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Earlier this year, Belgian immunology professor Michel Goldman was named as the new Executive Director of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Technology Initiative (JTI). Before starting work in his new post on 16 September, he spoke to CORDIS News about his career so far and his hopes for the IMI.

A physician by training, Michel Goldman started his career caring for patients with kidney ... read more

The Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure (BBMRI) has passed a major milestone by completing a review of more than 300 major European biobanks. Project managers Professor Kurt Zatloukal of the Medical University of Graz, Austria and Professor Eero Vuorio of the University of Turku, Finland spoke with CORDIS News about BBMRI's current efforts to make the collective content of the ... read more

Europe has put the pressure on both the research sector and industry to develop innovative knowledge-based multicomponent materials (KMM) for durable and safe performances. Rising to meet this challenge was the EU-funded KMM-NoE project, a Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) Network of Excellence in the field of advanced materials like intermetallics and metal-ceramic composites. The project received EUR 8.1 ... read more

The fight against leukaemia and malaria - two of the world's most virulent diseases - was rewarded in two out of the four categories at the recent European Inventor of the Year awards.

Swiss medicinal chemist Dr Jürg Zimmermann along with US oncologist Dr Brian Druker won the award in the Industry category for his invention of the drug Glivec. Glivec has a 98% remission rate in people suffering from ... read more

Last year, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) set up the Center for Science Diplomacy. In an interview with CORDIS News, the Center's director, Vaughan Turekian, talked about its work and explains why he thinks Europe offers one of the best examples of what science diplomacy can do.

So, what is science diplomacy? According to Dr Turekian, in its broadest terms it is 'the use ... read more

Nanotechnology has the potential to improve the foods we eat, making them tastier, healthier and more nutritious. Yet little is known about how nanoparticles behave in the body, or what kind of toxic effects they could have. Hermann Stamm works on this issue for the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC); he gave a presentation on the topic of nanofoods at the American Association for the Advancement ... read more

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is increasingly being used by parents who want to avoid passing on genetic diseases to their children. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) organised a workshop on this often controversial topic at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago, US.

The JRC's Dolores Ibarreta, who has been monitoring trends ... read more

Most of us don't realise it, but the soil beneath our feet is a veritable treasure trove of life; just one teaspoon of soil can harbour millions of organisms. What's more, soil provides us with a range of vital services, including climate regulation and flood prevention. Yet even as scientists get to grips with the incredible diversity and functions of soil life, threats like erosion, pollution and urbanisation ... read more

'Nuclear will come back, and will play its role in the energy mix of the key industrial countries,' stated Roland Schenkel, Director-General of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). Dr Schenkel was talking to CORDIS News ahead of a session on nuclear energy organised by the JRC at the Annual Meeting of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) in Chicago, US.

The JRC ... read more

Dr Enric Banda, a geophysicist and president of the 2,100-member-strong grassroots organisation Euroscience, spoke with CORDIS News about the importance of young scientists, the impact of economic crises on scientific careers and the challenge of building a strong science and technology base in Europe.

Euroscience is an 11-year-old organisation that gives a voice to scientists at the European level. 'It's ... read more

In November 2008, Professor Penny Sackett started work as the Chief Scientist for Australia. On her first trip to Europe in her new post, she spoke to CORDIS News about her career, the importance of attracting enthusiastic people into science teaching and her hopes for the International Year of Astronomy.

Before taking up her new function, Professor Sackett had a long and illustrious career in astronomy ... read more

A new, independent review of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) describes the organisation as 'an indispensable source of knowledge and expertise in support of the political agenda of the EU' that also plays an instrumental role in 'responding to crisis situations threatening the security of European citizens'.

The evaluation of the JRC's work during the Sixth Framework Programme ... read more

In spite of the rapid environmental changes taking place in the Arctic, and the importance of the polar ice cap in regulating the climate, we still know frighteningly little about the processes behind ice formation on the roof of the world.

One of the researchers seeking to add to our understanding of the far north is Professor Nalân Koç. Originally from Turkey, she has spent most of her working life ... read more

Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn have been instrumental in building social and professional networks all over the world. But do they work in the scientific world? A group of experts tackled this question by kicking off an innovative networking platform where researchers can connect with the click of a mouse. Being the first Web 3.0 Community available to the public, ResearchGATE is now taking the scientific ... read more

The EU and China are looking to strengthen their links in the area of agricultural research, according to representatives from the 'Biotechnologies, agriculture and food' Directorate of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research (DG Research) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).

Chinese partners have long been involved in EU-funded agricultural research projects; 25 ... read more

Irish science is on the up - in recent years, the country has succeeded in doubling its science capacity, and it plans to double it again in the next six to seven years.

In an interview with CORDIS News, Ireland's Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA), Professor Patrick Cunningham, discussed his job and how it ties in with Ireland's scientific ambitions, which include plans to host ESOF (the Euroscience Open ... read more

Two of the nominees at the recent European Inventor of the Year Awards were inspired by personal experiences. The winner of the SME Research category devoted himself to creating a more effective eye scanning machine after his young son went blind in one eye. Meanwhile one of the nominees in the non-European category, Van L Phillips, got involved in the prosthetics field after he lost a leg in a water-skiing ... read more

The EU and India are set to deepen their biotechnology research ties, particularly in the fields of food and health. A delegation from the EU recently visited India to discuss cooperation over issues such as the links between health and nutrition and how these can be exploited to help prevent chronic diseases.

'We went there with a group of leading EU scientists and we wanted to try to establish contacts ... read more

Thirty years ago, a Czech citizen, Vladimir Remek, made history when he became the first man from a country other than the US or former Soviet Union to go into space. On 2 March 1978, he took off aboard the Soyuz 28 spacecraft for an eight-day mission to the Salyut 6 space station.

CORDIS News recently caught up with Mr Remek in Brussels, where he works as a Member of the European Parliament, to find ... read more

'Australia offers some very unusual, perhaps unique characteristics,' said Australia's new Science Minister, Kim Carr, when asked why his country should host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope. The Minister was talking to CORDIS News during a trip to Europe to discuss the SKA, as well as the new Australian government's wider science and innovation policies with his European counterparts.

Australia ... read more