ComplexINC – Science and Progress in Lisbon
Annual Meeting in June
ComplexINC-Consortium gathers at the 1st Progress Meeting in Lisbon
On 17th and 18th June 2012, Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (IBET), located in Lisbon, Oeiras, hosted the 1st Progress Meeting of the EU-funded research project “ComplexINC”.
ComplexINC is a four-year Collaborative Project funded with 6 Mio € by the EC under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. ComplexINC aims at a quantum leap in production technologies for complex proteins, and combines outstanding expertise from several SMEs and leading academic research institutions in this field. The international consortium wants to create innovative tools and technologies to improve the production and accessibility of high-quality proteins, which are to be used for drug discovery and therapeutic treatment of human diseases. ComplexINC’s innovations are foreseen to result in a start-up enterprise commercializing the production techniques and newly discovered high-end proteins.
Eurice has been part of the initiative since the beginning; with its extensive expertise, the project management company successfully guided the ComplexINC consortium through proposal and negotiation phase and now provides active support during project implementation. Eurice is in charge of administrative, financial and contractual management activities, as well as dissemination and exploitation of research results.
The objective of the recent meeting was to review accomplishments and assess work progress of the first months since the start of the project in November 2011. In a series of progress presentations, the results obtained so far by the partners in the ambitious work program were reviewed leading to lively discussions. “It is indeed inspiring to see that the partners are debating intensely to resolve experimental challenges that may be encountered. Everybody is pushing ahead energetically and the partners are often already at this early stage working closely together to achieve the goals laid out,” says Imre Berger, Coordinator of ComplexINC. In addition to the individual partner contributions, Dr Shervin Bahrami, CEO of SKAUvaccines, gave a guest lecture on Hyper Immunogenic Antigens, a technology concept that may constitute a game changer for vaccination against a variety of viral diseases. SKAUvaccines, a technology-based biotech company, has recently concluded a partnership agreement with ComplexINC coordinating institution EMBL to develop an effective new flu vaccine based on this disruptive technology. Particularly worthwhile and enjoyable was the tour through the facilities for bioprocessing, competently led by Prof. Manuel Carrondo and Paula Alves, the former and current CEOs of IBET. Imre Berger expressed his satisfaction with the result of the 1st Progress Meeting: “The program is well on its way and we all are greatly looking forward to the times ahead.”
Your contact:
Hannah Weber
European Research and Project Office GmbH
Tel. +49 (0681) 9592 3377
Email
Links:
www.complexinc.eu
IBET
SKAUvaccines