ECRAID-Base

Building upon the foundations laid down by COMBACTE and PREPARE, the EU-funded project ECRAID-Base advances clinical research in the field of infectious disease in Europe.

Project structure

Complex and multi-faceted, the ECRAID-Base project is split into 13 ‘work packages’ (WP). Each WP is coordinated by a dedicated team affiliated with one or several of the consortium partners (see the legend at the bottom). Here, we introduce the teams and the specific objectives they are pursuing.

WP 1: Project Management and Network Coordination

The first work package encompasses the central organisation, management and coordination of the project. The team monitors compliance with the grant agreement and the consortium agreement, and ensures the good governance, engagement, reach and sustainability of the clinical research network.

Lead Marc Bonten

Lead partner UMCU

WP 2: POS-VAP

The primary objective of the POS-VAP study is to set up an infrastructure capable of rapidly implementing clinical trials related to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in ICUs.

Lead Bruno François

Lead partner CHUL

Supporting partners Ecraid, UMCU, UNIGE

WP 3: POS-cUTI

POS-cUTI aims to create a similar clinical research infrastructure for studies related to the treatment of complicated Urinary Tract Infections (cUTI) – a leading cause of hospital admission and antibiotic use.

Lead Jesús Rodriguez Baño

Lead partner SAS

Supporting partner Ecraid, UMCU, UNIVR

WP 4: POS-ARI-ER

This study covers pathogens with proven epidemic potential such as influenza viruses and coronaviruses, e.g., COVID-19. POS-ARI-ER is setting up an infrastructure capable of rapidly implementing clinical studies related to the diagnosis and treatment of acute respiratory infections (ARI). It also aims to compare the effectiveness of different diagnostic and therapeutic practices used routinely in emergency rooms.

Lead Jake Dunning

Lead partner UOXF

Supporting partners AMC, Ecraid, UMCU

WP 5: POS-Disease X

High-density urban areas are increasingly becoming the hubs for the explosive spread of infectious disease outbreaks. This study focuses on preparing Europe for a ‘Disease X‘ scenario – an unexplained febrile illness with unusual epidemiology and/or clinical presentation and of likely virus etiology.

Lead Marion Koopmans

Lead partner EMC

Supporting partners Ecraid, Inserm, UMCU, UNIGE

WP 6: POS-ARI-PC

ARI are the most common reason for consultations in community care. The POS-ARI-PC study aims to provide critically important benchmark descriptive data on the presentation and management of ARI, and a research-ready infrastructure for studies related to the treatment, diagnosis and prevention of ARI in the community care setting.

Lead Chris Butler

Lead partner UOXF

Supporting partners Ecraid, Penta, UMCU

WP 7: REMAP-CAP

The Randomized, Embedded, Multifactorial Adaptive Platform trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia (REMAP-CAP) was conceived after the 2009 swine flu outbreak. This ground-breaking global trial is embedded in clinical care, and allows multiple therapies to be evaluated simultaneously, resulting in rapid accumulation of knowledge during outbreaks and pandemics. ECRAID-Base is the home of the trial’s European arm.

Lead Lennie Derde

Lead partner UMCU

Supporting partner Ecraid, ICNARC

WP 8: Laboratory

LAB-Net provides state-of-the-art laboratory research services that offer extensive support to all clinical studies in Ecraid’s ‘warm-base’ clinical research network.

Lead Surbhi Malhotra-Kumar

Lead partner UAntwerp

Supporting partners BFM, Ecraid, EMC, Inserm, UNIGE

WP 9: Data

Data is a crucial part of modern clinical research. WP 9 handles supporting activities involving four interrelated sets of work streams: data management, data sharing & harmonisation, epidemiological research (EPI-Net), and statistical research (STAT-Net).

Lead Thomas Jaenisch

Lead partner UKH

Supporting partners Ecraid, ECRIN, UMCU, UNIGE, UNIVR

WP 10: Preparedness

The POS-Disease X team (WP 5) works to build and maintain operational resilience for rapid response to new or re-emerging threats to the health and security of European citizens. They aim to establish preparedness across all of Ecraid’s service areas for a coordinated clinical research response to infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics.

Lead Marion Koopmans

Lead partner EMC

Supporting partners Ecraid, UAntwerp, UOXF

WP 11: Training

To ensure that the Ecraid’s clinical sites are well-trained to perform clinical and/or laboratory research activities, WP 11 undertakes regular educational and training needs assessments. Depending on the outcomes, it coordinates tailored training missions and online training modules.

Lead Emmanuelle Cambau

Lead partner ESCMID

Supporting partners Ecraid, ERS, UMCU

WP 12: Communications

Effective internal and external communications are important for engaging Ecraid’s stakeholders, from the sites within our network, to policymakers and European citizens. The team works hard to shine a spotlight on the challenges and successes in our clinical research activities, as well as the people behind them.

Lead Claire-Marie Martis

Lead partner Ecraid

Supporting partner UAntwerp, UMCU

WP 13: Ethics requirements

The Ethics requirements team ensures that all research activities performed within the Ecraid network are in compliance with the ethics requirements under national and/or European law. It is coordinated from Ecraid’s headquarters in Utrecht.

Lead partner UMCU