HAIFA, Israel (Press Release) — A consortium led by Professor Hossam Haick of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has secured an €8 million grant from the European Union, a remarkable achievement given the competitive nature of such funding. Prof. Haick, dean of Undergraduate Studies and faculty member in the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering with a secondary affiliation in the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, spearheads this groundbreaking project titled VOLABIOS.
The project focuses on improving early diagnosis and monitoring of schizophrenia – a chronic condition affecting approximately 1% of the global population (80 million people). Schizophrenia is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, reducing life expectancy by an average of 10–15 years.
VOLABIOS aims to develop advanced, cost-effective diagnostic tools that improve patient quality of life, reduce diagnostic errors by 30%, and optimize treatment and monitoring processes. Utilizing cutting-edge technologies, including multi-omics (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and transcriptomics), portable spectrometry, and artificial intelligence, the project seeks to identify chemical and biochemical signals of the disease – non–invasive biomarkers excreted from the human body.
This initiative unites 20 partners from 11 countries across Europe, including Aachen University (Germany), the University of Cambridge (UK), the Greek Ministry of Health, and the French company FIRALIS. Together, they bring expertise in academia, technology, medicine, law, and public policy to drive innovative solutions for early schizophrenia diagnosis and care. The advisory board features renowned experts in the fields of psychiatry, healthcare policy, and decision-making.
“One of the goals of modern medicine is to develop technologies that will identify human diseases at early stages at high precision,” said Technion Executive Vice President for Research Professor Noam Adir. “This includes psychiatric diseases, such as Schizophrenia, that are typically difficult to diagnose. Prof Hossam Haick is one of the world’s premiere scientists in the field of disease diagnostics using molecular marker identification methods. In the research described here, Prof. Haick has brought together scientists from academia, government, and industry to merge molecular marker technologies with AI, to significantly improve the speed and accuracy of schizophrenia diagnosis. Importantly, the group believes that their research will lead to a system that will be applicable to mental health providers, worldwide.”
The project will analyze biomarkers derived from various sources in the body. Initial stages include a retrospective analysis of 9 million medical records, including 120,000 related to schizophrenia. This will be followed by a clinical study involving 3,692 patients across six medical centers in Europe and a blind validation study with 1,000 participants to confirm biomarker accuracy and relevance.
VOLABIOS aims not only to enhance medical treatment but also to make advanced diagnostic tools accessible to healthcare systems worldwide. It will create an open knowledge base to support future research and develop new approaches to diagnosing complex mental health disorders.
The leadership team includes Prof. Haick as chair and coordinator, Dr. Yoav Broza, and Ms. Liat Zuri, both of the Technion, as consortium manager and financial and administrative manager, respectively.
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Preceding provided by the American Technion Society