Periodic Reporting for period 2 - MaNaCa (Magnetic Nanohybrids for Cancer Therapy)
Période du rapport: 2021-01-01 au 2023-03-31
1. Stimulating scientific excellence and innovation capacity of IPR-NAS with regard to magnetic nanohybrids for cancer therapy.
2. Improving the career prospects of early-stage researchers of IPR-NAS and the Twinning partners.
3. Raising the research profile of IPR-NAS and the Twinning Partners.
Effective cancer therapy is one of the grand challenges of the 21st century. Advances in improving the efficacy and reliability of the present-day cancer therapies will not only translate into a broad scale sociological impact, but also generate vast economic benefits. Besides the most familiar present-day cancer therapies, i.e. radiotherapy and chemotherapy, magnetically stimulated therapy like hyperthermia and magneto-mechanical induced cell death of tumour tissue has evolved into an approved therapy for cancer competing with chemotoxic and radiological approaches.
WP1 Exchange of senior researchers
• 4.1 person-months of senior researcher visits from IPR-NAS to UDE.
• 0.3 person-months of senior researcher visits from UDE to IPR-NAS.
• 4.3 person-months of senior researcher visits from IPR-NAS to AUTH.
• 0.3 person-months of senior researcher visits from UDE to AUTH.
• 0.5 person-months of senior researcher visits from AUTH to UDE.
• 1st Training Workshop held during 27-28 July 2020 (Zoom). 38 people (33 x early-stage researchers, 5 x senior researchers, 58% female) participated in the workshop.
• 2nd Training Workshop held during 25-28 August 2020 (Hybrid: Zoom/Thessaloniki). The workshop/summer school - with 78 participants from 11 countries - was held in English.
• 3rd Training Workshop held during 16-18 June 2021 (Zoom). 98 people from 13 countries attended the Workshop.
• 4th Training Workshop held during 21-22 September 2021 (Zoom). The workshop was focused on the functional magnetic nanoparticles synthesis, their complex structural and magnetic investigations and application in cancer therapy.
• 5th Training Workshop held during 7-9 April 2022 in Thessaloniki, Greece (Physical). This workshop focused on structural and magnetic characterization of magnetic nanohybrids and their application for cancer therapy.
• 6th and 7th Training Workshops on Horizon Europe proposal writing held during 20-21 September 2022 in Yerevan, Armenia (Physical).
WP2 Exchange of early-stage researchers
• 3.8 person-months of early-stage researcher visits from IPR-NAS to UDE.
• 0.3 person-months of early-stage researcher visits from UDE to IPR-NAS.
• 5.7 person-months of early-stage researcher visits from IPR-NAS to AUTH.
• 1.5 person-months of early-stage researcher visits from AUTH to IPR-NAS.
• 0.9 person-months of early-stage researcher visits from AUTH to UDE.
• 3.4 person-months of early-stage researcher visits from UDE to AUTH.
• The 1st Summer School was held during 25-28 August 2020 with a hybrid format.
• The 2nd Summer School was held during 16-18 June 2021 with a hybrid format.
• The 3rd Summer School was held during 3 March 2023 in Yerevan, Armenia (Physical).
• The partners have agreed the preliminary structure for a joint PhD programme, which will allow the admitted PhD students to benefit from the cultural and educational experiences from spending time in Germany, Greece and Armenia.
WP3 Dissemination and outreach
• Project website (www.h2020-manaca.eu) received 2100+ unique visitors.
• 190+ leaflets downloaded from project website, 70+ posters downloaded from project website.
• 7 research papers have been published in international journals.
• 30 research papers and posters were presented at 16 different international conferences.
• 1st APRICOT international conference was held in Yerevan, Armenia, during 1-4 March 2023.
WP4 Project management
• The project kick-off meeting was held during 4 October 2019 and hosted by UDE in Duisburg.
• Subsequent consortium meetings were held in conjunction with the project's workshops, summer schools and conference.
1. The consortium partners’ early-stage researchers have been trained in magnetic nanomaterial synthesis, structural, magnetic and magnetic heating characterization methods during their visits at IPR-NAS, AUTH and UDE.
2. The consortium partners have synthesised 24 samples (Fe-Fe3C)/C by solid-phase pyrolysis of iron ferrocene and comprehensive structural and magnetic studies have been performed. The research was conducted with the participation of scientists from IPR-NAS during their visits to AUTH and UDE.
3. Thanks to the efforts of the consortium partners’ early-stage researchers, interesting experimental results were obtained; 7 articles were published in highly-cited international journals. Two more manuscripts are under preparation.
The project's progress towards its expected impacts are:
Impact 1: Increased research excellence of IPR-NAS in magnetic nanohybrids for cancer therapy
Based on the obtained experimental results, 7 research papers were published in high impact journals that reflect an increase in research excellence of IPR-NAS.
Impact 2: Enhancement of reputation, attractiveness and networking channels of IPR-NAS
The conducted workshops, summer school and weekly seminars helped to improve the research and technical competence of IPR-NAS’ researchers so that they can effectively assess experimental results and make good scientific presentations.
Impact 3: Improved capability of IPR-NAS to compete successfully for national, EU and internationally competitive research funding
IPR-NAS managed to win six research projects during the project.
Impact 4: Contribution to the research and innovation priorities of Armenia
The Armenian government supported the synthesis and study of ferromagnetic nanocomposite materials for biomedical applications and helped IPR-NAS to purchase a Vibrating Sample Magnetometer for magnetic investigations, magnetic hyperthermia device “MagnethermTM - NAN201003” and transmission electron microscope Talos F200i.
Impact 5: Support research and innovation on a European level
1. IPR-NAS prepared and submitted a project proposal to the HORIZON-WIDERA-2022-TALENTS-01-01 – (ERA Chairs) programme.
2. IPR-NAS and AUTH prepared and submitted a project proposal to the RA Science Committee “Adjunct Research Professorship Program (Remote Laboratory)” programme.
3. IPR-NAS and UDE are preparing an Armenian-German bilateral project proposal.