OPTOMICS project received recognition by Innovation Radar

The OPTOMICS project, co-led by Professor Reedik Mägi of the Institute of Genomics at the University of Tartu, has been recognised by the European Commission’s Innovation Radar. The project focuses on developing a prevention method for type 2 diabetes.

According to the European Commission, the project represents a key innovation. This recognition demonstrates that our research has the potential to reach the market, bringing direct benefits to patients and the healthcare system. Together with researchers from Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München, Reedik’s team is developing a novel solution to improve the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes by combining optoacoustic and multi-omics technologies.

The project started in 2021 and concluded in December last year. The search for novel solutions in diabetes diagnostics is motivated by diabetes becoming a global pandemic, affecting more than 420 million people worldwide. The disease has highly diverse complications, and the precise identification or prediction of disease stages at the individual level - particularly differentiating those likely to develop the disease and/or develop complications, remains an unresolved clinical challenge requiring urgent attention. The aim of OPTOMICS has been to explore methodologies that introduce a new approach to type 2 diabetes in healthcare.

The OPTOMICS project is driven by an international and interdisciplinary consortium comprising three research institutions and three small and medium-sized enterprises. The consortium includes teams from Germany, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom, bringing together top-level experts from fields ranging from biology and multi-omics to biotechnology.

The project is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.

More information is available on the Innovation Radar website:
https://innovation-radar.ec.europa.eu/innovation/53323