Joint Transnational Call (JTC2020)

In December 2019 the EJP RD launched its second Joint Transnational Call (JTC2020) co-funded with the European Commission to fund multilateral “Pre-Clinical Research to Develop Effective Therapies for Rare Diseases”. The aim of the call was to enable scientists in different countries to build an effective collaboration on a common interdisciplinary research project based on complementarities and sharing of expertise, with a clear benefit for patients. Twenty two countries joined this call: Austria, Belgium, Canada (including Québec), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Turkey. 
The process included a two-step submission and evaluation procedure.
In the first step a total of 173 eligible pre-proposals were submitted. After careful examination by the Scientific Evaluation Committee (SEC), 30 pre-proposals were selected for full submission. Each of the full proposals was then evaluated by at least two additional external experts whose reviews were sent to project coordinators in order to give them the opportunity of studying the assessments and commenting on experts’ arguments and evaluations. Both inputs were taken into account in a second SEC meeting. 
Following the second SEC evaluation and ranking of the best projects, 18 consortia with a foreseen budget of about €24,5 M were selected for funding, including €2.7 M of co-funding from the European Commission. 
The list of funded projects is detailed below. More information on the funded projects and the outcomes of the call (lay summaries, statistics, etc.) will be provided soon. 

WilsonMed : Multimolecular targeting of copper overload in Wilson disease
TREAT-SGS : Development and preclinical testing in human cell models and transgenic mice of a novel treatment for Schinzel-Giedion Syndrome
CureMILS : A reprogramming-based strategy for drug repositioning in patients with mitochondrial DNA-associated Leigh syndrome
TREATKCNQ : Targeted treatment for KCNQ related encephalopathies: retigabine analogues, repurposed drugs and allele specific knock down
SCN1A-up! : Therapeutic strategies for Dravet syndrome: upregulation of endogenous SCN1A and modulation of remodeling
CHARLIE : CHAnging Rare disorders of LysInE metabolism
ProDGNE : Novel therapeutic approaches to target GNE Myopathy
TreatRP : Translating cGMP analogues into a treatment for retinitis pigmentosa
MECPer-3D : Personalized MECP2 gene therapy using CRISPR/Cas9 technology coupled to AAV-mediated delivery in 3D cell culture and KI mice
TC NER : Transcription stress Counteracted by Nutritional interventions of Exceptional importance for rare DNA Repair diseases
TREAT-ARCA : Designing a toolbox of paradigmatic treatments for a targeted molecular medicine approach to autosomal-recessive ataxias
ARMED : Antioxidant treatment as a novel therapeutic option for microvillus inclusion disease
AAK-INSIGHT : Aniridia – Novel therapeutic tools to treat or prevent progressive cornea opacification
DBAGenCure : Lentiviral-mediated gene therapy for Diamond Blackfan Anemia: Preclinical Safety and Efficacy Studies
SILENCELQTS : SGK1 inhibition as a novel therapeutic approach in Long QT syndrome
EpiThe4FSHD : Safety and efficacy of a possible epigenetic therapy for FSHD muscular dystrophy
FANEDIT : Gene editing as a novel therapeutic strategy in Fanconi anemia
GET-READY : Genetic therapy for EYS- and USH2A-associated retinal disease