Ultra-Scalable Genetic Programming for NAM-Ready Engineered Myotissuesbroad
SCALE-MYO · Horizon Europe grant · 2026-09-01–2027-05-31
EC contribution
Total cost
Beneficiaries
About the data
Source: CORDIS (official EU open data), Horizon Europe. Framework HORIZON · call HORIZON-EIC-2026-AIC · scheme HORIZON-EIC · topic HORIZON-EIC-2026-AIC-02. CORDIS record →
Objective
SCALE-MYO will enable the large-scale deployment of New Approach Methodologies (NAM) for a tissue whose mass approaches half of one’s body weight and is one of the strongest predictors of healthy ageing: skeletal muscle. The project removes a key bottleneck to developing drugs in the multi-billion metabolic and neuromuscular disease markets and for predictive muscle toxicology: reliable and scalable supply of high-function human skeletal muscle tissues, standardised for use across quantitative assay formats. Our disruptive angle is to industrialise muscle NAM by making the cell input truly manufacturable. We will advance GERALT, a patent-pending hiPSC genetic-programming platform that strips out growth-factor dependencies, the hidden drivers of cost, variability and fragility. The result is ultra-robust cells that expand at manufacturing scale in high-density 3D and are then synchronously driven to myogenesis in just 4 days. Thaw-and-cast inputs are directly assembled into an industry-validated microphysiological system (MPS), delivering standardised engineered muscle tissues (EMT) for force and metabolic readouts within ~2 weeks. Phase 1 delivers a decision-grade package: a locked manufacturing and QC workflow, a standardised MPS assay with an analysis pipeline that has been replicated independently, and an end-user-shaped perturbation benchmark that sets pragmatic adoption thresholds (dynamic range, variability budgets, and throughput expectations), supported by targeted signalling and atrophy markers for interpretability. Adoption is executed via an adopter stack (decision, execution, distribution) with explicit gates for QC readiness, platform transfer, pharma acceptance criteria, validation/standardisation and exploitation planning. By month 9, SCALE-MYO will be ready to trigger Phase 2 scale-up and broad muscle NAM deployment, synergising with EIC portfolio projects to unlock shared standards, interoperable datasets, and faster NAM uptake across disease areas.
Beneficiaries (1)
| Organisation | Country | Role | EC contribution | SME |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO | IT | coordinator | €300,000 |
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