EuroCoord workpackages (WP)
There are 15 workpackages within EuroCoord summarised below.
Click on the diagram to find out more.
Workpackage 1: Network of Excellence (NoE) Management
Lead beneficiary: MRC
The Management WP will ensure optimal scientific and
infrastructure synergy over the day-to-day operations and
facilitate cross-network communication. The long-term goal is to
continue to guide and coordinate scientific methodologies that have
previously been so successful in Europe and to ensure that new
competitive science areas are encouraged and supported.
MRC will be leading this effort from the Clinical Trials Unit in
London, in close collaboration with UCL (European Research and
Development Office) which will provide specific expertise on
contractual, financial, and administrative matters as part of the
project management of the network.
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Workpackage 2: Training and outreach
Lead beneficiary: PENTA
The main objectives of this WP are to improve research skills
including statistical techniques to allow researchers to undertake
observational research of the highest calibre, and to provide basic
and updated laboratory and clinical training to aid the management
of HIV-infected patients. This will be achieved through a variety
of ways including: online resources, residential courses, PhD, and
short term staff exchanges.
A further key task of this WP is the organisation of the annual
International Workshop on HIV Observational Databases (IWHOD). The
objective of this highly successful workshop is to bring together
researchers from both developed and developing countries working on
cohorts of patients with HIV, to present in an informal,
closed-meeting format new research and allow open discussions on
common issues of cohort methodology, techniques and statistics.
Read more about IWHOD.
This work will build on the successes of ACTIVATE.
The WP2 working group is made up of representatives from the 4
founding networks and include members with experience of
coordinating EU-funded training programmes.
The leader of the group will rotate between the WP network
representatives every 15 months to fully utilise the expertise
within the whole EuroCoord network.
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Workpackage 3: Scientific oversight
Lead beneficiary: UCL
The Scientific Oversight WP will serve to maintain overall
coherence of EuroCoord scientific activities and will lead the
overall advancement of the scientific research agenda. The
Scientific Oversight WP Group (SOG) will be responsible for a
centralised review of the ongoing research in each key area as well
as each founding network.
With the help of specialist subgroups in specific defined areas
of importance (statistical methodology, hepatitis,
pharmacokinetics, and virology), the SOG will oversee progress,
identify potential overlap and suggest areas of collaboration. The
members of the SOG and four specialist subgroups represent a range
of high-level scientific expertise.
The Scientific Coordinator will rotate between the WP
network representatives every 15 months to fully utilise the
expertise within the whole EuroCoord network.
| |
Lead |
Member |
| Scientific Oversight |
Di Gibb
(Until July 2013) |
Caroline Sabin, University College London (CASCADE) |
| Ian Weller, University College London (COHERE) |
| Peter Reiss, Academic Medical Centre University of Amsterdam
(EuroSIDA) |
| Di Gibb, MRC Clinical Trials Unit (PENTA) |
| Additional Members to Scientific
Oversight |
|
Jose Gatell - University of Barcelona |
| Gerd Fätkenheuer- University of Köln |
| Irja Lutsar -Institute of microbiology, University of
Tartu |
| Alex Compagnucci - Institut National de la Santé et de la
Recherche Médicale (INSERM) |
| Methodology Group |
Alessandro Cozzi-Lepri |
Giota Touloumi, Kapodistrian University of Athens
(CASCADE) |
| Rodolphe Thiebaut, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2
(CASCADE, EuroSIDA) |
| Jonathan Sterne, Univeristy of Bristol (COHERE) |
| Dominique Costagliola, Institut National de la Santé et de la
Recherche Médicale (CASCADE) |
| Alessandro Cozzi-Lepri, Coordinating Centre for Biometric
Research, Minneapolis (EuroSIDA) |
| David Dunn, MRC Clinical Trials Unit (PENTA) |
| Hepatitis Group |
Maria Prins |
Maria Prins, Public Health Service of Amsterdam
(CASCADE) |
| Roberto Muga, Generalitat de Catalonia (CASCADE) |
| Antonella d’Arminio Montforte, Università degli studi di
Milano (COHERE) |
| Jϋrgen Rockstroh, Universitätsklinikum Bonn
(EuroSIDA) |
| Amanda Mocroft, University College London (EuroSIDA) |
| Jose Tomas Ramos Amador, Portal de Salud de la Comunidad de
Madrid (PENTA) |
| Virology Group |
Roger Paredes |
Marie-Laure Chaix, Université Paris Descartes (CASCADE) |
| |
|
Claudia Kϋcherer, Robert Koch-Institut (CASCADE) |
| |
|
Frank deWolf, Academisch Medisch Centrum (COHERE) |
| |
|
Huldrych Gunthard, Universitäts Spiral Zürich (COHERE) |
| |
|
Roger Paredes, Investigadors de l'Institut de Recerca de la
Sida (EuroSIDA) |
| |
|
Alessandro Cozzi-Lepri, University College London
(EuroSIDA) |
| |
|
Anita deRoss, Università deglii Studi di Padova (PENTA) |
| Kids to adults group |
Ali Judd |
Julia del Amo, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (CASCADE) |
| |
|
Ali Judd, MRC Clinical Trials Unit (PENTA) |
| |
|
Claire Thorne, University College London (PENTA) |
| |
|
Anne-Franҫoise Gennotte, St-Pierre University Hospital
(EuroSIDA) |
| |
|
David Nadal, University of Zurich (EuroSIDA) |
| |
|
Jesper Kjaer, Copenhagen University, CHIP (EuroSIDA) |
| |
|
Caroline Sabin, University College London (CASCADE,
COHERE) |
| |
|
Pablo Rojo Conejo, Hospital 12 de Octubre (COHERE) |
| Monitoring |
Caroline Sabin |
Heiner Bucher,University
Hospital Basel(CASCADE) |
| Caroline Sabin, University College London (CASCADE,
COHERE) |
| Jeannie Collins, MRC Clinical Trials Unit (PENTA) |
| Antonella d'Arminio Montforte, Università degli studi di Milano
(EuroSIDA) |
| Amanda Mocroft, University College London (EuroSIDA) |
| Nina Friis-Møller, Copenhagen University, CHIP (COHERE) |
| Colette Smitt, HIV Monitoring Foundation (COHERE) |
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Workpackage 4: Data management
Lead beneficiary: UZH
The objective of the Data Management WP is to ensure
harmonisation of data variables captured by the networks with the
aim of ensuring that cross-network data mergers of specified
variables can readily occur.
Additionally, the WP will coordinate cross-network data mergers
for scientific projects where two or more networks have agreed to
collaborate. This WP will provide an inventory (on an annual basis)
of data and biological material contained within each network to
the Executive Board for inclusion in the annual report.
The leader of the group will rotate between the WP network
representatives every 15 months to fully utilise the expertise
within the whole EuroCoord network.
Each network and each new science WP has its internal data manager
structure represented within this WP. Cross-network communication
will occur at least quarterly.
www.hicdep.org
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Workpackages 5 & 6: PENTA
Lead beneficiary: PENTA
WPs 5 & 6 are PENTA-specific. The broad aims are to:
- Assess the health and treatment of
HIV-infected pregnant women and to quantify / monitor MTCT rates,
risks and interventions across Europe, to address contemporary
questions in HIV infection, pregnancy and MTCT that are central to
clinical practice and to public health, and to improve the
scientific basis for HIV prevention, diagnosis and treatment among
pregnant women and their infants
- Address key clinical questions relating to
the management, treatment and long-term outcomes of HIV-infected
children and adolescents.
- To provide the framework within which to
design, co-ordinate, conduct, manage and analyse data from clinical
trials and their sub-studies addressing specific management
strategy questions for HIV-infected children and young people
Find out more about PENTA
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Workpackages 7 & 8: CASCADE
Lead beneficiaries: MRC & INSERM
WPs 7 & 8 are CASCADE-specific. The aims are to provide the
framework within which to conduct and analyse data from HIV
seroconverters by:
- Pooling and enlarging the datasets
available for analyses to address pre-specified objectives and
future questions arising in the lifetime of the project
- Implementing a harmonisation process for
the collection of key socio-economic variables (in collaboration
with WP14)
- Establishing the infrastructure and
know-how to estimate HIV incidence in Central & Eastern
European countries.
The WPs also aim to characterise newly-acquired HIV infection,
its contribution to the epidemic, and to assess outcome and its
determinants in individuals with early diagnosis, focussing on:
- Applying techniques which distinguish
recent from chronic HIV infection and testing populations
- Assessing the outcome of infected
individuals following infection
- Identifying differences in disease
progression
- Determining viral and host genetic factors
and their relevance to outcome.
Find out more about
CASCADE
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Workpackages 9 & 10 – EuroSIDA
Lead beneficiary: UCPH
WPs 9 & 10 are EuroSIDA-specific. The objectives can be
broadly classified as:
- Surveillance of important outcomes across
Europe
- Utilisation of surveys to study rare events
using the EuroSIDA network
- Examine utilisation and outcomes of
antiretroviral therapy
- Monitor the development of HIV-1 drug
resistance, clinical utility of detection of minority variants and
HIV tropism and response to new drugs
- Examine quality of life, ageing, and
employment issues within a regional context
- Performing accurate and appropriate
statistical analyses of the research questions within EuroSIDA
Further task include:
- Study coordination and data collection
- Central plasma repository
- Coinfection with hepatitis B and C
infections
- Biomarkers
- Eastern Europe
- Benchmarking.
Find out more
about EuroSIDA
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Workpackages 11 & 12 – COHERE
Lead beneficiaries: UB2 & UCPH
WPs 10 & 11 are COHERE-specific. The WPs aim to coordinate,
administer and oversee research projects for COHERE generated by
its cohorts, project and theme leads, in order to increase the
knowledge on HIV clinical epidemiology that require very large
observational databases.
These projects focus on:
Response to cART
Characterising history of HCV and HIV
infection among co-infected patient
Epidemiology of rare or specific
conditions.
Find out more
about COHERE
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Workpackage 13: HIV/TB
Lead beneficiary: UCPH
The objectives of this prospective joint activity on TB and HIV
coinfection are to:
- Monitor the long-term clinical prognosis
and the temporal changes in the documented regional differences in
clinical prognosis
- Analyse the reasons for differences in
clinical prognosis, in particular: use of and efficacy of HIV and
TB therapy, use of culture and resistance testing, and role of
anti-TB drug resistance
- Monitor temporal changes in the factors
above and the impact of these changes on the clinical
prognosis
- Analyse the effect of anti-TB therapy
according to the existence and patterns of anti-TB drug
resistance
- Analyse the impact of delaying cART
initiation on the clinical prognosis (or to assess the most optimal
time for cART initiation)
- Analyse TB as an immune reconstitution
inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) and risk factors thereof
- Collect mycobacterial specimens for
centralised analysis of anti-TB drug resistance (DNA
finger-printing)
- Assess regional incidences of TB among
HIV-patients and evaluate risk factors thereof
- Evaluate the use and impact of anti-TB
prophylaxis in HIV-infected patients.
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Workpackage 14: Migrants
Lead beneficiary: ISCIII
This WP aims to prevent HIV infection, and improve diagnosis and
prognosis of migrant populations living with HIV in Europe by
providing evidence to support policy development at European level.
It also aims to determine the likely country of HIV acquisition for
migrant populations and identify barriers to HIV prevention,
testing, and treatment.
Key outcomes and their determinants will be studied by
geographical origin and sex:
- Appropriateness of initiation of HAART
- Virological and immunological responses to
HAART
- All-cause and cause-specific mortality
- Appropriateness of prevention of
mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) interventions
- MTCT and pregnancy outcomes, and model the
relationships between the characteristics of the European cities
migrants live in
with the previous HIV-related outcomes.
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Workpackage 15: Modelling
Lead beneficiary: UCL
The broad aim of this WP is to build a stochastic computer
simulation model of HIV infection and the effect of ART and to fit
the model to data from European countries in order to estimate the
status of HIV infected populations across Europe, in terms of
diagnosis, treatment usage, resistance, pregnancy, and rates of
AIDS and death.
A European HIV Estimates Working Group will be established with
the following aims:
- To develop a new stochastic computer
simulation model that can be used for the purpose of reconstructing
and projecting the status of HIV infected individuals in a given
country
- To work with epidemiologists and those
responsible for public health in each European country to produce
consensus estimates based on the model, which will include the
following:
- Number of people with diagnosed/undiagnosed
HIV
- Number of people with undiagnosed HIV and
CD4 count <200, <350
- Number of people on ART (according to
whether viral load is currently <500 or not)
- Number of people on ART who have resistance
to NNRTI (efavirenz/nevirapine), according to whether they have
viral load <500 or not. Also for the PI, NRTI, entry inhibitor
and integrase classes
- Number of people who have triple class
resistance (according to whether have VL < 500 or not)
- Number of infected women becoming
pregnant.
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