Aims & Objectives...
Aims:
To provide a significant contribution to this by establishing a first class, dynamic training programme for early career researchers who will be able to advance both fields by working across sectors and disciplines.
Objectives:
Attracting the best European Early Career Researchers into this area and by providing carefully designed and integrated research projects and structured training delivered by the highest-quality European scientists.
• Scientific Objectives
◦ To preform multidisciplinary examination of susceptibility factors and immune responses in RA and PD to identify aetiological pathways common to both diseases.
◦ To study the periodontal autoantigens recognised in patients with PD and RA to identify potential biomarkers and to identify potential mechanisms of the breakdown of self-tolerence
◦ To perform a detailed analysis of the structure and function of P. gingivitis peptidylarginine deiminase (PAD), to study its potential as a clinical target.
• Training Objectives
◦ To make a career in chronic inflammatory disease research more attractive to early stage researchers by delivering a structured training programme taught by leading international scientists in state-of-the-art infrastructure which covers a portfolio of interdisciplinary techniques
◦ To provide academic, industrial and public sector employers with researchers skilled in a wide range of techniques and direct experience of interaction across disciplines and sectors.
◦ To produce researchers with excellent transferable skills, including the ability to transform abstract ideas into influential outcomes, by being able to (I) obtain research funding, (ii) conduct methodologically and ethically sound research, (iii) present findings to professional and lay audiences and (iv) commercialise findings.
◦ To create an active, life-long network of young researchers whose personal contacts, support and expertise will help Europe shape the future of inflammatory disease research.
◦ To cascade expertise and spread good practice throughout Europe by personal exchange, and delivering European researchers able to become independent researchers and leaders in inflammatory disease research in the future.