Two Strategic ERDARA Successes from IBG Targeting Rare Diseases

İzmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG) has been awarded funding under the European Rare Diseases Research Alliance (ERDARA) 2025 Joint Transnational Call for two innovative research projects aimed at developing novel therapeutic approaches for rare diseases. These projects, to be conducted at IBG, target both rare liver disorders and inherited hematological diseases, and are expected to pave the way for transformative treatment strategies.

The ASCENT-PSC (Atlas for Single-Cell-based Discovery of New Therapeutics in PSC) project, led by Prof. Dr. Esra Erdal, Principal Investigator of the IBG Stem Cell and Organoid Technologies Laboratory, aims to develop new therapeutic options for Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), a rare liver disease for which there is currently no effective treatment and which represents a serious unmet medical need.

The CDKure-DBA (Clinical Pre-development of CDK8/19 Inhibitors to Restore Erythropoiesis in Diamond-Blackfan Anemia) project, led by Dr. Ezgi Karaca, Principal Investigator at IBG Computational Structural Biology Laboratory, focuses on developing a novel oral drug for Diamond-Blackfan Anemia (DBA), a rare and severe inherited blood disorder.

With ERDARA support, these two projects will strengthen IBG’s international visibility and scientific leadership in the field of rare diseases, while advancing patient-oriented, innovative, and translational research approaches that will contribute to the development of next-generation therapies.