Resolve Chronic Inflammation and Achieve Healthy Ageing by Understanding Non-regenerative Repair

AcronymRESOLVE
Project Summary

RESOLVE has been set up to better understand the regulatory networks that control the developmental processes in organ repair and to identify mechanisms which cause the termination of regular organ development leading to fibroproliferative wound healing.
Fibroproliferative wound healing represents a major pathology in elderly people shifting regular organ development into progressive organ fibrosis with complete loss of organ function.
Based on the identification of valuated molecular targets of fibroproliferative repair, RESOLVE aims to create suitable treatment strategies to achieve healthy ageing in the elderly.
In doing so, RESOLVE will create a significant impact on elderly people's quality of life. RESOLVE’s outcomes will strengthen the competitiveness of European science and biotechnology industry and contribute to cost saving strategies in the health care sector.

The latest WHO report on ageing states that by 2050 the number of individuals older than 60 will exceed 2 billion making up one third of the earth’s population. Yet achievement of longevity is not equivalent to maintaining health.
On the contrary, the steady progression towards longer a lifespan has created a large number of elderly who suffer from diseases characterized by fibroproliferative wound healing.
Unfortunately, fibroproliferative wound healing is not understood resulting in a complete lack of therapeutic options. As this process will continue, an immense threat is posed to Europe’s social security systems. Up to now, research in this area has been focused on disease-oriented approaches, allowing only little progress concerning a fundamental pathology which is observed in organ fibrosis, atherosclerosis, diabetes and even cancer.

RESOLVE’s structured scientific approach combines as yet fragmented fields of research using model organisms which represent (a) different forms of wound healing, (b) different human diseases and (c) different genetic backgrounds, guaranteeing social and scientific relevance, modularity of research and the integration of existing biological knowledge, technical expertise and medical experience. In addition, sequential generation of data during improvement or worsening ensures clinical relevance and leads to a stringent exploitation strategy.

The sustainable outcomes of RESOLVE’s efforts will be:

(A) the urgently needed diagnostic tool for fibroproliferative wound healing in various organs,
(B) highly valuable transgenic animals offering test systems for fibroproliferative wound healing, and
(C) a characterization of compounds capable of interfering with targets involved in fibroproliferative repair.
ApplicantMedizinische Universität Wien, Austria
CoordinatorProf. Lutz-Henning Block, Department of Pulmonary Medicine
Number of partners13 Institutions from Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Poland and Spain
Responsibilities of punkt•Creation of the proposal’s concept, composition of the expository, organisational, administrative and financial considerations of the project, project-coordination, -organisation and -communication with all participating institutions and partners.
StatusFunded; FP7-HEALTH-F4-2008-202047
Websiteresolve.punkt-international.eu
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