The vibrant city of Cagliari, known for its sun, sea, and flocks of pink flamingos, became the symbolic backdrop for the latest FLAMIN-GO project meeting. Held on June 23–24, this sixth progress meeting marked a critical checkpoint in the EU-funded project’s journey to transform the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
A puzzle coming together
Now, as the project moves into its final stretch, the sense of clarity and purpose was felt strongly by all participants. “This was the first progress meeting where everything went very smooth,” said project coordinator Dr. Annalisa Chiocchetti from Università del Piemonte Orientale. “Like a puzzle where all the pieces are falling into place. We’re just six months from the end, and our complex vision is finally becoming reality.”
The aim of FLAMIN-GO is as ambitious as it is urgent: to create a personalized “joint-on-chip” that allows clinicians to test drug responses using a patient’s own cells. This would make it possible to choose the right medication from the very beginning – a breakthrough that could save patients months or even years of ineffective treatments.
A symbolic return to the project’s origin
Cagliari was not chosen by chance – the name of the project itself – FLAMIN-GO – is rooted in this very place. As Dr. Chiocchetti shared, the city’s iconic flamingos flying freely from lagoon to lagoon inspired the project’s vision:
“The idea for FLAMIN-GO came during my research visit at Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with Prof. Costantino Pitzalis, who’s from Cagliari,” she recalled. “He described the flamingos’ graceful daily flight across the water. That image stayed with me and became a metaphor: just like the flamingos move freely, our goal is to help inflammation ‘go away’ – to lift the burden of pain and immobility for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.”
Progress across the board
Over two days, researchers presented progress across scientific, clinical, and technological work packages. One of the most meaningful breakthroughs came from work on patient-derived tissue:
“We’ve successfully cultured synoviocytes in 3D and used them to test drug responses,” said Dr. Chiocchetti. “This recapitulates real patient features and strongly validates our approach. It brings lab innovation much closer to clinical application.”
FLAMIN-GO has already reached pilot testing in clinical trials, and many individual components of the platform have been validated. The focus now is on integration – bringing all parts together into a single, functional system. “The project is in an advanced phase,” she added. “We still face challenges in combining biological, technological, and clinical aspects. But the results so far – especially from the synovial tissue trials – are very promising.”
The project has also been officially extended until December 2025, giving the consortium time to complete integration, fine-tune data analysis, and validate the platform in real-world settings.
Progress on multiple fronts
Several teams shared exciting progress on the technological front. Dr. Francesco Buchannon Biscontifrom CNR Nanotec presented advancements in the microfluidic platform – a crucial part of FLAMIN-GO’s lab-on-chip system.
“We can now measure oxygen and pH levels inside the cell culture environment on the chip,” said Dr. Bisconti. “That helps us better mimic the conditions of the joint and understand how cells respond to drugs in real time.”
His team is also working to optimize how various joint tissues – like vascular, synovial, and osteochondral – can be cultured together on the same chip. “It’s really encouraging to see all the partners working together so productively,” he added. “We’re making great progress, and we’re committed to making this work.”
At the same time, industrial partners are preparing to bring these innovations beyond the lab. Dr. Laura Boschis from Trustech Srl shared how the FLAMIN-GO project enabled her team to further develop their EliChip technology:
“We redesigned both the reader – a compact and user-friendly instrument – and the disposable lab-on-chip itself,” she said. “We developed protocols for detecting markers of osteoarthritis, and now we’re preparing for industrialization. It’s exciting to be moving toward the market.”
A new future for arthritis care
The promise of the FLAMIN-GO platform is deeply felt by the clinicians who work with patients every day. Dr. Alberto Cauli, Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Cagliari, shared his perspective:
“This project is brilliant and timely,” he said. “We desperately need biomarkers that can help us predict the right drug for the right patient. Right now, rheumatology relies on trial and error, which delays proper care. FLAMIN-GO could give us the tools to finally offer precision medicine – not just for RA, but for many forms of arthritis.”
With just months to go, the team is more committed than ever. As Dr. Chiocchetti put it: “We’ve come a long way. And now we can see the end – not just of the project, but the beginning of a new way to treat autoimmune disease.”
About FLAMIN-GO
Funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 program, FLAMIN-GO brings together 12 partners from 10 countries, uniting experts in nanotechnology, biology, engineering, and clinical research. Led by the University of Eastern Piedmont, the project aims to deliver a robust and validated platform for personalized treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The project was awarded funding of 6 million euros in the Horizon 2020 program.
Learn more: https://flamingo-joc.eu/.
Contact: Prof. Annalisa Chiocchetti, UPO, Novara, Italy (annalisa.chiocchetti@med.uniupo.it)