In the spotlight

Research Grants

Research Grants

The objective of the EAHAD Research Grants is to foster pre-clinical and clinical research collaborations in Europe and to support scientific projects aimed at improving the care of patients with inherited and acquired bleeding disorders.
The grant application cycle runs yearly.

The 2024 EAHAD Research Grants cycle is now open! Learn more about the 2024 cycle here.

2023

Goethe University Frankfurt, Department of Paediatrics
“Analysis of FVIII reservoirs on cell surfaces and their potential impact on coagulation”

Lay Summary: Routinely the activity of coagulation FVlll is measured in patients’ plasma for the diagnosis and to guide treatment in patients with haemophilia A. However, for some patients the tendency to bleed cannot be explained by the measured FVll activity levels only. Based on the preliminary findings, we are expecting a role of FVll bound to blood cells not detected by current coagulation assays. Thus, we are aiming to analyse how much FVlll is bound to cells in the blood of haemophilia A patients and healthy controls. Our results might lead to further understand and especially to personally tailor haemophilia A treatment.

Project duration: 12 months
Grant amount: € 47.990

Amsterdam UMC
“Sexual functioning in men with haemophilia: measurement and communication”

Lay Summary:

One can assume sexuality is a crucial component in the life of every human being. Sexual functioning and satisfaction is an important aspect of health-related quality of life [1]. In general, patients think sexuality and intimacy is an important topic to discuss with their healthcare professional [9]. More knowledge and skills to discuss problems in sexual functioning is important, especially in MWH considering the problems they may experience. Therefore, this study aims to get more insight into the sexual functioning and satisfaction of men with haemophilia by developing a valid and reliable measure that can be used in clinical practice.

Project duration: 24 months
Grant amount: € 25.000

Cardiff University
“Examination of the acceptability of digitalisation of the Timed Up and Go test for remote assessment in people with haemophilia”

Lay Summary: The Timed Up and Go test (TUAG) evaluates mobility, gait and balance and is widely used to evaluate falls risk in the general population and in other health conditions. This project will establish the acceptability and practicality of collecting this information from people with a bleeding disorder remotely at home via movement analysis software, and establish the views of participants on the use of this technology. If acceptable to patients, this approach will reduce the burden of hospital visits, provide valuable feedback to the patient increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the rehabilitation, and allow physiotherapists to potentially identify people at risk of falling so that appropriate interventions can be implemented earlier.

Project duration: 10 months
Grant amount: € 21.184

2022

Kent Haemophilia & Thrombosis Centre, Canterbury
“Identifying Performance-based Outcome measures of Physical function in people with haemophilia (IPOP)”

Lay Summary: The current physical assessment of people with haemophilia focuses on ‘what joints look like’ (joint scores) and includes little information on what activities a person can do and how they might do them. We want to find out what people with haemophilia think about measuring the activities they can do and what the best way of doing this might be. This information could be added to ‘what joint looks like’ when monitoring the physical health of people with haemophilia to give them more information about their condition.

Project duration: 12 months
Grant amount: € 25.000

Basingstoke Haemophilia, Haemostasis & Thrombosis Centre
“Exploring Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Pain Memories in People with Haemophilia and the influence
on current pain experience”

Lay Summary: We are interested in understanding experiences of previous painful events and exploring how these memories may impact on individuals’ day to day to life. We aim to gain a greater understanding of factors which may influence people’s current pain experience. We hope that what we learn as part of this research can be taken forwards to help develop better pain management within bleeding disorder services.

Project duration: 12 months
Grant amount: € 25.000

Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College Dublin
“Neutrophils wandering in patients with haemophilia (New path)”

Lay Summary: This project will investigate the role of neutrophils – a specific type of immune cell – and its secreted
effector molecules in haemophilia. Detailed knowledge about the function of these circulating
immune cells in haemophilia might be highly beneficial in improving patient therapies and healthcare.

Project duration: 10 months
Grant amount: € 50.000

2021

University of Pisa – Dipartimento di Ricerca Traslazionale e delle Nuove Tecnologie in Medicina e Chirurgia
“Engineering and production of recombinant factor eight with long half-life and high coagulant activity”

Lay Summary: The present proposal aims the selection of mutated FVIII (mFVIII) with improved stability, half-life and functional activity compared to products already on the market. Moreover, we aim to find novel mFVIII that exhibit less immunogenicity.

Project duration: January 2022 – January 2024
Grant amount: € 25.000

Fondazione Luigi Villa, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
“Knowledge and attitudes of haemophilic patients toward gene therapy (KAHaGeT)”

Lay Summary: Haemophilia gene therapy is in late stages of development and hopefully it will get market authorization soon. However, not all haemophiliac patients know the functioning of gene therapy, nor its risks and benefits. For this reason, patients may feel disoriented by their doctor’s proposal to undergo gene therapy and have difficulty making choices. This study investigates the level of literacy about gene therapy and the attitudes toward it in a cohort of Italian haemophilic patients, focusing on their information needs, priorities and concerns, in order to identify the main factors associated with their willingness to accept gene therapy.
A better understanding of all factors that play a role in decisions about such treatment will help clinicians to effectively communicate with their patients about this topic, and to better respond to their needs in order to support their decision process.

 

Project duration: October 2021-October 2022
Grant amount: € 25.000

2020

Hospital Universitario Morales Meseguer, Centro, Regional de Hemodonación, Universidad de Murcia, Spain
“Development of a novel gene therapy approach for Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT): Assessment in CRISPR GT cell model, GT patient progenitor cells, and NBSGW immunodeficient mice”

Lay Summary: This project will evaluate a gene rescue approach as an alternative therapy for Glanzmann thrombasthenia. The main objective is to prove that ex vivo genetic correction of patient’s HSC will correct the bleeding phenotype.
 
Project duration: February 2020-February 2022
Grant amount: € 50.000

2019

Amsterdam University Medical Center, The Netherlands
“Getting GRIP on Tolerance: The role of Fc Gamma Receptors in Immune tolerance to Protein therapeutics”

Lay Summary: Antibodies against protein drugs impair effective treatment. Strategies to get rid of these antibodies fail in many patients. In haemophilia patients, this project aims to clarify the underlying reasons and to find genetic factors that can be used to predict who will and will not get rid of these antibodies.
 
Project duration: July 2019-January 2021
Grant amount: € 50.000

Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium
“Towards a better understanding of ankle pain in haemophilia patients: A study examining the relationship between structure and function, taking pain mechanisms into account”

Lay Summary: While pain is of major importance in many patients with haemophilia, pain assessment and treatment are not well developed in this population. This is the first study evaluating the structural and functional status of affected ankle joints combined with the local and central pain condition in patients with haemophilia in order to better understand the complexity of ankle pain.

Project duration: April 2019-April 2020
Grant amount: € 50.000

2018

University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
“Interactions between fibrinogen variants and blood cells: towards a predictive model in congenital fibrinogen disorders” 

Lay Summary: Patients suffering from congenital fibrinogen disorders often have an unpredictable clinical course. Developing methods, which allow the prediction of adverse outcomes, is crucial in order to tailor the best management for these patients. The aim of this project is to determine the interplay between fibrinogen, red blood cells and platelets through the study of the whole blood clot from patients with congenital fibrinogen disorders.

Project duration: October 2018-September 2019
Grant amount: € 45.000

INSERM, Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers 15, Paris, France
“High throughput generation and characterization of monoclonal anti-FVIII IgG from patients with hemophilia A”

Lay Summary: Treatment of patients with hemophilia A by injection of therapeutic FVIII induces blocking anti-factor VIII antibodies in up to one patient out of three.
In this project, we will isolate the cells that produce anti-factor VIII antibodies from the blood of some patients and generate a large array of single recombinant anti-factor VIII antibodies. We will then establish the ID card of each of the anti-factor VIII antibodies. This will lead to the identification of prognostic markers for successful patient treatment, as well as the development of new treatments to prevent the appearance of or eliminate anti-factor VIII antibodies.

Project duration: March 2018-February 2020
Grant amount: €50,000

2017

Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
“Does ADAMTS13 influence the bleeding phenotype in von Willebrand disease?”

Project duration: April 2017-March 2018 
Grant amount: €47,950

Fondazione Luigi Villa, Angelo Bianchi Bonomi Haemophilia and Thrombosis Centre, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy 
“High throughput analysis of antibody binding profiles in previously untreated patients with severe haemophilia A”

Project duration: April 2017-March 2019
Grant amount: €50,000