Results of the 10th SystemsX.ch call

The SNSF Presidium has approved nine projects in the new Medical Research and Development (MRD) Project category, and two new Transfer Projects (TF).

The 10th call for proposals was met with much interest – especially the new project category Medical Research and Development (MRD) Projects, in which 30 proposals were submitted. Nine of them have now been approved by the SNSF Presidium (see table 1).

Table 1. These nine MRD proposals were approved by the SNSF in November 2014 and will be funded by SystemsX.ch:

Title of MRD proposal

Applicant

Institutions

Systems biology of prion diseases

Aguzzi, Adriano

UZH/USZ, UZH, UniL, SIB, University of Cambridge

A systems medicine approach to hematopoietic stem cell diseases

Skoda, Radek

UniBas, UZH/USZ, ETHZ, UniBas/USB

Systems biology of intestinal microbial metabolism in inflammatory bowel disease

Macpherson, Andrew

UniBE/Inselspital, ETHZ, SIB

Breast Cancer MetastasiX: Mathematical modeling of tumor heterogeneity during progression to metastases and clinical validation

Weber, Walter Paul

UniBas/USB, UniBas, UZH, FMI, SIB, IBM

HDL-X: A systems biology approach to anti-atherogenicity and anti-diabetogenicity of high density lipoproteins (HDL)

von Eckardstein, Arnold

UZH/USZ, ETHZ

Single cell level systems biology of tumor / micro-environment cross-talks in adaptive resistance to melanoma therapy

Michielin, Olivier

UniL/CHUV, SIB, UniL, EPFL

A systems Approach to the HDAC6/Ub/aggresome pathway and Ubiquitin proteasome system in viral disease - VirX

Matthias, Patrick

FMI, UZH, UniGE/HUG, ETHZ, SIB, UniL/CHUV

The interplay of host and viral factors in the hurdle to cure HIV-1

Günthard, Huldrych

UZH/USZ, ETHZ, EPFL, UZH, UniBas, SIB

AneuX – Modeling shape as a biomarker for instability of intracranial aneurysms

Bijlenga, Philippe

UniGE/HUG, ZHAW, UZH, ETHZ, UniGE, UZH/USZ

Interestingly, all but one of the principal investigators of the nine approved MRD Projects are medical doctors by training, and work at one of the five Swiss University Hospitals in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne or Zurich. A total of 53 research groups from different disciplines will contribute to the nine MRD Projects. The successful projects will run for three years and will be funded by SystemsX.ch with CHF 18.6 million in total.

This is the first and only call for the new MRD Projects within SystemsX.ch. MRDs are large-scale projects in which systems biology approaches are specifically applied to medically or clinically relevant topics.

In the Transfer Project (TF) category, four proposals were submitted for the 10th call. Of these, two new projects were approved by the SNSF (see table 2). The successful projects will be funded by SystemsX.ch for two years with CHF 600’000 in total.

Transfer Projects (TF) are collaborations between research groups working in the academic and private sectors (industry, SMEs, hospitals, etc.). The aim of these projects is to promote knowledge transfer between academia and private institutions and to strengthen applied research in systems biology.

Table 2. These two TF proposals were approved by the SNSF in November 2014 and will be funded by SystemsX.ch:

Title of TF proposal

Applicant

Institutions

Harnessing the immunome’s potential to fight cancer: evaluating synergistic antibody drug conjugate – immunotherapy treatments for cancer by comprehensive systems biology analysis

Zippelius, Alfred

UniBas/USB, ETHZ, NBE-Therapeutics

MoDeLoMX - MacrOphage DiffErenciation LOgical Modeling

Xenarios, Ioannis

SIB, Roche

Contact

Department program of SNF
div4(at)snf.ch