STEPUPIORS at the 2026 EUTA Twinning forum in Serbia

On February 3, 2026, Dr Milena Cavic from IORS and Dr Remond Fijneman from the NKI participated as speakers at the 2026 Twinning forum in Serbia enhancing national strategies for participation in widening schemes. Dr Cavic presented STEPUPIORS insights into the necessary balance between research and coordination/support activities in Twinning projects. Dr Fijneman elaborated on benefits of strategic collaboration on a Twinning project within the “WIN-WIN is important: Benefits for leading partners from the EU” session. The meeting was organized under the auspices of the European Training agency SAIGE forum focused on the pending WIDERA Work Programme for 2026/27.

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PhD thesis defense of Xavi Dominguez-Rovira at FRCB-IDIBAPS

Long term impact and sustainability of our STEPUPIORS project surpass the official project end – the talented PhD student Xavi Dominguez-Rovira defended his PhD thesis mentored by Laia Bonjoch and Sergi Castellvi-Bel at FRCB-IDIBAPS. He was actively involved in project activities and presented his results at main consortium meetings during 2023-2025.

His thesis presents a multi-step approach for the postulation of HIC1 and TP53BP1 as candidate genes associated with germline predisposition to serrated polyposis syndrome (SPS). SPS patients, both with and without familial aggregation, were recruited into discovery and validation cohorts. Next-generation and panel sequencing were performed to identify germline pathogenic genetic variants, followed by a bioinformatics pipeline to prioritize the most relevant variants. CRISPR/Cas9 technology was used to model the identified genetic variants in several in vitro systems. These in vitro models were subsequently employed to conduct gene-specific functional assays to determine the effects of the genetic variants on RNA expression, protein function, and cellular processes. All data were integrated to support the candidacy of HIC1 and TP53BP1 as genes associated with germline predisposition to SPS.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ijc.35492

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Project end

After three productive scientific years, the STEPUPIORS journey has come to an end! With newly funded cancer research initiatives and pending project applications, scientific publications, theses, Open days, trainings, collaborative initiatives and 4 project babies we can enter 2026 ready for new professional and personal adventures.

A big THANK YOU to all project participants and collaborators, looking forward to our next steps!

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STEPUPIORS at the ACTC25 Congress

Miodrag Vukovic, Ana Djuric and Milena Cavic from IORS and Paul van der Leest form NKI AVL attended the inspiring 7th Advances in Circulating Tumor Cells meeting: “Liquid Biopsy: from Bench to Bedside” ACTC2025 Congress on Sept 24-27, 2025 in Thessaloniki, Greece, organized by Prof. Evi Lianidou and the Hellenic Society for Liquid BIopsy. They presented project results “Liquid biopsy in molecular diagnostics and scientific research in Serbia – insights from the STEPUPIORS and EXPAND-EV Horizon Europe projects”.

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STEPUPIORS Webinar on Precision Medicine

On September 18th, 2025, STEPUPIORS organized a webinar on Precision Medicine, bringing together 14 participants for an engaging and interactive session.

The webinar featured:

  • Methods for ssDNA library prep for the study of ultra-short cfDNA fragments – Dr. Miljana Tanić, IORS
  • AI in precision medicine – advantages of ensemble deep learning approaches – Dr. Marko Radulović, IORS

Participants had the chance to discuss innovative approaches in cfDNA analysis and the role of AI in shaping the future of precision medicine.

A big thank you to our speakers and all participants for their valuable contributions and discussions!

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STEPUPIORS MSc thesis - Management in the healthcare system

On Sept 22, 2025, STEPUPIORS coordinator Milena Čavić defended her MSc Thesis “Health economic evaluation of liquid biopsy in treatment decision management of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer in Serbia” at the School of Medicine & Faculty of Organizational Studies, University of Belgrade, Serbia, within Master of Science academic studies, Management in the healthcare system.
The thesis formed a crucial part of the project by assessing the technical, human and organizational capacities, as well as the first needs in the field of colorectal cancer. The obtained results showed that there is a strong network of interested parties with satisfactory human, infrastructure and organizational capacities for liquid biopsy analyses in Serbia. Using 8 patient-models derived from a real-world STEPUPIORS cohort, the application of liquid biopsy in this setting might prove to be cost-effective after careful patient sub-selection. A future complete health-economic evaluation of the addition of ctDNA analysis in treatment management of patients with rectal cancer might serve as a basis for updating national

treatment guidelines for this cancer type.

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Save the date: STEPUPIORS WEBINAR ON PRECISION MEDICINE

Date: September 18th 2025, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (CET)

STEPUPIORS is delighted to invite you to its Webinar on Precision Medicine

AGENDA
10:00 – 10:45 Methods for ssDNA library prep for the study of ultra-short cfDNA fragments – Dr Miljana Tanić, IORS
10:45 – 11:00 Discussion
11:00 – 11:45 AI in precision medicine – advantages of ensemble deep learning approaches – Dr Marko Radulović, IORS
11:45 – 12:00 Discussion

Dr Miljana Tanić is a molecular biologist with a PhD in human cancer genetics from the Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain. She gained international scientific experience at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, Columbia University, Aarhus Hospital and the UCL Cancer Institute, where she performed her postdoc studies. Dr Tanić’s research investigates the molecular mechanisms of resistance to therapy and the evolution of the epigenetic landscape in various cancer types, through the application of high-throughput genomics, genetic epidemiology, and bioinformatics methods and development of machine learning-based classifiers as medical support tools in oncology.

Dr Marko Radulović received his PhD degree from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade. He worked in cancer research at the Immunology Research Centre in Belgrade, the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany, University College London and Imperial College London. He is currently a Research Professor at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology in Belgrade, Serbia. Dr Radulović’s research focuses on the investigation of molecular and morphological prognostic and predictive markers in cancer. He has published over 90 scientific articles.

JOIN US ON 18 September at 10:00 AM (CET)

Topic: STEPUPIORS_PRECISION MEDICINE WEBINAR
Time: Sep 18, 2025 10:00 AM Belgrade, Bratislava, Ljubljana
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81092465197?pwd=qJWihKlRAYz0ZiQfU1oktL2AvJbgSJ.1

Meeting ID: 810 9246 5197
Passcode: 129174

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STEPUPIORS Final project meeting

The STEPUPIORS Final project meeting was held in Belgrade and online, in the period of Aug 29-30, 2025. The meeting was attended by participants from all partner institutions. The agenda included discussions on the scientific and management aspects of the project.

During the first day of the meeting, expert visits of partner institutions to IORS were held, exploring the new biobanking and research management capacities developed at IORS through the project framework, with the help of expert institutions. NKI AVL, FRCB-IDIBAPS and BRFAA clinicians and scientists visited the Dept. of experimental oncology, Clinic for oncological surgery and Clinic for radiation oncology, with visits to the IORS director and management. After the expert visit, presentations of project achievements, deliverables and milestones were held for all work packages by WP leaders, highlighting main achievements. It was concluded that all project aims were fully achieved, with no major deviations. The project consortium functioned as a team throughout 3 project years, with joint wishes for long term consortium sustainability.

On the second day of the meeting, a scientific symposium was held during which main research directions, results and future joint plans were discussed. The meeting continued with a Workshop on grant applications, reviewing strategic proposal planning and specific future calls of interest focused on the STEPUPIORS consortium. It was agreed to apply for future funding to explore the open avenues of research which have evolved within the consortium.

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Expert visit of partner institutions to IORS

Biobanking and research staff from FRCB-IDIBAPS performed an expert visit to IORS on August 29, 2025, during the Final project meeting period. During the visit, Dr Teresa Botta and Judith Sabath from FRCB-IDIBAPS Biobank got acquainted with the challenges and achievements of the first Rectal Cancer Biobank at IORS, established within STEPUPIORS. Also, the IORS staff introduced colleagues from FRCB-IDIBAPS to facilities and human resources at the Department of Experimental Oncology. They got familiar with the organization of research work within the following laboratories: Laboratory for Molecular Genetics, Laboratory for Experimental Pharmacology, Laboratory for Immunology, Laboratory for Radiobiology and Experimental Oncology, and Department of Genetic Counselling for Hereditary Cancers, which represent smaller organizational units of the Department of Experimental Oncology. During the visit, PhD student Xavi Dominguez was introduced to in vitro and ex vivo studies at IORS.
Research and clinical staff from NKI-AVL performed an expert visit to IORS on August 29, 2025, during the Final project meeting period. During the visit, STEPUPIORS PI dr Remond Fijneman and dr Niels Kok from NKI-AVL visited the Clinic for radiological oncology and the Clinic for oncological surgery and got acquainted with the structure and organization of IORS as a national cancer healthcare centre.  Also, the IORS staff introduced PhD students Denise van Steijn and Renske de Wit from NKI-AVL to facilities and human resources at the Department of Experimental Oncology. They got familiar with the organization of research work within the following laboratories: Laboratory for Molecular Genetics, Laboratory for Experimental Pharmacology, Laboratory for Immunology, Laboratory for Radiobiology and Experimental Oncology, and Department of Genetic Counselling for Hereditary Cancers, which represent smaller organizational units of the Department of Experimental Oncology. During the visit, Denise van Steijn and Renske de Wit were introduced to in vitro and ex vivo studies at IORS.

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New scientific publication within WP2

New project publication by Aleksandra Stanojević and colleagues Rafael Stroggilos Mladen Marinkovic Ana Đurić Suzana Stojanovic-Rundic Radmila Jankovic Sergi Castellvi-Bel Remond Fijneman Antonia Vlahou Ieronymos Zoidakis Milena Cavic

Profiling Neoadjuvant Therapy Response in Rectal Cancer Using Publicly Available Transcriptomic RNA-seq Datasets

One step closer to deciphering the complexity of locally advanced rectal cancer biology and to optimizing treatment approaches.

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