FOREUM Novel Omic Technology Approaches to Tackle Specific Unmet Needs in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Disorders (RMDs) Call

Funding for researchers based in EULAR membership countries to utilise emerging omic technologies to advance the understanding and management of RMDs.

FOREUM Foundation for Research in Rheumatology, based in Switzerland, is an independent research organisation working in the field of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs). FOREUM is supported by the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology (EULAR).

The FOREUM Novel Omic Technology Approaches to Tackle Specific Unmet Needs in Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Disorders (RMDs) Call recognises the growing importance of novel omic technologies beyond transcriptome analysis, such as proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics, in advancing the understanding and management of RMDs. This call is therefore focused on these emerging and increasingly important omic technologies for hypothesis-driven research in RMDs.

Proposals should start from and focus on a clearly articulated unmet medical need and aim to provide solutions for the identified challenge. This call aims to support collaborative consortia of at least three partner universities to undertake research that would be challenging to fund through generic calls across disciplines. By fostering collaboration and innovation, the aim is to catalyse transformative research that will ultimately benefit individuals living with RMDs.

Proposals are invited that address the following objectives:

• Utilisation of emerging omic technologies:
  • Develop and apply omic technologies, such as proteomics, lipidomics and metabolomics, to provide solutions for unmet medical needs, such as, but not limited to, immune-reset, induction of remission and prevention of flare; and/or
  • Focus on omic data integration and systems biology approaches to elucidate complex interactions within the immune system and the musculoskeletal system in RMDs.
• Hypothesis-driven research:
  • Propose hypothesis-driven research projects that leverage emerging omic technologies to address specific research questions or hypotheses related to the identified unmet medical needs in the approach to RMDs, and provide strategies to validate and functionally confirm the omic findings.
  • Focus on research areas where these omic technologies have the potential to provide novel insights or transformative solutions, including, but not limited to, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue disorders and osteoarthritis.
• Collaborative consortia:
  • Encourage the formation of collaborative consortia involving at least three partner universities from different countries to facilitate interdisciplinary research and knowledge exchange.
  • Foster collaboration between basic scientists, clinicians, bioinformaticians and computational biologists to ensure the translation of omic data into clinical applications and patient benefits.

Proposals will be independently peer-reviewed to evaluate their feasibility, novelty, design, relevance and potential impact relative to the subject matter of the call. In addition, the involvement of patient-related research partners will be evaluated.