PARTNERS
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale
The Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) is France’s only public research organization exclusively dedicated to human health. Created in 1964, Inserm is a public scientific and technological establishment under the joint supervision of the French Ministries of Health and Research. It employs more than 15,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians, with the shared mission of advancing knowledge in biology and medicine, developing innovative therapies, and improving public health across the full continuum from bench to bedside.
Dr Vincent Prévot, coordinator of the project, earned his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Lille in 1999 and has directed the Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain research team since 2006. He was promoted to the rank of Exceptional Class Research Director at Inserm in 2024. His research focuses on the neuronal and glial mechanisms regulating energy and glucose metabolism and reproduction, and their involvement in age-related metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. Dr Prévot has received multiple prestigious national and international awards, including the Edwin B. Astwood Award (2024), and has held major leadership roles in the field, notably as President of the International Federation of Neuroendocrinology (2020–2024). He is also the corresponding Principal Investigator of the ERC Synergy Grant WATCH.
Research team
- Dr Konstantina Chachlaki, Scientific coordinator of miniNO
Workpackages
- WP1: Neuroendocrine programming of early postnatal brain development
- WP3: Association of NO/sildenafil treatment after preterm birth with long term mental or non-mental comorbidities
- WP4: Impact of genetic, epigenetic and socio-economic factors on comorbidities of prematurity
- WP5: Preclinical validation of predictive biomarkers and development of new approaches diagnosis and prevention
- WP6: Coordination and Management
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
- WP8: Ethics requirements
National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Children’s Hospitals Campus at Goudi is a modern, clinical and research center and one of the largest in Europe (1400 beds, >200,000 outpatients visits and >60,000 admissions per year). It serves as the major tertiary hub for sick Greek, immigrant and foreign children and adolescents. It has two Research Institutes and serves as the Unique Center of Excellence for many Rare Diseases, including childhood cancer, while it performs the Newborn Screening of the country. It has four NKUA depts. (2 Pediatrics, Genetics, Child Psychiatry).
The team leader, Dr Chrousos George, Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology, Director of University Research Institute for the Study and Management of Genetic and Neoplastic Diseases of Childhood, NKUA. He currently holds the UNESCO Chair on Adolescent Health Care at the University of Athens. He held the 2011 John Kluge Distinguished Chair in Technology and Society at the US Library of Congress in Washington DC. He has performed biomedical research from the basic molecular/cellular level all the way to the diagnosis, treatment and management of diseases. His work has opened new horizons in our understanding of a spectrum of complex human disorders related to stress and trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, melancholic, atypical and postpartum depression, eating disorders, obesity/osteosarcopenia/metabolic syndrome, psychosomatic and sleep disorders such as insomnia and sleep apnoea, and inflammatory/autoimmune and allergic diseases.
George Chrousos
Research team
- Dr Siahanidou Soultana
- Dr Koniari Eleni
Workpackages
- WP2: Association between premature birth and its comorbidities with NO and the HPG activation at minipuberty
- WP4: Impact of genetic, epigenetic and socio-economic factors on comorbidities of prematurity
- WP6: Coordination and Management
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
CENTRE HOSPITALIER REGIONAL ET UNIVERSITAIRE DE LILLE
With nearly 16,000 professionals, CHU Lille is one of the largest university hospital campuses in Northern Europe, combining high-level care, teaching, innovation, and research. Each year, nearly 1.4 million patients are treated, and neonatal clinical inclusions for pediatric and perinatal studies are conducted primarily at Jeanne de Flandre Hospital, which handles over 5,700 births annually, providing an ideal environment for neonatal clinical research.
Prof. Laurent Storme is Head of Neonatal Intensive Care at CHU Lille and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Lille. He directs the Department of Neonatology and the EA4489 research laboratory Perinatal Environment and Health, and oversees training and clinical research in neonatal care. His work focuses on the health and development of newborns, neonatal intensive care, and the long-term impact of the perinatal period on child health.
Prof. Renaud Jardri is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Lille and Head of the Perinatal Psychiatry Department at CHU Lille. He leads the National Reference Center for Rare Psychiatric Diseases (PsyRARE) and conducts clinical research within Lille Neuroscience & Cognition (Inserm U-1172), where he co-directs the Lille Psychiatry, Subjectivity & Inference team. His research focuses on understanding, assessing, and managing hallucinatory experiences and delusional beliefs in children and adolescents, combining clinical psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience, and innovative neurotechnologies.
Laurent Storme
Renaud Jardri
Research team
- Charles-Antoine Seux (Laurent Storme)
- Marine Gautier—Martins (Renaud Jardri)
Workpackages :
- WP2: Association between premature birth and its comorbidities with NO and the HPG activation at minipuberty
- WP3: Association of NO/sildenafil treatment after preterm birth with long term mental or non-mental comorbidities
- WP4: Impact of genetic, epigenetic and socio-economic factors on comorbidities of prematurity
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE VAUDOIS
The Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), in Lausanne, is one of the five university hospitals in Switzerland. The CHUV’s medical services benefit over 45,000 patients a year. Almost 3000 babies are born every year in the obstetrics department. Approximately 9000 employees work at the CHUV. The university hospital acts as a general university hospital for people living in the Lausanne area, covering all areas of medical treatment. It also serves as a hospital offering acute and specialist care for the whole Canton of Vaud and parts of French-speaking Switzerland. In 2019, the university hospital was rated as the leading hospital in Switzerland and 9th best hospital in the world by Newsweek Magazine.
The team leader, Prof. Nelly Pitteloud, is a translational researcher focused on the neuroendocrine control of human reproduction and the links between metabolism and reproduction. She has published several seminal manuscripts on the genetics of CHH and the detailed physiological studies on pubertal development and minipuberty. Pr Nelly Pitteloud was the chair of the COST action BM1105 on “GnRH deficiency: elucidation of the neuroendocrine control of reproduction”.
Federico Santoni
Research team
- Dr.Nicolas Niederländer
- Dr. Andrea Messina
- Mr. James Acierno
- Dr. Federico Santoni
Workpackages
- WP2: Association between premature birth and its comorbidities with NO and the HPG activation at minipuberty
- WP4: Impact of genetic, epigenetic and socio-economic factors on comorbidities of prematurity
- WP6: Coordination and Management
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
Université de Genève
Founded in 1559 by Jean Calvin, the University of Geneva (UNIGE) is dedicated to teaching, research and dialogue with society. With more than 17’000 students of some 150 different nationalities, it is Switzerland’s second largest university. UNIGE offers more than 500 programmes (including 136 Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes, 87 doctoral programmes) and 343 continuing education programmes covering an extremely wide variety of fields: exact sciences, medicine, humanities, social sciences, law, etc.
The team leader, Alan Carleton, is a tenured associate professor at the medical Faculty of the University of Geneva.
Alan Carleton
Research team
- Alan Carleton
Workpackages
- WP1: Neuroendocrine programming of early postnatal brain development
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
Queen Mary University of London
As part of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry and Queen Mary University of London, the William Harvey Research Institute is one of the largest multidisciplinary pharmacological institutes in Europe with over 530 clinicians and scientists from 45 countries. Our innovative research environment and close collaboration with Barts Health NHS Trust and healthcare partners across East London gives us a unique opportunity to translate and extend basic and clinical research into therapeutics that benefit the local community and beyond. The team leader, Dr Sasha Howard, is an Associate Professor of Paediatric Endocrinology and Honorary Consultant, Centre for Endocrinology, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary, University of London.
Sasha Howard
Research team
- Sasha Howard
- Jordan Read
Workpackages
- WP4: Impact of genetic, epigenetic and socio-economic factors on comorbidities of prematurity
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
University of Lille
The University of Lille has been officially created on January 1st, 2018, as a result of the common desire of the three universities of Lille to build a leading European university, recognized worldwide for its research, the excellence of its education and its innovative lifelong training. The ULille is a multidisciplinary university, covering 4 training areas: Sciences and Technologies; Life Sciences and Health; Arts, Literature, Languages, Human and Social Sciences; Law, Economics and Management. Research plays an essential role at ULille, which enjoys strong ties with leading bodies such as CNRS, INSERM, INRIA, Pasteur Lille and Lille University Hospital. The ULille policies aim to reinforce the inter-disciplinary research, in line with major social issues, knowledge transfer and public-private partnership. The team leader, Prof Philippe Froguel, is head of the UMR8199 unitand has pioneered in the genetics of diabetes and obesity (both monogenic and polygenic forms). He has established in Lille a large DNA and phenotypic database including >20,000 samples. His CNRS UMR8199 unit comprises the only French Equipment of Excellence focused on the next-generation sequencing of human genome.
Amélie Bonnefond
Research team
- Dr Amélie Bonnefond
Workpackages
- WP2: Association between premature birth and its comorbidities with NO and the HPG activation at minipuberty
- WP4: Impact of genetic, epigenetic and socio-economic factors on comorbidities of prematurity
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
Universitaet zu Luebeck
The Department of Paediatrics at the University of Lübeck is the coordinating study center of the German Neonatal Network (GNN) a large cohort study of preterm infants which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany. The GNN has already enroled more than 19000 premature infants with a birth weight below 1500 grams and has 5 year follow up completed in more than 2500 of these infants. The team leader, Prof. Wolfgang Göpel, is a consultant in Neonatology and Paediatric Intensive Care, Department of Paediatrics, University of Lübeck. He is also the Founder of the German Neonatal Network.
Wolfgang Göepel
Research team
- Prof. Wolfgang Göepel
Workpackages
- WP3: Association of NO/sildenafil treatment after preterm birth with long term mental or non-mental comorbidities
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
Universitaetsklinikum Wurzburg – Klinikum Der Bayerischen Julius-Maximilians-Universitat
The Department of Pediatrics at the University Hospital of Würzburg belongs to the oldest pediatric hospitals worldwide and has continuously grown during the last 170 years. The research program spans across a wide range of acute and chronic diseases with origin in childhood, including basic and translational science in host-microbiome interaction, infectious diseases as well as neurological and psychosocial development of preterm born children with specific emphasis on risk and resilience factors. There is a close cooperation with the German Neonatal Network and other European databases of preterm born individuals in France, Great Britain and Finland.
Juliane Spiegler
Research team
- Priv. Doz. Juliane Spiegler
- Prof. Christoph Härtel
Workpackages
- WP3: Association of NO/sildenafil treatment after preterm birth with long term mental or non-mental comorbidities
- WP6: Coordination and Management
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
ALITHEA Genomics
Alithea Genomics is a Swiss biotech company founded in 2020 as an EPFL University spin-off based on a ground-breaking technology for massively multiplexed transcriptomics. Since then, it has evolved in an established RNA sequencing solution provider, supporting pharma, biotech and clinical researchers in R&D efforts related to:
- RNA biomarker discovery
- Drug discovery and screening
- Academic research
- Plant Biology
Riccardo Dainese
Research team
- Riccardo Dainese (PhD)
- Daniel Alpern (PhD)
- Marine Vallez (MSc)
Workpackages
- WP5: Preclinical validation of predictive biomarkers and development of new approaches diagnosis and prevention
- WP6: Coordination and Management
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities
FertiPro
FertiPro NV is a production facility with more than 30 years of experience in the (contract) manufacturing of cell culture media, primarily—though not exclusively—for assisted reproductive technologies. In close collaboration with InActiv Blue BV- a Belgium-based medical technology company-, FertiPro has also developed RNA and DNA preservation buffers for a wide range of applications. All products are manufactured in compliance with an ISO 13485–certified quality management system. Production activities take place in state-of-the-art, environmentally controlled cleanrooms in Beernem, Belgium.
Riccardo Dainese
Research team
- Jo Vandesompele (PI)
- Liesbeth Faes
- Ilse Jonckheere
Inserm Transfert SA
Founded in 2000, Inserm Transfert SA is the private subsidiary of the French National Institute of the Health and Medical Research (Inserm), dedicated to technology transfer (from invention disclosure to industrial partnership). Inserm Transfert runs a comprehensive set of technology transfer activities from classical value chain activities to unique solutions. The collaborative research funding department of Inserm Transfert is currently managing 29 collaborative projects in the field of life sciences and health, funded by European (Horizon 2020) and national (Investissements d’avenir) programmes. In 2018, the project managers of the department have supported the submission of 36 proposals in response to EU and national calls for projects. Having faced and solved many issues raised by the European cooperation in medical research, the team can anticipate and address quickly any kind of questions emerging in collaborative research programs.
Delphine Smagghe
Research team
- Delphine Smagghe
- Marie Hauduroy
- Matthieu Collin
Workpackages
- WP6: Coordination and Management
- WP7: Dissemination, communication & exploitation activities