Marie-Skłodowska Curie European Training Network: CaSR-Biomedicine

The Marie-Skłodowska Curie European Training Network: “The Calcium Sensing Receptor (CaSR):Therapeutics for Non-Communicable Diseases” (CaSR Biomedicine), funded by the European Community is recruiting 13 Early Stage Researchers.

The research will be performed at:

1. Medical University of Vienna (MUW), Austria: Evaluation of CaSR - based therapeutics in colorectal cancer; and CaSR-mediated signalling in colonocytes; (2 ESRs), scientists in charge Enikö Kallay and Sabina Baumgartner Parzer.
2. Cardiff University (CU), United Kingdom: “CaSR as a novel target for treating pro-inflammatory airway disorders”; (1 ESR), scientists in charge: Daniela Riccardi, and Polina Iarova.
3. Fundació Sant Joan de Deu (FSJD), Barcelona, Spain: Evaluation of CaSR - based therapeutics in neuroblastoma; (1 ESR), scientist in charge: Carmen de Torres Gomez-Pallete.
4. University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark: Delineation of CaSR signalling in primary cells and cell lines with native receptor expression. (1 ESR); scientists in charge: Hans Bräuner-Osborne and Petrine Wellendorph.
5. University of Firenze (UNIFI), Italy: Targeting CaSR in human skeletal muscle cells to delay sarcopenia development (1 ESR); scientist in charge: Maria Luisa Brandi.
6. University of Liverpool (UL), United Kingdom: Role of the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) in glucose homeostasis (1 ESR); scientist in charge: Fadil Hannan.
7. University of Manchester (UM), United Kingdom: Cell-specific CaSR signalling (1 ESR); scientist in charge: Donald Ward.
8. University of Oxford (UOXF), United Kingdom: Evaluation of CaSR-targeted drugs for the treatment of diabetes mellitus; (1 ESR) scientist in charge: Rajesh V. Thakker.
9. Université de Picardie Jules Verne (UPJV), Amiens, France: Role of the CaSR in early bone metastasis of breast cancer; (1 ESR) scientist in charge: Romuald Mentaverri.
10. VU University Amsterdam (Stichting VU/VU_MC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Ligand-biased G-protein activation by CaSR; (1 ESR) scientist in charge: Frank Bruggeman and Joachim Goedhart.
11. S.A.F.A.N Bioinformatics (SAFAN), Torino, Italy: In silico analysis of CaSR-ligand interaction; (1 ESR); scientists in charge: Luisa Pugliese and Marco Botta.
12. TissueGnostics GmbH (TG), Vienna, Austria: Generation, validation and application of algorithms for tissue segmentation used in advanced tissue cytometry; (1 ESR); scientists in charge: Rupert Ecker and Isabella Ellinger.

The duration of the recruitment is 36 months.

The objective of this European Training Network is to increase knowledge regarding the role of the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) in the pathogenesis of major non-communicable diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus (DM), cancer, and sarcopenia and to educate and train Early Stage Researchers to become excellent scientists, enable them to gain a holistic view of their specific research area, prepare them for the challenges of working in a highly competitive environment, be it in Academia or in Industry.

The “CaSR Biomedicine” ETN has three main scientific objectives:

1. To identify major CaSR-mediated signalling routes and effector molecules to provide a comprehensive understanding of CaSR-dependent physiology (WP1). Precise characterisation of tissue-specific CaSR signalling and function will enable repurposing of CaSR-based therapeutics for common disorders such as AD, CVD, DM, sarcopenia, or cancer. (at MUW, UCPH, UM, VU/VU_MC, SAFAN);
2. To test the usability of CaSR-based therapeutic approaches for diseases of aging (AD, CVD, DM, sarcopenia) (at CU, UNIFI, UL, UOXF, BIOT);
3. To test CaSR-based therapeutic approaches for three types of cancer (neuroblastoma, colorectal cancer, breast cancer) (at FSJD, MUW, UPJV, TG).