CING is the most advanced organisation of Cyprus in the fields of Neurology, Genetics and Biomedical Sciences. Through BIORISE CING will attract talented bioinformaticians to satisfy urgent needs for Bioinformatics analyses. Therefore, establishment of the Bioinformatics ERA Chair will complement and upgrade CING, since it will enhance the timely analysis of data and contribute towards excellence in extraction of reliable and meaningful results from large biomedical datasets. This will increase the capacity and level of excellence of CING thus promoting participation in competitive research proposals at national and international levels. Also, BIORISE will facilitate the introduction of a Bioinformatics course within the postgraduate programmes of the Cyprus School of Molecular Medicine (CSMM), thus promoting the education and training of young scientists in the cutting edge field of Bioinformatics. BIORISE will have an impact at organisational, national, European and international level resulting in new multidisciplinary networks and increasing mobility thus complementing and upgrading existing infrastructures.
The BIORISE programme is important for society, in the areas of health, economy, research and education. It is estimated that at least 5% of the population in Cyprus is suffering from genetic diseases, with the cause remaining unknown for the majority of cases. These diseases include congenital heart defects, neurological diseases, myopathies, etc. BIORISE is expected to make a contribution towards understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to the onset of various genetic diseases, thus helping in providing timely and accurate diagnosis that will result in better care and treatment for the patients. The economic cost that arises from the loss of the patients’ most productive years, as well as their caregivers will also be minimised.
The Bioinformatics field is at infancy stage in Cyprus. Through BIORISE, CING and Cyprus in general will expand research capacity, and upgrade the quality of research being conducted. Moreover, CING personnel will be scientifically enhanced by learning to use various Bioinformatics tools and incorporating Bioinformatics to their work routine.
BIORISE will also provide the opportunity of training new Bioinformaticians in Cyprus. This is expected to upgrade higher education in Cyprus and attract more students both national and international.
The overall objectives of BIORISE are:
1) Recruitment of the Bioinformatics expert who will hold the Bioinformatics ERA Chair and who will also establish a core Bioinformatics Group at the CING.
2) CING Bioinformatics needs assessment and intervention in order to increase capacity and improve the research and innovation performance of the Institute.
3) Educate and train the next generation of scientists (PhD and MSc student levels) as well as researchers on the applications and uses of the various Bioinformatics tools in order to empower the scientific workforce.
