Advancing oligonucleotide therapies for cancer and chronic inflammation
The Needs
Oligonucleotide therapies are a promising new class of medicines that can target the genetic causes of disease. They are already used to treat some viral infections and inherited disorders, but challenges such as limited stability, difficulties in delivering them to the right tissues, and unwanted side effects still restrict their wider use
The Solutions
The ON-TRACT project brings together researchers, healthcare professionals, and industry partners to overcome these barriers and develop safer, more effective oligonucleotide therapies. Our work focuses on diseases with major unmet clinical needs, including lung cancer, B-cell cancers, and chronic inflammatory conditions.
The Team
The team is developing sustainable manufacturing methods, exploring advanced delivery technologies such as antibody-based targeting and inhaled treatments, and using innovative organoid models to support more ethical and effective testing. Through this collaborative approach, ON-TRACT aims to lay the foundations for a new generation of responsible and transformative therapies for patients with serious diseases.
The Implementation
Our European intersectoral and multidisciplinary research and training network is structured in three work packages and employs 14 Doctoral Candidates (DCa).
The project will deliver:
- highly skilled scientific staff required to fully exploit ON therapeutics for personalised medicine.
- top-class training in organic and chemoenzymatic synthesis, ON analysis, and biomedical/medicinal testing.
- transferable skills courses, specific industry relevant workshops and public engagement activities.
This combination makes ON-TRACT a truly exciting programme for DCs. The platform will immediately benefit to both European citizens and commercial partners.
In the long term, ON-TRACT`s flexible platform technology will be taken forward by our private sector and research institutions for exploitation and will thus strengthen the European innovation capacity in the field of ON therapies.