STEPUPIORS Annual Project Meeting

The annual project meeting successfully gathered project participants from all 4 collaborating countries. Within the annual meeting period, a Post-award Grant Management Training was held for 68 Serbian future grant holders and leaders from 11 institutions. Round table discussions and sharing experience of several principal investigators of successful EU-funded and national grants from Serbia concluded the training.

After the Training, first project deliverables and milestones were outlined:

1 Biobank successfully established at IORS
4 Publications and multiple congress abstracts presented
3 large trainings on grant management and omics approaches
Many interesting outreach activities
1 Research Management Office successfully established at IORS

The event was dynamic and joyful, stimulating new collaborations and project applications. We look forward to project year 2 – the best is yet to come!



STEPUPIORS at SDIR-6 Congress of the Serbian Association for Cancer Research

STEPUPIORS members participated at the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)-supported Sixth Congress of the Serbian Association for Cancer Research (SDIR) “From Collaboration to Innovation in Cancer Research” held in Belgrade on October 02-04, 2023 as Invited Speakers (Snežana Bjelogrlić, Katarina Mirjačić Martinović, Jelena Spasic), Session Chairs (Radmila Jankovic, Miljana Tanic, Jelena Spasic, Ana Krivokuca, Milena Cavic, Remond Fijneman, Ieronymos Zoidakis, Marko Radulovic, Sergi Castellvi-Bel), Meet the Experts hosts (Remond Fijneman, Ieronymos Zoidakis), Oral Presenters (Mladen Marinkovic), Poster Presenters (Aleksandra Stanojevic, Kristina Zivic, Katarina Zivic) and members of the Scientific and Organizing Committee (Ana Djuric, Ana Damjanovic, Marija Djordjic Crnogorac, Valentina Karadzic, Ana Vuletic).

Dr Snežana Bjelogrlić presented a lecture “Establishment of a first cancer Biobank at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia – advantages, challenges and future perspectives”

Dr Mladen Marinkovic presented an oral abstract “Predicting response to chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer using MRI-based radiomics features”

Aleksandra Stanojević presented a poster “Detection of viral proteins in locally advanced rectal cancer patient samples by mass spectrometry – predictive potential for response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy” and won the Best PhD Student Abstract Award!

The three-day conference was held at a high-step pace with excellent exchange of latest cancer research achievements in the region and Europe.



STEPUPIORS team at the European Researchers` Night

Dear researchers and citizens,

Let’s make sure our beautiful science is easily understandable to everyone!

After playing fun scientific games with an enthusiastic 0-99 audience on September 30, 2023 during the European Researchers Nights, we are sure that only the sky is the limit for the future development of science in Serbia!



September 2023 Project Activities

Dr Ana Damjanovic and Dr Milena Cavic participated in a Radio program “Hocu da znam” at Radio Beograd 2 hosted by the multi-talented Tomica Mišljenović. They discussed the project aims and planning of a satellite training symposium/annual meeting during the SDIR-6 Congress of the Serbian Association for Cancer Research (recording in Serbian).

Dr Katarina Mirjačić Martinović attended the ESMO Preceptorship on Immuno-Oncology in Zurich organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology.

Dr Milena Cavic attended the Focus group on Twinning project management during the EPIBOOST project annual meeting. The establishment and progress of the good Twinning practices guide were discussed and plans for the next two years set in place.