Novel insight into disease-relevant signalling in melanoma has been obtained by the innovative research approaches followed within MEL-PLEX. These contributed significantly to an improved understanding of disease relevant signalling, allowed to assess the potential of novel therapeutics and their targets and introduced novel concepts for systems-based patient prognosis, disease progression and treatment responsiveness. The involvement of key private sector partners in the programme assisted in identifying avenues for exploitation of results and also provided career perspectives for MEL-PLEX trainees within the European knowledge- and skills-based economy.
The impact of MEL-PLEX on the career development of ESRs was achieved through excellence in training, research and innovation, thereby establishing an internationally unique training environment in translational systems biology and cancer systems medicine, supradisciplinary fields of growing interest and with undefined limits. As part of the essential mobility and intersectoral experience, the ESRs were exposed to diverse work and cultural environments, contributing to the European identity of each ESR.
Through cutting edge research projects and technologies that brought together leading players in traditionally separated research disciplines, MEL-PLEX developed a unique training programme which allowed the ESRs to face complex challenges in contemporary and future multi-discipline research, enhancing their employability and broadening their career perspectives. It is also noteworthy that similar intersectoral training benefits were observed within the group of the participating principal investigators and their staff, reflecting that the participating organisations also benefitted.
This objective was achieved, not only by implementation of planned secondments and intersectoral interactions, but also by additional training opportunities that arose during the programme life-cycle, some of which were not forecasted in the proposal, and by complementary research interactions that branched from the original projects.
MEL-PLEX developed a highly innovative doctoral training programme in the emerging supradisciplinary fields of translational systems biology and cancer systems medicine, which can be used as a framework for development of structured doctoral training in these fields. Through the mutual recognition between academic and non-academic partners of the training delivered by the MEL-PLEX Training Committee events, the foundation on which future permanent or durable interactions extending beyond the lifetime of MEL-PLEX was laid.
The complementarities in expertise represented one of the core strengths of MEL-PLEX. During the 48 months project, MEL-PLEX partners invested considerable efforts in aligning local existing training capacities, devising novel and multi-site research training components, and offering their capacities for unforeseen training needs that arose throughout the programme.
