Final Report Summary - MOBILI (Strengthening and Sustaining the European Perspectives of Molecular Biotechnology in Lithuania)
Executive Summary:
The Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) in Vilnius, Lithuania is well known for its continued high quality research in the broadly defined field of molecular biotechnology. The Institute provides an interface between advanced education, basic research and technological development for the economic and social benefit of Lithuania and the European Union. IBT is internationally acclaimed for its multidisciplinary research on the structure of DNA restriction-modification enzymes, yeast genetics, development of biomedical recombinant proteins, small molecule inhibitors and bioinformatics.
The strategic goal of IBT is its integration into the European Research Area and strengthening its role as a leader in molecular biotechnology. Therefore, the purpose of the MoBiLi project which was a support action to strengthen the research capacities and to mobilize human resources in molecular biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) Vilnius, Lithuania was to build up scientific excellence and human potential of IBT thereby transforming it into an excellence centre in molecular biotechnology and a significant player in the European Research Area. The major objectives of the MoBiLi project were: i). Human capital building for research and technological development (RTD) in the field of state-of-the-art molecular biotechnology; ii). Networking of IBT with major centres of excellence in the EU via joint research and mobility of researchers; iii). Upgrading and modernisation of research infrastructure in line with emerging thematic priorities in the field.
Following the guidelines for restructuring of Lithuanian research sector by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, in 2010 the Institute of Biotechnology was integrated into Vilnius University and became a research institute within the University. Further development of the Institute of Biotechnology is tightly linked with the future strategy of the University. The modern research infrastructure Santara Valley with a major focus on biotechnology and molecular medicine will be created in 2015. Institute of Biotechnology together with Institute of Biochemistry and Faculty of Natural Sciences of Vilnius University are expected to merge into a Joint Center for Life Sciences at that time. This Center should serve as a nucleus of a knowledge-driven economy by concentrating the research potential and creating an environment for productive interaction between research institutions, studies and businesses in the areas of biotechnology, biopharmacy and molecular medicine.
Most of the IBT Weaknesses and Threats identified in the SWOT analysis elaborated when preparing the proposal have been clearly improved thanks to the MoBiLi project. Based on the results achieved it is evident that MoBiLi project had helped the IBT to increase interactions with the research teams within EU in research training and technological exchange, had prevented an unbalanced loss of young trained personnel, by obtained novel cellular imaging and high throughput approaches had paved the way to novel diagnostic tools and therapies and had significantly contributed to upgraded research infrastructure at the IBT. These achievements by the IBT are vital prerequisites to play a key role in the Center as it will provide the necessary expertise in the field of molecular biotechnology and biopharmacy. Importantly, one of Lithuania’s smart specialization priorities (RIS3) for the next EU funding programming period is focused on the new health sector technologies and biopharmaceuticals including the development of new recombinant drug technologies, novel diagnostic technologies and molecular tools for a personalized medicine.
Regarding the MoBiLi project contribution to the Regional Development, it had improved considerably the research capacity in biotechnology (human capacity and research infrastructures) at the IBT and helped the launching of new biotech spin-offs and both activities can contribute to the future Lithuanian economic and social development.
In the concert with Development Programme for the Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre (Valley) SANTARA launched by the Lithuanian Government, MoBiLi achievements pave the way for up to date environment for modern links between science and industry.
Project Context and Objectives:
MoBiLi is a support action to strengthen the research capacities and to mobilize human resources in molecular biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) Vilnius, Lithuania. Modern molecular biotechnology is a multidisciplinary research arena that integrates structural knowledge at different levels into cellular contexts to underpin biomedical questions. Such a multidisciplinary approach is crucial not only for our understanding of basic life processes but also is vital for characterizing the molecular basis of many diseases and the development of novel specifically tuned therapies and diagnostic tools. Lithuania strives to increase its RTD potential especially in biotechnology but needs significant support to integrate into European Research Area (ERA). The purpose of the MoBiLi project is to build up scientific excellence and human potential of IBT thereby transforming it into an excellence centre in molecular biotechnology and a significant player in the ERA.
The Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) in Vilnius, Lithuania is well known for its continued high quality research in the broadly defined field of molecular biotechnology. The Institute provides an interface between advanced education, basic research and technological development for the economic and social benefit of Lithuania and the European Union. IBT is internationally acclaimed for its multidisciplinary research on the structure of DNA restriction-modification enzymes, yeast genetics, development of biomedical recombinant proteins, small molecule inhibitors and bioinformatics. The highest level of research performed at IBT in all these areas is attested by successful participation in EU FP and other competitive programmes, scientific publications in top-tier journals, and highest citation figures among Lithuanian research institutions. In addition to fundamental research, IBT has a strong applied research component documented by European/US patents and successful spin-off companies. IBT strives to efficiently address new S&T challenges and societal needs in the face of existing and emerging health threats in the 21st century. Modern molecular biotechnology is a multidisciplinary arena that integrates structural knowledge at different levels into cellular contexts to underpin biomedical questions. Such a multidisciplinary approach is crucial not only for our understanding of basic life processes but also is vital for characterizing the molecular basis of many diseases and the development of novel specifically tuned therapies and diagnostic tools.
The strategic goal of IBT is its integration into the European Research Area and strengthening its role as a leader in molecular biotechnology. Therefore, the purpose of the MoBiLi project was to build up scientific excellence and human potential of IBT thereby transforming it into an excellence centre in molecular biotechnology and a significant player in the European Research Area. The major objectives of the MoBiLi project were:
• Human capital building for research and technological development (RTD) in the field of state-of-the-art molecular biotechnology;
• Networking of IBT with major centres of excellence in the EU via joint research and mobility of researchers;
• Upgrading and modernisation of research infrastructure in line with emerging thematic priorities in the field.
IBT has been active in the field of molecular biotechnology over the past 35 years. During this time, the institute became a recognized national leader in Life science and in the whole Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). IBT has long been known as a prime center for structural and functional studies of DNA restriction and modification enzymes. Currently, the Institute is the only research center in the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) which actively performs crystallographic studies of biomolecules. Twelve crystal structures of restriction enzymes comprising nearly one-third of restriction endonuclease structures known-to-date have been solved at IBT (including joint collaborative projects). Likewise, results of structural and mechanistic studies of DNA/RNA modification enzymes are equally impressive. The discovery and subsequent extensive studies of a phenomenon called DNA base flipping has greatly contributed to the understanding of salient mechanistic aspects of DNA methylation. Moreover, experimental structural studies at IBT have been expanded by structural biothermodynamics with the major goal of discovering promising compounds for anticancer drug development. IBT had also added protein structural bioinformatics (both methods development and their application) to its list of competencies. Despite the short history, the institute’s bioinformatics researchers have already gained the international recognition in the area of protein structure prediction. According to the independent assessment, the IBT bioinformatics team achieved the best results in template-based protein modelling during the latest world-wide contest (CASP8).
IBT has a strong scientific background in research of recombinant viral proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and biopharmaceutical proteins for therapy. Such studies possess a clear applied profile and are directed to the development of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents. Research teams at IBT actively collaborate with foreign partners such as Health Protection Agency (UK), Friedrich Loeffler Institute (Germany) and others in the development and introduction of new diagnostic test systems for viral infections. Keeping “know-how” and patented technologies the research teams use innovative approaches for the production of potential vaccines and improved diagnostics. An example of such investigations is virus like particle (VLP) technology. Recombinant VLPs are highly immunogenic and therefore suitable for targeted production of antibodies and vaccine development. Groups working in this field have contracts with biotech companies Fermentas (currently ThermoFisher Scientific Baltic), Abcam (UK), Microimmune (UK), Euroimmune (Germany) and others. Based on these activities, an IBT spin-off company “Profarma” was established in 2007.
IBT research teams also perform studies on development of new pharmaceuticals: design, synthesis and characterization of novel chemical compounds with anticancer activity. A series of compounds that inhibit two targets in cancer cells – carbonic anhydrase isozymes and chaperone Hsp90 have been designed and patented. Yet another effort at IBT is directed to understanding molecular mechanisms of disease. Studies on molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis are focused on the investigations of multidrug resistance. Studies on hypoxia-inducible factors and mRNA alternative splicing mechanisms in cancer cells have implications for better understanding of processes involved in tumorigenesis and provide a novel source for the discovery of diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers as well as potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
Perspectives:
Structural biology and bioinformatics in the next two decades aim to integrate structural knowledge at different levels into cellular contexts to underpin biomedical questions. The major focus of IBT is to significantly increase its understanding of the role that proteins play in disease pathways and enhance the ability of scientists to carry out advanced biomedical research linking the information obtained by the structural and computational biology methods with state-of-the-art cell biology and different “-omics” techniques to provide a dynamic picture of key cellular processes. Such multidisciplinary approach is crucial not only for our understanding of basic life processes like mechanisms of DNA replication or host-virus interactions but also is vital for characterizing the molecular basis of many diseases and often provides a starting platform for the development of novel specifically tuned therapies and diagnostic tools, for example by designing drugs that bind to particular targets or engineering viral like particles for improved diagnostics and tailored antibody production. The MoBiLi had succeeded in bringing together young talented scientists to create a research community that uses new technologies to address important biomedical issues. It had also provided an excellent training ground for the next generation of biomedical research scientists by offering, with local universities, joint graduate programs leading to the MSc and PhD degrees.
On the basis of the above described expertise, future studies at IBT will be expanded in the following Priority areas.
Protein structure, interactions and cellular networks. A vast experience in structural and computational studies provides a strong basis for expanding the research focus into more complex biological systems and to tackle more complex biomedical research problems. Among the emerging new areas of structural studies are DNA replication mechanisms, novel antiviral defence systems and recombinant proteins for biomedical research. It will also include crystallographic characterization of synthetic drug candidates. Bioinformatics research, currently focused mainly on protein structures, will work to extend the expertise in other areas such as comparative genomics, protein-protein interactions and biological networks. The synergy between experimental and computational research is expected to strongly stimulate structural biology research at IBT.
Cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches to study human disease. In parallel, studies on recombinant therapeutic proteins, development of novel vaccines and immunodiagnostics, investigations of molecular mechanisms of diseases, design of drug-like active compounds will be further extended. To overcome the challenges of selecting physiologically active recombinant proteins it is intended to apply proteomic approaches to study molecular processes in the cells which should elucidate the lifetimes of heterologous proteins in yeast, bacterial or mammalian cells. Based on mechanistic studies of DNA methyltransferases (see above), a new biopolymer labelling technology (named mTAG) has been developed. This patented technology uses synthetic cofactor analogs, which permits covalent targeted deposition of reporter groups on DNA, RNA or proteins. Current and future efforts are devoted to adapting this approach for high throughput genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation for epigenome studies and improved diagnostics.
The focus of MoBiLi project on the integration of computational and structural biology and biomedical research is coherent with European Union initiatives. To maintain European competitiveness, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has published a European Roadmap for Research Infrastructures which brings biomedical science and structural biology onto stage.
As required by the RegPot programme the MoBiLi project involved outstanding European research partnering organisations that provide specific expertise in the development of the computational, biomedical and structural biology research at IBT:
• The European Molecular Biology Laboratory;
• Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;
• Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany;
• University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom;
• The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Switzerland.
Most of the IBT Weaknesses identified in the SWOT analysis elaborated when preparing the proposal have been clearly improved thanks to the MoBiLi project. Together with this, some of the IBT Threats also identified in the SWOT have been diminished due to the project as well.
The objectives of the project were fulfilled by executing 7 Work Packages.
WP1: Exchange of know-how and experience. Objectives: this work package aimed at strengthening the human potential and research capacity of IBT through bilateral know-how transfer and research training. The purpose of the exchange programme was to strengthen the scientific expertise of IBT researchers. Implementation of newly acquired experimental methods, joint research during visits, joint publication of research results and submission of joint grant applications was expected to boost the scientific productivity of IBT scientists both in the short and long term perspective.
WP2. Recruitment of incoming experienced researchers. Objectives: this work package aimed at strengthening the human potential and research capacity of IBT by attracting internationally known scientists and encouraging the return of nationals having left the country and gained research experience at internationally acclaimed institutions. It included measures for attracting researchers and establishment of new research trends. 2 group leaders and 5 post-docs had been hired.
WP3. Acquisition, development, maintenance or upgrading of research equipment. Objectives: to achieve the MoBiLi overall goals it was necessary to purchase specific equipment. With these instruments and trainings, supported by the core partners, IBT would achieve premium European standards in structural and computational biology and biomedical research, connected with high efficiency in those scientific fields. The purchased devices and instruments constitute a complementarity to the equipment from the core partners to achieve synergies.
WP4. International seminars, workshops and conferences. Objectives: The current work package aimed at organizing international seminar series in order to increase the overall visibility of the IBT, strengthen its reputation as a regional leader in the priority research areas and boost international cooperation. This work package also involved participation of own research staff at selected international conferences/workshops for knowledge sharing and extending collaboration opportunities.
WP5. Dissemination and promotional activities. Objectives: work package 5 aimed at the publication and dissemination of project results by different means of Public Relations activities in order to increase significantly the overall visibility of IBT and strengthen its reputation as a regional leader in the priority research areas. This European recognition of IBT’s scientific expertise would lead to a boost in international research co-operations, exchange of experience, management, and increase in competence of research and communicative personnel.
WP6. External evaluation. Objectives: to check and control the achieved research quality and scientific excellence at the project’s end, an independent evaluation was implemented. The Evaluation Board members assessed the project sustainability and usage of developed potential and discussed the results with regional and national authorities and key actors responsible for regional research development and influence herewith the economic, scientific and social environment.
WP7. Project management. Objectives: to ensure successful implementation and professional administration, vigorous and excellent project management is necessary. The objectives included the implementation of MoBiLi as a whole. This includes coordination and fine tuning with the strategic partner, the expert pool and EC. Furthermore the project management ensured the integrity of both MoBiLi Management Board and MoBiLi Evaluation Board.
Project Results:
WP1: Exchange of know-how and experience
Exchange of know-how and ideas via mobility of researchers was at the heart of the MoBiLi project. The purpose of exchange programme was to strengthen the expertise and know how of IBT in the following scientific areas: 1. Protein structure, interactions and cellular networks; 2. Cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches to study human disease. Implementation of the newly acquired experimental methods, joint research during visits, joint publication of research results and submission of joint grant applications was expected to boost the scientific productivity of IBT scientists via implementation of two types of measures: Outgoing exchange programme envisioned visits of researchers from IBT to leading selected European partner institutions. Since the beginning of the project, 76 scientists from the IBT visited partner institutions. List of outgoing visits is added as Annex I. Incoming exchange programme envisioned reciprocal visits of researchers from the European partner institutions to the IBT. These visits were designed for the young experienced researches, who would dedicate a major fraction of time for experimental work at the IBT. Those would include joint experimental projects as well as demonstration and training of novel experimental techniques that are important for enhancing the research capacity of IBT.
The incoming exchange programme would include scientists from new EU Member States in the region. The purpose of this activity was to further enhance the research capacity, strengthen collaborative ties and establish IBT as a regional leader and a key European player in the priority research areas. The exchange partners – in addition to the core partners – were selected based on existing and projected collaborations, which currently include:
• International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IIMCB), Warsaw, PL;
• Estonian Biocenter (EBC), Tartu University, Tartu, EE;
• Biomedical Research Center (BRC), University of Latvia, Riga, LV.
Exchange of expertise was planned in the following fields of research, corresponding and complementing the IBT scientific Priority Areas:
• Mechanistic and structural studies of nucleic acids enzymes;
• Enzyme engineering for biopolymer labeling;
• Vaccine development and diagnostic applications.
24 scientists from foreign institutions had visited IBT including Prof. Robert Huber, the Nobel Prize Laureate, who had visited the IBT repeatedly after giving a seminar on March 2011. List of incoming visits is added as Annex II.
Most significant results of the exchange programme: four visitors, M. Juozapaitis, E. Mažeikė, Z. Liutkevičiūtė and M. Tomkuvienė, made a considerable progress in their Ph.D. studies during their visits. As a result, all of them had defended their thesis successfully. Moreover, a number of new techniques became available to the researchers of the IBT, the methods and research tools (e.g. antibodies) developed at the IBT had been successfully tested at the partner institutions, new applications of joint research projects had been discussed and initiated, junior researchers from the IBT had possibility to get new knowledge and expertise at the partner institutions. All these measures had definitely increased IBT’s visibility on the European level, laid the foundations for a closer further collaboration as well as had led to improvement of skills of the IBT staff.
WP2. Recruitment of incoming experienced researchers
This work package included measures for attracting researchers and establishment of new research trends. Strategic research interests of the Institute include attraction of scientists experienced in the following fields: i), protein structure, interactions, and cellular networks; ii) cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches to study human disease.
Recruitment of up to three researchers (group leaders) who have gained their PhD and have completed 3-6 years of postdoctoral training or have gained industrial experience at leading research universities and institutions worldwide was intended. They are expected to establish new research groups in line with the priority areas of MoBiLi. Furthermore, IBT was aiming at recruitment of about 6 experienced researchers (post-docs) who have spent shorter periods as postdoctoral trainees at leading universities worldwide. These researchers are expected to join the existing laboratories with the goal to strengthen their scientific potential.
In a total, 69 applications had been received. Of them, 58 were accepted as relevant. 24 candidates (10 Lithuanian nationals, 14 foreign nationals) applied for a position of a group leader, 34 candidates (13 Lithuanian nationals, 21 foreign nationals) applied for a position of a post-doc. After the initial evaluation step, 22 candidates (of them, 14 candidates for a group leader position and 8 candidates for a post-doc position) had been selected for the job interview at the IBT.
We saw recruitment of the new group leaders as a chance to the IBT to develop new research areas not at all or insufficiently explored in Lithuania yet. We also expected that hired post-docs would add a substantial professional power, expertise and enthusiasm to the existing research groups.
Process of selection of experienced researchers took longer time than planned but was successful. List of recruited personnel is given in the Annex III. Their most important achievements are as follows: One of the hired group leader, Prof. I. Meškienė, had won a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for her 2 year long project, total budget is approx. 51,700 EUR. She had also won a very competitive grant of the Lithuanian-Swiss cooperation programme "Research and Development" (3 year long project, total budget is approx. 605,000 EUR). The other group leader, Dr. L. Mažutis, had won a number of competitive grants: i) a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for his 2,5 year long project, total budget is approx. 98,400 EUR, ii) a competitive funding from the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology for his 1,5 year long project, total budget is approx. 173,700 EUR, iii) a very competitive grant of the Lithuanian-Swiss cooperation programme "Research and Development" (3,5 year long project, total budget is approx. 695,000 EUR), and iv) a Marie Curie IOF grant which started on March 1st 2013.
One of the recruited post-docs, Dr. V. Smirnovas, had won a number of competitive grants: i) a Marie Curie Career integration grant FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, budget is 100,000 EUR, ii) a very competitive 3-year long Global Grant funded by the Research Council of Lithuania, budget is approx. 401,800 EUR, iii) a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for his 2.5 year long project, total budget is approx. 98,400 EUR. Moreover, he had received funding from Vilnius University and Research Council of Lithuania to attend conferences. The other post-doc, Dr. S. Laurinavičius, had won a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for his 2.5 year long project; total budget is approx. 94,200 EUR. The overall budget of all won grants was 2,620,249 EUR. For comparison, the total budget of WP2 was just 410,307 EUR (including costs for candidate interviews, job ads, etc). In addition to introduction of novel techniques, the recruited group leaders and post-docs had been successful in establishment of new research groups by attracting young students. Partly due to this, the number of doctoral students has increased from 15 in 2010 to 44 in 2013. These facts illustrate clearly that the IBT had managed, despite a challenge of being unable to propose competitive salaries, to attract and recruit strong scientists.
Most significant results of the recruitment programme was attraction of new research personnel being well trained and experienced. It is important to mention that 3 out of 7 hired researchers were females. The hired group leaders Prof. I. Meškienė and Dr. L. Mažutis as well as 2 post-docs, Dr. V. Smirnovas and Dr. S. Laurinavičius, had won a number of competitive grants both from international and national funding sources. Moreover, both hired group leaders not only established new research groups, but had attracted to the IBT novel techniques on plant biotechnology and microfluidics. These two new areas of research at the Institute of Biotechnology have been positively evaluated by the MoBiLi Advisory Board. The laboratory of microfluidic technologies, established by Dr. L. Mažutis, has been very successful in attracting funding from the Lithuanian Research Council and also enjoyed private equity attention and financial support (aprox. 300,000 € ) that is quite unusual in the Lithuania research environment. These facts illustrate clearly that the IBT had managed to attract and recruit strong scientists. Thus, the implementation of the workpackage 2 of MoBiLi project had helped to strengthen the existing research directions at the Institute of Biotechnology and establish new research laboratories that should be instrumental for adaption to the dynamic and rapidly changing research landscape in the field of molecular biotechnology. It had been a great success and support for the IBT to have agreed with the European Commission to postpone the end date of implementation of this WP until the end of May 2013 at no additional cost. This measure allowed the Institute to support the hired personnel by paying them salary for additional 6 months. All 7 recruited scientists continue working at Vilnius University after the MoBiLi project had ended.
WP3. Acquisition, development, maintenance or upgrading of research equipment
The MoBiLi project was aimed to create a stimulating, multidisciplinary environment promoting research of excellence in biomedicine at the interface between structural biology, chemistry and biology. Therefore the IBT had purchased with the MoBiLi funding the following equipment: HPLC-MS system, Cell sorting system for high performance analytical and preparative flow cytometry, High Performance Computing (HPC) Linux cluster and Universal X-Ray diffractometer. The new equipment is a significant add-on to the already existing infrastructure of research instrumentation in the field of structural, computational and cell biology. As planned, all four equipment had been acquired and installed; they are in operation and in up-to-date condition, Institute’s personnel had been trained to work with them. The acquired equipment are listed in Annex IV.
This research equipment has been invaluable for carrying out present research projects (notably, some of the results obtained by using them had already been published) and give a solid future for further developments. This funding had allowed attraction of another € 2.1 million from the EU Structural Funds for support of infrastructure development and also € 280,000 from a private fund to acquire equipment for microfluidics.
The research equipment acquired through MoBiLi funding helped to create the X-ray crystallography unit which is the only such unit in the Baltic countries. It is planned that in the Joint Center for Life Sciences the X-ray crystallography unit would be further developed into a Center for the structural studies of biomolecules. This center would carry structural studies of biomolecules important for biotechnology and biopharma and also would provide services for the local research community and industries. It has a potential to further develop into the regional center that would serve for the wider research community of Baltic countries and become a local hub of a larger pan-European network in structural biology.
WP4. International seminars, workshops and conferences
The aim of this WP was to increase the international visibility of IBT, dissemination of scientific information obtained at IBT and exchange of know-how with potential collaboration partners. Activities planned within this WP facilitate knowledge transfer at regional, national and international level involving both the own research staff and invited experts from other countries.
An IBT international seminar programme encompassed short visits of experienced scientists (group and lab leaders), who presented seminars and conducted bilateral discussions with interested scientists and research groups at IBT. Since the beginning of the project, implementation of this programme had attracted 25 high-level scientists including Prof. Robert Huber, the Nobel Prize Laureate, which was initially an unplanned visit. List of the seminars is given in Annex V. Seminars were also announced and were open to all research institutions in Lithuania that are active in Life sciences (Vilnius University, Institute of Biochemistry, Institute of Immunology etc.), including guest visitors from the nearby biotech companies (Fermentas-ThermoFisher Scientific Baltic, Sicor Biotech Teva, Biocentras). International scientific seminars organized on a regular basis promoted permanent exchange of know-how with the experts from leading European research institutions.
In addition to the organization of international seminars in Vilnius, IBT researchers were encouraged to participate in international conferences and workshops on structural and computational biology and biomedicine. This task aimed at presenting own data at plenary/poster sessions and exchanging scientific information with potential collaboration partners. Active participation of IBT researcher staff in selected international conferences and training courses is planned, firstly, in the events organized by internationally recognized organizations. Participation of IBT research staff in the international conferences/workshops promoted access to frontier knowledge, provided new opportunities for collaborative initiatives and increased the international visibility of the Institute, thereby facilitating its integration into the European research area. Altogether, 54 scientists from the IBT had attended international meetings. Of 54 IBT’s employees, 16 were junior researchers, 9 researchers, 27 senior researchers, and 2 MoBiLi post-docs (Dr. V. Smirnovas and Dr. S. Laurinavičius). List of international conferences and meetings attended by the IBT researchers is given in Annex VI.
Most significant result of the international seminar series at the IBT is that Prof. Robert Huber, the Nobel Prize Laureate, had visited the IBT. Received a permission to cover partial expenses for conference attending instead of covering all expenses only, had resulted in a higher number of the meetings attended, a higher number of the IBT researchers being able to attend them and a higher number of presentations made which had increased the IBT’s international visibility.
WP5. Dissemination and promotional activities
The six research groups have published a number of high-level research articles and commercialized their IPR (3 licenses purchased by Fermentas Thermo Fisher Scientific). In year 2013 alone, 1 patent had been registered in Japan and 7 international patent applications had been submitted. The number of scientific publications co-authored with partners from the EU states increased from 27 in 2010 to 38 in 2012 and 33 in 2013. The journals covered are Nature Protocols, Nature Communications, EMBO Journal and other publications with very high impact. The MoBiLi project had allowed supporting publication of 11 articles in open access journals (BMC Bioinformatics, Nucleic Acids Research, PLoS One and others and 5 with acknowledgement of MoBiLi, publishing 2 Biennial Reports of the IBT, launching of project’s website as well as arranging of meeting in the Diagnostic Centre of Vilnius University Hospital and a MoBiLi-LBTA meeting.
The following activities had been accomplished:
11 open access publications sponsored by MoBiLi have been published in international scientific journals: 1). Mindaugas Margelevičius, Česlovas Venclovas, BMC Bioinformatics, 2010, 11:89, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/11/89; 2). Georgij Kostiuk, Giedrius Sasnauskas, Giedrė Tamulaitienė and Virginijus Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(9): 3744-3753; 3). R. Gerasimaitė, E. Merkienė and S. Klimašauskas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(9): 3771-3780; 4). D. Kazlauskas and Č. Venclovas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(19): 8291-8305; 5). G. Sasnauskas, G. Kostiuk, G. Tamulaitis and V. Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(20): 8844-8856; 6). M. Plečkaitytė, A. Žvirblienė, I. Šėžaitė and A. Gedvilaitė, Microbial Cell Factories, 2011, 10:109; 7). M. Tomkuvienė, B. Clouet-d‘Orval, I. Černiauskas, E. Weinhold and S. Klimašauskas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 1-9, doi:10.1093/nar/gks381; 8). G. Lukinavičius, A. Lapinaitė, G. Urbanavičiūtė, R. Gerasimaitė and S. Klimašauskas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 1-9, doi:10.1093/nar/gks914; 9). E. Manakova, S. Gražulis, M. Zaremba, G. Tamulaitienė, D. Golovenko and V. Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 1-11, doi:10.1093/nar/gks300; 10). E. Kazlauskas, V. Petrikaitė, V. Michailovienė, J. Revuckienė, J. Matulienė, L. Grinius, D. Matulis, PLoSone, 2012, 7(5): e36899; 11). Kęstutis Timinskas, Monika Balvočiūtė, Albertas Timinskas and Česlovas Venclovas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2013, 1-21, doi:10.1093/nar/gkt900.
5 scientific articles with acknowledgement to the MoBiLi project had been published: 1). Mindaugas Zaremba, Amelia Owsicka, Gintautas Tamulaitis, Giedrius Sasnauskas, Luda S. Shlyakhtenko, Alexander Y. Lushnikov, Yuri L. Lyubchenko, Niels Laurens, Bram van den Broek, Gijs J. L. Wuite and Virginijus Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2010, 1-13, doi:10.1093/nar/gkq560; 2). Zita Liutkevičūtė, Edita Kriukienė, Indrė Grigaitytė, Viktoras Masevičius and Saulius Klimašauskas, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 1 – 5; 3). L. Mažutis and A. D. Griffiths, Lab Chip, 2012, 12: 1800–1806; 4). R. Sakaguchi, A. Giessing, Q. Dai, G. Lahoud, Z. Liutkevičiūtė, S. Klimašauskas, J. Piccirilli, F. Kirpekar and Y.-M. Hou, RNA, 2012 (18): 1687-1701; 5). L. Nagirnaja, Č. Venclovas, K. Rull, K.-C. Jonas, H. Peltoketo, O.-B. Christiansen, V. Kairys, G. Kivi, R. Steffensen, I.-T. Huhtaniemi and M. Laan, Molecular Human Reproduction, 2012, 18(8): 379-390.
a meeting in the Diagnostic Centre of Vilnius University Hospital had been organized on November 23rd, 2011;
MoBiLi-LBTA meeting at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology had been organized on April 25th, 2012;
the Biennial Reports 2008-2010 and 2011-2012 of the IBT with the information about the project had been published and posted at mobili.ibt.lt/index.php?page=wp-5. The Reports primarily focus on the Institute’s research activities and the major results achieved during the periods of 2008-2010 and 2011-2012 but they had also served as a MoBiLi project dissemination measure introducing the readers with the project objectives, partners, workpackages, etc., and giving a short overview of progress during the second Reporting Period;
MoBiLi website (http://www.mobili.ibt.lt/) is being updated on a regular basis. Website of the IBT (http://www.ibt.lt) contains a link to the MoBiLi website and also presents project’s Advisory Board members as well as major news on project’s developments and events;
announcements of the MoBiLi seminars are distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwards them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania;
distribution of information to EU structural fund responsibles and decision makers in regional science, administration, politics, society and industry: an article about success of IBT scientists in getting an EU FP7 grant for the MoBiLi project had been posted at http://www.delfi.lt on 2010.01.08; a logotype had been designed and is being used on all MoBiLi-related documents; a poster was made, delivered to the IBT and attached to a wall; leaflets were designed and printed out, they are distributed to the institute’s guests; MoBiLi project was introduced to the guests of the project’s kick-off meeting by using a PowerPoint presentation; announcements of the MoBiLi seminars are distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwards them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania; stickers were designed, produced and attached to the equipment purchased by MoBiLi costs;
MoBiLi project had been presented at the international event that took place in Vilnius on May 5th, 2011. The audience of the meeting included the representatives from the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy, representative from the programme “Eureka”, Swedish government agency VINNOVA and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES);
short presentation of the project had been published by the European Commission (Science at the service of Europe: A guide to the 2009 Annual Activity Report of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research”, p. 20); the project had been introduced to the audiences that attended 2 information events by ASIT on 2010.10.28 and 2011.05.05 in Vilnius; an article about MoBiLi project had been published by the ASIT in their information bulletin on December 2010;
MoBiLi project was introduced to the guests of the project’s Advisory Board meetings by using PowerPoint and oral presentations; an article about Advisory Board meeting had been published by “Science and Technology”.
WP6. External evaluation
European Commission had appointed 4 Experts for external evaluation of the project:
Prof. dr hab. Jan Żeromski, Poznan University of Medical Science, Poland;
Prof. Toivo Maimets, University of Tartu, Estonia;
Dr. Urzula Bialek-Wyrzykowska, Institute of Biotechnology, Poland;
Dr. Joaquin Guinea, INNOVATEC/ZF BIOLABS, Spain.
First meeting of the external Evaluation Board was held on April 26th, 2013, final meeting took place at Vilnius University main campus on September 25th, 2013. On November 19th, 2013, the experts had produced and submitted the MoBiLi project Independent expert evaluation Report.
WP7. Project management
The internal decision making was done by the MoBiLi Management Board. MoBiLi Management Board decisions were made in close agreement with the IBT Council members. To ensure best possible scientific, administrative and managerial decisions, the MoBiLi Management Board consisted of:
Name Position Responsibility
Mr. Leonas Pašakarnis Deputy Director of Institute of Biotechnology Vilnius (IBT) Project Coordinator, WP5
Dr. Gintautas Žvirblis Head of Laboratory of Eukaryote Genetic Engineering, at IBT WP3
Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys Head of Laboratory of Protein-DNA interactions at IBT WP7
Prof. Saulius Klimašauskas Head of Laboratory of Biological DNA modification at IBT WP1
Dr. Daumantas Matulis Head of Laboratory of Biothermodynamics and Drug Design at IBT WP2
Prof. Aurelija Žvirblienė Head of Laboratory of Immunology at IBT WP4
Dr. Česlovas Venclovas Head of Laboratory of Bioinformatics WP6
The members of the MoBiLi Management Board met on a regular basis when important management questions arose, discussing and deciding the ongoing MoBiLi activities. The daily MoBiLi project management tasks were handled by Leonas Pašakarnis.
Management Board of the MoBiLi project acted as the only decision level. MoBiLi was democratically run with a focus on consensus among all board members. The Management Board used to meet on a regular basis and continuously assessed the project status and made strategic decisions. In its meetings in the context of MoBiLi activities in Vilnius core partner representatives had the right to participate and the right to debate. However, for project decision makings it needed a simple majority including the coordinator’s vote. The Management Board maintained a close contact of the program participants between the meetings using electronic means of communication. Transparency and accountability were core principles in the decision-making process and project management.
A project’s kick-off meeting took place on March 26th., 2010. First meeting of the project’s Advisory Board members was held on the same day. The members of the project’s Advisory Board were asked to provide the Management Board members with their insights and suggestions for the criteria of selection of the candidates to take a position of a group leader or a post-doc, which they kindly did. The Institute of Biotechnology had been reorganized and since October 1st, 2010, it became integrated into Vilnius University. This change had resulted in Amendment No. 1 to Grant Agreement No. FP7-REGPOT-2009-1-245721.
The second meeting of the Advisory Board members was held in Vilnius on May 6th., 2011. Upon our request, based on the Advisory Board Report of May 6th, 2011, the MoBiLi project coordinator had confirmed a change of deadlines for the implementation of work packages 1-5 for 6 additional months (until May 31st, 2013) at no extra cost. Therefore, the newly recruited researchers received additional 6 months to get better adapted to the working environment at the IBT, the researchers of the IBT had additional opportunities to participate in conferences, to publish open-access publications, to visit their foreign partners for joint research purposes and to do other professional duties funded by the MoBiLi project’s funds.
The European Commission had signed an Amendment No. 2 to Grant Agreement No. FP7-REGPOT-2009-1-245721 which enabled extension of implementation of MoBiLi project, except of workpackage 2, for additional 6 months (until November 30th, 2013) at no extra cost. The joint Advisory Board – External evaluation expert meeting was held in Vilnius on April 26th, 2013, and the Final meeting took place on September 25th, 2013.
Meetings of the project’s Management Board members are held on a regular basis. Since the beginning of the project, 33 meetings of the Management Board members took place. During this period, the Board had faced no problems or disagreements, no changes in the consortium had been made. Last meeting, which took place on November 25th, 2013, the management Board, together with the national Advisory Board members, had discussed the Report produced by the external evaluation experts, outcome of project implementation and future perspectives. Apart from the meetings, the management Board members are in regular contact with each other and the coordinator via intensive e-mail communication.
The project’s coordinator at the European Commission had been contacted to discuss various questions on a constant basis.
All deliverables had been submitted, all milestones had been fully achieved.
Project’s website (http://www.mobili.ibt.lt/) had been launched prior the deadline, is still functional and up-to-dated.
Most significant results of the project management is that it had been agreed with the European Commission to postpone the deadlines of implementation of workpackages 1-5 for additional 6 months until May 31st 2013. The second achievement is that the European Commission had accepted our request for Amendment No. 2 to the Grant Agreement extension which had led to extension of implementation of workpackages 1, 3-7 for additional 6 months at no extra cost until November 30th 2013.
Most of the IBT Weaknesses identified in the SWOT analysis elaborated when preparing the proposal: Insufficient instrumentation in the fields of structural, computational and cell biology, marginal interactions with research teams within EU, limited access to emerging new technologies, loss of young trained personnel and insufficient exposure of junior personnel to the international scientific environment have been clearly improved thanks to the MoBiLi project. Together with this, some of the IBT Threats that had been identified in the SWOT as well (lack of expertise and infrastructure in cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches, lack of trained personnel and lack of private equity or public funding for RTD and spin-off companies) have been also diminished, due to the MoBiLi project.
The implementation of MoBiLi coincided with the integration of IBT into Vilnius University. Although some negative aspects of this process were noticed, this might be a positive development that would open new possibilities for the Institute, e.g. development of a Joint Center for Life Sciences at Santara Valley – an integrated science, studies and business centre in Vilnius.
MoBiLi had contributed to the creation of IBT Spin-off companies as well. From 2010, 3 following IBT Spin-offs companies have been created:
• UAB “Nomads”, established in 2010 (employees: Dr. A. Ražanskienė, Dr. V. Kazanavičiūtė, E. Denkovskienė, S. Paškevičius and U. Starkevič).
• UAB “Baltymas”, established in 2011 (employees: Dr. R. Slibinskas, Dr. E. Čiplys, G. Markulis, L. Slibinskienė and E. Mickevič).
• UAB “IMD technologies”, established in 2012 (employees: I. Matijošytė and A. Karalius).
Founders and employees of the spin-offs, thanks to the MoBiLi project, had good opportunities to communicate with the IBT visiting scientists, to hear good stories as well as problems in establishing SMEs in the other countries. Moreover, they could communicate with the members of Advisory Board, received useful advice and consultations, particularly on business management. UAB “Nomad” had been established by Prof. Yuri Gleba who gave a seminar at the IBT as a part of seminars series (WP4). The employees of this spin-off had actively participated in the MoBiLi seminars at the IBT (WP4). The founder of UAB “Baltymas”, Dr. Rimantas Slibinskas, had participated at the conference in Denmark (WP4) where his group’s results had attracted a great attention and helped to make useful contacts which had inspired him to establish a spin-off. Therefore, MoBiLi project had contributed in a significant way in the creation of the previously mentioned spin-offs.
The main outputs and outcomes obtained due to the project are the following:
• The MoBiLi project has improved the IBT research capabilities and has helped to increase its research quality and recognition;
• The MoBiLi project has contributed to improve the research capacity in biotechnology (human capacity and research infrastructures) of Lithuania and to help the launching of new biotech spin-offs and both activities can contribute to the future Lithuanian economic and social development;
• The MoBiLi project has contributed to increase the participation of IBT in the FP7. Regarding the expectations for the Horizon 2020, the increase of the number of "high quality" researchers and of the awareness of IBT by EU high level research institutions due to the MoBiLi project, will clearly help to increase the IBT competitiveness in that programme;
• Regarding sustainability of the research activities promoted by the MoBiLi project, these activities are expected to continue.
In the concert with Development Programme for the Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre (Valley) SANTARA launched by the Lithuanian Government, MoBiLi achievements pave the way for up to date environment for modern links between science and industry.
Potential Impact:
The Lithuanian Government has identified Biotechnology as one of the strategic RTD areas that have the potential to develop into a substantial share of the country’s knowledge based economy. Biotechnology is an area where IBT and other Lithuanian academic institutions already had generated research-based business successfully acting on the international market. During the last 3 years and the next 2 years, the European Union funds had and will have a significant impact on the rate and the direction of structural changes in Lithuania. Among the major developments is the creation of the Santara Valley, in which IBT will assume the central position. To ensure that the incoming funds would be spent effectively, IBT must have adequate absorption potential, which means that the development and implementation of operational programmes and projects must be in line with the highest European standards. As MoBiLi was intended to boost human resources and research potential of the IBT to reach the level of European excellence, it was a significant contribution to the development of the Santara Valley.
The MoBiLi project has occupied a very special place among IBT’s projects, because it allowed focusing on Human Capacity Building, an activity with direct effect in increasing the scientific level at the regional scale. Together with this capacity building activity, the substantially upgraded infrastructure acquired due to the MoBiLi project have also helped to merge basic and applied research activities to tackle important biomedical problems and open avenues to new diagnostic and therapeutic options. In that sense the MoBiLi had met perfectly the key priorities of EU FP7 and the Lisbon Strategy on this subject.
Training of junior research personnel, which represent the rising scientific generation in Lithuanian biotechnology, a series of training modules in both lecture halls and research labs had been implemented. These training events took place at different places and under different working conditions ensuring that the development of competencies, technical skills and mobility are provided.
The introduction of new technologies and equipment to the IBT, namely a small-molecule X-ray diffractometer, HPLC-MS system, a Cell sorting system and high performance computing cluster represents an important contribution to the scientific landscape of the Santara Valley. Since the buildup of operational capacity will culminate in 2015, MoBiLi had been especially important for achieving the strategic goals during the transition period of 2010-2013. In addition, the new instrumentation will expand the research and training opportunities of IBT and enhance its capacity in the Baltic Region as well as the prestige and recognition within the European scientific community.
The involvement of the best available senior experts from excellent research centers in the European Union to conferences, trainings and workshops, and professional dissemination activities (seminar lectures) in IBT lead to recognition of IBT in the European Research Area. The results and experiences from the collaboration on the way from an institution in an EU convergence region to the premium league of molecular biotechnology needs to be shared with European and Lithuanian decision makers in politics and economy, science and society to ensure the sustainability of the joint investments.
The exchange of know-how and experiences under WP1, WP2, and WP4 are fundamental for the professional development of the research staff, emerging from own human resources. Through the strategic partnership between IBT and European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Karolinska Institute, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, University of Edinburgh, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and other centres, the existing bilateral cooperation ties between these institutions was empowered. This had lead to an even more integrated partnership. The new equipment and devices plus the knowledge transfer about existing technologies, methods and intellectual assets from the partners lead to multipartite benefits and synergies. The MoBiLi knowledge growth at IBT, connected with the conference and dissemination activities under WP4 and WP5 had brought the recognition of IBT among leading European scientists as a premium partner with excellent know-how and equipment.
The previous performance in the 7th EU Research Framework Programmes shows that success can only come with active internationally recognized group leaders, supported by teams of trained and enthusiastic fellows. With substantially upgraded infrastructure, using national and European Community resources (including the MoBiLi implementation), the conceptual basis of this project lies in the commitment to human resources development using various instruments. IBT is convinced that high-class RTD in biotechnology can be done in Lithuania, but most effectively with other EU research institutions as partners, rather than competitors. It is IBT’s strong believe that most societal and technological needs are clearly beyond of the capacity of one institution or even one country, and that substantial added value can be generated only through international collaboration.
Following the guidelines for restructuring of Lithuania research sector by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, in 2010 the Institute of Biotechnology was integrated into Vilnius University and became a research institute within the University. The integration had significantly resulted in increased burdens of MoBiLi project management (primarily related with the issue of public procurements and increased bureaucracy). However, these challenges had no negative effect on project implementation. Further development of the Institute of Biotechnology is tightly linked with the future strategy of the University. The modern research infrastructure Santara Valley with a major focus on biotechnology and molecular medicine will be created in 2015. Institute of Biotechnology together with Institute of Biochemistry and Faculty of Natural Sciences of Vilnius University are expected to merge into a Joint Center for Life Sciences at that time. This Center should serve as a nucleus of a knowledge-driven economy by concentrating the research potential and creating an environment for productive interaction between research institutions, studies and businesses in the areas of biotechnology, biopharmacy and molecular medicine.
The Institute of Biotechnology will play a key role in the Center as it will provide the necessary expertise in the field of molecular biotechnology and biopharmacy. Importantly, one of Lithuania’s smart specialization priorities (RIS3) for the next EU funding programming period is focused on the new health sector technologies and biopharmaceuticals including the development of new recombinant drug technologies, novel diagnostic technologies and molecular tools for a personalized medicine. It is important to remark that four representatives of IBT (Prof. Gervydas Dienys, Prof. Arvydas Janulaitis, Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys and Prof. Kęstutis Sasnauskas) are members of a working group which has a task to frame Smart Specialization Directions in Lithuania for 2014-2020 financing period.
The following long-term impacts are expected:
• the scientific collaborations established through the MoBiLi project will be continued and will be a basis for preparation of joint project proposals for future EU FP calls;
• the multidisciplinary team at IBT reinforced by the MoBiLi project will serve in the future as a centre of clustering for scientists from other fields of interest, like biopharmacy and medicine;
• the IBT scientists will become more involved in education of undergraduate and post graduate students through participation in interdisciplinary courses on Lithuanian and European universities. The foreseen outcome will be strengthened via connections between the research centres and universities, as well as the increase of the educational level in the country.
Based on the results achieved we are convinced that MoBiLi project had helped the IBT to increase interactions with the research teams within EU in research training and technological exchange, had prevented an unbalanced loss of young trained personnel, by obtained novel cellular imaging and high throughput approaches had paved the way to novel diagnostic tools and therapies and had significantly contributed to upgraded research infrastructure at the IBT. In a long-term perspective we hope that the results and experience gained during implementation of MoBiLi will help the IBT to become a significant player of the new emerging integrated valley of life sciences in Vilnius and will gain an efficient integration into ERA.
Regarding the MoBiLi project contribution to the Regional Development, we can conclude that the MoBiLi project has contributed to improve the research capacity in biotechnology (human capacity and research infrastructures) at the IBT and to help the launching of new biotech spin-offs and both activities can contribute to the future Lithuanian economic and social development.
Main dissemination activities
The IBT staff enhanced its skills in knowledge dissemination and used the existing networks, within academia, industry, policy and public administration to spread the information about MoBiLi activities and more general about the IBT research results and regional development initiatives. IBT took a proactive role in exchanging knowledge and information and create synergy effects with research projects of European excellence in the fields of structural and computational biology and biomedical research. IBT facilitated the dissemination of information about biotech research activities offered and implemented by IBT to the relevant target groups. Dissemination was accomplished by newly designed MoBiLi website, publishing Biennial Reports, open-access publications, etc. All new knowledge and information gathered through the scientific research work at IBT was largely disseminated to target groups consisting of parties involved in structural and computational biology and biomedical research. This diffusion of information was transmitted through the publication of open-access scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and presentations as well as posters at national and international scientific conferences. To achieve an even higher recognition among structural and computational biology and biomedical researchers, IBT had organized a series of international seminars with participation of experts from leading EU research institutions. The spread of knowledge and technological innovations deriving from MoBiLi into other networks was done by proactive communication with other societies (e.g. LBTA and Diagnostic Center) and by presentations at their meetings. At a national level, the residents were informed via publications in media about the objectives and findings of the training activities and regional achievements.
The following dissemination activities had been accomplished: 11 open access publications sponsored by MoBiLi have been published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, a meeting in the Diagnostic Centre of Vilnius University Hospital had been organized on November 23rd, 2011; MoBiLi-LBTA meeting at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology had been organized on April 25th, 2012; the Biennial Reports 2008-2010 and 2011-2012 of the IBT with the information about the project had been published and posted at mobili.ibt.lt/index.php?page=wp-5; MoBiLi website (http://www.mobili.ibt.lt/) is being updated on a regular basis; announcements of the MoBiLi seminars are distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwards them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania; distribution of information to EU structural fund responsibles and decision makers in regional science, administration, politics, society and industry: an article about success of IBT scientists in getting an EU FP7 grant for the MoBiLi project had been posted at http://www.delfi.lt on 2010.01.08; a logotype had been designed and is being used on all MoBiLi-related documents; a poster was made, delivered to the IBT and attached to a wall; flyers were distributed to the institute’s guests; MoBiLi project was introduced to the guests of the project’s kick-off and other meetings by using a PowerPoint presentation; announcements of the MoBiLi seminars were distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwarded them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania; stickers were attached to the equipment purchased by MoBiLi costs; MoBiLi project had been presented at the international event that took place in Vilnius on May 5th, 2011 (the audience of the meeting included the representatives from the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy, representative from the programme “Eureka”, Swedish government agency VINNOVA and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation - TEKES); short presentation of the project had been published by the European Commission (Science at the service of Europe: A guide to the 2009 Annual Activity Report of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research”, p. 20); the project had been introduced to the audiences that attended 2 information events by ASIT on 2010.10.28 and 2011.05.05 in Vilnius; an article about MoBiLi project had been published by the ASIT in their information bulletin on December 2010; an article about Advisory Board meeting had been published by “Science and Technology”.
List of Websites:
http://mobili.ibt.lt/
Virginijus Siksnys
phone +370 5 260 2108
fax +370 5 260 2116
e-mail siksnys@ibt.lt
Leonas Pasakarnis
phone +370 5 260 2110
fax +370 5 260 2116
e-mail leonas@ibt.lt
Rokas Abraitis
phone +370 5 260 2112
cell phone +370 607 74875
fax +370 5 260 2116
e-mail abraitis@ibt.lt
The Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) in Vilnius, Lithuania is well known for its continued high quality research in the broadly defined field of molecular biotechnology. The Institute provides an interface between advanced education, basic research and technological development for the economic and social benefit of Lithuania and the European Union. IBT is internationally acclaimed for its multidisciplinary research on the structure of DNA restriction-modification enzymes, yeast genetics, development of biomedical recombinant proteins, small molecule inhibitors and bioinformatics.
The strategic goal of IBT is its integration into the European Research Area and strengthening its role as a leader in molecular biotechnology. Therefore, the purpose of the MoBiLi project which was a support action to strengthen the research capacities and to mobilize human resources in molecular biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) Vilnius, Lithuania was to build up scientific excellence and human potential of IBT thereby transforming it into an excellence centre in molecular biotechnology and a significant player in the European Research Area. The major objectives of the MoBiLi project were: i). Human capital building for research and technological development (RTD) in the field of state-of-the-art molecular biotechnology; ii). Networking of IBT with major centres of excellence in the EU via joint research and mobility of researchers; iii). Upgrading and modernisation of research infrastructure in line with emerging thematic priorities in the field.
Following the guidelines for restructuring of Lithuanian research sector by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, in 2010 the Institute of Biotechnology was integrated into Vilnius University and became a research institute within the University. Further development of the Institute of Biotechnology is tightly linked with the future strategy of the University. The modern research infrastructure Santara Valley with a major focus on biotechnology and molecular medicine will be created in 2015. Institute of Biotechnology together with Institute of Biochemistry and Faculty of Natural Sciences of Vilnius University are expected to merge into a Joint Center for Life Sciences at that time. This Center should serve as a nucleus of a knowledge-driven economy by concentrating the research potential and creating an environment for productive interaction between research institutions, studies and businesses in the areas of biotechnology, biopharmacy and molecular medicine.
Most of the IBT Weaknesses and Threats identified in the SWOT analysis elaborated when preparing the proposal have been clearly improved thanks to the MoBiLi project. Based on the results achieved it is evident that MoBiLi project had helped the IBT to increase interactions with the research teams within EU in research training and technological exchange, had prevented an unbalanced loss of young trained personnel, by obtained novel cellular imaging and high throughput approaches had paved the way to novel diagnostic tools and therapies and had significantly contributed to upgraded research infrastructure at the IBT. These achievements by the IBT are vital prerequisites to play a key role in the Center as it will provide the necessary expertise in the field of molecular biotechnology and biopharmacy. Importantly, one of Lithuania’s smart specialization priorities (RIS3) for the next EU funding programming period is focused on the new health sector technologies and biopharmaceuticals including the development of new recombinant drug technologies, novel diagnostic technologies and molecular tools for a personalized medicine.
Regarding the MoBiLi project contribution to the Regional Development, it had improved considerably the research capacity in biotechnology (human capacity and research infrastructures) at the IBT and helped the launching of new biotech spin-offs and both activities can contribute to the future Lithuanian economic and social development.
In the concert with Development Programme for the Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre (Valley) SANTARA launched by the Lithuanian Government, MoBiLi achievements pave the way for up to date environment for modern links between science and industry.
Project Context and Objectives:
MoBiLi is a support action to strengthen the research capacities and to mobilize human resources in molecular biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) Vilnius, Lithuania. Modern molecular biotechnology is a multidisciplinary research arena that integrates structural knowledge at different levels into cellular contexts to underpin biomedical questions. Such a multidisciplinary approach is crucial not only for our understanding of basic life processes but also is vital for characterizing the molecular basis of many diseases and the development of novel specifically tuned therapies and diagnostic tools. Lithuania strives to increase its RTD potential especially in biotechnology but needs significant support to integrate into European Research Area (ERA). The purpose of the MoBiLi project is to build up scientific excellence and human potential of IBT thereby transforming it into an excellence centre in molecular biotechnology and a significant player in the ERA.
The Institute of Biotechnology (IBT) in Vilnius, Lithuania is well known for its continued high quality research in the broadly defined field of molecular biotechnology. The Institute provides an interface between advanced education, basic research and technological development for the economic and social benefit of Lithuania and the European Union. IBT is internationally acclaimed for its multidisciplinary research on the structure of DNA restriction-modification enzymes, yeast genetics, development of biomedical recombinant proteins, small molecule inhibitors and bioinformatics. The highest level of research performed at IBT in all these areas is attested by successful participation in EU FP and other competitive programmes, scientific publications in top-tier journals, and highest citation figures among Lithuanian research institutions. In addition to fundamental research, IBT has a strong applied research component documented by European/US patents and successful spin-off companies. IBT strives to efficiently address new S&T challenges and societal needs in the face of existing and emerging health threats in the 21st century. Modern molecular biotechnology is a multidisciplinary arena that integrates structural knowledge at different levels into cellular contexts to underpin biomedical questions. Such a multidisciplinary approach is crucial not only for our understanding of basic life processes but also is vital for characterizing the molecular basis of many diseases and the development of novel specifically tuned therapies and diagnostic tools.
The strategic goal of IBT is its integration into the European Research Area and strengthening its role as a leader in molecular biotechnology. Therefore, the purpose of the MoBiLi project was to build up scientific excellence and human potential of IBT thereby transforming it into an excellence centre in molecular biotechnology and a significant player in the European Research Area. The major objectives of the MoBiLi project were:
• Human capital building for research and technological development (RTD) in the field of state-of-the-art molecular biotechnology;
• Networking of IBT with major centres of excellence in the EU via joint research and mobility of researchers;
• Upgrading and modernisation of research infrastructure in line with emerging thematic priorities in the field.
IBT has been active in the field of molecular biotechnology over the past 35 years. During this time, the institute became a recognized national leader in Life science and in the whole Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). IBT has long been known as a prime center for structural and functional studies of DNA restriction and modification enzymes. Currently, the Institute is the only research center in the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) which actively performs crystallographic studies of biomolecules. Twelve crystal structures of restriction enzymes comprising nearly one-third of restriction endonuclease structures known-to-date have been solved at IBT (including joint collaborative projects). Likewise, results of structural and mechanistic studies of DNA/RNA modification enzymes are equally impressive. The discovery and subsequent extensive studies of a phenomenon called DNA base flipping has greatly contributed to the understanding of salient mechanistic aspects of DNA methylation. Moreover, experimental structural studies at IBT have been expanded by structural biothermodynamics with the major goal of discovering promising compounds for anticancer drug development. IBT had also added protein structural bioinformatics (both methods development and their application) to its list of competencies. Despite the short history, the institute’s bioinformatics researchers have already gained the international recognition in the area of protein structure prediction. According to the independent assessment, the IBT bioinformatics team achieved the best results in template-based protein modelling during the latest world-wide contest (CASP8).
IBT has a strong scientific background in research of recombinant viral proteins, vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and biopharmaceutical proteins for therapy. Such studies possess a clear applied profile and are directed to the development of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic agents. Research teams at IBT actively collaborate with foreign partners such as Health Protection Agency (UK), Friedrich Loeffler Institute (Germany) and others in the development and introduction of new diagnostic test systems for viral infections. Keeping “know-how” and patented technologies the research teams use innovative approaches for the production of potential vaccines and improved diagnostics. An example of such investigations is virus like particle (VLP) technology. Recombinant VLPs are highly immunogenic and therefore suitable for targeted production of antibodies and vaccine development. Groups working in this field have contracts with biotech companies Fermentas (currently ThermoFisher Scientific Baltic), Abcam (UK), Microimmune (UK), Euroimmune (Germany) and others. Based on these activities, an IBT spin-off company “Profarma” was established in 2007.
IBT research teams also perform studies on development of new pharmaceuticals: design, synthesis and characterization of novel chemical compounds with anticancer activity. A series of compounds that inhibit two targets in cancer cells – carbonic anhydrase isozymes and chaperone Hsp90 have been designed and patented. Yet another effort at IBT is directed to understanding molecular mechanisms of disease. Studies on molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis are focused on the investigations of multidrug resistance. Studies on hypoxia-inducible factors and mRNA alternative splicing mechanisms in cancer cells have implications for better understanding of processes involved in tumorigenesis and provide a novel source for the discovery of diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers as well as potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
Perspectives:
Structural biology and bioinformatics in the next two decades aim to integrate structural knowledge at different levels into cellular contexts to underpin biomedical questions. The major focus of IBT is to significantly increase its understanding of the role that proteins play in disease pathways and enhance the ability of scientists to carry out advanced biomedical research linking the information obtained by the structural and computational biology methods with state-of-the-art cell biology and different “-omics” techniques to provide a dynamic picture of key cellular processes. Such multidisciplinary approach is crucial not only for our understanding of basic life processes like mechanisms of DNA replication or host-virus interactions but also is vital for characterizing the molecular basis of many diseases and often provides a starting platform for the development of novel specifically tuned therapies and diagnostic tools, for example by designing drugs that bind to particular targets or engineering viral like particles for improved diagnostics and tailored antibody production. The MoBiLi had succeeded in bringing together young talented scientists to create a research community that uses new technologies to address important biomedical issues. It had also provided an excellent training ground for the next generation of biomedical research scientists by offering, with local universities, joint graduate programs leading to the MSc and PhD degrees.
On the basis of the above described expertise, future studies at IBT will be expanded in the following Priority areas.
Protein structure, interactions and cellular networks. A vast experience in structural and computational studies provides a strong basis for expanding the research focus into more complex biological systems and to tackle more complex biomedical research problems. Among the emerging new areas of structural studies are DNA replication mechanisms, novel antiviral defence systems and recombinant proteins for biomedical research. It will also include crystallographic characterization of synthetic drug candidates. Bioinformatics research, currently focused mainly on protein structures, will work to extend the expertise in other areas such as comparative genomics, protein-protein interactions and biological networks. The synergy between experimental and computational research is expected to strongly stimulate structural biology research at IBT.
Cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches to study human disease. In parallel, studies on recombinant therapeutic proteins, development of novel vaccines and immunodiagnostics, investigations of molecular mechanisms of diseases, design of drug-like active compounds will be further extended. To overcome the challenges of selecting physiologically active recombinant proteins it is intended to apply proteomic approaches to study molecular processes in the cells which should elucidate the lifetimes of heterologous proteins in yeast, bacterial or mammalian cells. Based on mechanistic studies of DNA methyltransferases (see above), a new biopolymer labelling technology (named mTAG) has been developed. This patented technology uses synthetic cofactor analogs, which permits covalent targeted deposition of reporter groups on DNA, RNA or proteins. Current and future efforts are devoted to adapting this approach for high throughput genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation for epigenome studies and improved diagnostics.
The focus of MoBiLi project on the integration of computational and structural biology and biomedical research is coherent with European Union initiatives. To maintain European competitiveness, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has published a European Roadmap for Research Infrastructures which brings biomedical science and structural biology onto stage.
As required by the RegPot programme the MoBiLi project involved outstanding European research partnering organisations that provide specific expertise in the development of the computational, biomedical and structural biology research at IBT:
• The European Molecular Biology Laboratory;
• Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;
• Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany;
• University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom;
• The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Switzerland.
Most of the IBT Weaknesses identified in the SWOT analysis elaborated when preparing the proposal have been clearly improved thanks to the MoBiLi project. Together with this, some of the IBT Threats also identified in the SWOT have been diminished due to the project as well.
The objectives of the project were fulfilled by executing 7 Work Packages.
WP1: Exchange of know-how and experience. Objectives: this work package aimed at strengthening the human potential and research capacity of IBT through bilateral know-how transfer and research training. The purpose of the exchange programme was to strengthen the scientific expertise of IBT researchers. Implementation of newly acquired experimental methods, joint research during visits, joint publication of research results and submission of joint grant applications was expected to boost the scientific productivity of IBT scientists both in the short and long term perspective.
WP2. Recruitment of incoming experienced researchers. Objectives: this work package aimed at strengthening the human potential and research capacity of IBT by attracting internationally known scientists and encouraging the return of nationals having left the country and gained research experience at internationally acclaimed institutions. It included measures for attracting researchers and establishment of new research trends. 2 group leaders and 5 post-docs had been hired.
WP3. Acquisition, development, maintenance or upgrading of research equipment. Objectives: to achieve the MoBiLi overall goals it was necessary to purchase specific equipment. With these instruments and trainings, supported by the core partners, IBT would achieve premium European standards in structural and computational biology and biomedical research, connected with high efficiency in those scientific fields. The purchased devices and instruments constitute a complementarity to the equipment from the core partners to achieve synergies.
WP4. International seminars, workshops and conferences. Objectives: The current work package aimed at organizing international seminar series in order to increase the overall visibility of the IBT, strengthen its reputation as a regional leader in the priority research areas and boost international cooperation. This work package also involved participation of own research staff at selected international conferences/workshops for knowledge sharing and extending collaboration opportunities.
WP5. Dissemination and promotional activities. Objectives: work package 5 aimed at the publication and dissemination of project results by different means of Public Relations activities in order to increase significantly the overall visibility of IBT and strengthen its reputation as a regional leader in the priority research areas. This European recognition of IBT’s scientific expertise would lead to a boost in international research co-operations, exchange of experience, management, and increase in competence of research and communicative personnel.
WP6. External evaluation. Objectives: to check and control the achieved research quality and scientific excellence at the project’s end, an independent evaluation was implemented. The Evaluation Board members assessed the project sustainability and usage of developed potential and discussed the results with regional and national authorities and key actors responsible for regional research development and influence herewith the economic, scientific and social environment.
WP7. Project management. Objectives: to ensure successful implementation and professional administration, vigorous and excellent project management is necessary. The objectives included the implementation of MoBiLi as a whole. This includes coordination and fine tuning with the strategic partner, the expert pool and EC. Furthermore the project management ensured the integrity of both MoBiLi Management Board and MoBiLi Evaluation Board.
Project Results:
WP1: Exchange of know-how and experience
Exchange of know-how and ideas via mobility of researchers was at the heart of the MoBiLi project. The purpose of exchange programme was to strengthen the expertise and know how of IBT in the following scientific areas: 1. Protein structure, interactions and cellular networks; 2. Cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches to study human disease. Implementation of the newly acquired experimental methods, joint research during visits, joint publication of research results and submission of joint grant applications was expected to boost the scientific productivity of IBT scientists via implementation of two types of measures: Outgoing exchange programme envisioned visits of researchers from IBT to leading selected European partner institutions. Since the beginning of the project, 76 scientists from the IBT visited partner institutions. List of outgoing visits is added as Annex I. Incoming exchange programme envisioned reciprocal visits of researchers from the European partner institutions to the IBT. These visits were designed for the young experienced researches, who would dedicate a major fraction of time for experimental work at the IBT. Those would include joint experimental projects as well as demonstration and training of novel experimental techniques that are important for enhancing the research capacity of IBT.
The incoming exchange programme would include scientists from new EU Member States in the region. The purpose of this activity was to further enhance the research capacity, strengthen collaborative ties and establish IBT as a regional leader and a key European player in the priority research areas. The exchange partners – in addition to the core partners – were selected based on existing and projected collaborations, which currently include:
• International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IIMCB), Warsaw, PL;
• Estonian Biocenter (EBC), Tartu University, Tartu, EE;
• Biomedical Research Center (BRC), University of Latvia, Riga, LV.
Exchange of expertise was planned in the following fields of research, corresponding and complementing the IBT scientific Priority Areas:
• Mechanistic and structural studies of nucleic acids enzymes;
• Enzyme engineering for biopolymer labeling;
• Vaccine development and diagnostic applications.
24 scientists from foreign institutions had visited IBT including Prof. Robert Huber, the Nobel Prize Laureate, who had visited the IBT repeatedly after giving a seminar on March 2011. List of incoming visits is added as Annex II.
Most significant results of the exchange programme: four visitors, M. Juozapaitis, E. Mažeikė, Z. Liutkevičiūtė and M. Tomkuvienė, made a considerable progress in their Ph.D. studies during their visits. As a result, all of them had defended their thesis successfully. Moreover, a number of new techniques became available to the researchers of the IBT, the methods and research tools (e.g. antibodies) developed at the IBT had been successfully tested at the partner institutions, new applications of joint research projects had been discussed and initiated, junior researchers from the IBT had possibility to get new knowledge and expertise at the partner institutions. All these measures had definitely increased IBT’s visibility on the European level, laid the foundations for a closer further collaboration as well as had led to improvement of skills of the IBT staff.
WP2. Recruitment of incoming experienced researchers
This work package included measures for attracting researchers and establishment of new research trends. Strategic research interests of the Institute include attraction of scientists experienced in the following fields: i), protein structure, interactions, and cellular networks; ii) cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches to study human disease.
Recruitment of up to three researchers (group leaders) who have gained their PhD and have completed 3-6 years of postdoctoral training or have gained industrial experience at leading research universities and institutions worldwide was intended. They are expected to establish new research groups in line with the priority areas of MoBiLi. Furthermore, IBT was aiming at recruitment of about 6 experienced researchers (post-docs) who have spent shorter periods as postdoctoral trainees at leading universities worldwide. These researchers are expected to join the existing laboratories with the goal to strengthen their scientific potential.
In a total, 69 applications had been received. Of them, 58 were accepted as relevant. 24 candidates (10 Lithuanian nationals, 14 foreign nationals) applied for a position of a group leader, 34 candidates (13 Lithuanian nationals, 21 foreign nationals) applied for a position of a post-doc. After the initial evaluation step, 22 candidates (of them, 14 candidates for a group leader position and 8 candidates for a post-doc position) had been selected for the job interview at the IBT.
We saw recruitment of the new group leaders as a chance to the IBT to develop new research areas not at all or insufficiently explored in Lithuania yet. We also expected that hired post-docs would add a substantial professional power, expertise and enthusiasm to the existing research groups.
Process of selection of experienced researchers took longer time than planned but was successful. List of recruited personnel is given in the Annex III. Their most important achievements are as follows: One of the hired group leader, Prof. I. Meškienė, had won a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for her 2 year long project, total budget is approx. 51,700 EUR. She had also won a very competitive grant of the Lithuanian-Swiss cooperation programme "Research and Development" (3 year long project, total budget is approx. 605,000 EUR). The other group leader, Dr. L. Mažutis, had won a number of competitive grants: i) a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for his 2,5 year long project, total budget is approx. 98,400 EUR, ii) a competitive funding from the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology for his 1,5 year long project, total budget is approx. 173,700 EUR, iii) a very competitive grant of the Lithuanian-Swiss cooperation programme "Research and Development" (3,5 year long project, total budget is approx. 695,000 EUR), and iv) a Marie Curie IOF grant which started on March 1st 2013.
One of the recruited post-docs, Dr. V. Smirnovas, had won a number of competitive grants: i) a Marie Curie Career integration grant FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG, budget is 100,000 EUR, ii) a very competitive 3-year long Global Grant funded by the Research Council of Lithuania, budget is approx. 401,800 EUR, iii) a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for his 2.5 year long project, total budget is approx. 98,400 EUR. Moreover, he had received funding from Vilnius University and Research Council of Lithuania to attend conferences. The other post-doc, Dr. S. Laurinavičius, had won a competitive funding from the Research Council of Lithuania for his 2.5 year long project; total budget is approx. 94,200 EUR. The overall budget of all won grants was 2,620,249 EUR. For comparison, the total budget of WP2 was just 410,307 EUR (including costs for candidate interviews, job ads, etc). In addition to introduction of novel techniques, the recruited group leaders and post-docs had been successful in establishment of new research groups by attracting young students. Partly due to this, the number of doctoral students has increased from 15 in 2010 to 44 in 2013. These facts illustrate clearly that the IBT had managed, despite a challenge of being unable to propose competitive salaries, to attract and recruit strong scientists.
Most significant results of the recruitment programme was attraction of new research personnel being well trained and experienced. It is important to mention that 3 out of 7 hired researchers were females. The hired group leaders Prof. I. Meškienė and Dr. L. Mažutis as well as 2 post-docs, Dr. V. Smirnovas and Dr. S. Laurinavičius, had won a number of competitive grants both from international and national funding sources. Moreover, both hired group leaders not only established new research groups, but had attracted to the IBT novel techniques on plant biotechnology and microfluidics. These two new areas of research at the Institute of Biotechnology have been positively evaluated by the MoBiLi Advisory Board. The laboratory of microfluidic technologies, established by Dr. L. Mažutis, has been very successful in attracting funding from the Lithuanian Research Council and also enjoyed private equity attention and financial support (aprox. 300,000 € ) that is quite unusual in the Lithuania research environment. These facts illustrate clearly that the IBT had managed to attract and recruit strong scientists. Thus, the implementation of the workpackage 2 of MoBiLi project had helped to strengthen the existing research directions at the Institute of Biotechnology and establish new research laboratories that should be instrumental for adaption to the dynamic and rapidly changing research landscape in the field of molecular biotechnology. It had been a great success and support for the IBT to have agreed with the European Commission to postpone the end date of implementation of this WP until the end of May 2013 at no additional cost. This measure allowed the Institute to support the hired personnel by paying them salary for additional 6 months. All 7 recruited scientists continue working at Vilnius University after the MoBiLi project had ended.
WP3. Acquisition, development, maintenance or upgrading of research equipment
The MoBiLi project was aimed to create a stimulating, multidisciplinary environment promoting research of excellence in biomedicine at the interface between structural biology, chemistry and biology. Therefore the IBT had purchased with the MoBiLi funding the following equipment: HPLC-MS system, Cell sorting system for high performance analytical and preparative flow cytometry, High Performance Computing (HPC) Linux cluster and Universal X-Ray diffractometer. The new equipment is a significant add-on to the already existing infrastructure of research instrumentation in the field of structural, computational and cell biology. As planned, all four equipment had been acquired and installed; they are in operation and in up-to-date condition, Institute’s personnel had been trained to work with them. The acquired equipment are listed in Annex IV.
This research equipment has been invaluable for carrying out present research projects (notably, some of the results obtained by using them had already been published) and give a solid future for further developments. This funding had allowed attraction of another € 2.1 million from the EU Structural Funds for support of infrastructure development and also € 280,000 from a private fund to acquire equipment for microfluidics.
The research equipment acquired through MoBiLi funding helped to create the X-ray crystallography unit which is the only such unit in the Baltic countries. It is planned that in the Joint Center for Life Sciences the X-ray crystallography unit would be further developed into a Center for the structural studies of biomolecules. This center would carry structural studies of biomolecules important for biotechnology and biopharma and also would provide services for the local research community and industries. It has a potential to further develop into the regional center that would serve for the wider research community of Baltic countries and become a local hub of a larger pan-European network in structural biology.
WP4. International seminars, workshops and conferences
The aim of this WP was to increase the international visibility of IBT, dissemination of scientific information obtained at IBT and exchange of know-how with potential collaboration partners. Activities planned within this WP facilitate knowledge transfer at regional, national and international level involving both the own research staff and invited experts from other countries.
An IBT international seminar programme encompassed short visits of experienced scientists (group and lab leaders), who presented seminars and conducted bilateral discussions with interested scientists and research groups at IBT. Since the beginning of the project, implementation of this programme had attracted 25 high-level scientists including Prof. Robert Huber, the Nobel Prize Laureate, which was initially an unplanned visit. List of the seminars is given in Annex V. Seminars were also announced and were open to all research institutions in Lithuania that are active in Life sciences (Vilnius University, Institute of Biochemistry, Institute of Immunology etc.), including guest visitors from the nearby biotech companies (Fermentas-ThermoFisher Scientific Baltic, Sicor Biotech Teva, Biocentras). International scientific seminars organized on a regular basis promoted permanent exchange of know-how with the experts from leading European research institutions.
In addition to the organization of international seminars in Vilnius, IBT researchers were encouraged to participate in international conferences and workshops on structural and computational biology and biomedicine. This task aimed at presenting own data at plenary/poster sessions and exchanging scientific information with potential collaboration partners. Active participation of IBT researcher staff in selected international conferences and training courses is planned, firstly, in the events organized by internationally recognized organizations. Participation of IBT research staff in the international conferences/workshops promoted access to frontier knowledge, provided new opportunities for collaborative initiatives and increased the international visibility of the Institute, thereby facilitating its integration into the European research area. Altogether, 54 scientists from the IBT had attended international meetings. Of 54 IBT’s employees, 16 were junior researchers, 9 researchers, 27 senior researchers, and 2 MoBiLi post-docs (Dr. V. Smirnovas and Dr. S. Laurinavičius). List of international conferences and meetings attended by the IBT researchers is given in Annex VI.
Most significant result of the international seminar series at the IBT is that Prof. Robert Huber, the Nobel Prize Laureate, had visited the IBT. Received a permission to cover partial expenses for conference attending instead of covering all expenses only, had resulted in a higher number of the meetings attended, a higher number of the IBT researchers being able to attend them and a higher number of presentations made which had increased the IBT’s international visibility.
WP5. Dissemination and promotional activities
The six research groups have published a number of high-level research articles and commercialized their IPR (3 licenses purchased by Fermentas Thermo Fisher Scientific). In year 2013 alone, 1 patent had been registered in Japan and 7 international patent applications had been submitted. The number of scientific publications co-authored with partners from the EU states increased from 27 in 2010 to 38 in 2012 and 33 in 2013. The journals covered are Nature Protocols, Nature Communications, EMBO Journal and other publications with very high impact. The MoBiLi project had allowed supporting publication of 11 articles in open access journals (BMC Bioinformatics, Nucleic Acids Research, PLoS One and others and 5 with acknowledgement of MoBiLi, publishing 2 Biennial Reports of the IBT, launching of project’s website as well as arranging of meeting in the Diagnostic Centre of Vilnius University Hospital and a MoBiLi-LBTA meeting.
The following activities had been accomplished:
11 open access publications sponsored by MoBiLi have been published in international scientific journals: 1). Mindaugas Margelevičius, Česlovas Venclovas, BMC Bioinformatics, 2010, 11:89, http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/11/89; 2). Georgij Kostiuk, Giedrius Sasnauskas, Giedrė Tamulaitienė and Virginijus Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(9): 3744-3753; 3). R. Gerasimaitė, E. Merkienė and S. Klimašauskas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(9): 3771-3780; 4). D. Kazlauskas and Č. Venclovas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(19): 8291-8305; 5). G. Sasnauskas, G. Kostiuk, G. Tamulaitis and V. Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39(20): 8844-8856; 6). M. Plečkaitytė, A. Žvirblienė, I. Šėžaitė and A. Gedvilaitė, Microbial Cell Factories, 2011, 10:109; 7). M. Tomkuvienė, B. Clouet-d‘Orval, I. Černiauskas, E. Weinhold and S. Klimašauskas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 1-9, doi:10.1093/nar/gks381; 8). G. Lukinavičius, A. Lapinaitė, G. Urbanavičiūtė, R. Gerasimaitė and S. Klimašauskas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 1-9, doi:10.1093/nar/gks914; 9). E. Manakova, S. Gražulis, M. Zaremba, G. Tamulaitienė, D. Golovenko and V. Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 1-11, doi:10.1093/nar/gks300; 10). E. Kazlauskas, V. Petrikaitė, V. Michailovienė, J. Revuckienė, J. Matulienė, L. Grinius, D. Matulis, PLoSone, 2012, 7(5): e36899; 11). Kęstutis Timinskas, Monika Balvočiūtė, Albertas Timinskas and Česlovas Venclovas, Nucleic Acids Research, 2013, 1-21, doi:10.1093/nar/gkt900.
5 scientific articles with acknowledgement to the MoBiLi project had been published: 1). Mindaugas Zaremba, Amelia Owsicka, Gintautas Tamulaitis, Giedrius Sasnauskas, Luda S. Shlyakhtenko, Alexander Y. Lushnikov, Yuri L. Lyubchenko, Niels Laurens, Bram van den Broek, Gijs J. L. Wuite and Virginijus Šikšnys, Nucleic Acids Research, 2010, 1-13, doi:10.1093/nar/gkq560; 2). Zita Liutkevičūtė, Edita Kriukienė, Indrė Grigaitytė, Viktoras Masevičius and Saulius Klimašauskas, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2011, 50, 1 – 5; 3). L. Mažutis and A. D. Griffiths, Lab Chip, 2012, 12: 1800–1806; 4). R. Sakaguchi, A. Giessing, Q. Dai, G. Lahoud, Z. Liutkevičiūtė, S. Klimašauskas, J. Piccirilli, F. Kirpekar and Y.-M. Hou, RNA, 2012 (18): 1687-1701; 5). L. Nagirnaja, Č. Venclovas, K. Rull, K.-C. Jonas, H. Peltoketo, O.-B. Christiansen, V. Kairys, G. Kivi, R. Steffensen, I.-T. Huhtaniemi and M. Laan, Molecular Human Reproduction, 2012, 18(8): 379-390.
a meeting in the Diagnostic Centre of Vilnius University Hospital had been organized on November 23rd, 2011;
MoBiLi-LBTA meeting at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology had been organized on April 25th, 2012;
the Biennial Reports 2008-2010 and 2011-2012 of the IBT with the information about the project had been published and posted at mobili.ibt.lt/index.php?page=wp-5. The Reports primarily focus on the Institute’s research activities and the major results achieved during the periods of 2008-2010 and 2011-2012 but they had also served as a MoBiLi project dissemination measure introducing the readers with the project objectives, partners, workpackages, etc., and giving a short overview of progress during the second Reporting Period;
MoBiLi website (http://www.mobili.ibt.lt/) is being updated on a regular basis. Website of the IBT (http://www.ibt.lt) contains a link to the MoBiLi website and also presents project’s Advisory Board members as well as major news on project’s developments and events;
announcements of the MoBiLi seminars are distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwards them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania;
distribution of information to EU structural fund responsibles and decision makers in regional science, administration, politics, society and industry: an article about success of IBT scientists in getting an EU FP7 grant for the MoBiLi project had been posted at http://www.delfi.lt on 2010.01.08; a logotype had been designed and is being used on all MoBiLi-related documents; a poster was made, delivered to the IBT and attached to a wall; leaflets were designed and printed out, they are distributed to the institute’s guests; MoBiLi project was introduced to the guests of the project’s kick-off meeting by using a PowerPoint presentation; announcements of the MoBiLi seminars are distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwards them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania; stickers were designed, produced and attached to the equipment purchased by MoBiLi costs;
MoBiLi project had been presented at the international event that took place in Vilnius on May 5th, 2011. The audience of the meeting included the representatives from the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy, representative from the programme “Eureka”, Swedish government agency VINNOVA and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (TEKES);
short presentation of the project had been published by the European Commission (Science at the service of Europe: A guide to the 2009 Annual Activity Report of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research”, p. 20); the project had been introduced to the audiences that attended 2 information events by ASIT on 2010.10.28 and 2011.05.05 in Vilnius; an article about MoBiLi project had been published by the ASIT in their information bulletin on December 2010;
MoBiLi project was introduced to the guests of the project’s Advisory Board meetings by using PowerPoint and oral presentations; an article about Advisory Board meeting had been published by “Science and Technology”.
WP6. External evaluation
European Commission had appointed 4 Experts for external evaluation of the project:
Prof. dr hab. Jan Żeromski, Poznan University of Medical Science, Poland;
Prof. Toivo Maimets, University of Tartu, Estonia;
Dr. Urzula Bialek-Wyrzykowska, Institute of Biotechnology, Poland;
Dr. Joaquin Guinea, INNOVATEC/ZF BIOLABS, Spain.
First meeting of the external Evaluation Board was held on April 26th, 2013, final meeting took place at Vilnius University main campus on September 25th, 2013. On November 19th, 2013, the experts had produced and submitted the MoBiLi project Independent expert evaluation Report.
WP7. Project management
The internal decision making was done by the MoBiLi Management Board. MoBiLi Management Board decisions were made in close agreement with the IBT Council members. To ensure best possible scientific, administrative and managerial decisions, the MoBiLi Management Board consisted of:
Name Position Responsibility
Mr. Leonas Pašakarnis Deputy Director of Institute of Biotechnology Vilnius (IBT) Project Coordinator, WP5
Dr. Gintautas Žvirblis Head of Laboratory of Eukaryote Genetic Engineering, at IBT WP3
Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys Head of Laboratory of Protein-DNA interactions at IBT WP7
Prof. Saulius Klimašauskas Head of Laboratory of Biological DNA modification at IBT WP1
Dr. Daumantas Matulis Head of Laboratory of Biothermodynamics and Drug Design at IBT WP2
Prof. Aurelija Žvirblienė Head of Laboratory of Immunology at IBT WP4
Dr. Česlovas Venclovas Head of Laboratory of Bioinformatics WP6
The members of the MoBiLi Management Board met on a regular basis when important management questions arose, discussing and deciding the ongoing MoBiLi activities. The daily MoBiLi project management tasks were handled by Leonas Pašakarnis.
Management Board of the MoBiLi project acted as the only decision level. MoBiLi was democratically run with a focus on consensus among all board members. The Management Board used to meet on a regular basis and continuously assessed the project status and made strategic decisions. In its meetings in the context of MoBiLi activities in Vilnius core partner representatives had the right to participate and the right to debate. However, for project decision makings it needed a simple majority including the coordinator’s vote. The Management Board maintained a close contact of the program participants between the meetings using electronic means of communication. Transparency and accountability were core principles in the decision-making process and project management.
A project’s kick-off meeting took place on March 26th., 2010. First meeting of the project’s Advisory Board members was held on the same day. The members of the project’s Advisory Board were asked to provide the Management Board members with their insights and suggestions for the criteria of selection of the candidates to take a position of a group leader or a post-doc, which they kindly did. The Institute of Biotechnology had been reorganized and since October 1st, 2010, it became integrated into Vilnius University. This change had resulted in Amendment No. 1 to Grant Agreement No. FP7-REGPOT-2009-1-245721.
The second meeting of the Advisory Board members was held in Vilnius on May 6th., 2011. Upon our request, based on the Advisory Board Report of May 6th, 2011, the MoBiLi project coordinator had confirmed a change of deadlines for the implementation of work packages 1-5 for 6 additional months (until May 31st, 2013) at no extra cost. Therefore, the newly recruited researchers received additional 6 months to get better adapted to the working environment at the IBT, the researchers of the IBT had additional opportunities to participate in conferences, to publish open-access publications, to visit their foreign partners for joint research purposes and to do other professional duties funded by the MoBiLi project’s funds.
The European Commission had signed an Amendment No. 2 to Grant Agreement No. FP7-REGPOT-2009-1-245721 which enabled extension of implementation of MoBiLi project, except of workpackage 2, for additional 6 months (until November 30th, 2013) at no extra cost. The joint Advisory Board – External evaluation expert meeting was held in Vilnius on April 26th, 2013, and the Final meeting took place on September 25th, 2013.
Meetings of the project’s Management Board members are held on a regular basis. Since the beginning of the project, 33 meetings of the Management Board members took place. During this period, the Board had faced no problems or disagreements, no changes in the consortium had been made. Last meeting, which took place on November 25th, 2013, the management Board, together with the national Advisory Board members, had discussed the Report produced by the external evaluation experts, outcome of project implementation and future perspectives. Apart from the meetings, the management Board members are in regular contact with each other and the coordinator via intensive e-mail communication.
The project’s coordinator at the European Commission had been contacted to discuss various questions on a constant basis.
All deliverables had been submitted, all milestones had been fully achieved.
Project’s website (http://www.mobili.ibt.lt/) had been launched prior the deadline, is still functional and up-to-dated.
Most significant results of the project management is that it had been agreed with the European Commission to postpone the deadlines of implementation of workpackages 1-5 for additional 6 months until May 31st 2013. The second achievement is that the European Commission had accepted our request for Amendment No. 2 to the Grant Agreement extension which had led to extension of implementation of workpackages 1, 3-7 for additional 6 months at no extra cost until November 30th 2013.
Most of the IBT Weaknesses identified in the SWOT analysis elaborated when preparing the proposal: Insufficient instrumentation in the fields of structural, computational and cell biology, marginal interactions with research teams within EU, limited access to emerging new technologies, loss of young trained personnel and insufficient exposure of junior personnel to the international scientific environment have been clearly improved thanks to the MoBiLi project. Together with this, some of the IBT Threats that had been identified in the SWOT as well (lack of expertise and infrastructure in cellular imaging and high-throughput approaches, lack of trained personnel and lack of private equity or public funding for RTD and spin-off companies) have been also diminished, due to the MoBiLi project.
The implementation of MoBiLi coincided with the integration of IBT into Vilnius University. Although some negative aspects of this process were noticed, this might be a positive development that would open new possibilities for the Institute, e.g. development of a Joint Center for Life Sciences at Santara Valley – an integrated science, studies and business centre in Vilnius.
MoBiLi had contributed to the creation of IBT Spin-off companies as well. From 2010, 3 following IBT Spin-offs companies have been created:
• UAB “Nomads”, established in 2010 (employees: Dr. A. Ražanskienė, Dr. V. Kazanavičiūtė, E. Denkovskienė, S. Paškevičius and U. Starkevič).
• UAB “Baltymas”, established in 2011 (employees: Dr. R. Slibinskas, Dr. E. Čiplys, G. Markulis, L. Slibinskienė and E. Mickevič).
• UAB “IMD technologies”, established in 2012 (employees: I. Matijošytė and A. Karalius).
Founders and employees of the spin-offs, thanks to the MoBiLi project, had good opportunities to communicate with the IBT visiting scientists, to hear good stories as well as problems in establishing SMEs in the other countries. Moreover, they could communicate with the members of Advisory Board, received useful advice and consultations, particularly on business management. UAB “Nomad” had been established by Prof. Yuri Gleba who gave a seminar at the IBT as a part of seminars series (WP4). The employees of this spin-off had actively participated in the MoBiLi seminars at the IBT (WP4). The founder of UAB “Baltymas”, Dr. Rimantas Slibinskas, had participated at the conference in Denmark (WP4) where his group’s results had attracted a great attention and helped to make useful contacts which had inspired him to establish a spin-off. Therefore, MoBiLi project had contributed in a significant way in the creation of the previously mentioned spin-offs.
The main outputs and outcomes obtained due to the project are the following:
• The MoBiLi project has improved the IBT research capabilities and has helped to increase its research quality and recognition;
• The MoBiLi project has contributed to improve the research capacity in biotechnology (human capacity and research infrastructures) of Lithuania and to help the launching of new biotech spin-offs and both activities can contribute to the future Lithuanian economic and social development;
• The MoBiLi project has contributed to increase the participation of IBT in the FP7. Regarding the expectations for the Horizon 2020, the increase of the number of "high quality" researchers and of the awareness of IBT by EU high level research institutions due to the MoBiLi project, will clearly help to increase the IBT competitiveness in that programme;
• Regarding sustainability of the research activities promoted by the MoBiLi project, these activities are expected to continue.
In the concert with Development Programme for the Integrated Science, Studies and Business Centre (Valley) SANTARA launched by the Lithuanian Government, MoBiLi achievements pave the way for up to date environment for modern links between science and industry.
Potential Impact:
The Lithuanian Government has identified Biotechnology as one of the strategic RTD areas that have the potential to develop into a substantial share of the country’s knowledge based economy. Biotechnology is an area where IBT and other Lithuanian academic institutions already had generated research-based business successfully acting on the international market. During the last 3 years and the next 2 years, the European Union funds had and will have a significant impact on the rate and the direction of structural changes in Lithuania. Among the major developments is the creation of the Santara Valley, in which IBT will assume the central position. To ensure that the incoming funds would be spent effectively, IBT must have adequate absorption potential, which means that the development and implementation of operational programmes and projects must be in line with the highest European standards. As MoBiLi was intended to boost human resources and research potential of the IBT to reach the level of European excellence, it was a significant contribution to the development of the Santara Valley.
The MoBiLi project has occupied a very special place among IBT’s projects, because it allowed focusing on Human Capacity Building, an activity with direct effect in increasing the scientific level at the regional scale. Together with this capacity building activity, the substantially upgraded infrastructure acquired due to the MoBiLi project have also helped to merge basic and applied research activities to tackle important biomedical problems and open avenues to new diagnostic and therapeutic options. In that sense the MoBiLi had met perfectly the key priorities of EU FP7 and the Lisbon Strategy on this subject.
Training of junior research personnel, which represent the rising scientific generation in Lithuanian biotechnology, a series of training modules in both lecture halls and research labs had been implemented. These training events took place at different places and under different working conditions ensuring that the development of competencies, technical skills and mobility are provided.
The introduction of new technologies and equipment to the IBT, namely a small-molecule X-ray diffractometer, HPLC-MS system, a Cell sorting system and high performance computing cluster represents an important contribution to the scientific landscape of the Santara Valley. Since the buildup of operational capacity will culminate in 2015, MoBiLi had been especially important for achieving the strategic goals during the transition period of 2010-2013. In addition, the new instrumentation will expand the research and training opportunities of IBT and enhance its capacity in the Baltic Region as well as the prestige and recognition within the European scientific community.
The involvement of the best available senior experts from excellent research centers in the European Union to conferences, trainings and workshops, and professional dissemination activities (seminar lectures) in IBT lead to recognition of IBT in the European Research Area. The results and experiences from the collaboration on the way from an institution in an EU convergence region to the premium league of molecular biotechnology needs to be shared with European and Lithuanian decision makers in politics and economy, science and society to ensure the sustainability of the joint investments.
The exchange of know-how and experiences under WP1, WP2, and WP4 are fundamental for the professional development of the research staff, emerging from own human resources. Through the strategic partnership between IBT and European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Karolinska Institute, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, University of Edinburgh, Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and other centres, the existing bilateral cooperation ties between these institutions was empowered. This had lead to an even more integrated partnership. The new equipment and devices plus the knowledge transfer about existing technologies, methods and intellectual assets from the partners lead to multipartite benefits and synergies. The MoBiLi knowledge growth at IBT, connected with the conference and dissemination activities under WP4 and WP5 had brought the recognition of IBT among leading European scientists as a premium partner with excellent know-how and equipment.
The previous performance in the 7th EU Research Framework Programmes shows that success can only come with active internationally recognized group leaders, supported by teams of trained and enthusiastic fellows. With substantially upgraded infrastructure, using national and European Community resources (including the MoBiLi implementation), the conceptual basis of this project lies in the commitment to human resources development using various instruments. IBT is convinced that high-class RTD in biotechnology can be done in Lithuania, but most effectively with other EU research institutions as partners, rather than competitors. It is IBT’s strong believe that most societal and technological needs are clearly beyond of the capacity of one institution or even one country, and that substantial added value can be generated only through international collaboration.
Following the guidelines for restructuring of Lithuania research sector by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, in 2010 the Institute of Biotechnology was integrated into Vilnius University and became a research institute within the University. The integration had significantly resulted in increased burdens of MoBiLi project management (primarily related with the issue of public procurements and increased bureaucracy). However, these challenges had no negative effect on project implementation. Further development of the Institute of Biotechnology is tightly linked with the future strategy of the University. The modern research infrastructure Santara Valley with a major focus on biotechnology and molecular medicine will be created in 2015. Institute of Biotechnology together with Institute of Biochemistry and Faculty of Natural Sciences of Vilnius University are expected to merge into a Joint Center for Life Sciences at that time. This Center should serve as a nucleus of a knowledge-driven economy by concentrating the research potential and creating an environment for productive interaction between research institutions, studies and businesses in the areas of biotechnology, biopharmacy and molecular medicine.
The Institute of Biotechnology will play a key role in the Center as it will provide the necessary expertise in the field of molecular biotechnology and biopharmacy. Importantly, one of Lithuania’s smart specialization priorities (RIS3) for the next EU funding programming period is focused on the new health sector technologies and biopharmaceuticals including the development of new recombinant drug technologies, novel diagnostic technologies and molecular tools for a personalized medicine. It is important to remark that four representatives of IBT (Prof. Gervydas Dienys, Prof. Arvydas Janulaitis, Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys and Prof. Kęstutis Sasnauskas) are members of a working group which has a task to frame Smart Specialization Directions in Lithuania for 2014-2020 financing period.
The following long-term impacts are expected:
• the scientific collaborations established through the MoBiLi project will be continued and will be a basis for preparation of joint project proposals for future EU FP calls;
• the multidisciplinary team at IBT reinforced by the MoBiLi project will serve in the future as a centre of clustering for scientists from other fields of interest, like biopharmacy and medicine;
• the IBT scientists will become more involved in education of undergraduate and post graduate students through participation in interdisciplinary courses on Lithuanian and European universities. The foreseen outcome will be strengthened via connections between the research centres and universities, as well as the increase of the educational level in the country.
Based on the results achieved we are convinced that MoBiLi project had helped the IBT to increase interactions with the research teams within EU in research training and technological exchange, had prevented an unbalanced loss of young trained personnel, by obtained novel cellular imaging and high throughput approaches had paved the way to novel diagnostic tools and therapies and had significantly contributed to upgraded research infrastructure at the IBT. In a long-term perspective we hope that the results and experience gained during implementation of MoBiLi will help the IBT to become a significant player of the new emerging integrated valley of life sciences in Vilnius and will gain an efficient integration into ERA.
Regarding the MoBiLi project contribution to the Regional Development, we can conclude that the MoBiLi project has contributed to improve the research capacity in biotechnology (human capacity and research infrastructures) at the IBT and to help the launching of new biotech spin-offs and both activities can contribute to the future Lithuanian economic and social development.
Main dissemination activities
The IBT staff enhanced its skills in knowledge dissemination and used the existing networks, within academia, industry, policy and public administration to spread the information about MoBiLi activities and more general about the IBT research results and regional development initiatives. IBT took a proactive role in exchanging knowledge and information and create synergy effects with research projects of European excellence in the fields of structural and computational biology and biomedical research. IBT facilitated the dissemination of information about biotech research activities offered and implemented by IBT to the relevant target groups. Dissemination was accomplished by newly designed MoBiLi website, publishing Biennial Reports, open-access publications, etc. All new knowledge and information gathered through the scientific research work at IBT was largely disseminated to target groups consisting of parties involved in structural and computational biology and biomedical research. This diffusion of information was transmitted through the publication of open-access scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and presentations as well as posters at national and international scientific conferences. To achieve an even higher recognition among structural and computational biology and biomedical researchers, IBT had organized a series of international seminars with participation of experts from leading EU research institutions. The spread of knowledge and technological innovations deriving from MoBiLi into other networks was done by proactive communication with other societies (e.g. LBTA and Diagnostic Center) and by presentations at their meetings. At a national level, the residents were informed via publications in media about the objectives and findings of the training activities and regional achievements.
The following dissemination activities had been accomplished: 11 open access publications sponsored by MoBiLi have been published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, a meeting in the Diagnostic Centre of Vilnius University Hospital had been organized on November 23rd, 2011; MoBiLi-LBTA meeting at the Vilnius University Institute of Biotechnology had been organized on April 25th, 2012; the Biennial Reports 2008-2010 and 2011-2012 of the IBT with the information about the project had been published and posted at mobili.ibt.lt/index.php?page=wp-5; MoBiLi website (http://www.mobili.ibt.lt/) is being updated on a regular basis; announcements of the MoBiLi seminars are distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwards them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania; distribution of information to EU structural fund responsibles and decision makers in regional science, administration, politics, society and industry: an article about success of IBT scientists in getting an EU FP7 grant for the MoBiLi project had been posted at http://www.delfi.lt on 2010.01.08; a logotype had been designed and is being used on all MoBiLi-related documents; a poster was made, delivered to the IBT and attached to a wall; flyers were distributed to the institute’s guests; MoBiLi project was introduced to the guests of the project’s kick-off and other meetings by using a PowerPoint presentation; announcements of the MoBiLi seminars were distributed to the target groups and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (ASIT) which forwarded them further to all education and research institutions in Lithuania; stickers were attached to the equipment purchased by MoBiLi costs; MoBiLi project had been presented at the international event that took place in Vilnius on May 5th, 2011 (the audience of the meeting included the representatives from the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Economy, representative from the programme “Eureka”, Swedish government agency VINNOVA and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation - TEKES); short presentation of the project had been published by the European Commission (Science at the service of Europe: A guide to the 2009 Annual Activity Report of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research”, p. 20); the project had been introduced to the audiences that attended 2 information events by ASIT on 2010.10.28 and 2011.05.05 in Vilnius; an article about MoBiLi project had been published by the ASIT in their information bulletin on December 2010; an article about Advisory Board meeting had been published by “Science and Technology”.
List of Websites:
http://mobili.ibt.lt/
Virginijus Siksnys
phone +370 5 260 2108
fax +370 5 260 2116
e-mail siksnys@ibt.lt
Leonas Pasakarnis
phone +370 5 260 2110
fax +370 5 260 2116
e-mail leonas@ibt.lt
Rokas Abraitis
phone +370 5 260 2112
cell phone +370 607 74875
fax +370 5 260 2116
e-mail abraitis@ibt.lt
