Project Objectives

The aims for MEDITRANS

The overall aim is to advance health care via the development of innovative targeted drug / imaging agent delivery with controlled release, and imaging guidance procedures for the detection of the underlying targeting / (triggered) drug release processes. The specific scientific and technological objectives of this project are:

To demonstrate the potential of emerging materials (carbon-based nanoparticles) for use as carrier materials in targeted nanomedicines
To develop highly effective nanomedicines based on candidate materials (already used in proof-of-concept drug delivery studies in animals) by virtue of improved targeting and drug release properties
To promote the entry of nanomedicines based on established materials into industrial exploitation activities and clinical proof-of-concept studies
To develop high-sensitivity imaging probes properly designed for guiding drug delivery processes in vivo
To formulate proprietary industrial drug molecules, already established drugs, and DNA- or RNA-based drugs into targeted nanomedicines with well-characterised and optimised physicochemical properties
To optimise the targeting efficiency of the nanomedicines under development by in vitro target recognition studies
To improve the intracellular targeting of siRNA/pDNA-loaded nanomedicines in cancer and endothelial cells
To maximise the drug availability at the target site by means of external physical stimuli that induce drug release from the targeted nanoparticles ‘on demand’
To develop targeted nanomedicines from which release of drug/imaging probe is promoted by physiochemical characteristics of the pathological microenvironment
To develop imaging procedures for the monitoring of the various steps in the targeted drug delivery process (nanoparticle targeting and accumulation, drug release, local level of drug and of biomarkers in response to therapy) by means of ‘smart’ imaging probes
To optimise biodistribution, targeting efficiency, and therapeutic activity of the nanomedicines under development in suitable animal models of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis and cancer
To assess the toxicological aspects of selected MEDITRANS nanomedicines
To enter selected prototype nanomedicines into an industrial exploitation phase to evaluate their potential to be developed into a marketable product
To provide training courses, and access to the GALENOS-Network, provided for consortium scientists, SMEs, and key stakeholders
To provide effective and efficient dissemination, and demonstration, of the project’s results across Europe

An Integrated Project funded by the European Commission under the "nanotechnologies and nano-sciences, knowledge-based multifunctional materials and new production processes and devices" (NMP) thematic priority of the Sixth Framework Programme. Contract Number: NMP4-CT-2006-026668