Last 3 July in Bari the BIOMIS project has been officially launched.
BIOMIS – Costituzione della biobanca del microbiota intestinale e salivare umano: dalla disbiosi alla simbiosi is a 3 year collaborative project aimed at establishing the first Italian biobank of intestinal, salivary and vaginal microbiota. Microorganisms will be characterized using high-throughput meta-omic approaches. In vivo and in vitro studies will be performed, with animal models matching patients’ clinical characteristics. Therapeutic approaches will be explored, studying the efficacy of faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in patients with different diseases, to restore the healthy microbiome in the diseased colon, leading to symptoms resolution. Innovative capsules and faecal suspensions will be produced in order to implement new administration strategies for the FMT.
The outcomes of BIOMIS will enable healthcare professionals to custom therapeutic applications by modulating patients’ microbiota and specific host – microbe interactions. Top-leading research and clinical centres will collaborate with private companies to streamline project objectives and open new therapeutic perspectives for several human diseases.
The project’s consortium is composed of 11 Italian partners, 4 proposing parties (Distretto H-BIO Puglia; CAREBIOS, Napoli; Università di Perugia; Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma) and 8 implementing parties (Università di Bari, Università del Salento; CNR IBIOM; IRCS de Bellis Castellana; IRCCS Tumori Bari; Exprivia; Farmalabor; Fondazione per la Ricerca Farmacologica Gianni Benzi Onlus).
Fondazione Gianni Benzi will be responsible for the Project Management, as part of the Distretto H-Bio Puglia. Moreover, the Foundation will grant the compliance of project activities with regulatory and ethical standards and will support the adhesion of the new BIOMIS biobank to the European research infrastructure for biobanking BBMRI-ERIC.
