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H2020Doctoral network2014–2018

MEL-PLEX · Exploiting MELanoma disease comPLEXity to address European research training needs in translational cancer systems biology and cancer systems medicine

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2014-12-01 → 2018-11-30
EU contribution
€3,583,870
Participants
20
Scheme
MSCA-ITN-ETN

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Results in brief

Exploiting MELanoma disease comPLEXity to address European research training needs in translational cancer systems biology and cancer systems medicine

In the absence of personalised and optimised treatment, great numbers of cancer patients suffer from inefficient therapies. Malignant melanoma exemplifies a largely chemotherapy-resistant, highly heterogeneous and aggressive cancer. Novel treatment options for personalised, patient-tailored melanoma therapies can now be explored or developed through emerging and innovative research disciplines going beyond the current state-of-the-art, such as translational cancer systems biology and cancer systems medicine. The MEL-PLEX programme was designed by European and international academic/clinical and private sector leaders in personalised melanoma therapy, melanoma systems biology and cancer systems medicine. The MEL-PLEX aims were: (i) to achieve an unmatched depth of molecular and mechanistic disease understanding: The individual research projects have made significant progress and provided substantial novel insight into melanoma disease complexity, using both experimental and mathematical approaches. (ii) to exploit this knowledge to develop and validate predictive models for disease progression, prognosis and responsiveness to current and novel (co-)treatment options: The research projects provided considerable amounts of experimental data to feed into model development or validation. Similarly, projects initiated from the mathematical modelling perspective integrated clinical and/or experimental data and evidence to transfer in silico approaches into a practically relevant context. (iii) to provide superior and clinically relevant tools and biomarker signatures for personalising and optimising melanoma therapy: By achieving the above objectives, the MEL-PLEX research activities approached this key aim during the second half of the project. In particular, attention was paid to ensure that validation strategies were followed. Several model prototypes and biomarker-focussed projects have been published. MEL-PLEX addressed current needs in academia and the private sector for researchers that have been interdisciplinarily trained, can navigate confidently between clinical, academic and private sector environments, and have developed an innovative and creative mindset to progress research findings towards applications.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

Novel treatment options and associated personalised, patient-tailored therapies need to be explored and developed for highly heterogeneous and chemotherapy resistant cancers, such as malignant melanoma. This can only be achieved by industry-academia collaborations in newly emerging, innovative research disciplines such as translational cancer systems biology and systems medicine. These disciplines and the associated European training needs provide the foundation for the MEL-PLEX ETN. MEL-PLEX aims to understand the network-level and multi-scale regulation of disease-relevant signalling in melanoma through a combination of quantitative biomedical and computational research approaches that go significantly beyond the current state-of-the-art. Coordinated by the RCSI Centre for Systems Medicine, MEL-PLEX will train 15 early stage researchers through a highly interdisciplinary and intersectoral research training programme. MEL-PLEX comprises 11 beneficiaries and 7 partner organisations from 11 countries, including European and international leaders in personalised melanoma therapy, melanoma systems biology and cancer systems medicine. MEL-PLEX aims to (i) achieve an unmatched depth of molecular and mechanistic disease understanding, (ii) will exploit this knowledge to develop and validate predictive models for disease progression, prognosis and responsiveness to current and novel (co-)treatment options, and (iii) will provide superior and clinically relevant tools and biomarker signatures for personalising and optimising melanoma treatment. The MEL-PLEX ETN addresses current needs in academia and the private sector for researchers that have been trained in an environment that spans across biology, medicine and mathematics, that can navigate confidently between clinical, academic and private sector research environments, and that have developed an innovative and creative mindset to progress research findings towards applications.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

  • ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND · DUBLIN 2CoordinatorIreland
  • A. Plaisant Srl. · RomaItaly
  • APOGENIX GMBH · HEIDELBERGGermany
  • Galderma · ChedeFrance
  • KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN · LeuvenBelgium
  • KRAEFTENS BEKAEMPELSE · KoebenhavnDenmark
  • Mass. General Hospital · BostonUnited States
  • Merrimack · North AndoverUnited States
  • NOVARTIS PHARMA GMBH · NURNBERGGermany
  • ONCOMARK LIMITED · DUBLINIreland
  • OPTIMATA LTD · Tel AvivIsrael
  • PROTAVIO MONOPROSOPI E.P.E · GLYFADAGreece
  • RUPRECHT-KARLS-UNIVERSITAET HEIDELBERG · HeidelbergGermany
  • TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET DRESDEN · DresdenGermany
  • THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM · JerusalemIsrael
  • UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM AACHEN · AachenGermany
  • UNIVERSITE DU LUXEMBOURG · ESCH-SUR-ALZETTELuxembourg
  • UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinIreland
  • UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART · StuttgartGermany
  • University Berne · BerneSwitzerland

Links

Data: CORDIS, © European Union