Projects

The aim of this COST Action is to refine the present understanding of in vivo micro/macro-environment in order to reproduce in vitro the physiological system in the best possible way: surface topography, substrate stiffness, mechanical stimulation, chemical cues and localized density will be analyzed. This will allow to develop reliable “3D total guidance” in vitro models reducing the number of animals used and allowing a safe translation of the present basic knowledge in cell repair and regeneration from the laboratory bench to the clinical application, with a positive impact on every day’s life patients and general Health costs. Researches in this field are being performed by different groups in the EU, but efforts need to be coordinated in order to avoid duplication, set targets and guidance for future research and to standardize protocols through a large interdisciplinary collaborative EU network. These goals can only be achieved under a COST program.

Myeloid immune cells are important mediators in the pathology of many diseases, especially in diseases associated with chronic inflammation (DACI). Recent advancements in molecular profiling technologies have led to the generation of large data sets, many of those not fully explored yet, but accessible to the entire scientific community via public data repositories. It is the aim of this COST Action to repurpose those data sets, retrieve and curate myeloid cell-specific information, and apply this information to develop novel biomarkers for DACI. To this end, Mye-InfoBank utilise COST networking tools to enable the interaction of molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, immunobiologists, biobank coordinators and clinicians. The concerted activity of these experts on myeloid cell biology (either basic or clinical research), bioinformatics, and bio-banking, will transform complex molecular information into standardised and applicable biomarkers, which have the potential to improve clinical decision making in a number of socio-economically important diseases.

This Action formed a network of researchers and clinicians with the aim to establish a gold standard of common protocols and harmonize guidelines for the analysis and clinical monitoring of myeloid regulatory cells (MRCs). There is also a deficit in the translation of findings from animal models to humans, and Mye-EUNITER built an analytical mouse-monkey-man correlation line. Standardized and validated tools for MRC analysis aid the development of cellular biomarkers of disease and guide the design of novel therapies to manipulate the functions of MRCs. Members of the Action from IMR actively engaged in the activities of working groups through attending meetings, workshops, short-term scientific missions, and writing papers.