First, we set up the “Brain Trust” advisory board and published our initial Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, including a health status review comparing Portugal, Spain and the EU-27.
Towards building customised clinical research training programmes, a joint GIMM and VHIR team conducted a campus-wide needs assessment (survey, interviews, in-person co-creation workshop) for potential end-users.
We installed two brand new digital technologies platforms (proteomics and metabolomics) and recruited international experts to lead them. The proteomics facility has been working closely with the Flagship 3 team to analyze different biological sample types from pediatric brain tumor patients with preliminary results integrated into a la Caixa grant application.
The Biobank digital upgrade was initiated and we established 4 new longitudinal sample collections, one for each of the pilot flagships: Colorectal cancer, Breast Cancer, Lung Brain Metastases plus the Healthy Donors Collection (676 new donors, 132 with 3 timepoints).
We organized two knowledge exchange visits with the VHIR clinical trials team (one in Barcelona, one in Lisbon), formally initiating the auditing of current operations and co-designing a novel strategy for a multicentric Clinical Research Hub in Portugal.
We formally redeveloped the COVID-19 lab into the Mission lab, which has already supported two of the R&I flagships, playing a key role in screening logistics.
Regarding R&D, we initiated Missions 1, 2 and 3. During this period, two clinical studies related to Mission 1 were approved with the involvement of 5 public and private hospitals and over 80 clinicians, initiating the pilot (opportunistic) phase of patient recruitment, stool processing SOPs and microbiome sequencing.
Towards responsible research and innovation, we formalised a collaboration with the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) towards participatory research processes (incl. citizen science) and ensuring a robust project impact analysis.
We hired for several key positions, including a Director of HR (People and Culture), Director of Communications and Institutional Affairs, Data Steward and Data Protection Officer.
We set up management frameworks and brought the whole CARE team together on two occasions, for the kick-off meeting in June 2023 and for the first annual meeting in June 2024.
In 2024, the new GIMM-CARE brand was formally launched, establishing the centre’s visual autonomy.
