INPUT will strive to make the control of complex upper limb prostheses simple, natural and to be used on a daily basis by amputees effortlessly after donning -"don and play". Currently, the most advanced routine prosthetic control on the market is more than 4 decades old, outdated and constitutes the bottle neck to introducing highly dexterous prostheses. The project builds on achievements reached in the EU FP7 IAPP projects AMYO (Grant No. 251555, 2011-2014) and MYOSENS (Grant No. 286208, 2012-2015), which were targeting improved signal acquisition and signal processing for advanced upper limb prosthetic control. The projects were very successful and received high recognitions national and international recognitions. In INPUT, the main goal will be to transfer the obtained results from laboratory settings further towards a clinically and commercially viable medical product. The enabling concepts on which INPUT builds upon are: - Reliable, easy to apply, cost-effective signal acquisition - Reliable, powerful real-time signal processing - Quantifying true patient benefit - Optimized end-user training - Iterative clinical tests throughout the entire project In order to keep a realistic focus, the project will rely on well-known principles of advanced prosthesis control. Existing upper limb prosthetic hardware will be reused to minimize development time and costs. Improved electronics, algorithms and training will be the main innovations. INPUT will build on frequent end-user testing with amputees throughout the entire project. These will ensure targeted prototype development and market viability for advancing the technology from laboratory conditions to a high technology readiness level (TRL) of 8. The project relies on the cooperation between academic research, industry and clinical partners - thus representing the entire value chain of cutting edge upper limb prosthetics. This will ensure the development of stable, wearable and practical prototypes.

The silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health crisis with a projected annual mortality rate of 10 million by 2050. Addressing this crisis critically depends on fast, accessible and precise diagnostics to improve detection and prevention of infection and guide antibiotic therapy. Current diagnostics often have insufficient turnaround time or data for timely detection and prevention of outbreaks or precision antibiotic therapy guidance, and accessibility is often limited due to the required infrastructure and expert personnel. To overcome these shortcomings, and address AMR, we are developing a diagnostic based on accelerated whole genome sequencing linked with AI-assisted data analysis. This project termed “DRAIGON” includes a consortium of internationally recognized experts in sequencing platform and assay development, bioinformatics and machine learning, clinical microbiology, infection prevention and control, antibiotic therapy and stewardship, and health economics to jointly develop our in vitro diagnostic solution to target virtually any pathogen-antibiotic combination. We propose to validate and demonstrate the clinical utility of DRAIGON focusing on bloodstream and prosthetic joint infections at five independent sites, including one located in a medium income country representative of areas with a high AMR burden and reduced access to laboratory infrastructure. The diagnostic will be easy to implement and functions as an early detection system to prevent the cross-border spread of pathogens. In rapidly and accurately providing pathogen ID and type, a comprehensive antibiogram, and outbreak cluster information directly from genome data and in a single assay, this innovative high-resolution diagnostic aims to reinforce the global fight against AMR infections and enable the antibiotic stewardship goals of “right antibiotic, at the right dose, for the right patient, and at the right time”.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of pain and disability, affecting over 500 million people worldwide. The tremendous socio-economic burden caused by OA is expected to further increase due to rising life expectancy and obesity. Current therapeutic approaches are limited to pain management or knee arthroplasty, but no disease-modifying or regenerative treatment is available. ENCANTO will address this major unmet clinical need by clinically introducing a combined ATMP for the biological reconstruction of the degenerated joint facet in patellofemoral OA (PFOA). This tissue-engineered cartilage (N-TEC), based on autologous nasal chondrocytes and a collagen membrane, was previously successfully used for focal cartilage lesions. The central part of ENCANTO is an international, blinded, multicenter, prospective randomized controlled phase II trial to clinically assess the efficacy of N-TEC for the treatment of PFOA. Patients’ samples will be analyzed to retrospectively identify PFOA molecular endotypes and associated biomarker signatures with the most successful clinical outcome after N-TEC implantation, to predictively select responders to therapy. To achieve these aims ENCANTO brings together tissue engineers with practice in ATMPs, knee surgery and rehabilitation specialists, research institutes experienced in regulatory affairs, health economics and ATMP development, excellent scientists involved in the assessment of OA endotypes, and patients’ representatives. SMEs from the consortium will develop a road map towards commercial exploitation, including centralized marketing authorization. After demonstrating efficacy for PFOA, N-TEC will be considered for other forms of OA in different joints. ENCANTO will thus introduce the first disease-modifying therapy for cartilage degeneration, enable mobility and social gain for a large patient group and play a pivotal role in strengthening Europe's position in delivering regenerative medicine solutions.