In the following weeks, six interesting talks related to the Flamin-go project will be presented. The first will be an introduction to the Flamin-go topic by the project leader professor Annalisa Chiocchetti.
The project aims at developing a joint-on-a-chip built with cells and tissues derived from the patient’s biopsy. It aims to mimic the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation and pain in the joints. Development of a joint-on-a-chip will allow selecting the best drug on the market to initiate the proper treatment and avoid unnecessary exposure of the patient to potentially toxic and non-responsive drugs.
Annalisa Chiocchetti is a professor of Immunology at University of Eastern Piedmont in Italy. Her main focus within immunology are autoimmune diseases and in the development and pre-clinical characterization of recombinant proteins and antibodies for immune system modulation. She has expertise in high-throughput analysis and on innovative ways to identify and characterize extracellular vesicles and she is the leading manager of a cutting-edge facility for cytometry at UPO. She has led several national research and industrial proposals addressed to study autoimmune diseases and to find therapeutic solutions to them. She authored over 75 publications and has 3 patents. She is the president of the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Autoimmune Diseases (IRCAD) and coordinator of the FLAMIN-GO project.
The Flamingo project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 953121.