Call for transnational research projects within the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR)

The French National Research Agency, in partnership with 15 countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) is launching a sixth joint call for proposals through the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR). This initiative aims to promote international research on antimicrobial resistance.

Funding will be awarded for a maximum of 3 years. The ANR will fund only the French partners in the selected projects.

Aims

Control of AMR needs actions addressing issues at human, animal and environmental levels, according to an approach usually referred to as “One Health”.  Following publication of the WHO Global priority list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (including Mycobacterium tuberculosis multi-and extensively drug resistant) (ref), the JPIAMR is launching a joint transnational call with the aim to discover new targets, compounds and tools with the potential to help controlling diseases caused by resistant bacteria from the above-mentioned WHO pathogen list in human, animal or environmental settings.

Projects considered for funding will involve fundamental, translational research, with the exception of clinical trials.

Topics of the call

Project proposals should cover at least one of the following areas for this call.

• New targets
  • Studies of new bacterial targets
     
  • or mechanisms of resistance (examples include studies on novel enzyme or efflux pump inhibitors or others), including studies aimed at understanding and overcoming the mechanisms controlling the generation of resistance.

• New therapies
  • Discovery of new compounds (including new antibiotics and alternatives).
     
  • Strategies to inhibit or reduce the acquisition of resistance, such as single molecular agents effective against multiple targets as well as therapeutics that enhance immune-mediated pathogen elimination, disrupt colonisation or biofilm development, and reduce virulence.
     
  • Discovery and implementation of novel therapies to overcome known antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and/or to restore susceptibility to conventional antibiotics.

• New tools/asays
  • Strategies and/or innovative tools or assays that improve, enhance, and/or facilitate the identification or validation of new effective compounds or therapies.
     
  • Strategies and/or innovative tools for optimization of drug use, dosage and delivery of new drugs.
     
  • Exploration of bacterial genes e.g. expression of latent gene clusters.

The following sub-topics are not within the scope of the call:

• Investigations addressing cross-talk between the host and pathogen, as well as the relationship between microbes, environment and infection;
• Studies on bacteria not in the WHO Global priority list above
• Investigations on the initial steps of the infection process;
• Investigations based on, or involving, clinical trials.
• Re-evaluation of existing anti-microbial compounds in the context of their combination with new, innovative targets, compounds or tools.

General conditions for application

Applicants must adhere to the specific regulations of the national funding organisations. Eligibility rules for the consortia are :

Minimum of three (3) eligible partners from three (3) different countries participating in the call.

Maximum of six (6) project partners. However, consortia including partners from Czech Republic, Latvia Poland or Romania may increase the total number of partners to seven (7), in order to increase representation of these countries in JPIAMR projects.

Maximum number of partners from each participating country per project is limited to one partner for Italy and Latvia and to two partners for other participating countries. For Belgium this is limited to one partner per region/community, which in practice comes down to one partner per participating Belgian funding agency.

Participants not eligible for funding (e.g. from non-funding countries or not fundable according to national/regional regulations of the participating funding organisations) may be involved in projects if they secure their own funding. However, the maximum number of six (6) participants should not be exceeded (or seven (7) in the case of inclusion of partners from Czech Republic, Egypt, Latvia, Poland or Romania).

Consortia should always consist of a majority of project participants eligible for funding according to the criteria above. The budget of a non-funded partner shall not exceed 30% of total transnational project budget requested. 

Project participants not eligible to be funded cannot be consortium coordinators and must accept all JPIAMR rules and guidelines just as funded members.

An applicant (i.e. researcher) can not be involved in more than 3 proposals submitted under the Work Programme 2018 of ANR (all calls included). An applicant can be involved in 3 proposals as partner or in one proposal as coordinator and in two other proposals as partner. This call is part of the 2018 Work Programme.

Funding will be awarded for a maximum of three years. ANR will exclusively fund French partners of the selected projects.