03/10/2011

Today marks the official start of EATRIS, a pan-European network of translational research infrastructure in medicine. Building on a successful commencement phase funded by the European Commission in 2007-2010, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands are parties to the new agreement, with 3 more countries expected to follow by Q4 2011 and early 2012. EATRIS is one of the Research Infrastructures, initiated by the European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). Spain participates with the coordinated work of the Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII), representing the government, and Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) representing the scientific leadership.Translational research improves the effective translation of excellent biomedical research into drugs, diagnostics and medical devices. EATRIS provides simple, one-stop-shop access to the technologies and expertise residing in Europe’s best research institutions and companies and other research groups collaborating with it can expect more effective translation of their fundamental scientific breakthroughs into promising products. Key disease areas are cancer, cardiovascular, neurology, immunological, metabolic and infectious diseases.