Severe ocular disorders are affecting the lives of more than 100Mill people world-wide and at least 25% of the population above 70 years of age, a growing demographic group in EU. More than 8 million people lose their lives to cancer every year, making cancer a leading cause of pre-mature mortality in the world. The main hallmarks of severe eye conditions (i.e angiogenesis, inflammation and vascular permeability) play also pivotal roles in cancer, being therapeutic targets to treat both kind of diseases. The overall goal of 3D-NEONET is the improvement of available treatments for cancer and ocular disease by enhancing drug discovery-development and delivery to targeted tissues, through advanced international co-operation between academic and non-academic partners. The interdisciplinary expertise provided by 18 partners in 7 countries encompasses among others: drug screens, ADME, toxicology, preclinical models, nanotechnology, biomaterials and clinical trials. After the success with ongoing FP7-IAPP project 3D-NET (Drug Discovery and Development of Novel Eye Therapeutics; (www.ucd.ie/3dnet), we are assembling 3D-NEONET, this enlarged European interdisciplinary consortium that will join forces and exchange skills to enhance current therapies in oncology and ophthalmology. The 3 global objectives of 3D-NEONET are: 1- Enhance the discovery and development of novel drugs, targets and biomarkers for ophthalmology and oncology. 2- Improve the Delivery of Therapeutics for Oncology and Ophthalmology 3- Enhancement of Research, Commercial and Clinical Trial Project Management Practices in these fields. Through participation in the program, 3D-NEONET is the vehicle for driving synergies between academic and non-academic partners leading to increased scientific and technological excellence as well as tangible innovative outputs that will strengthen the competitiveness of both the researchers and industries of the network even beyond the lifetime of the network.

The EVEREST project is a pioneering consortium in Extracellular Vesicle (EVs) research, bringing together 22 institutions from 11 countries, including 3 UK partners. This interdisciplinary consortium is distinguished by an ambitious plan for over 285 months of staff exchanges, engaging at least 81 fellows. Research-Innovation programme is structured into four pivotal work packages: 1. Combining Expertise and Resources for Advancing Standardised Characterisation and Isolation of EVs: Focused on harmonizing methods for EV isolation across diverse tissues and samples, enhancing the consistency and reliability of EV research. 2. Jointly Investigating EVs in Health or Disease, and Enhancing Translational Biomarker Discovery: Concentrated on exploring the roles of EVs in various health conditions and diseases, with a particular emphasis on identifying and validating new biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic applications. 3. Uniting Capacities, Advancing EV-Based Therapeutics or Drug Delivery: Dedicated to developing innovative EV-based treatments and drug delivery mechanisms, targeting key health challenges like cancer and cardiovascular diseases. 4. Catalysing commercial development of EV-based technologies: Aiming to bridge the gap between research and practical application, this work package focuses on preparing EV-based solutions for large-scale production and market introduction. At its core, EVEREST is committed to significantly enhancing the capabilities of participating institutions and fostering career advancement for involved fellows. By positioning EVs as critical tools for biomarker discovery and therapeutic applications, the project aims to make substantial contributions to personalized medicine and improved health outcomes, ultimately translating research breakthroughs into clinical practice.

Cancer remains a major global health issue, with millions affected by metastatic and refractory diseases. Current treatments often lack personalized strategies, leading to trial-and-error approaches that delay effective treatment and increase patient suffering, with 2 out of 3 cases affected by ineffective therapies. BioReperias ZTX platform addresses this gap by providing a fast, accurate solution for predicting treatment outcomes through its proprietary Zebrafish Tumor Xenograft (ZTX) technology, ZTX PREDICT. Unlike conventional molecular profiling, our solution delivers results in just five days, with up to 80% accuracy in predicting treatment success and metastasis risk, offering a breakthrough in personalized medicine for 90% of patients. This innovative approach allows doctors to make faster, more informed decisions, improving survival rates, reducing healthcare costs, and supporting pharma in designing clinical trials. Over the past years, BioReperia has collaborated with leading pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and research institutions in pre-clinical drug efficacy studies using its platform, becoming a recognized leader in zebrafish-based cancer modeling. Now, after proving the effectiveness of the ZTX platform, ZTX PREDICT, for its use in individualized cancer medicine and treatment outcome prediction through small proof-of-concept clinical trials for 3 indications, and having developed two robotic systems and AI-imaging software to automate our IVD service, we are in position to scale our capacities by tenfold by refining the state-of-the art infrastructure, and conduct large clinical trials to provide robustness of ZTX PREDICT. Once we complete the final development, the compliance with the EU-IVR regulation and scale-up our ISO-lab, we will be ready to global leader in personalized medicine and expand our IVD services to Europe and USA leading to 5-years cumulative revenues of >73M and a company value creation of 500M by 2033.

Cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLTs) are potent lipid mediators of inflammation. CysLT1 and 2 receptors are widely expressed e.g. lungs, colorectum, heart, brain & eye; and CysLT1 antagonists are prescribed to treat airway inflammation. Excitingly, CysLT signalling was recently discovered to regulate the biology of vascular, neuronal and cancer cells underpinning its untapped therapeutic potential in other diseases. CRYSTAL3 interconnects unique and diverse researchers to create a multidisciplinary team sharing expertise and research capacities. The contribution of CysLT signalling to disease is divulged; its therapeutic potential unlocked and new services & products commercialised. This is delivered by staff exchanges to jointly research Ocular & Central Nervous System (CNS), Cardiovascular system (CV) and Cancer diseases. The R&I goal of CRYSTAL3 is to reduce human disease burden by enhancing EU capability and knowledge-sharing in research and commercialisation. This is achieved through advanced international co-operation between 5 academic and 5 non-academic partners, in 7 countries. The focus is on innovative research into the CysLT signalling pathway in human diseases related to the Ocular-CNS, & CV systems and Cancer (OCCC). The 3 overall objectives of CRYSTAL3 are: A) Combine resources to discover novel pathological mechanisms linking cysteinyl leukotriene signalling to ocular, central nervous system, cardiovascular disease and cancer (OCCC). B) Unite partner capacities to uncover the therapeutic potential of cysteinyl leukotriene signalling in ocular, central nervous system, cardiovascular disease and cancer (OCCC). C) Commercialise products and services co-developed within CRYSTAL3 The CRYSTAL3 consortium tackles these challenges by promoting cross-sector, inter-European R&I staff exchanges among participants with expertise in OCCC disease, computational drug discovery, genetic engineering, pre-clinical disease models, marketing and commercialisation.