ERA-NET call on pathogenic microbes to be decided by end of September
26.09.2008
PathoGenoMics is a European-wide ERA-NET project aimed at research funding agencies and focused on genome research into pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The Academy of Finland has been involved in the PathoGenoMics ERA-NET from the very beginning, that is, since 2004, and has also participated in the two joint calls launched within the network.
“The final decisions concerning the ongoing call will be made at the end of September in Lisbon. The Scientific Advisory Board selected 22 pre-proposals to be invited to submit a full proposal; among these were six Finnish research teams,” reports Programme Manager Soile Juuti.
In all 50 pre-proposals were submitted at the first stage; these included 14 Finnish research teams. The total funding of the call amounts to about 14 million euros, which will go towards funding 12–15 joint research projects.
The Finnish cutting edge of research is sharp but relatively narrow. “There aren’t too many top-tier teams. Although Finnish research indeed has a lot to offer European research on a general level, there are far greater gains to be made from this programme,” says Juuti. ERA-NET collaboration opens up new opportunities for Finnish researchers: they, for instance, get access to equipment and methods that otherwise would not have been easily available to them.
Communication a challenge
Juuti has also served as Programme Manager for the Academy’s Finnish-Swedish research programme Microbes and Man (MICMAN). “PathoGenoMics was a natural continuation of the Academy’s own research programme. Even the research groups involved have partially been the same.”
The theme of the new PathoGenoMics call is focused on concrete approaches to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of diseases caused by bacterial and fungal pathogens. The European ERA-NET PathoGenoMics is set to continue until 2012.
One of the objectives of the project has been to disseminate knowledge on pathogenic microbes to the European general public. “When it’s a question of getting your message across to the whole of Europe, it truly is easier said than done,” Juuti points out.
Gene library in Germany
“Our research team participated in the first PathoGenoMics call. We got to join a consortium with 8–9 groups from all across Europe. The German coordinator of the consortium has been very efficient, as has the consortium itself,” says Professor of Bacteriology and researcher Mikael Skurnik. For the past 30 years, Skurnik’s main research interest has been Yersinia bacteria. “I’ve looked more closely at how bacteria cause diseases. Yersinia bacteria have provided a good model for my work.”
In the PathoGenoMics ERA-NET, Skurnik and his team have focused on RNA interference (RNAi), which involves the hindering of transcription of specific genes to inhibit gene expression. Some researchers feel that RNA interference is the single greatest achievement within healthcare since the advent of antibiotics.
Skurnik has also worked together with Spanish and German teams to develop a method by which changes in cell cultures infected with Yersinia bacteria are recorded using robotics. The idea is to be able to use extensive RNAi libraries automatically. “The actual screening of the RNAi library takes place in Berlin, where the robotics and all other necessary resources are located,” Skurnik says.
An ERA-NET of manageable size
ERA-NET funding meant that Skurnik could hire a postdoc researcher for his project. “For quite a few of my colleagues, the situation has not looked as rosy – funding has usually been far more limited.”
Skurnik’s research team did not make it to the second stage of the joint call. “I was told that my research theme simply wasn’t tuned precisely enough to the theme of the call.”
Skurnik appreciates the manageable size of ERA-NET projects: “I do believe that more can be achieved through ERA-NETs than through some sort of mammoth EU projects.”
Text: Tiina Ruulio
More information:
ERA-NETs
www.pathogenomics-era.net/
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