Scientific and technological goals

EUMITOCOMBAT will combine mitochondrial research expertise into one, pan-European Consortium, aiming at an understanding of the underlying basic molecular mechanisms of OXPHOS disease and at the eventual development of treatments for these devastating disorders.
Defects in the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS-) system, the principal circuit for cellular energy production, lead to often fatal, multi-system disorders affecting organs and tissues with a high-energy demand. The EUMITOCOMBAT consortium aims to integrate and extend knowledge on basic aspects of OXPHOS biology and the pathobiological cascades underlying OXPHOS disease manifestation in humans. All research teams that comprise the EUMITOCOMBAT consortium are already world leaders in the field. All of the major European groups active in the forefront of OXPHOS research will participate in the project.
The EUMITOCOMBAT project will re-inforce Europe as the international leader in the development of treatments capable of combating these disorders.

To this end we will:
• Integrate clinical and model-system expertise.
• Characterize important genes and proteins involved in the formation and regulation of the OXPHOS-system.
• Study the network of components involved in cellular energy metabolism by functional genomics.
• Develop more efficient genetic and protein (mutation) screening methods.
• Evaluate the cellular alterations/adaptations of these defects in specified cells, tissues, models and humans.
• Develop methods to target and test therapeutic agents to specific (sub)cellular locations.

The project, financed by the European Community, will take place in the central frame of the LifeSciHealth priority of FP6 (Priority 1), specifically under the thematic area and sub-area "Combating major diseases: application oriented genomic approaches.

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