In short
The 15-month coordination and support action “4.UNCAN.eu” will generate a strategic agenda to launch UNCAN.eu, a European initiative to UNderstand CANcer proposed by the Mission Board and the European Beating Cancer Plan. This research agenda will be built with the final aim of achieving a new breakthrough in cancer prevention and treatment that will contribute to saving European citizens’ lives and help ensuring an optimal quality of life to disease survivors. In this project Sciensano is involved as an advisory partner.
Project description
The 15-month coordination and support action “4.UNCAN.eu” will generate a strategic agenda to launch UNCAN.eu, a European initiative to UNderstand CANcer proposed by the Mission Board and the European Beating Cancer Plan (EBCP). This research agenda will be built with the final aim of achieving a new breakthrough in cancer prevention and treatment that will contribute to saving European citizens’ lives and help ensuring an optimal quality of life to disease survivors.
To reach a new level of understanding, UNCAN.eu will take advantage of recent advances in research data generation and data sciences. Reliable, high-quality cancer research data generated by experimental model analysis and collected from longitudinal follow-up of cancer patients will be shared and integrated at an unprecedented scale within a Federated Cancer Research data hub, in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation.
This information will be used by relevant players in Europe and beyond to address urgent and essential scientific and medical challenges in cancer prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and survivorship, in males and females of various ages. These challenges, identified in close interaction with European patients and citizens, will be tackled through competitive, ambitious and innovative, cross-border and trans-disciplinary research programmes built in a problem-solving manner.
The definition of challenges will integrate inequalities in cancer research across regions and member states in order to boost the research potential of less-developed regions in Europe. Players will be committed to open science principles, including FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) guiding principles for scientific data collection, management and stewardship. The new understanding gained from the collection and analysis of this wealth of data will apply secondarily to other diseases.
Consortium
Partners
- 22 countries
- 29 partners
Belgian Partners
- Sciensano
- Jules Bordet
- UZ Leuven
Structure
| Work Packages (WP) | Leading Institute, Country |
| WP1 Coordination and management | INSERM, France |
| WP2 Identification of cancer research challenges to address future EU priorities & research policies | CIBER, Spain |
| WP3 Mapping of European Research Infrastructures and initiatives Roadmap for a European Federated Cancer Research Data Hub | DKFZ, Germany |
| WP4 Patients and European Citizens in cancer research | ECPC, Belgium |
| WP5 Governance, organization, logistics, finances, and sustainabilitys | ACC, Italy |
| WP6 Inequalities in cancer research – improved science with improved outreach | OOI, Hungary |
Related projects
Technical information
| Work program | HORIZON 2020 |
| Type of action | HORIZON-MISS-2021-UNCAN-01 |
| Budget | €3m |
| Lead Coordinator | INSERM, France |
Results
The 4.UNCAN.eu Final Event took place on November 14th 2023, marking a significant milestone in the 4.UNCAN.eu Coordination and Support Action (CSA). During this meeting, a strategic roadmap outlining the implementation of a European Federated Cancer Research Data Hub was presented to the European Commission.
The event garnered attention from key figures, with European Parliament Members and Policymakers in attendance, including European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, MEP Tomislav Sokol, Belgium’s Health Minister Frank Vanderbroucke, Annika Nowak, from the European Commission’s DG SANCO unit and the Vice-Chair of the Cancer Mission Board, Prof. Christine Chomienne. Additionally, Anita Kienesberger (CCI Europe) represented the voice of paediatric cancer patients, emphasizing the human impact of the initiative.
Sciensano's project investigator(s):
Service(s) working on this project
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