INFLANET · Project

Advanced Inflammation Imaging Tools to Speed Up Anti-Inflammatory Drug Discovery

healthPrototypeTRL 3Thin data (2/5)

Imagine your body's fire alarm goes off — that's inflammation. Sometimes the alarm gets stuck, and 5-7% of people in Europe live with that alarm blaring nonstop, causing chronic diseases. INFLANET brought together 15 young scientists across 13 labs to build better microscopes that can watch immune cells fight in real time inside living tissue, plus math tools to make sense of all that data. The goal: figure out exactly how inflammation works at the cellular level so we can finally build drugs that turn off the alarm without breaking the system.

By the numbers

5-7%

Prevalence of chronic inflammatory diseases in western societies

Early-stage researchers trained as inflammation experts

Partner institutions in consortium

Countries represented in the network

Total project deliverables produced

Industry partners in the consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Chronic inflammatory diseases affect 5-7% of people in western societies, driving massive healthcare costs, yet anti-inflammatory drug discovery remains painfully slow because we cannot directly observe how immune cells behave in living tissue. Companies developing anti-inflammatory treatments lack the real-time imaging tools and data analysis methods needed to understand drug action at the cellular level, leading to expensive clinical trial failures.

The solution

What was built

The project produced new multimodal and multispectral microscope setups for watching immune cells in real time, plus new imaging windows for murine intravital microscopy. Across 33 deliverables, the team also developed mathematical modelling and cell tracking tools for analyzing inflammatory processes and drug effects in living tissue.

Audience

Who needs this

Pharma companies with anti-inflammatory drug pipelinesContract research organizations (CROs) offering preclinical imaging servicesMedical imaging equipment manufacturersComputational biology and image analysis software companiesBiotech startups focused on immunology therapeutics

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Pharmaceutical & Biotech

enterprise

Target: Mid-to-large pharma companies with anti-inflammatory drug pipelines

If you are a pharma company struggling with high failure rates in anti-inflammatory drug trials — this project developed new multimodal and multispectral microscope setups and intravital imaging windows that let you watch drug effects on immune cells in living tissue in real time. With chronic inflammatory diseases affecting 5-7% of the western population, these imaging tools could help you screen drug candidates faster and reduce costly late-stage trial failures.

Medical Imaging & Diagnostics

mid-size

Target: Companies developing preclinical imaging equipment or contract research services

If you are a preclinical imaging company looking to differentiate your service offering — this project built new multimodal and multispectral microscope setups and original mathematical modelling tools for analyzing immune cell behavior in inflamed tissue. These could be integrated into your contract research workflows, giving your pharma clients richer data from animal model studies across the inflammation space.

Digital Health & Computational Biology

SME

Target: Software companies building image analysis or disease modelling platforms

If you are a computational biology firm developing image analysis or disease modelling software — INFLANET created cell tracking and mathematical modelling tools designed to handle the complex data from intravital microscopy of inflammatory processes. With 15 trained researchers producing validated algorithms across 13 partner institutions in 7 countries, there is a ready talent pool and tested codebase to build commercial software products on.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to access or license INFLANET's imaging technology?

INFLANET was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie training network, so its primary outputs are trained researchers and published methods rather than packaged commercial products. Licensing terms for the microscope setups and imaging windows would need to be negotiated directly with the coordinating university (Université de Montpellier) or the specific partner institution that developed each tool.

Can these imaging tools work at industrial scale for drug screening?

The multimodal microscope setups and imaging windows were developed in a research context across 13 partner labs. Scaling to industrial-grade high-throughput screening would likely require further engineering. However, the mathematical modelling and cell tracking tools could potentially be adapted for automated analysis pipelines.

Who owns the intellectual property from this project?

IP from MSCA-ITN projects typically belongs to the host institutions where the work was performed. With 13 partners across 7 countries (DE, ES, FR, HU, NL, SK, UK), IP may be distributed. Contact the coordinator at Université de Montpellier for specific licensing discussions.

How soon could we integrate these tools into our R&D workflow?

The project ran from 2021 to 2025 and produced 33 deliverables including working microscope setups and imaging windows. The tools exist as functional research prototypes, but adaptation for a specific commercial R&D pipeline would require collaboration with the research teams who built them.

Is there regulatory validation for using these imaging methods in drug development?

Based on available project data, the imaging tools and modelling approaches were developed for research purposes. No regulatory validation (e.g., FDA or EMA qualification) is mentioned. Any use in regulated drug development workflows would require additional validation steps.

Can these tools be used for diseases beyond inflammation?

The intravital imaging setups and cell tracking algorithms were designed for studying immune cell behavior in inflamed tissue. Based on the project's focus on molecular sensors, effectors, and genetic determinants, the imaging and modelling tools could likely be adapted for other immune-related conditions, though this would need validation.

Consortium

Who built it

The INFLANET consortium brings together 13 partners across 7 European countries, anchored by Université de Montpellier in France. The network is heavily academic: 9 universities and 2 research organizations, with only 2 industry partners (15% industry ratio) and 1 SME. This academic-heavy composition is typical for MSCA training networks and means that while the scientific output is strong, commercial translation will require active business partnerships beyond the existing consortium. The geographic spread (DE, ES, FR, HU, NL, SK, UK) provides good access to major European pharma and biotech markets, and the trained researchers themselves represent a valuable hiring pipeline for companies in the inflammation and imaging space.

UNIVERSITE DE MONTPELLIERCoordinator · FR
SLOVENSKA TECHNICKA UNIVERZITA V BRATISLAVEparticipant · SK
TATRAMED SOFTWARE SROparticipant · SK
UNIVERSITEIT LEIDENparticipant · NL
THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELDparticipant · UK
STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITEITparticipant · NL
STICHTING RADBOUD UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUMparticipant · NL
UNIVERSIDAD DE MURCIAparticipant · ES
EOTVOS LORAND TUDOMANYEGYETEMparticipant · HU
INSTITUT PASTEURparticipant · FR
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRSparticipant · FR
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGHparticipant · UK

How to reach the team

Coordinator is Université de Montpellier (France). Use the project website or CORDIS contact form to reach the PI.

Order a report on this consortium See UNIVERSITE DE MONTPELLIER profile →

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore licensing INFLANET's imaging tools or hiring from their trained researcher pipeline? SciTransfer can facilitate introductions to the right team members.

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