Circulating Cells is a 20 million Euro program sponsored for 50% by
CTMM. This research program is a joined effort with academic centres and industrial partners. The program is coordinated by prof G Pasterkamp. Prof M Daemen is the other main coordinator and dr Imo Hoefer the program manager. The program will start second half of 2008. Within the program 5 academic centres and several industrial partners participate.
Objective
It is hypothesized that cellular responsiveness of blood cells will function as sensors for plaque and patient destabilization. Objective of this consortium is to develop point-of-care technology that aims to evaluate the characteristics of circulating blood cells in order to asses risk for atherosclerotic disease progression.
Approach.
The strategy of the consortium can be summarized as follows:
- The Clinical Platform delivers patient data and biological samples to the discovery platform. The clinical platform will operate in three phases. In the first phase (Month 1-18) patients will be included, data collected and biological material harvested. In the second phase (Month 12-48) devices originating from the technology platform will be tested on feasibility in patient studies. In the third phase (Month 24-60) new technology will be tested in clinical validation studies.
- The Discovery platform analyzes samples and data using –omics approaches and state of the art bioinformatics. This platform will generate cell based biomarkers for atherosclerotic disease.
- The outcome of the target search will be made available to the Technical Platform. Targets will be provided to the primary deliverable of the consortium: a start up company that will protect target IP. The targets will then be made available to partners operating within the consortium. The technology platform is divided in operational units in which public and private partners work together on dedicated deliverables.