LeadtoTreat Kick-off meeting in Trondheim

Antimicrobial resistance is by the World Health Organization defined as one of the top 10 global public health threats. Many bacteria that cause infectious diseases develop resistance to available antibiotic drugs. Promising potential new drugs fail to progress to the clinic due to poor solubility, protein adsorption or difficulties in preparing pharmaceutical formulations. The EIC-funded LeadtoTreat project aims at addressing this problem by introducing a novel targeted delivery approach for compounds suitable for treating resistant microbial infections.

On 11th and 12th May 2022, the LeadtoTreat consortium came together in Trondheim to officially kick-off the project. The meeting was hosted by project coordinator, Geir Klinkenberg from SINTEF and took place at Scandic Hotel Lerkendal and at SINTEF's locations in Trondheim.

The kick-off meeting was a nice opportunity for the consortium members to meet physically for the first time and to lay the foundation for a fruitful collaboration in the coming years. After welcome and round table presentation of the participants, the LtT coordinator briefly introduced the general project aim and scope, project objectives and project management. All partners shortly introduced themselves and highlighted their expertise and roles in the project. The meeting was also joined by an external consultant and EAB member, Eckhard Schwenner. All work package leaders presented the planned work and objectives in the LtT work packages, and the presentations were followed by discussions within the consortium, defining the steps to be taken within the individual work packages to keep the project on track right from the start. During the discussion Eckhard Schwenner gave his input on commercial aspects to focus on from the beginning of the project.

The first day finished with a dinner at the old and traditional seafood restaurant Havfruen in the city center of Trondheim. Day 2 was rounded up by a lab tour at SINTEF's Biotechnology and Nanomedicine labs.

LeadtoTreat assembles a multi-national team of leading experts from 3 partner institutions with long-standing experience in their respective fields. The project is funded with a total budget of €2,7Mio over the next 4 years by the European Commission's current Research Framework Programme Horizon Europe and the European Innovation Council (EIC).