The Coordination and Support Action “4.UNCAN.eu” had its official kick-off on September 8-9 2022 with a public event hosted by Inserm at les Cordeliers, Paris, France. The event agenda can be viewed by clicking here .

An initiative to better UNderstand CANcer (UNCAN.eu) is part of the implementation roadmap of two programs of the European Union (EU), the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan and the Horizon Europe Mission on Cancer. The role of the Coordination and Support Action “4.UNCAN.eu” is to prepare a blueprint for UNCAN.eu within the next 15 months.

To reach a new level of understanding of cancer, UNCAN.eu will take advantage of recent advances in research data generation and data sciences. The blueprint is foreseen to include two pillars. One is the creation of a European Cancer Research data hub. This hub will integrate and share reliable, high-quality cancer research data at an unprecedented scale. These data will be generated by experimental model analysis and collected from longitudinal follow-up of cancer patients in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation. The other pillar is a Research Agenda including a series of use cases addressing urgent and essential scientific and medical needs in cancer prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and survivorship, in males and females of various ages. These issues, identified in close interaction with European patients and citizens, will be tackled through competitive, ambitious and innovative, cross-border and trans-disciplinary research programs, built in a problem-solving manner. Data generated by these use cases will fuel the European Cancer Research data hub and will be used by relevant players. The final aim of UNCAN.eu is to achieve a new breakthrough in cancer prevention and treatment that will contribute to saving European citizens’ lives and help ensuring an optimal quality of life to disease survivors.

The blueprint for UNCAN.eu will integrate inequalities in cancer research across regions and Member States in order to boost the research potential of less-developed regions in Europe. Players will be committed to open science principles, including FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) guiding principles for scientific data collection, management and stewardship. The new understanding gained from the collection and analysis of this wealth of data may apply secondarily to other diseases.

The meeting was opened by Prof. Eric Solary of Inserm, who coordinates the project. An introduction to the EU Cancer Mission and Horizon Europe – EU cancer funded research followed by Mrs Christine Chomienne, Mission Cancer Board and Mr Ioannis Vouldis, UNCAN Project Officer, respectively.

Dedicated presentations from Charles Swanton, CRUK (Evolution, Metastasis and Immune Evasion: Insights from TRACERx); Jan Korbel, EMBL (Cancer Research data Hub); and Genevieve Almouzni, Curie Institute (LifeTime initiative), followed.

Representatives from all the 29 institutions and organizations participating in the Project have highlighted the importance of this scientific initiative, renewing their commitment and support toward the project while the main section of the meeting was the presentation of the activities that the partners will carry out during the 15 months program of this project.

More information about 4.UNCAN.eu can be found at the Project’s website: http://uncaninitiative.eu/

Contact:
Francesco de Lorenzo
President
Francesco.delorenzo@ecpc.org

Charis Girvalaki
Director
Charis.girvalaki@ecpc.org

Paraskevi Palaiologou
Partnerships and Communications Manager
paraskevi.palaiologou@ecpc.org

About the European Cancer Patient Coalition

The European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) is the voice of cancer patients in Europe. With over 450 members, ECPC is Europe’s largest umbrella cancer patients’ association, covering all 27 EU member states and many other European and non-European countries. ECPC represents patients affected by all types of cancers, from the rarest to the most common.

Notes to editors:
For more information please contact: paraskevi.palaiologou@ecpc.org