Swansea University is part of a new CutCancer twinning project aimed at strengthening and increasing the research and innovation capacity and excellence of the project coordinator, the National Institute of Biology (NIB) in Slovenia.
Swansea University along with Stockholm University in Sweden and VU Medical Center Amsterdam in the Netherlands will share their specific and complementary expertise with the NIB in the three-year, €1,197,550 new Horizon Europe project, which will begin in January 2023.
CutCancer will focus on sharing expertise in state-of-the-art testing approaches to promote frontier research in the field of preclinical cancer research. By providing training, webinars, workshops, summer schools and exchange of best practices, the project aims to expand the research and innovation capacity at NIB.
Professor Shareen Doak, Professor of Genotoxicology and Cancer at Swansea University’s Medical School and work package lead on the CutCancer project said:
“Sharing knowledge and infrastructure in this way through the CutCancer project will break down the boundaries in research across societies and facilitate a more global scientific community. We hope that the partnerships we will develop during this project will be the start of a long-term collaborative relationship between all the Universities involved in CutCancer, to implement transformative approaches in cancer-based research.”
Associate Professor Dr Bojana Žegura, National Institute of Biology, Slovenia said:
“Research teams from the National Institute of Biology (NIB), Slovenia, and Swansea University, United Kingdom, have collaborated on an informal basis to foster the implementation of research and to go beyond the state of the art. A window of opportunity was the call for twinning and now the Twinning for excellence to strategically advance research in carcinogenesis and cancer (CutCancer) project provides an opportunity to formalise it. Opportunities for formal collaboration among research teams are scarce, so the importance of this collaboration is of vital importance for future collaborations. We envision not only the exchange of collaborators and students, but also the transfer of knowledge and the acceleration effect of cooperation between teams.
“Within CutCancer, the collaboration will enable the implementation of cutting-edge approaches and methods in the field of 3D cancer research. This will be done through the transfer of knowledge, exchange of best practises and the training opportunities for scientists. In addition, the collaboration will strengthen the research management capacity and administrative capabilities, including the Office of Technology Transfer, the Public Relations Office, the Library, and the Human Resources Office. Overall, the collaboration will significantly enhance the excellence of NIB at the regional level and internationally. Nonetheless, the project will promote excellence of both institutions.”