Newsletter 18 June, 2004
This newsletter holds the following information:
- Kim Meulenbroeks, Scientific Secretary
- Commission issues 3rd FP6 call on Priority 1: Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health
Kim Meulenbroeks, Scientific Secretary
It is a pleasure for me to announce that Kim Meulenbroeks from the EFB Central Office in Delft will serve the EUREKA Cluster and the Section and the Medicines Development Section as Scientific Secretary. Kim holds a MSc in Biotechnology. I welcome Kim in the process of building both the EUREKA Cluster and the Section.
Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health
The 3rd call on Priority 1: Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health was published on 17-Jun-2004 with closing date 16-Nov-2004. The call covers many topics which will be relevant to you.
Of special interest is LSH-2004-1.2.1-1:
New approaches for accelerated development of new, safe and more effective medicines - Integrated Project. The focus of this topic is to propose a new comprehensive approach to drug development utilising recent and emerging scientific accomplishments. Bottlenecks/barriers in the current drug development process must be identified and solutions elaborated to overcome them. The project should contain two components:
- To deliver a comprehensive strategy with a detailed roadmap to reduce the drug development time, encompassing the whole path from discovery of a new drug target to the validation and approval stages of new drug compound, ensuring high levels of drug safety and efficacy as well as fast availability of innovative medicines to the patients.
- To conduct, in support of the strategy, exploratory and demonstrative research activities within one or two of the major chronic progressive disorders, where novel concepts for accelerated drug development can be tested and evaluated. The research must address key areas, which are linked to the bottlenecks in drug development and include regulatory aspects.
The consortium should involve all relevant stakeholders (e.g. academia, clinicians, patient organisations, large industry, SMEs, regulatory and ethics specialists etc.).
(page 13 of the work programme, see below)
This call addresses directly the core of our interest. I therefore invite you to join a consortium to make an application on this topic.
Please notify Kim Meulenbroeks of your interest to participate.
Send
mail to Kim Meulenbroeks
The work programme can be downloaded from here
You may participate in other projects linking to NSMF. For the sake of coordination and share, please notify us if you do so.
Below you will find the TOC for the call.
Kind regards, Jorgen Dirach
Dr. Jorgen Dirach, MD, MBA, MFPM
Section Chairman
i) Advanced genomics and its applications for health
a) Fundamental knowledge and basic tools for functional genomics in all organisms
Gene expression and proteomics Structural genomics Comparative genomics and population genetics Bioinformatics Multidisciplinary functional genomics approaches to basic biological processes b) Application of knowledge and technologies in the field of genomics and biotechnology for health
Rational and accelerated development of new, safer, more effective drugs including pharmacogenomics approaches Development of new diagnostics Development of new in vitro tests to replace animal experimentation Development and testing of new preventive and therapeutic tools, such as somatic gene and cell therapies (in particular stem cell therapies, for example those on neurological and neuromuscular disorders) and immunotherapies Innovative research in post-genomics, which has high potential for application
ii) Combating major diseases
a) Applications-orientated genomic approaches to medical knowledge and technologies
Combating, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and rare diseases Combating resistance to antibiotics and other drugs Studying the brain and combating diseases of the nervous system Studying human development and the ageing process b) Combating cancer
c) Confronting the major communicable diseases linked to poverty
Other actions across thematic priority 1 Specific support actions