Strengthening research, technological development and innovation
Promoting innovation capacities for a more competitive area
The overall goal of the project was to bring together, share and improve therapeutic methodologies and diagnostic possibilities for pediatric rare diseases. So far, the two pediatric clinical reference centers work independently. The specialized knowledge of the clinical and research centers has been transferred to major companies in the "Health" sector in the Program area.
The so-called "rare diseases" do not receive adequate attention from the scientific community and the pharmaceutical industry. Many of these diseases occur in pediatric age and require continuous diagnostic and therapeutic efforts to improve the quality of life of affected children and to minimize the socio-economic impact on families and the health care system.
Established clinical and scientific expertise already exists in the Program Area, particularly in the cross-border axis between IRCCS Burlo Garofolo in Trieste and the Pediatric Clinic of the University of Ljubljana, which were already collaborating in research on some rare diseases such as immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Up to the project start date, the following were still lacking: a) patient-centered diagnostic methods capable of defining specific individual disease profiles and targeted treatments; b) widespread local knowledge of diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in this area; and c) efficient tools for sharing knowledge/results of research, particularly towards primary care physicians, hospital physicians and patient associations. The CATTEDRA project addressed these shortcomings by bringing together clinical centers, research centers and companies.
There were two outcomes of the project. The first was the transfer, integration and sharing of diagnostic and therapeutic data on therapies. To achieve this outcome there was close cooperation between "scientific" and "corporate" partners, in line with the output indicator for IP 1.b. This outcome has strengthened cooperation between two key pediatric entities, and has also provided data and guidelines on common treatment protocols useful to hospitals/physicians/health workers caring for children with immune-mediated diseases.
The second outcome was the development of innovative diagnostic tests developed by bringing together the experiences of Burlo and UCKLJ with technical support from COBIK. Also for this outcome there was close collaboration between public and private partners to transfer useful knowledge from clinical and research centers to companies, contributing to the output indicator of the CO26 program. The feasibility study of new shared diagnostic tests enabled the foundation for new cross-border collaborations, but also stimulated Italian and Slovenian biomedical companies to collaborate with research institutions, particularly in the field of in vitro diagnostics.
Operation co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund
