STEPUPIORS team visited the secondary school “Miloš Crnjanski” in Kikinda
As autumn arrives, the STEPUPIORS team returns to school. In November, we visited the secondary school “Miloš Crnjanski” in Kikinda as part of the ScienceSCool European Researchers’ Night project. Dr. Milena Čavić, Dr. Ana Đurić, and Dr. Ana Damjanović spoke to the students about malignant diseases and how to prevent them through healthy lifestyle habits. They also discussed the latest research in oncology and molecular genetics. Since the students we visited are studying to become laboratory technicians, we emphasized the importance of laboratory procedures and the role of laboratory technicians in research and diagnostic laboratories.
IORS acquired the first Luminex® MAGPIX® system in Serbia
Within the framework of the STEPUPIORS project, an excellent example of collaboration between academia and industry for the benefit of Serbian cancer patients took place in November 2023.
Company Novos d.o.o. kindly enabled the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia to acquire the first Luminex® MAGPIX® system in our country and try out simple, cost-effective medium-throughput multiplexing of @Merck MILLIPLEX® immunoassays on plasma samples of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Profiling of predictive biomarkers for the purpose of selection of patients who might benefit from the watch and wait approach enabling their higher quality of life will be performed. Validation of the results is planned on prospectively collected samples from the first Serbian rectal cancer biobank in 2024. Exciting times ahead!
STEPUPIOR webinar on Preparing Future Faculty for Teaching by Prof. Dr Ieronymos “Makis” Zoidakis
SAVE THE DATE
STEPUPIORS webinar on Preparing Future Faculty for Teaching by
Prof. Dr Ieronymos “Makis” Zoidakis, December 13th 2023 at 10:00 AM (CET)
STEPUPIORS is delighted to invite you to its free webinar on Preparing Future Faculty for Teaching organized by BRFAA and Prof. Dr Ieronymos “Makis” Zoidakis.
Webinar will take place on Wednesday, December 13th, 2023, from 10:00 to 11:00 AM (CET).
SPEAKER
Prof. Dr Ieronymos “Makis” Zoidakis is Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Biology Department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and Associated Faculty at the Proteomics Facility of the Biomedical Research Foundation, Academy of Athens (BRFAA).
He was born in Belgium and grew up in Athens, Greece. Prof Zoidakis studied Biochemistry at the University of Liege in Belgium and then moved to UCLA where he obtained his PhD on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He worked at the BRFAA Proteomics Facility as a senior research scientist and has expertise in proteomics and enzymology. He has extensive experience in the implementation of EU research projects and has designed training activities related to omics data generation and integration.
JOIN US ON 13 DECEMBER at 10:00 AM (CET)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85024031742?pwd=8PoypraRcdyXvMk2OVXJUQKoUbrhf8.1
Meeting ID: 850 2403 1742
Passcode: 402545
October 2023 Project Activities
STEPUPIORS project members were engaged in various activities related to cancer research, science communication, science diplomacy and networking, leading to an increased excellence of the project output:
– Dr Radmila Jankovic gave a lecture at the 6th AROME – MONTENEGRO COURSE and 5th AROME – ESO Joint Consensus Conference
– Dr Miljana Tanic gave a lecture at the BioTechX Europe 2023 Congress
– Dr Suzana Stojanovic-Rundic gave a lecture at the 12th International Symposium of Coloproctology
– Dr Mladen Marinkovic gave a lecture at the Užice Oncology Symposium, Serbian Medical Society Užice Affiliate “LIV Užički dani” 2023
– Dr Ieronymos Zoidakis participated at the Stand Up Science event in Athens, Greece
– Dr Milena Cavic gave a lecture at the Horizon Europe project BIOLAWEB BgF Summer School organized by Miloš Ćirić
– Aleksandra Stanojević and Katarina Živić attended the MedILS Summer School in Bioinformatics in Split, Croatia
– Dr Jelena Spasic attended the ESMO2023 congress as the National UMOS respresentative organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology and gave a lecture at the 1st Palliative Medicine Congress of Serbia
– Dr Ana Đurić presented the first IORS RMO webinar on Personnel engagement on Horizon projects
– Dr Milena Cavic attended the Trends in Single Cell Analysis webinar organized by dr Nikolas Stoecklein
– Dr Milena Cavic gave a lecture at the Horizon Europe Greenelit Project Stakeholder meeting organized by Goran Stojanovic
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
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 Katarina Mirjačić Martinović attended the ESMO Preceptorship on Immuno-Oncology in Zurich organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology.
Title: Published preprint to celebrate the World Cancer Research Day
Dr Milena Cavic lecturer at the European Training Academy's Horizon Europe Twinning projects writing training
STEPUPIORS PI Dr Milena Cavic participated as a lecturer at a training for writing Horizon Europe Twinning projects for participants from 12 scientific institutions from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized by the European Training Academy in Belgrade, on September 04, 2023, in a hybrid mode. Participants received instructions from experienced trainers on how to write a project proposal and how to prepare a budget according to the new Lump Sum methodology. Finally, they had the opportunity to meet other funded Twinning project coordinators, representing GrInShield Twinning Project from the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, TwiNSol – CECs from the Faculty of Technology Novi Sad, University of Novi Sad, BIOLAWEB from the Institute for Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy.
