European research infrastructures join forces to provide innovative cancer research services across Europe—how can they support the cell and gene therapy developer?
Cell & Gene Therapy Insights 2023; 9(7), 1003–1008
10.18609/cgti.2023.127
Research infrastructures (RIs) are facilities that enable the research community to use their specific technology platforms, resources, and services to conduct research and foster innovation. Europe’s RIs exist to solve systemic bottlenecks, pushing forward the frontiers of scientific disciplines, and enabling transformative technological development ranging from translational medicine to biobanking to clinical trials. In 2022, European wide RIs, including oncology experts and patient associations, came together to battle cancer by providing innovative cancer research services across Europe. CanSERV is a new EU-funded project under the Horizon Europe program that aims to provide a comprehensive portfolio of oncology-related research services to all scientists in EU member countries, associated countries and beyond. The CanSERV portfolio provides capabilities across the full breadth of cancer research and the translational pipeline, from basic biology research through to the delivery of late-phase clinical trials. Central to this project will be to facilitate cancer therapeutic developers with a set of robust, standardized, and validated assays for the development of novel Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products including cell and gene therapies, therapeutic vaccines, and RNA-based immunotherapies. Through this new initiative, the canSERV consortium will strive to meet the needs of academic and industry users from the EU and beyond to create a more effective, streamlined, and defragmented European oncology research infrastructure landscape.