Friday December 05 2008 | Biotechnology feed | All feeds
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Friday December 05 2008 | Biotechnology feed | All feeds
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MYORES, a EUR12 million European network of excellence focusing on muscle pathology research starts work
Leading specialists focus on normal and
aberrant muscle development, function and repair
Paris, 11 February 2005 - The European Network of
Excellence MYORES held its first meeting today in Clermont-Ferrand (France).
MYORES brings together 37 research groups in seven countries who will work
towards the understanding of muscle development, function and repair with a
view to developing therapies for various muscle pathologies. This network will
receive EUR12 million funding as part of the European Commission's 6th
Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.
MYORES will bring together powerful resources to tackle problems in a field that causes considerable suffering. In Europe, more than 300,000 people are affected by various muscular dystrophies, while muscular degeneration is one of the most incapacitating features of ageing. The network resources include:
- The pooling of European expertise
This network will include 37 different
laboratories from 23 research organizations localized in seven countries.
These labs are staffed by leading specialists, including Margaret Buckingham,
a scientist who demonstrated the central role of the Myf5 and Pax3 genes in
muscular differentiation and whose team recently demonstrated the implication
of Pax3 and Pax7 in the creation of muscle stem cells, and Nadia Rosenthal,
whose team demonstrated the major role played by insulin growth factors in the
development of the skeletal muscle mass, that represents a promising new
therapeutic approach for muscular atrophy.
- Sharing of six high technology platforms Three of these will be created as part of MYORES research programme. They will focus on:
- Gene attenuation using interfering RNA at the
University of Padua (Italy) and Lyon (France)
- Drosophila transgenesis at Inserm in Clermont-Ferrand
(France)
- In vivo electroporation at the University of
Marseille-Luminy (France)
These platforms will be supported by an operating budget of EUR1.5 million.
In addition three other platforms will also be
shared. They will focus on:
- Proteomics and micro-chips at the European
Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg (Germany) and Kings College London
(UK).
- Molecular modelling at York University (UK)
- Molecular imaging at the University of
Marseille-Luminy (France), the University of East Anglia (UK) and the European
Centre for Research into Molecular Biology in Strasbourg (France).
Data resulting from work on these platforms will
be assembled in a common database, MYOBASE, to facilitate and accelerate
access to results for all the network members.
- A new multi-model approach
MYORES will carry out research simultaneously on
six different animal models including invertebrates, primitive vertebrates,
chicken and mice. The idea is to identify as quickly as possible - in simple
organisms that are well known and understood - the function and role of common
genetic denominators that are implicated in muscular development and that have
been conserved during species evolution, particularly in humans. This will
enable scientists to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms
involved in human muscle repairing systems.
- Fast-track application of results
The MYORES network will also aim to disseminate
the results obtained from different models and to apply them to specific human
muscular pathologies. One million euros have been earmarked for MYORES to
encourage small and medium enterprises to use these results in the development
of new therapies.
The French National Institute for Health and
Medical Research (Inserm) will be in charge of the scientific coordination of
MYORES. Dr Krzysztof Jagla, research director in Inserm's U384 laboratory,
specialised in genetic and cellular interactions, says: "Inserm is
coordinating MYORES but many other people have been involved. In particular
the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) was heavily involved
in the project definition and will be involved in coordination as well. This
sustained information production and sharing will allow us to increase our
knowledge of muscular development. Inserm-Transfert also played a big part in
setting up the project and will play a key role in making sure that the
project results will be transferred from the research stage to the development
of new therapies."
Inserm-Transfert's responsibility will include
day-to-day management of resources and logistical and organizational support.
"MYORES is a new step forward in the integration of European poles of
excellence," says Lionel Segard, Inserm-Transfert CEO. "The setting up of this
network shows how quickly scientists have embraced the culture of partnership
and sharing - one of the Commission's objectives and supported by all the
players in this field. What we do at Inserm-Transfert is to make sure that
significant scientific breakthroughs in the lab are efficiently transferred
into new therapies that can be offered to patients. The EC's 6th Framework
Programme for Research and Technological Development provides us with ideal
conditions to apply our know-how."
The MYORES network will also play a part in
ensuring that all players in the EU research community are aware of the
concepts of scientific excellence. Network members will give special attention
to researchers' mobility, dissemination of good practices and awareness of the
need to attract and train young scientists in this field.
Notes for editors: scientific orientation of
MYORES
Recent research results on muscle development have shown that many of the molecular mechanisms regulating muscle differentiation have remained highly conserved throughout evolution. MYORES will use and compare six different in vivo models, such as invertebrates like drosophila and nematodes, in order to accelerate the analysis of more than 500 candidate genes potentially involved in vertebrate myogenesis. For example, identifying the functions of the many structural proteins in these models will improve understanding of how they work and will help to identify new therapeutic targets. The network will also focus on the molecular pathways responsible for muscle differentiation from the embryo stage through to adult tissue. Understanding these mechanisms will be very important in understanding muscular regeneration and ageing processes, as it is now clear that adult muscular stem cells behave like embryonic stem cells in the same tissular environment (Dr Krzysztof Jagla).
MYORES NETWORK PARTNERS
MYORES includes 37 scientific groups from 23
organizations in seven European countries. These are:
Inserm (France), CNRS (France), University of
Sheffield (UK), Clinical University, Freiburg (Germany), King's College,
London (UK), University of East Anglia, Norwich (UK), University of Wales,
Cardiff (UK), Institut Pasteur (France), EMBL - European Molecular Biology
Laboratory (EU), CERBM - Centre Européen de Recherche en Biologie et Médecine,
Strasbourg (France), Technical University, Braunschweig (Germany), School of
Medicine, Padua (Italy), Institute of Physiology - Academy of Sciences, Prague
(Czech Republic), Phillips University, Marburg (Germany), Max Delbrück Centre
for Molecular Biology, Berlin (Germany), Spanish Council for Scientific
Research, Madrid (Spain), Hebrew University, Jerusalem (Israël), Imperial
College, London (UK), University of York (UK), Université Pierre et Marie
Curie (France), Max Planck Institute, Bad Nauheim (Germany), The Institute for
Cancer Research, London (UK), Inserm-Transfert (France).
For further information
MYORES Scientific Coordination:
Krzysztof JAGLA
INSERM U 384
+33 4 73 17 81 81
Christophe MARCELLE
Université de Aix-Marseille II
+33 4 91 82 92 43/40
MYORES Management:
Anton OTTAVI
Inserm-Transfert
+33 4 73 64 43 55
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