GeneH proposes to create an excellence hub in gene therapy through strategic partnerships within and beyond Widening countries. Despite gene therapy's recognized priority in genomic medicine and its potential for high-curative economic impact, challenges persist in its development process, from conceptualization to commercialization. GeneH intends to address these challenges by serving as a catalyst for overcoming barriers and expediting research translation. To achieve this, GeneH will establish a robust and sustainable hub that builds upon already established ecosystems in the field and recent H2020 WIDENING projects to implement centers of excellence in gene therapy (GeneT in PT and CTGCT in SL). The academic partners at its core, namely, the University of Coimbra (UC) in Portugal and the National Institute of Chemistry (KI/NIC) in Slovenia , have reached substantial achievements by partnering with industry (Bluepharma, Biocant Park, Biosistemika, Jafral), hospitals (CHUC EPE), policy makers (CCDRC, RRA LUR), ecosystem/innovation supporters (SIH EEIG, IPN), and patient associations (APAHE, ZOPS). Partners in the two ecosystems share a common goal: treating life-threatening or chronically debilitating diseases considered incurable. By harnessing the combined expertise and resources of its partners, GeneH aims to drive cross-sectoral collaboration through its 4-helix network, in a multidimensional approach that will gather further investment, address ethical and regulatory aspects, implement de-risking approaches, educational and training programes, joint R&I programs, and prepare the path for clinical trials of new gene therapy products, while actively engaging society. By positioning itself as a leading hub in gene therapy, in line with regional, national, and European strategies, GeneH seeks to contribute to European competitive leadership globally, advancing healthcare, fostering economic growth, and making a positive societal impact.

INEXTVIR is an innovative training and research programme that aims at providing to the next generation of young researchers unparalleled professional experiences and core competencies to resolve significant challenges across multiple disciplines in the academic, industrial and regulatory sectors. INEXTVIR proposes the use of cutting-edge Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies for studying at an unprecedented depth the virome of selected agricultural crops and ecosystems across Europe and evaluating the impact and benefits it provides at the agricultural, socio-economic and policy levels. This is a timely and exciting research field suited to and benefiting from a trans-disciplinary pan European network approach. The work will cover virus discovery, characterization and the identification of ecological factors determining the structure and dynamics of virus populations in agricultural and wild ecosystems. This is critical to understand the epidemiology of disease and will enable informed risk assessment and decision making by the scientific and regulatory communities. In addition, the different stakeholders’ risk/benefit perceptions will be assessed enabling the development of effective communication strategies. Finally, the bioinformatics work (including data classification and presentation) and NGS method development and validation will facilitate the transfer, adoption and exploitation of innovations in plant protection and routine diagnostic settings. In summary, INEXTVIR will enable the fellows to understand the wider context behind their research, which will maximize the impact of their work in contrast to conventional PhDs. Furthermore, they will receive training in transferable skills including project, people, quality and IP management, communication and presentation skills which jointly with the cross-border and cross-sectorial mobility will provide a unique opportunity for their career development and for improving their employability prospects.

As of 30th March 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak had caused over 735,000 infections globally, claiming more than 35,000 lives. By the end of July 2020 these numbers have increased globally to more than 17 millions infections and more than 660,000 lives have been lost due to the disease. Rapid and definitive diagnosis of the specific SARS-CoV-2 is essential, while identifying other common viral and bacterial pathogens is beneficial in the management of treatment and in timely isolation of infected patients with overlapping clinical symptoms. A recent study has shown that 5.8% of SARS-CoV-2 infected and 18.4% of non-SARS-CoV-2-infected patients had other concurrent pathogen infections. Failure to distinguish different pathogens may lead to unnecessary antimicrobial use, cross-infection of mis-grouped patients and further spreading of the infection. Therefore, in response to the current outbreak, singleplex testing is not optimal, especially considering the virus may become permanently and globally endemic. Simple, sensitive and multiplex detection of all respiratory pathogens is technically challenging. In response to the need for faster and better detection of multiple respiratory pathogens, GeneFirst has developed a prototype using its innovative proprietary technology - MPA (Multiplex Probe Amplification) - to simultaneously detect and differentiate SARS-CoV-2 as well as 30 other common respiratory bacteria and viruses. This assay will allow for accurate, cost-effective and comprehensive diagnoses during the current outbreak as well as future routine diagnosis. In this project, the consortium aims to analytically and clinically validate (CE-mark) this assay on two automated platforms for Point-of-Care and core pathology testing. This strategy provides maximum flexibility in screening and triage, allowing better and faster care, alleviating pressures on healthcare systems and improving patient recovery rates. GeneFirst aim to commercialise the assay for £8.50 (€9.00) per test.

Our data-intensive era requires innovative and sustainable data storage solutions: current technologies have hit several sustainability limits in terms of storage capacity, energy consumption and use of rare and toxic materials. A significant share of new data is not yet stored beyond the short term, and conventional storage media do not offer adequate longevity, data density or cost efficiency characteristics to meet global demand. As nature’s data storage medium of choice, DNA offers an ideal alternative with unmatched information density and stability for millennia. The PEARL-DNA multidisciplinary consortium aims to develop and assess a novel high-throughput, end-to-end PoC platform for DNA-based digital data storage built on scalable and interoperable systems for block-by-block assembled DNA. The consortium aims to substantially advance the state of the art in terms of throughput and data integrity for the mid- to long-term storage of large datasets. The innovative platform will enable 10+ MB/s data-to-DNA writing speeds in sub-nanolitre droplet DNA assembly for the very first time, while eliminating the need for plastic consumables. In addition, novel error correction, compression and data standard modules will be developed, as well as a cutting-edge storage container system for maintenance-free, long-term preservation of DNA at room temperature. The fully modular and interoperable platform will facilitate integration with other DNA-based storage solutions and accelerate the uptake of the technology. Using DNA as a commercially viable and widely applicable data storage medium strongly relies on intertwining a wide range of technologies from multiple disciplines, such as life sciences, engineering and information technology. PEARL-DNA brings together three renowned research groups and three innovative SMEs to anchor the European innovation ecosystem into the global DNA-based digital data storage space.