BRIDGing the research and INnovation Gap for Rare Diseases in Europe by upgrading excellence of IMGGE

ongoing

There are over 330 million people living on the planet affected by one of over 6,000 identified genetic rare diseases (RD). They urgently need timely diagnosis and development of specific treatments. Although Europe leads the way in RD research, there is a clear gap in research and innovation (R&I) between countries. To bridge this gap, networking and knowledge sharing between IMGGE (Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Serbia) and 3 world-class counterparts at EU level - KI (Karolinska Institute, Sweden), CNAG (National Center for Genomic Analysis, Spain) and UAM (Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain) is envisioned. BRIDGING-RD’s objectives are: (1) upgrade the IMGGE RD Biobank to reach full interoperability of genetic and phenotypic data in order to increase participation in transnational research and innovation projects related to human health; (2) upgrade bioinformatics pipelines specific to RD to increase the rate of solved RD cases in IMGGE’s RD Biobank; (3) upgrade capacity for modelling of metabolic diseases as well as capacity to test small molecule drugs, in order to increase the number of translational studies; (4) upgrade research support offices in order to increase success in obtaining funds from research and/or innovation agencies, industry, foundations etc. Objectives will be achieved through staff exchanges, expert visits, trainings or workshops, conference attendance, joint summer schools and dissemination/outreach activities. Crucially, an exploratory R&I project, engaging all partners will focus on identifying an innovative drug, pharmacochaperone, for a selected metabolic RD. BRIDGING-RD will have impact by significantly improving the scientific excellence and innovation capacity of IMGGE, raising its research reputation and research management skills. It will also impact networking and mobility of qualified scientists in the RD field, thus boosting creativity and ultimately enhancing economic growth at the European level.