The FANTOM Doctoral Network (DN) composed of 8 beneficiaries and 12 associated partners in 6 EU countries, recruiting 10 researchers and will be embedded into an established international research programme: The European Research Initiative on Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)-related malignancies… Leggi tutto (ERIA) as well as a clinical network: The European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (EICNHL). FANTOM will cosset and nurture the recruited researchers to become confident, competent, independent and well-connected European scientists with excellent career perspectives welcomed into these established networks. This will be achieved through a training programme conducted through research and complemented by a balanced programme of transferable skills designed with key input from both academic and industrial collaborators. The training of each fellow will be guided by an individual career development plan and supervised by a PhD committee with clearly allocated academic and industrial supervisors. The primary goal of the network is to train the recruited fellows by participation in an internationally competitive research programme and integrating them into the aforementioned networks. The research programme will address the clinical problems posed by Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL) typified by aberrant ALK expression. Applying innovative model systems and multi-omics technologies, some performed to a single cell level, the biology of ALCL including the roles of the immune system and tumour stroma will be uncovered. These data will be applied to the development of (non-invasive) biomarkers and novel therapeutic approaches that will culminate in the design of clinical trials to address the issues of chemotherapy toxicity, over-treatment and drug resistance. The research and training activities will incorporate not only academic labs but also key research institutes, biotechnology companies, clinical trial bodies and Pharma to realise our research goals.

Mental disorders are one of the greatest public health challenges in terms of prevalence, burden of disease and disability and they cause major burden to economies, demanding policy action. More than one in six people across EU countries had a mental… Leggi tutto health issue in 2016, equivalent to about 84 million people. Moreover, in 2016, 165,000 deaths were attributed to mental and behavioural disorders, including self-harm, in EU.The burden of mental illness in the European WHO region is estimated to account for 14.4% of years lived with disability (YLDs) and 5.8% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), placing thus mental illness as the second biggest contributor to YLDs after musculoskeletal disorders and as fourth in terms of DALYs in the WHO European region. Total costs pertaining to ill mental health have been gauged at more than 4% of GDP- or over 600 billion- across EU in 2015. Many European countries have in place policies and programmes to address mental illness at different ages. Nevertheless, much more can be done to manage and promote mental health. Delivery of MH care services takes various forms across EU. Some countries still rely on big psychiatric hospitals, while others are delivering the care for MH mostly in community settings.This need for prioritizing mental health becomes more imperative, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Converging evidence substantiate emerging mental health needs and difficulties faced by the mental health care systems to tackle them. Building upon 15+ years of EU efforts including the Joint Action for Mental Health and Well-being the European Framework for Action and the EU Compass, the Members of the SGPP have selected two best practices (i) the Mental health reform in Belgium and (ii) Suicide prevention form Austria to be implemented during the new Joint Action on mental health, with an aim to extend the benefits of these best practices to participating countries.

Skills4EOSC brings together leading experiences of national, regional, institutional and thematic Open Science (OS) and Data Competence Centres from 18 European countries with the goal of unifying the current training landscape into a common and trusted pan-European ecosystem, in order… Leggi tutto to accelerate the upskilling of European researchers and data professionals in the field of FAIR and Open Data, intensive-data science and Scientific Data Management. Competence Centres (CC) are seen as centres of gravity of OS and EOSC activities in their countries. These entities can either be established national initiatives (as is the case of ICDI in Italy) or initiatives under establishment (e.g. Austria, Greece and the Nordic countries) or organizations which have the leading or mandated contribution to the OS activities nationally. CCs pool the expertise available within research institutions, universities and thematic and cross-discipline research infrastructures. They offer training and support, empowerment, lifelong learning, professionalization and resources to a variety of stakeholders, including not only researchers and data stewards, but also funders, decision makers, civil servants, and industry. Thanks to their position at the heart of the above described multi-stakeholder landscape, the CCs represented by the Skills4EOSC partners play a pivotal role in national plans for Open Science and in the interaction with scientific communities. They also have close access to policy makers and the related funding streams. The Skills4EOSC project will leverage this reference role to establish a pan-European network of CCs on OS and data, coordinating the work done at the national level to upskill professionals in this field. The Skills4EOSC CC network will drive the co-creation of harmonised trainer accreditation pathways, academic and professional curricula and skills quality assurance, recognition frameworks, and learning material creation methodologies.

BIGPICTURE, a pathology-led consortium, has the vision to become the catalyst in digital transformation in Pathology. Our mission is to create the first European GDPR compliant platform, in which both quality-controlled Whole Slide Imaging (WSI) data and advanced Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms… Leggi tutto will exist. The BIGPICTURE platform will be built on existing assets of ELIXIR EU data infrastructure, including the federated European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) technology for managing the exchange of confidential information between contributors and users. The consortium will use Cytomine, an established open-source, cross-platform framework to develop unique tools for access to WSI, including annotations and visualisation of algorithm results, while we will develop new and generic models to facilitate AI development and mining of WSI data. By engaging and building consensus with all the relevant stakeholders, we will contribute to the development of a regulatory framework for digital slides and AI-based methods. Finally, BIGPICTURE envisions sustainability of its platform through a community- based model which relies on reciprocity, value creation and inclusiveness. To achieve our vision, we have brought together Europe’s leaders in the field of computational pathology who have access to national and European high-performance computing infrastructures as well as Europe’s fully digitalised pathology departments. Additionally, the consortium has currently access to approximately 4.5 million clinical WSI covering a wider range of indications through 17 partners and 23 third parties from the largest European and international pathology and trial groups. Our consortium is further strengthened by the presence of the European Society of Pathology, Digital Pathology Association, FDA and 9 SMEs as partners, while we are further supported by professional societies, and patient advocates.