BUILDING INTEGRATIVE SINGLE CELL OMICS CAPACITIES USING INVERTEBRATE TUMOR MODELS RELEVANT TO HUMAN DISEASE

SCENTINEL aims to elevate the international status of FORTH, Greece by enhancing its Genomics and Bioinformatics capacities, which are presently underdeveloped.

For this reason, FORTH-IMBB twins with four major European research institutions: the IGBMC a component institute of the CERBM (Strasbourg), the CNRS Insitut Jacques Monod (Paris), Stockholm University and the IRB (Barcelona).

Our scientific vessel will exploit Drosophila neural cancer models, to address fundamental questions about tumorigenesis, tumor composition and tumor-microenvironment interactions.

In the long-term, our results may prove relevant for human cancer diagnosis and treatment, achieving a tangible impact of wider benefit to society.

Our action plan will include both network-wide actions (hands-on workshops, virtual and in-person network meetings) and individualized training (e.g. inter-lab visits, training of facility personnel. training of operational officers in research management).

Dissemination and communication activities will target the scientific community (conferences, seminars, high-impact publications), authorities and financial stakeholders (forums, open days) and the general public (digital media, science popularization presentations).

Young and senior scientists of the network will benefit by engaging in excellent research and acquiring scientific skills in cutting-edge technologies, as well as soft skills necessary for mobility across EU Academia and Industry.

Via SCENTINEL, FORTH-IMBB will emerge as a leader in advanced genomics & bioinformatics and will make its services available not only to the local biomedical community, but also to the wider area of Southeastern Europe.

The upgraded FORTH R&I capacities will stimulate retention and recruitment of highly motivated, internationally competitive scientists, improving its human capital.

The strengthened links among participating institutes will promote collaborations beyond the duration of this project and ensure success in future funding for innovative research.