Going North: 5th B-SMART Progress Meeting in Trondheim
Towards new RNA therapeutics targeting neurodegenerative diseases
A little more than 6 months after the last meeting, the B-SMART consortium came together in Trondheim, Norway, for its 5th Progress Meeting. Partner and host SINTEF AS invited participants from September 11-12 up north to discuss the latest development within the project and especially upcoming important steps such as the closing of the second reporting period and the next review meeting.
The meeting venue was overlooking the river Nidelva and provided the perfect backdrop for the focussed discussions of the partners. As always, representatives from all organisations were present and the consortium was joined by Richard Broadhead and Ajay Johni from Precision Nanosystems, who are closely collaborating with the consortium. The first meeting day was reserved for discussions between the consortium members who were exchanging the latest news and the achievements since the last progress meeting. Special focus was put on the discussion on the optimisation of the nanocarriers.
The second meeting day was focused on the management as well as on dissemination and exploitation tasks of the project. The consortium decided on the scheduling of the upcoming meetings and planned the composition of the second periodic report. New communication strategies were discussed and a plan on how to implement them. Two partners, VIB and Malvern, informed the rest of the consortium about the progress of their exploitation plans. The coordinator Raymond Schiffelers (UMCU) and all other project partners were pleased with the progress the project has made. The consortium is confident that they will reap the harvest of the hard work they have been putting into the project in its final two and a half years.
The focused work during the two meeting days was divided by social activities kindly organized by the local hosts: Sven Even Borgos introduced the participants during a lab tour to SINTEF’s impressive equipment and technology in the field of characterisation of drug delivery systems. Ruth Schmid on the other hand guided the consortium through the old parts of Trondheim and, being of Swiss origin, impressed her colleagues with her historic knowledge of Norwegian history. In the end, the consortium agreed: “Takk, Ruth and Sven Even, for hosting another successful B-SMART meeting!”
The next Progress Meeting will take place adjacent to the second Review Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, at the beginning of 2020.
The Eurice team is involved in B-SMART as management and dissemination partner and contributes to the successful implementation of the project goals by supporting the consortium in all aspects of project management, communication and dissemination activities.
