TransGlioma – New glioblastoma therapies via a translational cross-border research platform

The project addresses the challenges identified by the Europe 2020 Strategy for Smart Growth. The aim is to increase cooperation among key actors in the field of biomedicine in order to promote the transfer of innovative biomedical techniques in the field of oncology, with a specific focus upon brain cancer (glioblastoma). The change entails the capitalization of the results from the previous GLIOMA project (2007-2013), which focused upon the prognostic value of the detected biomarkers; the upgrade consists of validating these prognoses over a large number of cases, and using them to move on to the next phase, or rather the identification of new therapeutic approaches. The strengthening of this cross-border network will increase competitiveness in the fields of research and treatment. The outputs are the following: the development of open-source software designed to analyze the data of the partners’ bio-banks, the identification of personalized pharmacological targets for patients, and the involvement of 3 research institutes, 2 hospitals, 1 SME PP, and other SMEs. This project will benefit researchers, medical doctors, students, SMEs, spin-offs, and start-ups, as well as patients. A cross-border approach is necessary because such a critical number, and the consequent results, can only be achieved through the involvement of subjects with specific yet different expertise. The project is innovative because it involves “precision medicine” in the identification of the genomic profile of the tumor, of the micro-environment, and of the cells derived from the patient (both glioma stem cells and glioma-associated stem cells), thus identifying new personalized pharmacological targets, with the possibility of identifying new treatments for a currently incurable disease.

BioSistemika’s role:

BioSistemika is in charge of developing the software backbone of the Trans-Glioma platform called “Gliobank”. The platform will enable a seamless exchange of clinical and sample data between the consortium partners and broader stakeholders, effectively decreasing the time to diagnosis and optimal treatment of brain tumors.

This project was financed within the “Interreg Italia-Slovenia 2014-2020” Program.