An international team of scientists led by the University of Cologne, Germany, has acquired funding from Horizon 2020 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.
Forming the the REMIX project (REgulation of MItochondrial gene eXpression) and led by Cologne’s Professor Dr Aleksandra Trifunovic, the objective is to combine European research groups in training the next generation of scientists in a programme designed to help clarify molecular mechanisms and pathways in mitochondrial gene expression and regulation.
Mitochondria, ‘the powerhouse of the cell’, are double membrane-bound organelles found in eukaryotic cells. Playing a key role in the ageing process, as well as in associated neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, mitochondria convert energy, store calcium and regulate the metabolism – amongst other functions. Experts in mitochondrial function participate in the REMIX network, including Professor Dr Thomas Langer and Professor Dr Elena Rugarli of Cologne, Dr James Stewart of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, amongst others from the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), the Cluster Biotechnology North Rhine-Westphalia (BIO-NRW), and the German EIT Health GmbH (EIT-Health).
Trifunovic said: “Despite the fact that these diseases are quite common, it is surprising that our understanding of the mechanisms governing mitochondrial gene expression and its associated pathologies remain superficial and therapeutic interventions unexplored. The complex nature of mitochondrial gene expression that relies on two different genomes calls for a multidisciplinary approach in which different teams of researchers join forces. We are happy to have the opportunity to further develop this research in the next four years.”
The group’s main aim is to decipher the precise signalling cascade of the pathogenic mechanisms leading to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, with the goal of identifying new therapies.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action is tendered by the European Commission as part of Horizon 2020. The REMIX-project will receive a total of €3.9m in funding over the next four years.
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Projeler
European Commissioner Carlos Moedas has said that the future of Europe depends on solidarity, “a supreme political value”, and a desire to address challenges.
Speaking on Europe Day (9 May) Moedas marked the occasion at a ceremony in Portugal as the Fernando de Sousa Prize for Journalism was launched. Fernando de Sousa, who died on 9 October 2014 was a commander of the Order of Prince Henry and a Portuguese journalist who regularly attended European summits. With several ministers, members of parliament and diplomats present, Moedas said that the prize was representative and reminiscent of a decade ago when there was both “hope and optimism” in the European Union, with the euro making progress and with new countries joining.
Moedas added that Europe is now more capable of meeting its modern and common challenges than ever.
Solidarity, he added, could not happen if only nations such as Italy and Greece show consistent support for refugees. He asked why we should eliminate economic barriers only to rebuild them in the face of terroist activity?
The first winner of the Fernando de Sousa Prize for Journalism will be assigned in 2017, going to the journalists and journalism students who have contributed, as Moedas put it, “notably, in clarifying the major issues at European level, or have promoted a better understanding of the institutions or policies of the European Union in Portugal.”
Works are accepted in the fields of press, radio, television and internet published between now and 14 January next year. First prize in the journalist category is €5,000 and in the journalism student category, €3,000.
Carlos Moedas is the European commissioner for research and innovation. He is responsible for the effective running of the EU’s framework programme, Horizon 2020.
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The European Union will provide €177m via the Horizon 2020 framework programme for 31 new environment projects.
Awarding grants to consortia for projects involving water innovation, waste recycling, earth observation, climate action and natural resources, the European Commission is supporting more than 550 organisations from 48 countries. Of these, 25 are EU member states.
Seven Spanish projects will be funded to the total amount of ~€49m; five Italian projects will receive a total of ~€25m; and two Irish projects will receive ~€9m. Other nations involved in the funding include the Netherlands (four projects), Switzerland (two), Greece (two), the UK (three), France (two), Germany (two), Austria (one) and Belgium (one).
The projects will run for up to four years and range from the deployment of environmental living laboratories across Europe for improving urban air quality, to developing waste management strategies for cities more popular as tourist destinations.
These projects were selected from among 625 proposals submitted for the 2015 two-stage calls for proposal and a new round of calls for proposals regarding the Arctic dimension and Earth observation will be launched in October 2016.
The aim of the Societal Challenge is to achieve a resource efficient and climate change resilient economy and society.
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The European Commission has announced that this year’s Horizon 2020 Information Day as 14 September.
In presenting calls for 2017 proposals of Horizon 2020’s Societal Challenge 5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials, researchers and representatives of businesses and governments are invited to attend the event in the commission’s Charlemagne building.
Calls include proposals for Greening the Economy, Industry 2020 in the Circular Economy, Smart and Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Food Security – Resilient and resource-efficient value chains, and Blue Growth – Demonstrating an Ocean of Opportunities.
The event takes the environment as its central theme, with sub-themes in the areas of cultural heritage, Earth observation, environmental technologies, and natural resource management.
Registration for the event begins in July. Further information will be available here.
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During a meeting held on 9 May, the Strategic Research Council (SRC) selected 14 consortia to be included in its strategic research programmes.
Of these, 13 will be funded under the four new programmes: Urbanising Society; Skilled Employees – Successful Labour Market; Security in a Networked World; and Health, Welfare and Lifestyles. One consortium was selected as a supplement to the 2015 SRC programme A Climate-Neutral and Resource-Scarce Finland.
Stipulated in SRC funding, these consortia should seek concrete solutions to grand societal challenges requiring multidisciplinary approaches. Such research should also require active and continuous collaboration between the producers and the end users of new knowledge.
Per Mickwitz, chair of the SRC, said: “The emphasis in the SRC’s funding decisions is on projects that can forge new kinds of collaborations between science and societal interaction. SRC calls involve two key factors that influence the success of individual research teams: the project’s size and how well the different parts of the project work together. Simply gathering together actors from different fields does not guarantee success.”
The SRC’s funding for these 14 consortia will total €50.2m throughout the period 2016-2019, and the funding amounts for each consortium will be decided in June following negotiations with representatives on specific objectives for research and interaction.
The principal investigators of the selected consortia represent eight research organisations, with multi-disciplinary affiliations involving 82 projects from 33 organisations.
The SRC targets versatile and extensive projects that are capable of producing new scientific knowledge that can contribute to solving the challenges highlighted in the programme.
The Strategic Research Council (SRC) at the Academy of Finland grants national matching funds to projects that have received funding under the Societal Challenges priority of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.
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The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) will host a conference entitled ‘Gender and Excellence: Challenges in Research Funding II’ in the Swiss capital Bern on 21 June this year.
To include the president of the SNSF Gender Equality Commission, Professor Susan M Gasser – and other members – the second conference will function as a follow-up to its predecessor held in October 2014.
While much in the improvement of the gender balance in science has been achieved, the ongoing challenges remain. Leadership and decision making scientific positions continue to be disproportionately held by men, with women having fewer opportunities to influence the research agenda and are thereby less represented.
This year’s conference will take gendered dimensions in the perception and evaluation of excellence, as well as the gender perspective in research, as its core foci, wherein discussion will include the results of new studies on gender bias and the necessity to account for potential sex and gender differences with respect to research methods.
Other notable participants will include Professor Anna Wahl of the KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden; Professor Vera Regitz-Zagrosek, Charité, Berlin, Germany; and Head of Policy for the Equality Challenge Unit, London, UK, and member of the SNSF Gender Equality Commission Gary Loke, who will give the closing address.
The conference will be followed by the award ceremony for the Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) Prize 2016, which is awarded by the SNSF in recognition of outstanding research work conducted by an MHV grant holder.
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Dr Jean-Claude Worms has been appointed as the new chief executive of the Strasbourg-based European Science Foundation (ESF).
Worms has more than 22 years of experience in research management, and will lead the organisation as it completes the re-alignment of its service. The ESF focuses on providing both public and private clients with expert research support derived from core technical and independent skills. Worms has been an ESF member since 1994, holding positions such as executive scientific secretary for the space sciences committee (ESSC), and head of the science support office.
Worms has helped formulate science policy and implementation through high-level structures of the European Commission and of the European Space Agency (ESA), in which, since 1999, he was observer to ESA’s Ministerial Conferences. A member of the editorial board of The International Journal on Nanotechnologies, Worms also acted as a consultant for DASSAULT on the state-of-the-art French civilian research in infrared and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imaging.
Speaking after his appointment Worms said: “It is a huge honour to lead the European Science Foundation, building further from a proud heritage of 42 years in support of European science. We are uniquely positioned to provide the scientific research community and funding agencies, both public and private, with expert, independent research support services. Our intention is to be a key partner in delivering a globally competitive European Research Area.”
He succeeds Martin Hynes who, following four years of managing transition, has been elected as the new president of the ESF. Hynes added: “I warmly welcome the appointment of Jean-Claude to the role of chief executive. It is imperative that Europe regain leadership in science and its application; ESF, supported by our scientific advisers, has a key role to play. Dr Worms, with his extensive network and a rejuvenated team and environment, will bring a wealth of fresh insight and technical expertise to the role.”
Worms holds a PhD in physics and functioned as an assistant professor in physics and astronomy at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France and Université Versailles Saint-Quentin from 1989 to 1992.
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A paper published by researchers of the Horizon 2020-funded Graphene Flagship exemplifies how the ‘safety by design’ principle can lead to innovations in the ways graphene and graphene oxide interact with neurons.
The body’s reaction to graphene implants is vital to its potential in therapeutics and medicine. In order to better understand these reactions, graphene has been shown to have the potential to help produce better deep brain implants.
Professor Laura Ballerini from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, led the research by investigating different types of graphene that had undergone oxidation to form graphene oxide, which was used in this study and found to contain different types of oxygen groups attached. It was this difference that led Ballerini’s team to observe the ways in which graphene interacted with neuron cells.
Professor Maurizio Prato from the University of Trieste and health representative of the Graphene Flagship said: “Our brain is usually not directly exposed to ambient agents. Also, there is not yet experimental evidence that graphene derivatives can trespass the blood-brain-barrier. Thus we believe our observations open more opportunities.”
The Graphene Flagship’s science and technology officer and Professor Andrea Ferrari, also of the Cambridge Graphene Institute, added: “The Flagship is supporting biomedical research and development based on graphene technology with an additional work package and a significant cash investment. Results emerging from flagship researchers show we are just scratching the surface when it comes to the potential of graphene and related materials in bio-applications.”
The report, entitled ‘Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Reshape Synaptic Function in Cultured Brain Networks’ was published in the online journal ACS Nano, available here.
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Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will embark upon a €230m plan to develop the university and provide a research, teaching and learning platform for innovation.
DCU has secured long-term loan and bridging finance from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund and the EIB to develop infrastructure over the next five years. With the ambition of improving its research and innovation capacity, a new student centre, new sports facilities, additional on-campus accommodation and modern teaching spaces will become available through the plan.
Director of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund Eugene O’Callaghan said: “Education is a key enabler of national competitiveness and being able to provide commercial funding for such a critical part of DCU’s facilities aligns strongly with our dual investment mandate. We have also utilised one of the fund’s key differentiating features – our long-term investment horizon – to facilitate significant parallel funding by the EIB.”
EIB vice-president Jonathan Taylor added: “The European Investment Bank recognises the high quality and ambition of the development plans that will strengthen research, teaching and student life at Dublin City University to benefit future generations of students and ensure their skills match the needs of 21st Century employers. This new €76m loan demonstrates the European Investment Bank’s firm commitment to support long-term investment that improves economic opportunities and social infrastructure across Ireland and follows an increased focus on ensuring continued investment in education in the country. The European Investment Bank looks forward to backing similar impressive schemes elsewhere in Ireland in the months and years ahead.”
The remaining €154m is to be provided by donations, government grants, student contributions and from the university’s own budget.
The EIB plays a strategic role in implementing each financial instrument facility on behalf of and in partnership with the European Commission and its reseacrh and innovation framework programme – Horizon 2020.
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The European Investment Fund (EIF) and ProCredit group have signed an agreement to benefit innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Greece.
This agreement is the result of support from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and, stipulated within it, ProCredit group will provide €20m in loans to innovative Greek SMEs over two years. The loans will be supported by an EIF guarantee under the ‘EU InnovFin finance for Innovators’ initiative with financial backing also being made available through Horizon 2020.
Signed earlier today, the agreement enables ProCredit group to offer finances to innovative companies at favourable conditions.
The signing was completed in Thessaloniki, Greece, and was attended by EIF chief executive Pier Luigi Gilibert, who said: “I am delighted to be signing the first EFSI SME agreement in Greece for innovative SMEs. Support for innovative SMEs will help to facilitate growth and jobs. The ProCredit group has partnered with us to rollout the InnovFin programme in other countries, and I am sure that together we can play a part in delivering finance for SMEs and mid-caps in Greece.”
Also in attendance was European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who added: “I am honoured to be here in Thessaloniki to witness the signing of the first EFSI deal in Greece. Small companies in Greece are in great need of financing to grow their businesses and create jobs. The agreement signed today by the EIF and ProCredit with the support of the Investment Plan will help Greek SMEs access new finance. I encourage other banks to join forces with the EIF and set up similar agreements under the Investment Plan so that we can help more Greek companies flourish.”
The Investment Plan for Europe focuses on the removal of obstacles with regards to financial investment, providing transparent technical assistance to investment projects and utilising financial resources. The European Investment Bank (EIB) estimates that in excess of €80bn has been made available via the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).
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