Calls for proposals

2009

Subject:

Digest Science Foundation requested initial expressions of interest for invitation to submit full grant applications for funding to support research projects investigating ground-breaking areas relevant to immune-mediated intestinal disorders.

Up to €1m for 2 years requested to support currently unfunded projects.

Areas of interest include inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and immunological or inflammatory aspects of irritable bowel syndrome.

Review process performed by the scientific committee of Digest Science together with selected world authorities.

The winner:

Prof D.W. Hommes, Head of the department of hepato-gastroenterology of the University of Leiden (Netherlands), was selected for his project "Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Therapy for Crohn' S Disease", among the 25 European laboratories which had submitted a research project. Evaluated by 2 international experts in this field of research, he was elected by our Scientific Council.

This project on cellular therapy in Crohn's disease will be led by Dutch and Irish teams. It is an innovating and original therapeutic approach of which we can hope for fast opening on clinical trials with, as medium-term objective, a significant benefit for the patients.

First results published in GUT, reference: Duijjvestein M, Vos ACW, Roelofs H et al.GUT (2010).doi 10.1136/gut.2010.215152

DigestScience