The JU Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology and the JU Clinic of Ophthalmology and Ocular Oncology are part of the consortium which has been awarded a 6 million euro grant within the framework of the Horizon2020 programme "E-RARE-3" for research programmes on rare diseases.
The five-year-long grant UMCure2020 is aimed at finding new methods of Uveal Melanoma (UM) treatment. This cancer affects 5-7 people per one million and is incurable due to metastasis. Even though the genetic and molecular risk factors of UM have already been indentified, there is still no effective therapy against the metastasis.
The consortium led by Dr Sergio Roman-Romana of the Curie Institute in Paris consists of the leading European experts in UM research and treatment from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. The research project envisages the establishment of a tissue databank, creation of UM animal models to study the metastatic dissemination of this kind of cancer, the genetic and molecular characterisation of UM aimed at identifying new therapeutic goals and testing new types of anticancer treatment. A multilingual educational website for UM patients is also to be launched.
The role of the Jagiellonian University group is to gather tissue samples from the patients and analyse them, as well as create new UM models in animals with decreased immunity and test new ways of UM treatment on animal models. The research will be coordinated by Dr hab. Martyna Elas (Depatment of Biophysics, JU FBBB) and Prof. Bożena Romanowska-Dixon (JU MC Department of Ophtalmology).
