Call HORIZON-INFRA-2021-EMERGENCY-02 – Integrated Services for Infectious Disease Outbreak Research

This project is an INFRA-SERV action – a new type of action under Horizon Europe with a challenge-driven approach that reflects the EU’s willingness to build consortiums in position to tackle the most complex societal problems. It is more particularly part of the HERA incubator (Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority), a European bio-defence preparedness plan that is currently being set up by the Commission. Our mission here is to increase EU’s responsiveness and preparedness to any epidemic threats by providing an impressive range of innovative, high quality services to all scientific User communities with projects in the field of high-consequence pathogens. The ISIDORe consortium represents the biggest research instrument dedicated to the study of high consequence pathogens ever set up. After being very positively evaluated the ISIDORe proposal and ERINHA have been invited by the Commission to prepare a Grant Agreement, our priority for the next week.

The ISIDORe consortium, made of the capacities of European ESFRI infrastructures and coordinated networks, proposes to assemble the largest and most diverse research and service providing instrument to study infectious diseases in Europe, from structural biology to clinical trials. Giving scientists access to the whole extent of our state-of-the-art facilities, cutting edge services, advanced equipment, and expertise, in an integrated way and with a common goal, will enable or accelerate the generation of new knowledge and intervention tools to ultimately help control SARS-CoV2 in particular, and epidemic prone pathogens in general, while avoiding fragmentation and duplication among European initiatives.

More information on the HERA incubator initiative and the projects (including ISIDORe) that were selected in response to the emergency call for proposals launched in April can be found in the latest press release of the European Commission:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_3803

https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/research_and_innovation/research_by_area/documents/ec_rtd_outcome-hera-incubator-call.pdf