ECRAID-Base
Building on the foundations of COMBACTE and PREPARE, Ecraid advances clinical research in the field of infectious disease with the development of a pan-European clinical research network.Collaboration is integral to Ecraid and its largest project to date, ECRAID-Base. The project is a consortium of 19 partner organisations based in nine countries: Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Complex and multi-faceted, it is split into 13 ‘work packages’ (WP), each one coordinated by a dedicated team.
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 Ecraid CEO Prof. Marc Bonten
Lead partner Ecraid (NL)
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 Dr. Bruno François
Lead partner Limoges Clinical Investigation Center (FR)
Supporting partners UMC Utrecht (NL), University of Geneva (CH)
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 Prof. Jesús Rodriguez Baño
Lead partner Andalusian Public Foundation for Health Research Management (ES)
Supporting partners University of Verona (IT)
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 Dr. Jake Dunning
Lead partner University of Oxford (UK)
Supporting partners Amsterdam UMC (NL)
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 partner Erasmus University Medical Center (NL)
Supporting partners University of Geneva (CH), Inserm (FR
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 Prof. Chris Butler
Lead partner University of Oxford (UK)
Supporting partners UMC Utrecht (NL), PENTA
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 Dr. Lennie Derde
Lead partner UMC Utrecht (NL)
Supporting partners 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 partner University of Antwerp (BE)
Supporting partners EMC, University of Geneva (CH), INSERM, BFM
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 and harmonization, epidemiological research, and statistical research.
Lead Dr. Thomas Jaenisch
Lead partner Heidelberg University Hospital (DE)
Supporting partners ECRIN, University of Geneva (CH), 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.
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 Majella Ding
Lead partner European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID)
Supporting partners UMC Utrecht (NL), ERS
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 (NL)
Supporting partner UAntwerp
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 UMC Utrecht (NL)