The stated goal of RHAPSODY is to define a molecular taxonomy of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) that will support patient segmentation, inform clinical trial design, and the establishment of regulatory paths for the adoption of novel strategies for diabetes prevention and treatment. To address these goals, RHAPSODY will bring together prominent European experts, including the leaders of the diabetes-relevant IMI1 projects to identify, validate and characterize causal biomarkers for T2D subtypes and progression. Our plans are built upon: (a) access to large European cohorts with comprehensive genetic analyses and rich longitudinal clinical and biochemical data and samples; (b) detailed multi-omic maps of key T2D-relevant tissues and organs; (c) large expertise in the development and use of novel genetic, epigenetic, biochemical and physiological experimental approaches; (d) the ability to combine existing and novel data sets through effective data federation and use of these datasets in systems biology approaches towards precision medicine; and (e) expertise in regulatory approval, health economics and patient engagement. These activities will lead to the discovery of novel biomarkers for improved T2D taxonomy, to support development of pharmaceutical activities, and for use in precision medicine to improve health in Europe and worldwide.

TiGRE provides an encompassing and coherent analytical framework for the study of trust relationships in governance. It studies trust among actors of regulatory regimes, such as regulators, political, administrative and judicial bodies, the regulated industries, service providers and their interest organisations, consumers and other societal interests, as well as citizens at large. TiGRE opens thereby new research directions within the tradition of studies of trust relationships between citizens and public authorities. TiGRE’s aim is to reveal the role of trust and distrust in European regulatory governance and the ways trust can be maintained, enhanced, repaired and nurtured via administrative practices and reforms. It takes a multilevel governance approach, which includes the EU level as well as the national and regional ones. Trust – both as a pre-condition and a consequence of well-functioning regulatory regimes – is a key factor to be considered in order to capture how these regimes are able to produce effective and legitimate governance. The in-depth investigation of the complex interplay between trust configurations and regulation in different regulatory regimes (finance, food safety, communication and data protection) across levels of governance and in several countries requires the joint effort of experts with wide-ranging experience. TiGRE is run by a tightly integrated multidisciplinary consortium of top-level scholars, who bring together a very broad range of theoretical, substantial, and methodological skills. A cutting-edge mixed-method approach is applied to provide a comprehensive understanding of such multi-faceted trust-related processes. To bridge research with policy and practice, TiGRE provides criteria, indicators and early warning mechanisms for detecting decreasing trust, and scenarios on consequences thereof. They will be validated through interaction with stakeholders and compared with evidence from outside the EU.

The interplay between viral infection, host response, development of (hyper)inflammation and cardiovascular injury in COVID-19 is currently poorly understood which makes it difficult to predict which patients remain with mild symptoms only and which patients rapidly develop multi organ failure. The solution offered by DIGIPREDICT is an Edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) based, high-tech personalized computational and physical Digital Twin vehicle representing patient-specific (patho)physiology, with embedded disease progression prediction capability, focusing on COVID-19 and beyond. DIGIPREDICT proposes the first of its kind Digital Twin, designed, developed and calibrated on i) patient measurements of various Digital Biomarkers and their interaction, ii) Organ-On-Chips (OoCs) as physical counterpart using patient blood for personalized screening and iii) integration of those physiological readouts using AI at Edge technologies. The final goal is to identify and validate patient-specific dynamic digital fingerprints of complex disease state and prediction of the progression as a basis for assistive tools for medical doctors and patients. Using and improving state-of-the-art OoCs and Digital Biomarkers (for physiology and biomarkers in interstitial fluid) we will measure detailed response to viral infection. By closely monitoring the response with wearable multi-modal Edge AI patches, we aim to predict in near real-time the progression of the disease, support early clinical decision and to propose patient-specific therapy using existing drugs. We will combine scientific and technical excellence in a highly multi- and inter-disciplinary project, bringing together medical, biological, electronical, computer, signal processing and social science communities around Europe to setup Digital Twin at Edge. We will enable an Edge-to-Cloud vision, significantly advancing current state of the art and setting up a new European community for researching and applying Digital Twins.