from target-breast to target-melanoma prof. william m. gallagher vice-principal of research and...
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From Target-Breast to Target-Melanoma
Prof. William M. GallagherVice-Principal of Research and Innovation, UCD College of Life Sciences
Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, UCD School of Biomolecular & Biomedical ScienceConway Fellow, UCD Conway Institute
Co-Founder/Chief Scientific Officer, OncoMark Ltd.
Marie Curie IAPP/ITN29th September 2010, Royal Irish Academy
Intravital MicroscopyHT1080 fibrosarcoma tumour cells
Courtesy of Prof. Robert Hoffman(Anti-Cancer Inc.)
Tumour Growth and Spread
Biomarkers in Cancer Management
4
Target-Breast: Marie Curie Industry-Academia Partnership ToK Programme (FP6)
3 academic centres UCD Lund U. NKI
2 industrial partners SlidePath Agendia
Focus on converting omic datasets into clinically relevant assays
www.targetbreast.com
Lessons Learned and Comments - I Programme was of considerable value to consolidate and strengthen
pre-existing/new industry-academic interactions Provided great opportunities for advanced training of researchers in different sectors Administration of programme complex, with reporting process difficult in parts (e.g.
ambiguous nature of online versus hard copy submissions, EC timeline for sign-off of Annual report – delay of funds)
Turnover of contact staff at EC (now REA) appears to be quite high; therefore, difficult to maintain relationship
Difficult to recruit good candidates for exchanges: ‘best laid plans!’ Support for proposal preparation was key to drive process (Enterprise Ireland), as
well as feedback/advice from Marie Curie/FP contact points (Dagmar Meyer/Caitriona Creely)
Useful to complement with other large-scale national (HRB Programme Grant, SFI Cluster Grant) and international (EU IAPP and Collaborative grant) initiatives
Need to identify key driver in the process for next initiative
Marie Curie Industry Academia Partnership and Pathways Programme (FP7)
Acronym: Target-Melanoma
Title: Molecular Dissection of Melanoma Progression: An Integrated Pan-European Approach
Original Partners: 9 partners (4 SMEs, 5 Academics)
Current Partners: 7 partners (2 SMEs, 5 academics)
Funding: 1.73 M euro
• One of the fastest rising cancers • Poor prognosis for advanced disease
• Current therapeutic strategies modestly successful• Insight into molecular basis of this disease is lacking
Why TARGET-MELANOMA?
Partners 1. UCD, Ireland (Coordinator)
2. University of Maastricht, Netherlands
3. University of Leuven, Belgium
4. IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain:
5. University of Upsalla, HPR, Sweden
6. OncoMethylome, Belguim
7. Slidepath, DCU, Ireland
8. Cellix, St.James, Ireland
9. OncoMark, UCD, Ireland
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LEUVEN
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ER1(18-36)Methylation profiling of Melanoms
Time-Line
Dec 07Initial contact with Partners
Jan 08First meeting
Feb/Mar 081st draft & feedback
Mar 25th 08Submit full application
July 08Results: On reserve list2nd Life Sci3rd overall
Nov 081st Life Sci2rd overall
19 Dec 08Invitation to negotiate
Jan/Feb 09Annex1, Gantt Chart & GFPs
Feb 09Negotiate with Commission
June 09Grant Agreement Signed
Aug 09Start of Project
Oct 09Kick Off meeting....
Lessons Learned and Comments - IIDriver was indeed key; in this case, Dr. Mairin Rafferty (formerly Senior
Research Fellow in UCD; now Chief Operations Officer in OncoMark)Need complete buy-in from prospective partners – interactions need to
make senseTemplate information forms can facilitate retrieval of necessary data
from prospective partnersPreferable to keep number of partners to a modest level for this
programme; can be complex to arrange secondmentsUseful mechanism to progress spin-out activities (e.g. OncoMark) and
create new product opportunitiesFace-to-face meetings, preferably as a group, are highly recommended
– people need time to bed down concepts/format of grant
Products
Services
R+D
Products
IHC-MARK
RATHER
Angiotox
Target Melanoma
TMA
Constructi
onSl
ide
Scan
ning
Auto
mat
ed
Anal
ysis
Pre-
clini
cal
Stud
ies
FP7 Consulta
ncy
Mr. Stephen Penney
Dr. Mairin Rafferty
Current Activities
Dr. Dara FitzGerald