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Joint training and research on Hedhehog-Gli signalling and its pharmacological modulation for regenerative medicine

Final Report Summary - HEALING (Joint training and research on Hedhehog-Gli signalling and its pharmacological modulation for regenerative medicine)

The overall objective of HEALING, an intersectorial European research and training network, was to prepare the next generation of scientists in innovative stem cell research for future markets and employment in both academia and the biotech industry, and thereby notably increase the competitiveness of European life science industry. Thirteen early-stage researchers and four experienced researchers worked towards achieving the project objectives under the supervision of renowned scientists including Professors Ariel Ruiz i Altaba, Rune Toftgård, Fiona Watt, Fritz Aberger, Isabel Guerrero, Christos Delidakis and Alberto Gulino, as well as one of Europe`s leading medicinal chemistry company, AnalytiCon GmbH.

All four years of the HEALING training have been successfully accomplished. HEALING network meetings were held in Rome in October 2010 and in Stockholm in May 2012. These meetings included HEALING-specific project presentations and discussions as well as non-scientific courses on ethics, business development, grant writing and medicinal chemistry.
The individual research projects advanced very well and training activities were successfully implemented, including several secondments in individual laboratories and in two Summer Schools in Kolymbari, Crete, Greece, in 2011, and in Arolla, Switzerland, in 2013, which preceded the two very successful international HEALING meetings on HEDGEHOG-GLI signalling. The two Summer Schools that were also open to non-HEALING members and each hosted about 30 international students in total.

Working subgroups in the HEALING project focused on i) fly imaginal discs and CNS, ii) mammalian skin, iii) mammalian brain, and iv) small molecule agonists to HH-GLI that cut orthogonally to four scientific work packages and that brought together similar models have made significant scientific progress. Evidence of such progress was evident during the presentations at the two International Hedgehog-Gli Signalling Meetings in June 2011 (Crete, Greece) and in August 2013 (Arolla, Switzerland). The programmes of these meetings boasted a top list of international scientists and a good number of young researchers from all over the world, including a significant number of female scientists and doctoral students. Moreover, an editor of Science Signaling (USA) that attended the first meeting asked to publish three talks given at the meeting as presentations on their November 2011 issue, judging them of high interest, novelty and importance (http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/vol4/issue200/). Both the Summer Schools and the International meetings provided superb learning and networking platforms for all ERs and ESRs. Non-HEALING applicants had to be turned-down as the capacity of the conference (slightly over 100) was reached.

During the four years of the HEALING project, several dissemination activities with a scientific and wider public impact have been undertaken. These included a constantly updated website, press releases and two books of abstracts with all talks given at the International Hedgehog-Gli meetings. Most importantly, we have developed an innovative way to give an opportunity for the ESRs and ERs to directly speak out about their experiences through video interviews. These are found in the HEALING website and have had an unprecedented success (www.fp7-healing.eu).

The whole consortium, and especially the ESRs and ERs, were very excited about the progress of the project and the collaborations developed. ESRs and ERs were also excited about the training received through HEALING and the future scientific work and the training that HEALING offered in its final phase. Highlights included two bioethical courses delivered by Prof. Alex Mauron of UNIGE, a grant writing course given by Dr. Jeanette Mueller of Accelopment and a business course given by Dr. Pascal Longchamp, of Evolva. We remark also the superb sessions given by invited teachers during both Summer Schools, including those delivered by Profs. Tom Kornberg of San Francisco, USA; Philip Ingham, of UK and Singapore, Vallery Wallace, of Toronto, Canada, Bill Matsui of Baltimore, USA, and Tian Xu from New Haven, USA.

The final outcome of HEALING is twofold. First, a group of superbly-trained ESRs and ERs that will now enter into the next phases of training (for students pursuing postdoctoral work) or that will enter the workforce in academia and industry. It is foreseeable that a number of them will be involved in wider aspects of science and society and in science policy. Several of our students have already lined up attractive positions and the training they received in HEALING is proving central for their current efforts. Second, the participating laboratories and companies have produced top quality science, with several publications and exciting projects and results having finished and others still ongoing. Indeed, the legacy of HEALING will live on the life of the trained people but also in the participating institutions as the network has left a clear and very positive mark. For example, several exciting collaborations have been developed, new projects are being developed from HEALING data, several candidate small molecules are being tested preclinically and industry-academia interactions strengthened.

Videos, photographs and relevant contact details, as well as press releases, the books of abstracts and other dissemination material illustrating and promoting the work of the project can be downloaded from the project website at www.fp7-healing.eu.