurrence, so identifying new tumour markers is the most pressing demand. We have developed SenolT, an innovative diagnostic test for the early detection and monitoring of senescent cells, which appear after chemotherapy/radiotherapy and are directly associated to cancer recurrence. SenolT detects all kinds of tumours, but we focus on pancreatic and triple negative breast (TNBC) cancers because prognosis is very poor for patients and recurrence is their main cause of mortality. Our customers will be pharmaceutical companies, so we have already contacted several of them in the sector. The initial target market will be TNBC/Pancreatic cancer patients that received chemotherapy/radiotherapy in the EU & USA. Competitors focus on liquid biopsy tests and cancer-related protein markers (expensive & slow to get results). No other companies are working in the detection of senescent cells as a diagnostic method to predict recurrence. Senolytic Therapeutics is a company that develops a new class of medicines by targeting damaged cells. Our mission is to advance our portfolio of therapies to clinical trials and improve the lives of patients and families. Our SenolT proprietary technology will be developed and de-risked through Phase2 Clinical trials and then license the validated technologies to pharma companies, to finalise their development and bring them to the market. By 2025 we expect: A) 15% royalties’ rate on net sales with a unit price to healthcare systems of €800; B) 20% market share (70,000 people) from an expected total of TNBC/pancreatic cancer population of over 352,000 in USA & EU; C) TAM growing up to about €57 m; D) NPV of €27.2 m (10% discount rate) and an IRR of 120%; E) Cumulative EBITDA of about €44 m; F) 20 newly created jobs, mainly in R&D and sales.

Following World War II, globalisation and market liberalisation triggered a period of unprecedented growth. Recently, these trends appear to reverse, whereby globalisation and corporations started to pose challenges for liberal democracy, social cohesion and environmental sustainability. DemoTrans is an impact-driven research project that will provide theoretically and empirically robust recommendations on how to reinvigorate democratic governance by improving the accountability, transparency, effectThe notion that liberal, representative democracy is in some form of crisis ? or even a terminal decline ? has been brought forward by numerous scholars (for a recent review, see Bickerton & Accetti, 2021). While the globalisation and liberalisation of markets triggered a period of unprecedented growth ? as well as improvements in standards of living and consolidation of liberal democracies ? in the decades following the Second World War, we have recently witnessed a substantial reversal in these trends. Today, globalisation and global corporations rather appear to bring challenges to liberal democracy, social cohesion as well as the environment. The academic literature studying these developments often focuses on describing and interpreting what is going ?wrong?. However, the key challenge is to outline and understand the new type of politics that is emerging in its place as well as to envisage and develop the contours of new promising approaches to re-embed democracy and capitalism. This key challenge lies at the heart of the DemoTrans project, and we address it by bringing together a multidisciplinary consortium of six experienced and leading research groups from four European research universities and an NGO with a strong track record. Building on their wide-ranging expertise, DemoTrans will develop novel theoretical and empirical academic research aimed at robust recommendations that encouraging stronger democratic accountability and inclusion in economic processes.

The project proposes a novel way to numerically model delamination or debonding in layered structures using beam-type finite elements for the layers, which can be geometrically linear or nonlinear, and mixed-mode, rate-dependent cohesive-zone models (CZMs) for the interface, both based on recent cutting-edge research. In this way, the project shall provide new, more accurate, more intuitive and computationally much cheaper techniques than those currently available, that will be implemented in open-source user-friendly software and experimentally validated for mode-I, mode-II and mixed-mode tests on aluminium-epoxy adhesive joints. At the end of the project, engineers will be able to numerically simulate tests with different dimensions and material properties to characterise the fracture energy and its rate dependence for existing or new adhesives or other interfaces, with applications including but not limited to metal joints, composite delamination, reinforced elastomers or dissection of soft tissues in biomedical engineering. The research builds on complementary and internationally highly recognised expertise of the researcher and his PhD supervisor at the University of Rijeka (on geometrically nonlinear beam models) and the supervisor at Brunel University (on CZMs and nonlinear finite-element analysis). The researcher will have the opportunity to (a) develop world-leading knowledge and expertise in a research topic of significant importance for industrial and real-life applications, (b) transfer it to a country where such expertise is limited and (c) boost his scientific career and international profile through high-quality publications and via his leadership in the development of the software. This will also provide numerous networking opportunities with other research groups and industries worldwide for all parties involved in the action.

MImETIC INDiRECT aims to develop a standardised, accessible, versatile organ-on-chip toolkit for cancer biology and drug discovery research, compatible with microscopy-based (live imaging and confocal) techniques. The project is expected to facilitate academia and industry adoption of microfluidic 3D cell culture systems for comparable and reproducible results in a complex biomimetic animal free model for cancer drug discovery, toxicology, advanced (pre)clinical as well as personalized medicine. The toolkit components will consist of an integrated temperature controller dual-chamber chip, the Cherry Biotech CubiX system and growth factor optimized collagenous solutions for each chip chamber. The dual chamber chip, with cellular migration lanes, will have two tailored collagen-based formulations, designed per chamber. The CubiX platform is a compact flow and temperature controller, allowing optional sensor (e.g. O2) integration, compatible with single chips or 24-well plates. The cancer(s) sub-types to be used toolkit standardization will be dictated by market needs, where commercial cell lines (cancerous and non-cancerous) will be used to create the microvascularized complex tissue model. Potential project risks have been identified with appropriate mitigation strategies, where the project promotes adoption of standardized, cost-effective and versatile cancer organ-on-chip platforms in the market, rather than disruptive academic findings. Access of the aforementioned system to a worldwide growth market will fully exploit the project results, disseminated by direct and indirect marketing and scientific approaches. Project implementation will be an academic-industry collaborative and multidisciplinary manner providing the acquisition of diverse and unconventional complementary skills, leading to an understanding of both sectors requirements. We envision the above-mentioned to facilitate future academic and industry collaborations.