HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-TOOL-01: AI Biomarkers in Rheumatoid Arthritis – Latin American Clinical Validation Partner

AI-Driven Precision Rheumatology: Clinical Research and Validation Partnership

Organisation: Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH), Ecuador

Target Horizon Europe Call: HORIZON-HLTH-2027-02-TOOL-01-two-stage – Development of predictive biomarkers of disease progression and treatment response by using AI methodologies for chronic non-communicable diseases.

Research focus

ESPOCH is interested in joining a European-led research consortium developing and validating AI-enabled predictive biomarkers for chronic inflammatory and musculoskeletal diseases, with rheumatoid arthritis as a primary clinical use case.

Our proposed research direction, PRIMED-RA / RHEUMA-SAFE AI, focuses on the potential integration of clinical assessments, laboratory biomarkers, medical imaging and longitudinal disease activity measures to improve risk stratification, prediction of disease progression and treatment response.

Potential contributions from ESPOCH

• Clinical and scientific expertise in rheumatology, particularly rheumatoid arthritis and chronic musculoskeletal diseases.

• Experience in clinical and epidemiological research involving rheumatic diseases in Chimborazo Province, Ecuador.

• Potential support for clinical recruitment, data collection and external validation in Latin American populations, subject to feasibility assessment, ethical approvals and institutional agreements.

• Contribution to patient-centred outcome assessment, clinical interpretation, dissemination and knowledge transfer.

• Opportunities to explore implementation and generalisability of predictive models in resource-constrained healthcare settings.

Partners and expertise sought

We are seeking an established Horizon Europe consortium or an eligible European coordinator with expertise in:

• Artificial intelligence, machine learning and multimodal biomedical data integration.

• Predictive biomarker discovery and validation.

• Clinical rheumatology, immunology and precision medicine.

• Longitudinal clinical cohorts and multicentre validation.

• Data governance, regulatory compliance and trustworthy clinical AI.

Expected collaboration

Our objective is to participate as an international academic and clinical research partner, contributing to the scientific design, clinical interpretation and potential external validation of predictive AI methodologies.

We are particularly interested in contributing to external validation, assessment of model generalisability, clinical interpretability and evaluation of predictive performance across diverse patient populations, including underserved settings. The availability and suitability of clinical datasets, longitudinal follow-up and prospective recruitment would be assessed jointly with consortium partners before defining ESPOCH's specific responsibilities.

Specific responsibilities, data access, recruitment capacity, budget and institutional commitments would be agreed during consortium development and would remain subject to the applicable legal, ethical and institutional requirements.

Existing Research Experience and Clinical Research Readiness

ESPOCH has documented experience in population-based research on rheumatic diseases in Chimborazo Province, Ecuador, including a completed epidemiological study involving 11,633 clinically evaluated participants.

Our research activities also include the development of RHEUMA-SAFE AI, a proposed multicentre, prospective clinical study focused on AI-assisted quality and safety of rheumatoid arthritis care.

These initiatives provide a foundation for international collaboration in clinical assessment, research methodology, patient-centred outcomes and real-world healthcare settings.

We are currently consolidating a research readiness portfolio to document the availability, completeness, longitudinal characteristics and permitted research uses of relevant clinical datasets, together with potential recruitment capacity and institutional partnerships.

We envisage contributing to independent clinical validation and assessment of predictive biomarker generalisability in Latin American populations. The precise scope will be established following data feasibility assessment, ethical review and institutional agreements.

Contact

Dr. Urbano Solis Cartas
Rheumatologist and Coordinator of the Medicine Degree Programme
Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH)
Riobamba, Ecuador

We welcome direct contact from European coordinators and research teams preparing proposals for Horizon Europe Health 2027.