The PROTO consortium gathers experts and institutions from different sectors, from academia to SMEs and patient organizations. They all focus on distinct and complementary steps in the clinical research on musculoskeletal diseases, from ATMP manufacturing and characterization, their application in the clinic, implementing biomarker analysis, metabolomics and genetic profiling and patient input and information. Members of PROTO aim to collaboratively advance the research in chronic inflammation in OA, elucidate the mechanisms and identify the factors responsible for health to disease transition.
The combination of 4 academic/university hospital institutions (Charité, OULU, PMU, QUT), 1 clinical-stage regenerative medicine company (Pluri), 3 SMEs (NBS, KTEC, BtP) supporting the clinical studies, 2 patient organizations (ReumaNL as beneficiary and DRL as external supporter), and project management SME (InnActa) strengthens PROTO by integrating a diversity of expertise and viewpoints.
PROTO is coordinated by Tobias Winkler (Charité), Full Professor, Head of the Research Group for Advanced Musculoskeletal Therapies within the Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies and Julius Wolff Institute of the Charité Berlin and an expert in orthopedic and trauma surgery.