1st Seed Fund call of Alliance4Life was successful

Alliance4Life aims at closing the divide in European health research and innovation. To reach this goal, we created the Seed Fund which aims to support short-term collaborative research projects formed by at least three partner institutions from the beneficiaries of the Alliance4Life and participating companies. The Seed Fund supports the development of scientific ideas from the CEE region and initiates project proposals to be submitted later to Horizon Europe or other international grant schemes. This Fund can finance subcontracting costs, travel costs and allowances, equipment and other assets, and other goods and services.

During the implementation of Alliance4Life, a maximum of three submission periods can be published, from which the first period became open at the end of last year. After the evaluation process, the following four research projects received positive evaluations and can be funded by Alliance4Life:

1. Bacteriocins as Alternative Antibiotic Strategy and Their lnteraction with the Host Immune System (BAStrlS)

The goals of the project are to discuss the impact of bacteriocins on the host immune system and to suggest the fundamental mechanisms for the hypothesis for the future international project. The project is implemented by the following partners:

  • ICRC-FNUSA – International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital, Czech Republic
  • Masaryk University, Czech Republic
  • UL – University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

2. Interorganellar Communication Malfunction in Rare Diseases – Implication for Heart Contractility (HeartWolf)

The aim is to understand the disease progress in the later stages to reveal disturbances in inter-organellar communication and to explain the perturbations in calcium metabolism to analyse the co-localization of the key proteins involved. The beneficiaries are as follows:

  • BMC SAV – Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
  • UT – Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tartu, Estonia
  • LIOS – Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Latvia
  • ICRC-FNUSA – International Clinical Research Center, St. Anne's University Hospital, Czech Republic
  • Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University, Czech Republic

3. Intelligent Monitoring of Heart Failure Improving Disease Management (My AI Heart)

The project goal is heart failure patients’ management to achieve stability through the holistic approach, including management of comorbidities, treatment of cardiac insufficiency, lifestyle adjustment, and frequent doctor follow-ups. The implementing research centres are:

  • UMFCD – Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania
  • UZSM – University of Zagreb – Medical School, Croatia
  • MUS – Medical University Sofia, Bulgaria

4. POst-Transcriptional Oncogenic Modifications And their Consequences (POTOMAC)

The project investigates post-translational modifications in cancer cell lines, which so far have not been studied using new methods and the project focuses on two types of cancer. The members of the project consortium are:

  • VU – Vilnius University Life Sciences Center, Lithuania
  • BMC SAV – Biomedical Research Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
  • CEITEC MU – Central European Institute of Technology at Masaryk University, Czech Republic

The next submission period will start at the beginning of May 2023. Don´t hesitate to take part in the call and prepare your project proposal! With a successful application, you will get support to build international relationships and take the first steps of a future joint project.