The rupture of an Aortic Aneurysm (AA), which is often lethal, is a mechanical phenomenon that occurs when the wall stress state exceeds the local strength of the tissue. Our current understanding of arterial rupture mechanisms is poor, and the physics taking place at the microscopic scale in these collagenous structures remains an open area of research. Understanding, modelling, and quantifying the micro-mechanisms which drive the mechanical response of such tissue and locally trigger rupture represents the most challenging and promising pathway towards predictive diagnosis and personalized care of AA. The PI's group was recently able to detect, in advance, at the macro-scale, rupture-prone areas in bulging arterial tissues. The next step is to get into the details of the arterial microstructure to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Through the achievements of AArteMIS, the local mechanical state of the fibrous microstructure of the tissue, especially close to its rupture state, will be quantitatively analyzed from multi-photon confocal microscopy and numerically reconstructed to establish quantitative micro-scale rupture criteria. AArteMIS will also address developing micro-macro models which are based on the collected quantitative data. The entire project will be completed through collaboration with medical doctors and engineers, experts in all required fields for the success of AArteMIS. AArteMIS is expected to open longed-for pathways for research in soft tissue mechanobiology which focuses on cell environment and to enable essential clinical applications for the quantitative assessment of AA rupture risk. It will significantly contribute to understanding fatal vascular events and improving cardiovascular treatments. It will provide a tremendous source of data and inspiration for subsequent applications and research by answering the most fundamental questions on AA rupture behaviour enabling ground-breaking clinical changes to take place.

Despite the fact that antithrombotic therapy (ATT) has little or even negative effects on the well-being of cancer patients during their last year of life, stopping ATT is rare in clinical practice. In contrast, ATT is often continued until death, resulting in excess bleeding, higher healthcare costs, and increased disease burden. SERENITY will develop an information-driven, palliative care shared decision-making process enabled by a user-friendly, easily accessible, web-based shared decision support tool (SDST) that will facilitate treatment decisions regarding appropriate use of ATT in cancer patients at the end of life. SERENITY will use a comprehensive approach consisting of a combination of realist review, flash mob research, three epidemiologic studies in NL, UK, and DK, and qualitative interviews. The results of these studies will be used in a Delphi process to reach consensus on the optimal design of the intervention. Using the consensus reached in the Delphi process, the SDST will be designed to be patient-specific with adaption to gender, cancer-related, cultural, and socioeconomic factors. Proceeding, the SDST will be tested and optimised in a Randomised Clinical Trial. A targeted implementation and exploitation plan will be developed to enable the use of the SERENITY approach across Europe, as well as incorporation in national and pan-European clinical guidelines and policies. The intervention will ultimately lead to appropriate use of ATT, prevention of bleeding complications, and considerable cost savings in addition to improved quality of life and treatment satisfaction of patients, their carers, and involved healthcare professionals. The intervention will empower cancer patients and their carers, enabling them to make their own choices. The intervention will reduce the disease burden of hundreds of thousands of people living with cancer receiving palliative care each year, throughout all EU regions.

Cancer affects 35,000 children, adolescents and young adults (CAYAC) in Europe each year. Current 5-year survival rates are 80%, but the intensive oncological treatments leave CAYAC Survivors (CAYACS) at increased risk of cancer or treatment-induced late health effects, excess morbidity and mortality, and reduced quality of life (QoL). Follow-up care of survivors includes monitoring of cancers, managing all types of late effects, and maintaining overall health. It should also involve considering the needs of families whose functioning has been disrupted by cancer. There are several challenges providing follow-up care for CAYACS and their families: i) it is resource-demanding in an overburdened healthcare system, ii) psychosocial and supportive care needs are often unmet, and iii) access is inequal between European countries. The overall goal of e-QuoL is to use e-health tools to promote Equity in Quality of Life for CAYACS and their families. It will adapt an existing interoperable personalised e-Health tool that can be used alone or as an add-on module to existing tools such as digital survivorship care plans already used in several European countries. Through participatory research, involving CAYACS, families, associations, networks, health institutes, social sciences and humanities researchers and industrial partners from 15 different countries and backgrounds, we will i) identify the unmet needs of CAYAC families and survivors’ (including vulnerable groups: young age and cognitive impairments) and ii) adapt accessible and affordable tools to address these needs. These tools will provide a person-centred approach from medical follow-up, preventive behaviours (e.g. physical activity, nutrition), psychological and social support (e.g. education, employment) to related health information (e.g. on reproductive issues). Ultimately, e-QuoL will improve CAYACS’ QoL by enabling them to actively engage in their care and better self-manage their health and well-being. This action is part of the Cancer Mission cluster of projects on “Quality of Life.

Cognitive disabilities in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), also known as Trisomy 21, have no approved pharmacological treatment and represent a significant burden on DS individuals, their families and the healthcare system. The ICOD project will deliver a clinical proof of concept for a new therapy of cognitive deficits in DS by performing first in humans (phase I) and clinical efficacy (Phase II) studies with AEF0217. AEF0217 is a new chemical entity which offers a unique opportunity to treat cognitive deficits in DS. AEF0217 targets the CB1 receptor, a hyperactivity of which has been recently linked to cognitive deficit in DS. AEF0217 belongs to a new pharmacological class, named signalling specific inhibitors of the CB1 receptor (CB1-SSi), which allows to reverse cognitive deficit in animal models of DS. Because of its innovative MOA, AEF0217 is able to reduce selectively a hyperactivity of the CB1 without modifying the basal activity of this receptor and consequently without inducing behavioural side effects. The overarching goal of the ICOD project is to make this innovative first-in-class drug available for DS individuals 7 years after clinical development initiation.