The consortium

IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele is a university and research hospital established in 1971 to provide specialized care for the most complex and difficult health conditions. It is situated over a 300,000 square meters area in the North East of Milan and is today one of the leading biomedical research institutes in Italy and Europe. It comprises both clinical and research activities, conducted by a highly specialized and qualified hospital with 1,357 beds and a research institute with around 1,500 basic, clinical and translational scientists. Alongside with improving therapies, the institute seeks to develop new technologies in the field of genomics and imaging, needed for early diagnosis and personalized cures. State-of-the art services and technological platforms include 9 institutional research facilities providing services for animal husbandry, conditional mutagenesis, histopathology and biochemistry, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, flow cytometry, light, fluorescence and electron microscopy, and non-invasive animal imaging.
The Laboratory of Human Genetics of Neurological Diseases is involved in the application of array and sequencing technology and the development of statistical and bioinformatic approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of neurological disorders. The same approach is used to identify biomarkers of response to treatment in personalized medicine in neurological disorders. The Laboratory of Human Genetics of Neurological Diseases has an established collaboration with Prof. Giorgio Valentini (Department of Computer Science, University of Milan), who has a solid knowledge of machine learning methods applied to molecular biology and medicine and, within the FindingMS project, will be involved in the predictive algorithm development.

Our research team belongs to two highly connected institutions: the University Hospital of Toulouse (CHUT) and the Center for Physiopathology Toulouse-Purpan (CPTP). 
Since 1958, the CHUT is an important collaborator for clinical trials but also for the development of challenging projects going from pre-clinic to the clinic. The CHUT is composed of 15 clinical departments, among them the Neurosciences department. The CHUT strongly interacts with biopharmaceutical companies, as shown by increasing numbers of protocols and clinical trials conducted. In clinical research field, the CHUT, actively contributes to medical and pharmaceutical sciences progress in collaboration with other institutions such as Universities, INSERM, CNRS.
Our research team is also part of the Center for Physiopathology Toulouse-Purpan (CPTP). Established in 2002, the CPTP is a leading research institute providing a productive scientific environment that is structured along three main themes: Immunology, inflammation and infectious diseases.The CPTP is affiliated with INSERM, CNRS and the University of Toulouse III. It is composed of 11 research teams with international reputation, 4 cutting-edge core facilities and an efficient support team (197 total members). Our research spans from basic research such as the development of the immune system and its functions to translational research. We investigate host-pathogen interactions and the onset of immune responses occurring in the context of viral infections (HIV, Zika virus, Hepatitis E, Influenza virus, cytomegalovirus, Borna virus) or parasitic infections (toxoplasma, malaria). We decipher the physiopathological mechanisms involved in autoimmune diseases (multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes) or allergies (asthma, atopic dermatitis). We also study anti-tumor responses and immune senescence. We conduct clinical studies on asthma, multiple sclerosis, HIV or neurodegenerative diseases. We are also engaged in optimizing  vaccine strategies and developing novel immunotherapies.

The Institute of Biomedical Technologies (ITB), part of the National Research Council (CNR), is the largest institute of its kind in Italy and was established to pioneer new types of cross-disciplinary biomedical research by bringing biology, engineering, medicine, and the basic sciences together. This is achieved by means of collaborations between industry and basic scientists and clinicians from a broad range of disciplines. One of the most important aims of its research mission is translating fundamental discoveries into new technologies. The major focuses of the institute are “-omics” technologies, bioinformatics, stem cell research, oncology, neurodegenerative disorders, human microbiome and bioethics.

GeneXplain GmbH (GENEXPLAIN) was founded in April 2010. It has been set up by Edgar Wingender, the creator of the TRANSFAC® database, and Alexander Kel, a renowned expert in bioinformatic algorithms together with an international team of experts in software development and chemoinformatics. The company has developed a comprehensive platform for statistical, bioinformatic and systems biological tools. The geneXplain platform integrates statistical, bioinformatics, and systems biological modules with the access to the manually curated knowledge base on transcription factors and their binding sites (TRANSFAC® - gold standard in the field), and the most detailed database on signal transduction (TRANSPATH™), both of which are maintained and distributed exclusively by geneXplain. The business activity of GENEXPLAIN is mainly in offering access to the geneXplain platform as “software as a service (SaaS)” to academic research organisations, core facilities, biotech and pharmaceutical companies. GENEXPLAIN also offers data analysis and interpretation services as well as complex research project consulting that are performed by a dedicated multidisciplinary team of 13 persons.