ISCIII will represent Spain in the largest research appointment in Europe

Source: redaccionmedica.com

The director of the Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII), Raquel Yotti Álvarez, in charge of the head of the Spanish delegation at the opening ceremony of the ‘EU-Openscreen ERIC’, which will take place in Berlin (Germany) next Tuesday, the 25th of September.

Spain is one of the seven founding members of this new consortium of European research infrastructure (ERIC), launched by the European Commission last April and also involving the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Norway and Poland

In addition, Denmark is expected to become a full member by 2019 and other countries are preparing their ‘EU-Openscreen ERIC’ participation, integrate high-capacity platforms across Europe and offer researchers in Europe, and the rest of the world, open access to an exceptionally wide range of high technology and tools for the archiving of chemical articles for their biological effects.

The general objective of this European infrastructure is to provide the scientific community with the possibility of accessing information, experience and technical capabilities of high interest for research related to chemical compounds, knowledge of biological interactions and the discovery of new drugs, all of them currently not available to most European researchers.

Another of its goals is to respond to these limitations by focusing its operation on three essential elements: a centralized chemical compound library, a network of screening platforms and centers specialized in pharmaceutical chemistry, and an open access database that will collect the results of these chemical-biological interactions.

Leader in the investigation of the peninsula

Specifically, Spain brings to the initiative a network of research centers integrated by the Príncipe Felipe Research Center of the Valencian Community, the Hospital del Mar Institute for Medical Research of Barcelona; the MEDINA Foundation of Granada and the University of Santiago de Compostela. These four centers are part of the REDEFAR Spanish Drug Discovery Network, which currently provides two of the eight European high-capacity screening centers.

In addition, the platforms integrated in ‘EU-Openscreen’ jointly use a collection, rationally selected, comprising up to 140,000 compounds, patented and commercial, from the research of European chemists. This access will facilitate quality research on the molecular mechanisms of biological processes and the application of new knowledge to generate innovative solutions in the fields of health, nutrition and the environment.

In Distefar we are sure that the development of the act will be a success.