Consortium as a whole

The ARISE project brings together a leading consortium of world-class clinical centres specialized in cardio-thoracic surgery (Partners 1, 3-8), an innovative start-up Biotech-SME (Partner 2) and expertise in ethical, social and legal aspects concerning innovative products from the life sciences (Partner 9). Nine partners from 6 different EU Member States (DE, NL, UK, ES, IT, BE) will cooperate within this multi-disciplinary network to validate and upscale a promising novel approach in the field of regenerative medicine. The consortium will be supported by a network of local tissue banks with whom the individual clinical centres will collaborate to receive homografts.

A critical mass of excellence is generated by drawing together the extensive and synergetic expertise of the clinical partners in the areas of state-of-the-art heart valve replacement for congenital and acquired aortic valve defects. Participants have been selected based on their renowned track records in valve replacement surgery, their strong links with local tissue banks and other resources such as large volume surgical programs which thereby secure adequate patient recruitment to the ARISE study.

Several participants (Partners 1, 2, 5-8) have previously successfully cooperated within the EU-FP7 ESPOIR project, also coordinated by Prof. Haverich at the MHH. Furthermore, the principle investigators are well-networked through participation in various professional associations. This clinical network is complimented by the unique expertise of corlife, as holder of the patent for processing DAH and thus sponsor of the clinical study and innovation/exploitation manager, and the ethical and legal expertise provided by the LUH. Effective communication structures will be established as part of WP1 to ensure effective cooperation and regular exchange and coordination across all partners and work packages.