Category Archive for : ‘Ongoing Projects’

Project title: The immunoregulatory role of PrPC in antiviral immune response following cytomegaloviral infection

Grantor: Croatian Science Foundation

Grantor’s website: www.hrzz.hr

Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Tihana Lenac Rovis

Research team:

Dr. Milena Hasan
Dr. Paola Kucan Brlic
Dr. Maja Cokaric Brdovcak
Dr. Hrvoje Simic
Dubravka Karner, mag. biotech. in med.

Total funding: EUR 133.000,00

Brief description:

Primary HCMV infection in adults is generally asymptomatic because of the effective immune response of the host. However, HCMV is a recognized cause of morbidity and mortality in immunodeficient individuals. The most prominent medical problem remains congenital HCMV infection, since it carries a risk of permanent brain damage

Project goals:

Identification and quantification of biomarkers of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows using state-of-the-art proteomic techniques
Determining the diagnostic value of biomarkers of subclinical mastitis for the development of new immunochemical and rapid tests
Development of a prototype rapid diagnostic test for subclinical mastitis to be used on farms

Achieving the project objectives will enable early diagnosis and treatment of subclinical mastitis by the availability of a rapid, sensitive and specific test for subclinical mastitis, ready for use on dairy farms. The availability of such a test will enable early, rapid

Project title:

RINO SPRAY

Short description of the project:

JADRAN – GALENSKI LABORATORY (JGL) was founded in 1991 as the first completely private pharmaceutical joint stock company in Croatia.

In 2020, the company submitted an project proposal “RINO SPRAY” to the public call “Increasing the development of new products and services arising from research and development activities – phase II” issued by the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts.

In August 2020, JGL d.d. in partnership with the Center for Proteomics of the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka (MEDRI), as a Beneficiary of

Project title: Highly attenuated β-herpesvirus with potent immunomodulatory capacity as vaccine vector against SARS-CoV-2

Grantor: Croatian Science Foundation

Grantor’s website: www.hrzz.hr

Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Astrid Krmpotic

Research team:

Asst. Prof. Dr. Irena Slavuljica
Dr. Maja Cokaric Brdovcak
Dr. Lea Hirsl
Mijo Golemac, dr. med.
Tina Jenus, mag. biotech. in med.
Marko Sustic, dr. med.
Mihaela Kordun, dipl. ing. mol.

Total funding: EUR 197.200,00

Brief description:

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), appeared in China at the end of 2019 and has rapidly increased into global pandemic and a major public health issue. COVID-19 symptoms can range from very

No more hiding CoV-2: Establishment of SARS-Cov-2 mAbeom 

Project title: No more hiding CoV-2: Establishment of SARS-Cov-2 mAbeom

Grantor: Croatian Science Foundation

Grantor’s website: www.hrzz.hr

Coordinator: Dr. Ilija Brizic

Research team:

Prof. Dr. Tihana Lenac Rovis
Prof. Dr. Alemka Markotic
Dr. Paola Kucan Brlic
Dr. Ivana Strazic Geljic
Dr. Ljerka Karleusa
Carmen Rozmanic, mag. biol. exp.
Fran Krstanovic, mag. biokemije
Andrea Mihalic. mag. biotech. in med.
Suzana Malic, med. lab. ing
Karmela Miklic, med. lab. ing.

Total funding: EUR 197.050,00

Brief description:

In late December of 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in Wuhan (China). Since then, SARS-CoV-2 has been declared

Full title: Clonal dynamics of memory CD8 T cell inflation

Grantors: Swiss – Croatian Cooperation Programme

Grantor’s website: https://www.swiss-cro.hr

Grant number: 180552

Duration: 01.02.2019 – 31.01.2022

Coordinator: Annette Oxenius, Prof. Dr., Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich and Astrid Krmpotić, Prof. Dr., University of Rijeka, Faculty of Medicine

Total funding: CHF 399.583,00
Total funding (MEDRI): CHF 199.050,00

Brief description:
A hallmark of immunological memory is the ability of the adaptive immune system to generate long-lived antigen-specific memory T or B cells that provide rapid protection upon a secondary infection with a similar pathogen. This is the basis for vaccination.

Full title: Solving the m04 paradox: Evasion of missing-self recognition and CD8 klling by MAT uORF

Grantors: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Grant number: 421448608

Grantors web site: https://www.dfg.de/

Duration: 2019 – 2022

Coordinators:
Prof.Dr. Stipan Jonjić,
Dr. Vanda Juranić Lisnić

Total funding: EUR 249.900,00

Description:
“Cytomegaloviruses (CMVs) possess multiple mechanisms to down-regulate the expression of MHC-I from the cell surface of infected cells. While this allows efficient evasion of CD8 T cell recognition, it renders infected cells sensitive to NK cell-mediated attack according the missing-self hypothesis. How CMVs simultaneously avoid these two defense systems remains largely unclear. Viral strategies to engage inhibitory

Full title: Biology of cytomegalovirus infection in developing brain and latency

Grantors: Croatian Science Foundation and European Social Fund

Grantor’s website: http://www.hrzz.hr/ and http://www.esf.hr/

Duration: 2020-2023

Coordinator: Dr. Ilija Brizic

Research team:
Dr. Luka Čičin Šain
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ivan Bubic dr. med.
Prof. Dr.  Ester Pernjak Pugel
Dr. Paola Kučan
Dr. Lea Hiršl
Dr. Marina Pribanic Matesic
Fran Krstanovic, mag. biokemije
Andrea Mihalic, mag. biotech. in med.

Total funding: 2.053.190,00 HRK

Brief description:
Congenital CMV infection is a major cause of trans-placentally transmitted congenital infections and may cause a wide range of structural and functional disabilities and permanent neurological sequelae such as hearing-loss, mental retardation

PROJECT TITLE: Strengthening the capacity of CerVirVac (Croatian Centre of Excellence for Virus Immunology and Vaccines) for research in viral immunology and vaccinology

FUND: European Regional Development Fund

DURATION: 01 October 2017 – 30 September 2022

COORDINATOR: University of Rijeka Faculty of Medicine

INSTITUTIONS IN THE NETWORK:
Centre for Research and Knowledge Transfer in Biotechnology of the University of Zagreb
Clinic for Infectious Diseases “Dr. Fran Mihaljevic”, Zagreb

Total value of the project: HRK 37.999.570,30 (approx. EUR 5.000.000)
The value of the EU co-financing: HRK 37.716.072,15

Brief description:

The aim of this project is to upgrade the research capacity of

Full title: Augmenting and Broadening T-cell Responses to Glioblastoma – Therapeutic Vaccine Platform Based on HCMV Expressing NKG2D Ligands

Grantors: H2020 – European Research Council (ERC) Proof of Concept Grant

Grant number:  825359

Grantor’s website:   http://erc.europa.eu/

Duration: 2018-2020

Principal investigator: Stipan Jonjic, University of Rijeka Faculty of Medicine

Total funding: 149.968,00 EUR

Brief description:

The development of an effective vaccine against human cancers is of tremendous importance. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant form of brain tumor with extremely poor survival. The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is involved in GBM pathogenesis suggesting that viral proteins might provide therapeutic