Project EuTRiPD

European Training & Research in PD (EuTRiPD) is an European Union funded project which commenced in late 2011 and for the next 4 years will train 12 early stage researchers across European research centres.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) and haemodialysis (HD) are life-saving renal replacement therapies for more than 200,000 patients with chronic kidney disease in Europe, and this number increases annually. Although PD and HD have similar mortality rates, PD offers major advantages in terms of quality of life, costs, home-based treatment opportunities and early patient survival. Moreover, PD, rather than HD, offers opportunities for improvements. Nevertheless, only 10% of patients in Europe are treated with PD. Presently, PD research faces a shortage in workforce and scientific expertise, probably through competition with other specialisations, the absence of a coherent training program and limited trans-European collaboration.

By providing an inter-disciplinary and intersectoral long lasting training programme in PD research, EuTRiPD will address this need for researchers and clinicians in renal diseases. The scientific goal of EuTRiPD is to advance the current state of the art in PD by carrying out bench to bedside research, focused on the identification of biomarkers and interventions that promote survival and function of the peritoneal membrane. This will finally result in the clinical implementation of new therapeutic approaches.

EuTRiPD is funded by the EU through the Marie Curie ITN process and has been granted a 3.2 million Euro budget. EuTRiPD is coordinated by the VU medical centre from Amsterdam, and the consortium consists of
8 research institutes, 1 SME and 1 large private company throughout 8 of the EU Member States.

Additionally, 1 multi-national company (Abbott) and 3 organizations (Dutch Kidney Foundation, Kidney Research UK and EuroPD) that promote education, scholarly excellence and public awareness will be associate partners.
All of the partners has internationally recognized expertise in PD, ranging from basic to bedside research and from raising awareness on kidney diseases to commercialisation of project results.

 

EuTRiPD is part of the following upcoming congress(es):