Autoimmune diseases affect 10% of adults, the majority of whom are women. Notably, two of the five most expensive medications globally are used to maintain remission in these chronic conditions. Managing such chronic conditions often involves long-term treatment with immune-suppressing medications. While effective in maintaining remission, these treatments expose patients to severe infections and increased cancer risks. Current clinical practice cannot reliably predict relapses, meaning patients may continue treatment unnecessarily even when their autoimmune response has subsided.

The PARADISE project, funded under ERA PerMed’s JTC2022 call, is challenging this status quo. Its ambitious goal is to develop a deployable, personalised predictive tool that accurately assesses an individual’s immune system activation. By tailoring medication dosages – or safely discontinuing them altogether – PARADISE aims to redefine how autoimmune diseases are managed, significantly improving patient care and quality of life.
At the heart of this effort is a multidisciplinary consortium of experts from seven countries, integrating cutting-edge expertise in medicine, artificial intelligence, biomarker discovery, and ethics. Together, they are demonstrating the transformative potential of collaboration in advancing personalised medicine.
A New Era of Personalised Medicine

The PARADISE consortium is addressing one of the field’s most critical questions: can relapses in individuals with autoimmune diseases be reliably predicted? Building on prior research, the project integrates diverse biomarker data—including serum, urine, transcriptomics, and autoantibodies—with patient medical records. The result is a comprehensive, individualised approach to relapse prediction.
Systemic vasculitis, a representative autoimmune disease, serves as the focus for developing an AI-driven algorithm. This innovative tool leverages multi-source data to generate personalised risk assessments and clinical care for individual patients based on their unique biological characteristics, ushering in a new era of precision medicine for autoimmune disorders.
Harnessing International Expertise
The strength of PARADISE lies in the diversity and expertise of its consortium. Coordinated by Prof. Mark Little from Trinity College Dublin (TCD), the project brings together leading institutions from across Europe:
- TCD’s Renal Inflammation Group drives biomarker research and provides access to the RITA-Ireland registry and biobank, one of the largest in the world.
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) contributes cutting-edge proteomics technologies for biomarker validation.
- University of Freiburg (Germany) leads the development of explainable AI models for clinical prediction tools.
- Firalis S.A. (France) supports transcriptomic biomarker discovery and regulatory planning for future clinical applications.
- IDIBELL (Spain) serves as a validation cohort, leveraging its vasculitis biobank.
- Catholic University of Croatia ensures responsible innovation through ethical guidance and patient involvement.
- The European Institute for Innovation through Health Data (Belgium) guarantees compliance with ethical and regulatory standards, emphasizing transparency in AI applications.
The consortium also actively engages patients through partnerships like Vasculitis Ireland Awareness (VIA), ensuring that the tools developed are practical, patient-focused, and widely accepted.
As someone who recently came off my long term toxic medications, the reduction in infection levels has meant that I can now return to work and this has dramatically improved my quality of life. Patient involvement in all aspects of this project ensures that we can maximise transparency and explainability of using AI in predicting flares, for clinical, academic and public audiences.
Julie Power, Founder, Patient Contact and Policy Officer of VIA
This multidisciplinary collaboration is harmonising data from 2,000 patients across 4 biobanks and 7 registries, creating a robust foundation for predictive modelling.
Putting Patients at the Heart of Innovation

Central to PARADISE’s mission is patient involvement. Recognising that acceptance of AI-driven tools hinges on addressing concerns about transparency, explainability, and stigma, the project actively includes patients in its development process, as well as driving the projects education and public engagement activity. See our patient rap, patient testimonials and patient involvement at the European Researchers Night in Dublin. Patient involvement ensures the tool aligns with their needs and expectations at every stage.
For patients, the future envisioned by PARADISE represents a game changer. A predictive tool that tailors or discontinues immunosuppressant treatments based on individual risk could reduce unnecessary exposure to potentially toxic medications, improving safety and outcomes.
The Transformative Role of ERA PerMed Funding
ERA PerMed funding has been instrumental in bringing the vision of PARADISE to life. Beyond financial support, the program has facilitated international dissemination, driving engagement from experts and stakeholders outside the immediate consortium. This has catalysed a broader collaboration that extends the project’s reach and impact.
The PARADISE project exemplifies the transformative potential of initiatives like ERA PerMed in addressing critical healthcare challenges. By fostering multidisciplinary multinational collaboration, innovation, and patient-centred solutions, such projects pave the way for a future where personalised medicine becomes the standard of care.
This award has fostered a highly effective multi-disciplinary consortium, with the complementary groups each focused on a specific task, hitting deliverables ahead of time and effectively embedding patients within the research teams. I am confident that PARADISE will generate an effective tool for predicting relapse and we are already planning trial emulation and intervention studies to test this formally in the clinic
Prof. Mark Little, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Coordinator of the PARADISE consortium
This project was supported by
- Health Research Board Ireland,
- Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Croatia,
- French National Research Agency,
- German Federal Ministry of Health,
- Departament de Salut – Generalitat de Catalunya,
- Sweden´s Innovation Agency,
under the frame of ERA PerMed.