Helmholtz Munich Launches Pioneering Osteoarthritis Research Project With EU Partners

New Foundations for Personalized Medicine

Osteoarthritis affects over 500 million people worldwide, causing chronic pain, reduced mobility, and significant healthcare costs. Developing disease-modifying therapies has so far been challenging, as the condition is highly heterogeneous, progresses slowly, and is subject to strict regulatory requirements.
This is where PROBE comes in. The consortium of 38 partners is creating a data infrastructure that integrates information from over 70 million individuals. This platform enables AI-driven analyses, predictive modeling, and innovative study designs – all essential for more precise diagnostics and personalized therapies.

Innovative Endpoints and Enhanced Clinical Trials

PROBE brings together cutting-edge technologies with expertise in artificial intelligence, data protection, and ethics. The project aims to establish new patient-relevant endpoints, evaluate therapy effectiveness with greater precision, and provide tools to support shared decision-making between patients and physicians. This approach enables more accurate prediction of disease progression, targeted stratification of patient groups, and personalized treatment plans. In the long term, it promises to improve both patients’ quality of life and the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of clinical trials.

“With PROBE, we are uniting expertise and data across Europe to take osteoarthritis research to the next level. AI-powered analyses of federated multimodal data at unprecedented scale provide the foundation for personalized therapies and more efficient clinical trials – all with the clear goal of sustainably improving the quality of life for the hundreds of millions of people affected.”

Prof. Eleftheria Zeggini, who has already driven pioneering osteoarthritis studies at the Institute of Translational Genomics at Helmholtz Munich.

In addition to Eleftheria Zeggini, Helmholtz Munich is represented by Dr. William Rayner, Prof. Fabian Theis, Dr. Matthias Heinig, and Prof. Julia Schnabel. PROBE is jointly led by the Erasmus MC Medical University Center and Novartis.

Learn more about PROBE: PROBE - Patient relevant osteoarthritis endpoints using big data evaluation