Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer affecting woman in the EU. Multidisciplinary Breast Units (BUs) were introduced in order to deal efficiently with breast cancer cases, setting guideline-based quality procedures and a high standard of care. However, daily practice in the BUs is hampered by the complexity of the disease, the vast amount of patient and disease data available in the digital era, the difficulty in coordination, the pressure exerted by the system and the difficulty in deciding on cases that guidelines do not reflect. DESIREE aims to alleviate this situation by providing a web-based software ecosystem for the personalized, collaborative and multidisciplinary management of primary breast cancer (PBC) by specialized BUs. Decision support will be provided on the available therapy options by incorporating experience from previous cases and outcomes into an evolving knowledge model, going beyond the limitations of the few existing guideline-based decision support systems (DSS). Patient cases will be represented by a novel digital breast cancer patient (DBCP) data model, incorporating variables relevant for decision and novel sources of information and biomarkers of diagnostic and prognostic value, providing a holistic view of the patient presented to the BU through specialized visual exploratory interfaces. The influence of new variables and biomarkers in current and previous cases will be explored by a set of data mining and visual analytics tools, leveraging large amounts of retrospective data. Iintuitive web-based tools for multi-modality image analysis and fusion will be developed, providing advanced imaging biomarkers for breast and tumor characterization. Finally, a predictive tool for breast conservative therapy will be incorporated, based on a multi-scale physiological model, allowing to predict the aesthetic outcome of the intervention and the healing process, with important clinical and psychological implications for the patients.

The Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway is at the core of multiple fundamental biological processes controlling metabolism, protein synthesis, cell growth, survival, and migration. This inevitably leads to the involvement of the PI3K signalling pathway in a number of different diseases, ranging from inflammation and diabetes to cancer, with PI3K pathway alterations present in almost 80% of human cancers. Therefore, PI3Ks have emerged as important targets for drug discovery and, during 2014, the first PI3K inhibitor was approved by FDA in the US for the treatment of a lymphocytic leukaemia. Nonetheless, our understanding of PI3K-mediated signalling is still poor and only a fraction of the potential therapeutic applications have been addressed so far, leaving a large amount of translational work unexplored. Europe features a set of top quality research institutions and pharmaceutical companies focused on PI3K studies but their activities have been so far scattered. This proposal fills this gap by providing a multidisciplinary network (biochemistry, mouse studies, disease models, drug development, software development) and an unprecedented training opportunity from the bench to the bedside (from pre-clinical discoveries to clinical trials), through cutting edge molecular biology, drug discovery and clinical trial organization. The proposal is aimed at training young investigators in deep understanding of the different PI3K isoforms in distinct tissues and to translate this knowledge into a new generation of PI3K inhibitors, treatment modalities and into identify new uses for existing PI3K inhibitors.

Anaemia is the most common pathological condition affecting 1.6 billion individuals worldwide. It thus presents a serious health care problem and an economic burden. Reduction in red blood cell (RBC) number can be caused by blood loss, diet, stress conditions including endurance sport, and pathologies which are caused by primary genetic aberrations or are secondary to the malfunction of other cell types. Transfusion of RBC, which is often the only cure for severe cases of anaemia, is associated with risks such as thrombosis and transfusion reactions due to allo-immunisation. There is an unmet need to improve treatment of anaemia through early and accurate diagnosis, targeted treatment, and increased safety and effectiveness of RBC transfusion. The aim of RELEVANCE is to improve fast and cost-effective diagnosis of the underlying cause of primary anaemia, and to improve treatment options for both general and personalised medicine. We defined five key objectives: (1) to improve diagnostics of anaemia, particularly for hereditary rare forms of anaemia (RA); (2) to find novel treatments for anaemia that target RBC production, ageing and clearance; (3) to reduce premature loss of RBC following transfusion; (4) to produce cultured RBC for transfusion; (5) to monitor and optimise RBC function during sport and exercise. RELEVANCE will train 15 early stage researchers (ESR) at four SMEs and eight academic partners, two of whom are at blood supply centres and two are diagnostic centres for RA. The continuous interactions between the clinic, blood supply centers, basic research, and industry will select for the most relevant unmet medical needs, and will stimulate innovative procedures that are immediately probed for applicability and validity both in a research and a clinical setting. RELEVANCE will organize three open access summer schools, extending training beyond the ESR of the ITN sustaining the critical number of young talented professionals in the field.