EMAPS-Cardio: First In-Person General Assembly Meeting & Workshop Hosted in Toulouse
Over the course of two days, the first General Assembly Meeting in the EMAPS-Cardio project took place between 27 June and 29 June 2022 at partner organisation LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse, France. The two meeting days were followed by a third day of workshops, hosting eight external speakers active in the field of ‘organ-on-chip’. The coordinator, Christian Bergaud (LAAS-CNRS), was happy to welcome 22 consortium members and virtual attendees from the nine international partners to discuss the progress of the project and the next steps to kick off the second phase of EMAPS-Cardio starting in September 2022.
Day 1 of the General Assembly Meeting began with the coordinator giving an overview of the progress made to date, as well as aligning activities in communication, dissemination and exploitation led by Eurice. The session was followed by an update on the project’s cell culture and models group, including presentations by the partners IMC and BioTalentum. The General Assembly Meeting also provided an opportunity for the project’s young researchers and scientists to give a presentation of their work. Young researchers were present from partners IMC, CSEM, LAAS-CNRS and BioTalentum. Finally, Day 1 of the meeting was closed with a consortium dinner in the beautiful city centre of Toulouse and a walk along the Garonne river.
The second day of the General Assembly Meeting started with an overview given by the project’s bioreactor platform group, partners OSPIN, InoCure and BioTalentum. This group was followed by the insert platform group, partners LAAS-CNRS, IMC, InoCure and Biofabics. The day continued with a lab tour through the LAAS-CNRS facilities with a hands-on demonstration of the scaffolding and organ-on-chip technology. The afternoon focused on practical discussions and workshops, amongst others on holders and cell seeding, scaffold properties, as well as the electromechanoactive aspects and integration of different technologies. The day ended with a comment provided by external scientific advisor, Franco del Principe (LIS), who gave a positive outlook on the ongoing research in the project and the overall collaboration of the consortium.
The Role of Eurice in the Project
Within the project, Eurice advises the EMAPS-Cardio project in all aspects of project management, including administrative, legal and financial matters, project monitoring, progress management and decision making. The Eurice team facilitate the project workflow in general, stimulate interaction between the different project management bodies, and, together with the coordinator, assume the role of a liaison between the project consortium and the EC. Together with all partners, Eurice ensures coherent external communication of the project and its results towards relevant target groups. In addition, Eurice assists all partners in networking activities and in questions concerning stakeholder and media relations throughout the project.
About EMAPS-Cardio
EMAPS-Cardio was launched in March 2021 and is funded under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation action pilot lump-sum scheme. For more information on the project and partners, please visit the official project website: https://emaps-cardio.eu/