Humanitas University joins ImmUniverse, an IMI project transforming diagnosis and treatment for ulcerative colitis and atopic dermatitis

ImmUniverse is a European research project, funded by IMI (Innovative Medicine Initiative) with EU Horizon 2020 and EFPIA support, investigating diagnosis and treatment options for patients living with ulcerative colitis and atopic dermatitis. Coordinated by Professor Silvio Danese, Professor of Gastroenterology at Humanitas University and Head of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Center at Humanitas Research Hospital, the project was launched in January of 2020 with the collaboration of 26 international partners, comprising academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, patient organisations and specialised SMEs. Since then, the partners have worked persistently to make progress in developing new and innovative options to diagnose and treat the two immune-mediated inflammatory disease ulcerative colitis and atopic dermatitis.

The first year was strongly impacted by the challenging conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic which meant that, in particular, certain clinical aspects of the project activities had to be postponed while the medical experts had to prioritise the care for and treatment of COVID patients. Nevertheless, important milestones where reached such as the enrolment of patients in the clinical studies of the project and the set-up of common standards for sample inclusion, handling, extraction, transport and quality control. Further, ethics approval for in vitro studies was obtained to test the LIPUS- enabled gut liquid biopsy devices to allow identification of the OPTIMAL ultrasound parameters to trigger the desired bioeffect.

For more information on the project, please visit www.immuniverse.eu