GRANT SUPPORT
The RPPA facility is 100% funded by the ‘Competitive Central Hungary Operative Programme (CCHOP) European funds for the Central Hungary region‘ grant VEKOP 2.3.3-15-2016-00012 implemented by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office, endorsed by the Government decree 1762/2016. (XII.15.). The amount awarded is 260,000,000 HUF for the time period July 1st, 2017 – June 30th, 2020. This grant opportunity is supported by the European Commission scheme “Strengthening the R&D infrastructure – internationalisation and networking VEKOP-2.3.3-15“. The official title of the funded grant is “Establishment of an RPPA platform for quantitative analysis of mitochondrial proteins in healthy and tumor human samples”.
Mission statement
The RPPA facility hosted in the Department of Biochemistry of the Semmelweis University aims to quantitate the expression of all mitochondrial proteins in healthy and solid tumor samples. We believe that alterations in oncometabolism substantiated by changes in proteins expression ‘rewiring’ certain metabolic pathways provide an excellent opportunity for cancer-specific therapeutic intervention. Identifying those proteins involved in bioenergetic pathways that are up- or downregulated in order to serve the needs of neoplasia, is crucial for beating cancer.
Participants
We accept samples from all over the world, but primarily focus in the Central- and Eastern European region. So far, 11 Institutions of the Hungarian Healthcare System and the Human Tissue Brain Bank have pledged their participation to this project by providing healthy and solid tumor samples. Ethical permission for this project has been obtained (file number: 35302-5/2017/EKU).
International collaborations
Our main collaborator is Dr. Leanne De Koning, the Manager of the RPPA platform in Institut Curie in Paris, France, who has been instrumental in setting up our RPPA facility. Furthermore, we plan to collaborate with any group using antibodies directed against mitochondrial proteins in an effort to validate antibodies for RPPA suitability, as well as those groups that can provide large number of samples in lysate format (priority given to human samples).
Please visit the following link for more information: RPPA Facility at the Semmelweis University.