TNA calls

SPECIAL SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19 CALL TO ACCESS ERINHA FACILITIES

The current pandemic of COVID-19 is unprecedented in modern times, and has caused a global crisis with considerable health, economic and social consequences. With no approved medical countermeasures available to fight SARS-CoV-2, it has also ignited a major scientific momentum to better understand this new virus, limit its spread and eventually stop the pandemic.

ERINHA – the European Research Infrastructure on Highly pathogenic Agents – and its Members have come forward in this time of emergency and taken part in multiple European projects and initiatives to advance COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 research and accelerate the development of therapeutic and prophylactic solutions against the virus.

However, ERINHA was not only created to lead excellence driven research but also to benefit the whole scientific community. One of the most important missions of the infrastructure is to give academia and industry the opportunity to access Europe’s top high containment research facilities to develop medical countermeasures against highly pathogenic viruses.

Therefore, we now want to extend our commitment to the current scientific effort by launching a call for proposals fully dedicated to COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 research. With the support of the EU funded H2020 project ERINHA-Advance, we will be offering the selected scientists and their projects free of charge* transnational access (TNA) to our cutting edge high containment facilities.
* Free of charge transnational access includes administrative & logistical support, free use of the installations, in accordance with all applicable national laws, local safety and health regulations, and technical & scientific support. The User Group will be in charge of procuring consumables & animals (when applicable). Routine consumables may be covered to some extent. These aspects will be discussed during project implementation.

Please note that due to all current travel restrictions, we will not be able to offer training or in person access in the frame of this call.

The selection of the projects will be based on peer review & scientific merit through fast track evaluation. In addition to scientific excellence, priority will be given to:

• User-Group Leaders affiliated to public institutions or private companies located in the European Union or an associated country.
  Note: TNA can be granted to Users based outside the EU or its associated countries but cannot represent more than 20% of the total access that will be provided under this call.
• Proposals that clearly demonstrate the potential impact of the research on health with regards to the current COVID-19 pandemic
• Proposals aiming at providing the research community with efficient and optimal tools for the study of SARS-CoV-2
• Proposalsaiming at developing pan anti coronavirus medical countermeasures or tools

In addition, applications must fall into one of the following scientific sections listed below. Applications that require both in vitro and in vivo work are welcome.

SECTION 1: DIAGNOSIS TOOLS & IMMUNOLOGICAL TESTS FOR COVID-19 / SARS-COV-2

Proposals in this Section may include:

• Development of innovative technologies for COVID-19 diagnosis
• Development of serological tests
• Development of innovative alternatives for antibodies production for COVID-19 diagnosis purposes
• Any other topic related to this Section

SECTION 2: THERAPEUTICS AGAINST COVID-19 / SARS-COV-2

Proposals in this Section may include:

• Development of innovative COVID-19 therapeutic tools
• Development of innovative alternatives for antibodies production for COVID19 therapeutic purposes
• Drug repurposing
  • In vivo anti COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 efficacy of known drugs
  • In vitro anti COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 efficacy of known drugs, including high throughput SARS-CoV-2 antiviral or therapeutic screening assays
• Drug development
  • In vivo anti COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 efficacy of newly developed drugs
  • In vitro anti COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 efficacy of newly developed drugs, including high throughput SARS-CoV-2 antiviral or therapeutic screening assays
• Any other topic related to this Section

SECTION 3: VACCINE AGAINST SARS-COV-2

Proposals in this Section may include:

• Development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2
• Development of new methods to improve immunogenicity of anti SARS-CoV-2 vaccines
• Any other topic related to this Section

SECTION 4: PROCESS DEVELOPMENT

Proposals in this Section may include any COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 related project progressing into GMP production and aiming to set standard operating procedures for production of plasmids, cells, gene modified cells, or viruses; etc.

SECTION 5: OTHER TOOLS & METHODS RELATED TO COVID-19 / SARS-COV-2

Proposals in this Section may include:

• Development & optimization of alternative technologies to animal models for the study of COVID-19 and/or SARS-CoV-2
• Development of new decontamination procedures against SARS-CoV-2
• Any other topic related to this Section

For any question, please contact our staff at the Central Coordinating Unit (contact@erinha.eu).

• ERINHA Advance TNA Programme Guidelines
• ERINHA Advance TNA Programme Data Protection Policy
• ERINHA Advance TNA Programme Application Form

To apply, please download the ERINHA-Advance TNA Programme Guidelines, the Application Form and the Data Protection Policy (one form must be signed by each User listed in a User Group).

Please make sure that you accurately describe the methodology related to your Project. This is crucial for us to estimate that we have appropriate capacities to conduct the work. Your Proposal may otherwise not pass the Feasibility Assessment.
An organization can submit several applications.

IMPORTANT DATES

Opening of the call: Monday 25 May, 2020
Submission deadline: Proposals are recommended to be submitted prior to Monday 22 June, 2020 for priority access. Proposals received after 22 June will be evaluated, selected and implemented on a rolling basis until TNA budget is consumed.