PAEON (FP7-ICT-2011-9, ICT-2011.5.2)

Details
Category: Projects
Last Updated on Thursday, 01 August 2019 15:16

Project Title: Model Driven Computation of Treatments for Infertility Related Endocrinological Diseases

Project Acronym: PAEON

Project Website: http://paeon.di.uniroma1.it

Funding Scheme: EC Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

  • Call (part) identifier: FP7-ICT-2011-9
  • Objective: ICT-2011.5.2 (Virtual Physiological Human)
  • Project Type: Collaborative Project

Coordinating Person: Enrico Tronci, MCLab Sapienza University of Rome (UNIROMA1)

Project Total Funding: € 2,453,997.00

UNIROMA1 Unit Funding: € 708,687.00

Starting Date: February 1, 2013

Project Duration in Months: 36

UNIROMA1 Unit Activity: UNIROMA1, the project coordinator, focuses on Formal modeling of treatment protocols, model checking based formal verification of treatment protocols and synthesis of individualised treatment protocols.

Project Consortium: 1) Sapienza University of Rome (Italy, Coordinator), 2) Space Biology Group ETH (Switzerland), 3) Hannover Medical School (Germany), 4) University Hospital Zurich (Switzerland), 5) Zuse Institute Berlin (Germany)

Abstract
Infertility affects 12% to 15% of reproductive age couples in Europe, costs approximately 1 billion Euros per year, and experts agree that these figures will double in a decade. In about 50% of such couples, infertility is caused by female health problems, more than 40% of which are related to endocrinological diseases impairing women's health also independently from fertility. Such considerations motivate our three-pillar project focusing on quantitative models for Infertility Related Endocrinological Diseases (IRED).
Our first pillar (Modelling) will develop patient-specific computer-based models for IRED. Such models will account for the physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms regulating the menstrual cycle and how this is influenced by external (e.g., drugs) as well as environmental (e.g., obesity) factors. Our model will enable a quantitative understanding of the mechanisms behind endocrine disorders such as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), hyperprolactinemia or endometriosis.
Our second pillar (Computation) will develop general purpose methods and tools to support the effective exploitation of patient-specific models to reliably predict the outcome of a treatment on a specific patient and to support individualisation of a treatment for a specific patient.
Our third pillar (Clinical Trial) will gather data (e.g., hormonal secretion patterns in different physiological and pathophysiological settings) to enable validation of the models and tools developed in our project and will carry out such a validation thereby providing feedback to the previous pillars. Such a feedback loop will drive the iterative refinement approach foreseen in our project.
Our multidisciplinary consortium consists of highly qualified research institutions, and hospitals. The resulting synergies will enable successful completion of all project objectives as well as wide dissemination and effective exploitation of the project results.