Consortium

The Foundation for Health Training and Research of Murcia Region (FFIS) is a foundation of the non-profit public sector, which depends on the Ministry of Health of the Region of Murcia, Spain. Its main goal is “the management of knowledge, research and innovation projects in the bio-health field”. FFIS is also a management body of the BioMedical Research Institute of Murcia Pascual Parilla (IMIB), which aims to foster excellent research in bio-health and brings together the best clinical research groups in the Region of Murcia. FFIS offers a necessary technical support in the economic-administrative and human resources areas, as well as the management of administrative services and act when required as an office for transfer of research results. (www.ffis.es)

In the NANEMIAR project, the FFIS is the Coordinator partner, that we are monitoring the Project implementation in administrative and financial terms. They are also contributing to effective dissemination and communication of project knowledge and results to relevant stakeholders and the general public during the project duration.

The Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia Pascual Parrila (IMIB) is accredited at the national level by the ISCIII as a Health Research Institute of excellence (www.imib.es).

The institute is mainly located in the HCUVA, the core hospital of IMIB and in the Health Sciences Campus of the University of Murcia (UMU), Spain. Furthermore, the IMIB integrates different cross-cutting Central Core Units to support biomedical research, provided by the three associated institutions: Servicio Murciano de Salud SMS, FFIS and University of Murcia. For this project, the laboratory facilities of IMIB are used including tissue culture, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and GMP Cell Production Center available at Hematology service at HCUVA.

Within NANEMIAR, IMIB participates together with FFIS as Coordinator, with the research group of Dr. Perez-Oliva’s (Principal Investigator of NANEMIAR project) focused on the regulation of hematopoiesis by inflammation, with an emphasis on anemia. They are coordinating all scientific work of the project and leading Work package 3 (WP3) dedicated to establishing the culture and colony forming cell (CFC) assays of the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from thalassemic patients. (ocailab.imib.es)

Principal Investigator: Dr. Ana Belén Pérez Oliva​ (SCOPUS Profile)

The SMS (Servicio Murciano de Salud) is the responsible entity for health care in the Region of Murcia, Spain, integrating a total of 11 hospitals, with 3.651 beds and 508 outpatient appointments of primary care, and providing healthcare to 1.47 million inhabitants (about 3,09% of the whole Spanish population). In the exercise of its functions, the SMS provide services and develop the following actions:

• Health Promotion
• Prevention of the disease
• Comprehensive primary care health
• Specialized Healthcare
• Rehabilitation;
• Provision of therapeutic products necessary for the promotion, preservation and restoration of health and prevention of disease;
• any other service or activity that is related to health

Virgen de la Arrixaca University Clinical Hospital (HCUVA) is the largest hospital of SMS and the core hospital of IMIB. It covers the most important reference specialties in the Region. In the project, SMS participates as Affiliated Entity of FFIS through the Hematology and Transplantation department. SMS researchers are also part of IMIB (hematopoietic transplantation / cell therapy group). The hospital has all the patient samples and all necessary infrastructure to get the samples available.

 

Mercurna BV is a biotech start-up, established in 2017 with the goal to develop life-changing medicines based on messenger RNA (mRNA). They exploit a technology platform that consists of the integrated development of 3 complementary modalities; (i) de-immunized mRNA, (ii) lipid nanoparticles (LNP) for delivery, and (iii) targeting moieties for specific cell targeting, together forming a nanoparticle to be used as nanomedicine. They are located at the Pivot Park in Oss, The Netherlands, a large biopharmaceutical campus with world-class R&D infrastructure that hosts around 60 start-ups, scale-ups, SME’s.

Within NANEMIAR, Mercurna will be exploiting their platform to develop a novel targeted mRNA therapeutic for congenital anemia, with beta-thalassemia as proof of concept. Mercurna will be responsible for the development of the therapeutic mRNA and aims to establish novel targeted LNPs that allow for delivery to hematopoietic stem cells residing in the bone marrow.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jenny van Asbeck-van der Wijst​ (SCOPUS Profile)

The Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) stands as a beacon of scientific excellence, driving innovation and discovery on a global scale. Their commitment to advancing knowledge, fostering collaborations, and upholding ethical standards is at the core of everything they do. The CNRS biology is one of the institutes of the CNRS. It supports a wide array of research projects, spanning from fundamental research aimed at understanding the fundamental mechanisms of life to more applied studies seeking solutions to pressing societal challenges. The institute fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, encouraging scientists from diverse backgrounds to work together and tackle complex biological questions.

Furthermore, the Institut des sciences biologiques (INSB) provides resources, funding, and infrastructure to support researchers in their investigations, promoting innovation and the development of cutting-edge technologies within the biological sciences. Its commitment to excellence in research and its contributions to the advancement of biological knowledge make INSB an integral part of the CNRS and the broader scientific community. The research group of Dr. Lachaud (Principal Investigator of NANEMIAR project) is coordinating all scientific work of the project and leading Work package 2 (WP2) dedicated to preclinical testing of the novel mRNA therapeutic.

Principal Investigator: Dr. Christhophe Lachaud​ (SCOPUS Profile)