Bando a Cascata del Resarch Node 3 - Approcci Avanzati ed Innovativialla diagnostica microbiologica delle malattie infettive"

This call was published by Spoke 3: University of Catania. - The available budget for this call was of EUR 2'500'000.00.
Support during collection of Applications and Evaluations has been provided by the INF-ACT Foundation.

CALL DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

Diagnostics is the cornerstone of medical practice. In many fields, diagnostics focus on narrow and specific questions, providing quick and unequivocal answers. Conversely, diagnostics applied to clinical microbiology laboratories must deal with dozens of potential pathogens, often emerging and evolving towards multi-drug-resistant phenotypes and/or responsible for various syndromes. Recent technological advances have stimulated the development of new tests capable of detecting and identifying microorganisms more quickly and accurately, as well as simultaneously detect multiple pathogens (syndromic tests) and/or antibiotic resistance mechanisms. The current arsenal of advanced diagnostic tests has revolutionized the management approach of clinical microbiology laboratories, but many questions still remain unanswered; furthermore, the best way to use them is still under study. Advanced diagnostics themselves have clarified some questions, but at the same time, they have created the need to delve into scientific aspects of their implementation to make these new tests operational and integrated into existing practice. Key aspects include:

• Molecular diagnostics platforms for detecting resistant pathogens and gene variants resistant;
• New diagnostics platforms based on the host’s response to MDR-sustained infections;
• Rapid diagnosis of BSI based on primary blood samples;
• WGS applied to molecular bacteriology of MDROs;
• Syndromic panels and AI.

Projects responding to this call should aim at improving and/or establishing new advanced, innovative, fast, and precise techniques to be applied in clinical microbiology diagnostics, necessary for combating antibiotic-resistant infections. The call will include applications of WGS, which are becoming increasingly common in clinical microbiology laboratories, as well as the implementation of algorithms in the decision-making process through computers with capabilities simulating human intelligence (AI).

Expected Results:

• Determination of ideal analyte panels for a specific patient population and clinical situation, also based on the evaluation of host responses;
• Determination of the role of WGS in the rapid identification and monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks, along with the detection of emerging resistance and surveillance;
• Reduction of TAT (Turnaround Time) in BSI by detecting pathogens and resistance determinants in primary culture using raw blood;
• AI and syndromic panels.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

• Calls will be open to teams including both private and public entities (minimum: 5 entities), external to the INF-ACT consortium.
• Each team must identify a lead organization (Leader), or the subject appointed and authorized to represent the whole team and maintain communications with the Spoke during all phases of the presentation and evaluation procedure and for the entire duration of the activities planning;
• The team Leader must be a public University or a public Research Organization;
• Each team Leader may submit only one project proposal in response to this call. On the other hand, the possibility is not precluded for the same entity to be part of other teams in response to other Cascade Calls
• Each team entity must indicate the name of the researchers involved in the proposed project activities (so-called "critical mass"), the expected commitment in person-months, their curriculum vitae to assess the actual contribution to the research work.
• Each team entity must participate with at least one researcher. The maximum number of researchers to be involved as critical mass for this project is 20.
• Each team must allocate at least 40% of the requested financing to entities located in regions of Southern Italy (tagging: territorial);
• In case of recruitment of new researchers, the team must comply with the provisions of article 47 "Equal opportunities, generational and gender, in public contracts PNRR and PNC" of Law Decree 31-May-2021, no. 77 converted into law 29-July-2021, n. 108;
• Budget breakdown and financial reporting must comply with guidelines and regulation for RRNP funded-projects.

Collection of applications started at 12:00 PM on Nov 6, 2023 and closed at 12:00 PM on Dec 7, 2023

REPORTING AND OTHERS

• All allocated funds must be spent by the end of October 2025. Should MUR allow time extensions to the NRRP/PNRR INF-ACT project, extensions might be also provided to COC projects;
• Awarded teams will comply to NRRP/PNRR reporting rules as per the indications that will be made by INF-ACT Spoke and INF-ACT Foundation;
• Awarded teams will have to join the INF-ACT foundation as partners;
• Funding should be acknowledged in all publications emanating from the research carried out during the award period together with NRRP/PNRR funds using the following statements: "This research was supported by EU funding within the NextGenerationEU-MUR PNRR Extended Partnership initiative on Emerging Infectious Diseases (Project no. PE00000007, INF-ACT). [BENEFICIARY NAME] was recipient of INF-ACT Cascade Open Call 2023 (ID CALL)."
• Participation of private entity and co-financing are not mandatory, but an added value;
• Financial capacity of private entity will be assessed ex-post by third parties. In case of negative outcome, the private entity will be excluded from participating to the awarded project and, therefore, from receiving funding.

EVALUATION PROCESS

Proposals were evaluated on the basis of the following evaluation criteria:

• Objective and scientific quality (max 50 points)
• Innovation and private sector involvement (max 20 points)
• Impact (max 15 points)
• Economic sustainability (max 15 points)

Proposals were considered admissible for financing if they obtain at least 70 out of 100 points. Evaluation will be carried out by a panel of 3-5 international and highly-qualified scientists, who are not directly involved in the INF-ACT Research Program. Reviewers will sign a declaration to exclude possible conflicts of interest before accessing the scientific proposals to be evaluated.

RESULTS

The final ranking list has been published on the UNICT website.