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Description
The purpose of the project is to contribute to the improvement of public health, lowering inequality of health provision and increasing social cohesion and employability in Cyprus. More specifically, the project aims to strengthen research through the development of new infrastructure for conducting functional studies related to various diseases. This will be achieved by utilising the existing Norwegian-funded Translational Facility and analysing pathological samples for genetic research, biomarker discovery and other cutting-edge disciplines, towards early detection, reliable diagnosis and personalised disease management of affected patients with many diseases, such as neuropathologies, neuromuscular diseases and haemolytic anaemias.
Main activities shall include:
- purchase of equipment needed for diagnosis (i.e. flow-cytometric cell sorting equipment, cell electroporation equipment for virus-free cell manipulation, bioimaging equipment, etc.);
- development of new diagnostic services and therapeutic approaches;
- hands-on staff training in cutting-edge methodology.
Summary of project results
Τhe main issues/challenges that the project aimed to address are:
- New infrastructure and corresponding techniques to enable new routine and advanced diagnostic and research procedures in Cyprus, something that was not possible before.
- Increase of awareness and job-readiness in Cyprus for the related forward-looking technologies and applications in the fields of molecular medicine and diagnostics.
- Contribution to local development and increased employment as well as increased access to advanced diagnosis and healthcare for the population of Cyprus.
- Contribution to the competitiveness of Cyprus as a biomedical service provider and as a regional hub for research and education.
- Increase employability of its participants and trainees
- Increase the number of scientific collaborations based on cutting-edge technologies in Cyprus.
The outcomes of the project are:
- scientific recognition of the contribution of the EEA/Norway Grants and this project to diagnosis and therapy development in Cyprus,
- the development of new diagnostic services and therapeutic approaches in Cyprus,
- hands-on staff training in cutting-edge methodology.
- Scientific progress was in line with the timeframe and the project implementation has been successfully competed.
- All the equipment has been purchased.
- The project had savings around € 15.300 were transferred to PDP 10.
- Around 250 people received the services provided through the project. The initial target was 200.
- 155 people from the professional staff have been trained (in Genome Editing and Cytometry). The initial target was 60.
- The following technologies were developed: (1) flow cytometry cell sorting of HbF-positive cell populations of the HUDEP-2 cell line, (2) flow cytometry cell sorting in plates of single cells of the HUDEP-2 cell line after editing, (3) flow cytometry cell sorting of primary NK cells, (4) flow cytometry cell sorting of preimplantation genetic testing fro monogenic diseases (PGT-M) samples, (5) chemiluminescence detection in human primary and immortalised cell extracts or the proteins α-globin, β-globin, γ-globin, BCL11A, β-actin, (6) fluorescence duplex detection of the proteins α-globin and β-globin, (7) virometry for direct measurement of viral particles, (8) human papillomavirus detection by chemiluminescence detection, (9) nucleofection of HUDEP-2 and hematopoietic stem cells, (10) sorting and enrichment of immune cell sub-populations.