Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful, degenerative disease of the joints, frequently impacting hips, knees, neck, lower back and hands. OA sufferers can experience significant disability, loss of income and reduced quality of life. AutoCRAT is a Horizon 2020 Project focused on delivering new cell-based therapies to repair cartilage, to help prevent the development of OA and to treat the condition once established. AutoCRAT will build on existing knowledge to identify the cells, secreted factors and cell products that can be used most effectively. The Project will generate economically sustainable and reproducible therapeutic cell sources. We will also build the AutoCRAT Regenerative Medicine Factory (ARM-F), a regulatory-compliant automated system to enable future manufacture of cell-based therapeutic products. The Project is led by NUI Galway and includes 9 partners from 5 different European countries. Pintail provides management and administration support and leads on dissemination and communications.

PanCareFollowUp developed two interventions to deliver better person-centred survivorship care to European survivors of childhood and adolescent cancer. The interventions were tested in Sweden, Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. Replication materials were developed during the project to extend the care to other clinics and countries in the future. Coordinated by Prof. Leontien Kremer of the Prinses Maximá Centre, PanCareFollowUp was the third EU-funded project of the PanCare network, a pan-European network dedicated to improving survivorship. Pintail’s main role was to provide administrative support to the coordinator and consortium, as well as contribute communications and dissemination expertise, building on previous collaborations in the PanCareLIFE project.

COLOSSUS is an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project that aims to provide new and more effective ways to classify patients with a specific type of colorectal cancer (microsatellite stable RAS mutant metastatic colorectal cancer or MSS RAS mt mCRC) and to develop better treatments for them. Our ultimate goal is to deliver a personalised medicine approach for patients with MSS RAS mt mCRC – an urgent unmet need. Pintail is responsible for project administration, in support of the Coordinator (RCSI). We also work with the team on the exploitation and dissemination of project results.

PANDEM-2 is a H2020 EU-funded project that aims to develop new solutions for efficient, EU-wide pandemic management. Led by the University of Galway, the PANDEM-2 consortium consists of 19 partner organisations with expertise in technology, research, public health and pandemic management from across the EU. PANDEM-2 aims to identify, map and integrate pandemic-related data from multiple sources into a coherent pandemic-management database with an extensible dashboard; to develop a highly effective resource modelling and management service; to create and deliver resources, innovations and training for pandemic communication; and to deliver capacity building and develop an operational strategy for cross border pandemic response. Pintail provides management and administrative support to the Coordinator Professor Maire Connolly, University of Galway.

PORSAV is an innovation action project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, as part of Europe’s urgent response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project takes a novel technology for surgical safety from prototype stage to mass production and distribution.

STARSTEM has developed and demonstrated novel forms of medical imaging, and deploying in the study of regenerative medicine. Opto-acoustic technologies were used to monitor the healing effect of stromal cell therapies, as they occur. The project set out to revolutionise stem cell therapy by providing an unprecedented understanding of how these therapies actually work. STARSTEM are using fundamental advances in the physics of imaging to validate stem cell treatments for arthritis. Pintail Limited worked with STARSTEM on the dissemination and exploitation of project results. We also supported the administrative and financial management of the project.  STARSTEM is funded by Horizon2020.

EUPHORIA was a Fast Track to Innovation project developing a non-invasive, patient-friendly method with the potential to monitor inflammatory bowel disease. The core technology is a novel imaging process, combining lasers and ultrasound, with the promise of better diagnostic ability in IBD than in current care. The project leveraged EU support to take novel technology breakthroughs to the market and, ultimately, the clinic. Pintail provided administrative support, as well as communications and dissemination expertise.

VISICORT, coordinated by Professor Matthew Griffin at the University of Galway, was a multidisciplinary EU project studying adverse immune responses to corneal transplantation and aimed to pioneer new understandings of immune responses to tissue transplants and implants. Pintail Limited was involved in VISICORT since its inception, contributing to all aspects of the proposal process. We were active partners in the project, supporting the management of the project, as well as dissemination and exploitation.

Nephstrom built on exciting results from our REDDSTAR project, to carry out a first-in-man Phase Ib / IIa clinical trial of our unique Cyndacel M-therapeutic in the treatment of chronic diabetic kidney disease. In order to underpin future routine clinical use, NEPHSTROM has developed and validated a new combined manufacturing platform that improves the consistency and reduces the cost of the MSC therapeutic. This involved the development of the first “closed-automated” GMP method of MSC isolation and expansion and the creation of a network of four European cell production centres.

PD-MitoQUANT was an EU-funded Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project that brought together academic experts, SMEs, pharmaceutical companies from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and patient advocacy organisation Parkinson’s UK to improve our understanding of mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s, identify and validate novel disease biomarkers, and discover innovative therapeutic targets that can be further progressed by the EFPIA partners in the future. Pintail led the project management in collaboration with the Coordinator, Prof. Jochen Prehn of RCSI, and Dr. Dana Bar-On of Teva Pharmaceuticals, and supported communications and dissemination activities led by Parkinson’s UK.

MErCuRIC sought to develop a novel combinatorial therapy for colorectal cancer to target to specific patient sub-groups. The project was coordinated by Dr. Sandra Van Schaeybroeck of Queen’s University Belfast. Pintail has been involved in a number of cancer-related projects over the years and supported the coordinator in project administration and dissemination efforts.

ADIPOA-2 developed a novel stem cell therapy to treat osteoarthritis, and delivered a large-scale clinical trial in regenerative medicine for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Pintail has wide experience in regenerative medicine projects, and was involved in ADIPOA-2 from the beginning, providing support for all stages of the proposal writing process. We were active partners in the project, supporting the coordinator in the management of the project, as well as dissemination and exploitation.

We know a lot about how to lose weight but not a lot about how to maintain weight loss. NoHoW developed evidence-based ICT tools for weight loss maintenance, including mobile apps, web-based tools and other technologies (activity trackers, smart scales, etc.). The tools were tested in real world settings in Denmark, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Pintail provided administrative support to the project, as well as contributed exploitation and dissemination expertise.

The goal of EuroFIT was to harness the ‘love of the game’ to engage football fans in health-promoting lifestyle changes through their loyalty and attachment to their clubs. EuroFIT engaged men through their connection with their clubs to make sustainable improvements in their diet, activity, and physical fitness. This innovative men’s health project, coordinated by Prof. Sally Wyke at the University of Glasgow, was an extension of the successful Scottish programme Football Fans in Training. In addition to rolling out the Football Fans in Training activities across Europe, the EuroFIT project developed new devices to help monitor training and sedentary periods of users. Pintail played a key role  in the management and dissemination aspects of the project.

The goal of PanCareLIFE was that survivors of cancer diagnosed before age 25 would enjoy the same quality of life and opportunities as their peers who have not had cancer. Using observational studies and molecular genetic investigations PanCareLIFE investigated late effects that impact fertility and hearing impairment (ototoxicity), and further assessed health-related quality of life. Information from PanCareLIFE’s studies was incorporated into new guidelines for fertility preservation. The project was coordinated by Dr. Peter Kaatsch at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz and the Boyne Research Institute, Ireland. Pintail provided project management support and dissemination expertise.

MERLIN explored exciting new opportunities in stromal cell therapy R&D, while making important contributions to the treatment of currently intractable inflammatory and immune mediated liver diseases. Merlin explored the action of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSC) in an archetypal inflammatory liver disease: primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). This enabled us to develop an entirely new treatment option for this incurable illness. MERLIN employed novel, non-bead based methods of cell sorting to purify mesenchymal stem cells for therapeutic use in the project. Pintail helped the team with project management and dissemination activities, as well as delivering a customised, secure, cloud-based data management solution, based on our ‘StudyVault’ platform, to manage and share data generated by the consortium.

NOMAD was a European Centre of Excellence developing a Materials Encyclopaedia and advanced tools for Big-Data Analytics that facilitated the discovery, creation and utilisation of new materials. The Centre was Coordinated by Prof. Scheffler of the Max Planck Society’s Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin, and included physicists, chemists, computer scientists, materials scientists from seven other leading materials science centres plus four super-computing centres. Pintail provided administrative support to the project Coordinator, as well as contributing exploitation and dissemination expertise.

AUTOSTEM developed a closed, automated, sterile pipeline for largescale production of therapeutic stem cells. This enabled lower-cost, higher-quality and more consistent stem cells to be produced, ultimately helping patients to benefit from new stem cell therapies. Pintail joined the team at the proposal stage and was a partner, providing support to the Coordinator Dr Mary Murphy (NUIG) in respect of project management, dissemination and exploitation.

DEXLIFE (2012 – 2015) was an innovative diabetes research project, coordinated by the Steno Diabetes Centre in Copenhagen. The project generated new knowledge about diabetes biomarkers and personalised interventions, that provides health care providers and policy makers with a sound basis for future health policy, diabetes supports and interventions. Pintail provided EU expertise, administrative support and dissemination/exploitation expertise.

Pintail was invited to join this cancer research project by RCSI at the start of the negotiation phase. We worked closely with the coordinator throughout the demanding negotiation process through to the project kickoff in February 2012. We supported the administration and dissemination right through to successful project completion, and are now working with RCSI on a follow-up project.

In-MINDD is a social innovation project, coordinated by Dr. Kate Irving of DCU, aimed at reducing the risk of developing dementia in later life through intervention during middle age. Pintail was involved throughout the proposal and negotiation processes, and provided management support, as well as dissemination expertise, throughout the project lifetime. We supported Dr Irving in a subsequent follow-up project, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies.

EU-WISE was an FP7-funded project to better understand capabilities, resources, and changes in health related practices in community and cultural context across Europe. The project had a particular focus on self-management of chronic, long-term diseases (e.g. diabetes), and on the roles and relationships of patients, families, professional carers, GPs and clinicians. EU-WISE was coordinated by Prof. Anne Rogers at the University of Southampton. Pintail joined the active project in 2012 to provide project management and dissemination expertise, and supported the team right through to successful completion.

RESTORE (2011 – 2015), coordinated by Dr. Anne MacFarlane of the University of Limerick, aimed to optimise the delivery of primary healthcare to migrants in Europe, addressing the “know-do” gap between the implementation of evidence-based solutions to language and cultural barriers into routine clinical practice. In addition, the project focused on the translational gap between health services research and wider health related policy. Pintail was invited to join the project in the negotiation phase and provided EU expertise, administrative support and dissemination/exploitation expertise throughout the project.

Pintail worked with the AGRC at NUI Galway to submit this 16-partner glycomics/cancer proposal (with Chinese, Japanese and US partners) to the 2010 FP7 Health call. We supported the Galway team in dissemination, consortium management, reporting and budget control all the way through to successful completion.

APO-DECIDE (2012 – 2014), coordinated by Prof. Jochen Prehn of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, was an FP7-funded, SME-focused project. APO-DECIDE explored the potential of a systems-based analysis of apoptosis signalling pathways to deliver new prognostic and predictive biomarkers for the management of advanced colorectal cancer. It also enabled the creation of new tools for patient stratification for therapies targeting apoptosis deficiencies in cancer. Pintail worked with the consortium from the proposal phase, during the negotiation phase, and throughout the project.

PurStem (2007 – 2012), led by Prof. Frank Barry at NUI Galway, advanced the state-of-the-art in the large-scale manufacture of stem cells for therapeutic use. Pintail were involved in project administration, providing extensive EU expertise, and led dissemination and communication activities. By the end of the project, a rigorous protocol for the isolation and culture of MSCs had been developed and validated, and our understanding of basic stem cell biology was advanced.

Pintail worked with the Italian Ministry of Fine Arts on Linked Heritage (2011 – 2013), the fifth in a series of successful digital cultural heritage proposals on which Pintail has collaborated. The project contributed large volumes of new content to Europeana, focusing on content quality, metadata, re-use potential and uniqueness, as well as improving search, retrieval and use of Europeana content. Pintail’s project role was primarily technical writing, quality assurance, expert consultancy and technology support – a partner company in Italy provided administrative support.

Pintail was invited to join the CULTURA proposal team by the coordinator in TCD, and supported them in the formulation of an excellent ICT-meets-digital-humanities proposal and throughout the negotiation process. During the project, we focused on internal evaluation, reporting and administration and intellectual property management. Cultura ended in spring 2014, receiving a rating of ‘excellent’ at the final review.

RUBICON (2011 – 2014), coordinated by Prof. Gregory O’Hare of UCD, created a self-learning robotic ecology, which was was applied to Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and hospital transport scenarios. Pintail was involved in all parts of the proposal process, and were active partners in the project, delivering management support, dissemination, evaluation and exploitation planning.

Pintail joined the REDDSTAR team during the proposal phase and worked with the coordinator, Prof. Timothy O’Brien of NUI Galway to ensure a smooth negotiation process. The project built on the PurStem project, where Pintail was also a partner. Pintail provided management support and dissemination/exploitation expertise throughout the project. Reddstar led directly to the follow-on project NEPHSTROM.

Project Slándáil (2014 – 2017) was a collaboration of emergency operatives, academics, ethics- and security-oriented NGO and four SMEs, coordinated by Prof Khurshid Ahmad of Trinity College Dublin. Their common purpose was to make maximum ethical use of the information available in the social media to enhance the performance of emergency management systems. Pintail was involved in the project from its inception, contributing to all aspects of the proposal process, as well as supporting project management, dissemination and exploitation, right up to the successful conclusion of the project.