Preparing for the future of personalised medicine A detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind a disease is key to the development of more personalised treatments. The P2Med programme offers fellowships to biomedical researchers in the field of personalised medicine, helping them develop advanced skills and technical expertise, as Programme Manager Maria Saarela explains. A vast amount of information is available nowadays on both the human genome and the molecular basis of disease, which opens up new possibilities in the area of personalised medicine. Rather than treating patients with a generic therapy that may not prove effective, the aim with personalised medicine is to develop treatments tailored to the specific needs of individual patients, a topic at the heart of the IMIBIC-P2Med project, an EU-backed fellowship programme. “We built the programme around the topic of personalised medicine, oriented towards solving health problems facing society through translational research,” explains Programme Manager Maria Saarela, based at the IMIBIC Institute in Cordoba. There are six postdoctoral fellows working on biomedical research projects within P2Med, covering a diverse range of topics under the common theme of personalised medicine. “All of the fellows had to show in their applications how they would solve problems around personalised medicine,” continues Saarela.
P2Med project The individual projects within P2Med are largely focused on research into the underlying mechanisms of specific diseases, which then provides a sound basis to develop improved treatments. Some of the projects are still quite a long way from clinical translation, while Saarela says others are more applicable in nature. “One of our fellows is working on protein modelling. Her research is largely fundamental in nature, although it could eventually lead to improved treatments. There’s also a project on prostate cancer and links to obesity - that’s closer to patients,” she says. The initial applications were submitted a few years ago, yet the fellows have had to adapt their plans as the projects have progressed, while also dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s inevitable that the fellows have to make certain small adjustments to their projects. The supervisors and the fellows have had to work closely together to figure things out,” says Saarela. These individual projects cover a wide variety of topics, from fertility to computational biomedicine, all of which fall within IMIBICs five established scientific programmes.
22
The wider aim here is to help researchers build their profile and gain skills that will boost their employment prospects. It is difficult to get a permanent position as a researcher in Spain, so Saarela believes it’s important to provide effective support. “Our job is to do everything that we can to support the researchers,” she says. “We have very close communication with all of the six fellows. Some of the projects have a duration of three years, while others are just for one or two. We would be very
Improved treatment This will ultimately give them the best possible chance to translate research advances and new insights into improved treatments, which is very much in line with the wider agenda at IMIBIC. “We are trying to find improved treatments for patients,” stresses Saarela. A deeper understanding of the nature of the disease in question is an essential step towards this, and more personalised treatments in general, a goal which Saarela says the fellows within P2Med are working towards.
We built the programme around the topic of personalised medicine, oriented towards solving health problems of the society through translational research.
While the fellows may have very different scientific interests, and the nature of the biomedical field means they have to focus their attention quite intensely, they nevertheless also benefit from the opportunity to collaborate with each other and share insights. “There’s a lot of collaboration among the fellows in areas like postdoctoral training, as well as dissemination and communication activities,” continues Saarela. This is an important element of the P2Med fellowship programme. The aim in the programme is not just to help researchers develop their biomedical skills and deepen their scientific knowledge, but also to help them identify possible options for their future careers, whether in academia or elsewhere. “The fellows presented detailed training plans at the application stage, as well as a plan for communication and dissemination,” stresses Saarela. The fellows’ academic supervisors play an important role in terms of career development, providing regular advice and guidance. “The fellows make a career development plan, which is revised on an annual basis, together with the supervisor, while there’s also input from the programme side,” explains Saarela. “We have very extensive training programmes here at IMIBIC, offering all sorts of training courses, and try to tailor courses also based on fellows’ individual needs.”
EU Research
interested in applying for another round of funding to continue the programme.” The programme itself is co-funded by IMIBIC and the EU, and Saarela hopes that some of the fellows may stay at the Institute beyond their time in P2Med. “It would be great if some of the fellows were able to start their own research groups here and to establish new lines of research at IMIBIC. It would be fantastic to have them all here, but of course some may choose to take up positions at other institutes,” she continues. “What we are really looking out for is the best interests of the fellows. We want them to have stable working conditions, whether that’s in academia or industry.”
There is vast scope for further research into personalised medicine, which could in future lead to improved prevention, diagnosis and treatments. More personalised treatment tailored to individual needs depends not only on knowledge of the underlying mechanisms behind a disease, but also of how a patient is likely to respond to treatment. “For example, if you know more about the genetic background of a patient, that can then guide you in selecting the right treatment for them,” points out Saarela. She hopes that the relationships that have been forged during P2Med will lead to further collaborations beyond the conclusion of the programme. “We’re confident that the fellows in P2Med will continue their collaborations with our groups here at IMIBIC,” she says.
P2MED A new Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme for future leaders in Biomedical Research Project Objectives
The IMIBIC Fellowship Programme for Personalised and Precision Medicine offers trans-national mobility for experienced researchers and relevant, top-notch training that improves their career prospects. The selected fellows will perform forwardlooking research in a field which is set to become the standard of medical practice, situating them in an advantaged position to continue their research careers.
Project Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 847468.
Partner Organisations
Full details of the Project Partner Organisations can be found at: https://p2med.imibic.org/partner-organisations/
Contact Details
Maria Saarela IMIBIC-P2Med Programme Manager IMIBIC building Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n 14004 Cordoba T: +34 957 21 37 16 E: imibic.p2med@imibic.org W: https://p2med.imibic.org https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/847468/results https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/357928887_Introduccion_a_la_ Bioestadistica_con_R
Maria Saarela
Maria Saarela is an international projects manager at IMIBIC. With over 10 years of experience in managing research and innovation projects and European funding in the field of biomedicine, she develops and implements internationalisation strategies at the institute and acts as the programme manager of IMIBIC-P2Med.
www.euresearcher.com
23