MAGNEURON project attracts €750,000 to Keele

Dr Neil Telling, Prof Alicia El Haj and Dr Rosemary Fricker.

A new funding award to the Institute for Science & Technology in Medicine through the Horizon FET–OPEN programme aims to tackle neurodegenerative diseases, using innovative cell replacement therapies. Titled “Hijacking cell signalling pathways with magnetic nanoactuators for remote-controlled stem cell therapies of neurodegenerative disorders", the 4-year project is known by the short name "MAGNEURON”. Co-ordinated by Dr Maxime Dahan at the Marie Curie Institute in Paris, MAGNEURON is one of only 11 projects funded by the European Commission's Horizon 2020 program out of 650 applications that supports early-stages of the science and technology research and innovation around new ideas towards radically new future technologies. The aim of the project is to introduce and apply a fundamentally new concept for remote control of cellular functions by means of magnetic manipulation of nanoparticles functionalised with proteins involved in key cellular signalling cascades. This technology has been developed within ISTM for orthopaedic applications and this new project explores applications in the field of brain repair following degenerative diseases.

The project lead by Prof Alicia El Haj collaborates with Dr Neil Telling and Dr Rosemary Fricker who together bring world-leading expertise in regenerative medicine, nanosciences and neurobiology. Other partners contributing international expertise in physical chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics are the University of Osnabrueck and University of the Ruhr, both in Germany, the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Efficient Innovation, which are both in France.