About

LipidBRIGHT is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network funded under the Horizon Europe programme. The network addresses a central challenge in biomedical research and medicine: how to better exploit the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic potential of lipids across major chronic diseases.

Lipids are fundamental components of cellular membranes, energy metabolism, and signalling pathways. Beyond their classical role in cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism, thousands of lipid species actively regulate inflammation, vascular function, immune responses, and tissue remodelling. Over the past years, discoveries from LipidBRIGHT partners and others have revealed decisive roles of lipids in cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, and chronic inflammatory diseases. At the same time, protective lipid classes with high translational potential have been identified, and first clinical trials targeting lipid metabolism or applying lipid-based nutritional interventions are ongoing.

Despite this progress, lipid research remains fragmented and disease-specific, and the clinical exploitation of lipidomics and lipid-based strategies is still limited. LipidBRIGHT was established to overcome these limitations through an integrated, cross-disease and cross-disciplinary approach.

Vision and objectives

The overarching vision of LipidBRIGHT is to use lipids as a biological bridge between novel disease insights and improved clinical management. By integrating expertise across disease areas and disciplines, the network aims to accelerate innovation in disease prevention, diagnosis, patient stratification, prognosis, and therapy.

LipidBRIGHT pursues three closely connected scientific and translational objectives:

To identify and validate novel lipid biomarkers using high-resolution lipidomics, spatial lipid imaging, and advanced data analysis, with the aim to improve disease diagnosis, outcome prediction, and patient stratification across cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, and chronic inflammatory diseases.

To elucidate lipid-driven disease mechanisms by combining patient-derived data with functional cellular, ex vivo, and in vivo models, thereby revealing how dysregulated lipid metabolism contributes to inflammation, vascular dysfunction, organ damage, and disease progression.

To translate lipid discoveries into clinical and industrial applications, including nutritional interventions, resolution pharmacology, small-molecule screening, and lipid-based drug delivery strategies, in close collaboration with clinical centres, industry partners, and stakeholder organisations.

A cross-disease, interdisciplinary approach

A defining feature of LipidBRIGHT is its explicit focus on cross-disease integration. Rather than studying lipid biology within isolated disease domains, the network brings together experts from four high-impact disease areas — cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, and chronic inflammatory diseases, including neuro-, thrombo- and airway inflammation.

Insights gained in one disease context are systematically transferred to others, allowing LipidBRIGHT to identify shared lipid-driven mechanisms and to accelerate discovery and translation. This approach is supported by the integration of complementary expertise in clinical medicine, lipid biochemistry, mass spectrometry-based lipidomics, spatial tissue imaging, bioinformatics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Training the next generation of lipid scientists

In parallel to its scientific objectives, LipidBRIGHT addresses the unmet need for a new generation of highly trained, multidisciplinary lipid researchers. The network trains eleven doctoral candidates within a structured doctoral programme that combines scientific excellence with intersectoral exposure and transferable skills development.

Doctoral candidates are embedded in an established European collaboration of academic institutions, clinical centres, small and large industry partners, and stakeholder organisations. Through joint research projects, network-wide training events, and secondments in non-academic environments, they acquire:

deep scientific expertise in lipid biology and disease mechanisms,
advanced technological skills in lipidomics, imaging, and data science,
experience in clinical and industrial translation, and
transferable skills in open science, research integrity, innovation, and career development.

This integrated training concept ensures excellent career prospects for graduates both within and beyond academia.

Long-term impact

By combining cross-disease lipid research with interdisciplinary doctoral training, LipidBRIGHT contributes to strengthening European research and innovation capacity in the emerging field of lipid science. The network builds on successful previous European collaborations and is designed to generate sustainable scientific, clinical, and training structures that extend beyond the lifetime of the project.

Through its integrated approach, LipidBRIGHT aims to advance lipid-based strategies for improved patient care and to prepare its doctoral graduates to lead future innovations at the interface of biomedical research, healthcare, and industry.