Periodic Reporting for period 2 - VirA (Reducing networking gaps between Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and internationally - leading counterparts in viral infection-induced autoimmunity research)
Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-11-30
The main goal of the Health Societal Challenge is better health for all. Its main policy objectives are to improve the health of people of working age by improved understanding of molecular mechanisms of disease manifestation in autoimmunity. This will lead to higher levels of well-being outcomes and promote healthy and active ageing, job creation and contribute to establishing the EU as a global leader in the health field. This will also result in a reduction in public spending and labour productivity losses.
The overall objective of the project is to promote autoimmune disease research capacity and fill networking gaps in the institution (RSU) of the low-performing Member State – Latvia, by establishing a consortium with leading research institutions from Italy - University of Ferrara, Germany - Ulm University, and Israel – SHEBA Medical Centre/Tel-Aviv University. The partner universities are the excellence centres (world leaders) that are forerunners in the corresponding areas and are capable of inspiring positive change in the research field and significantly impact future development by:
1) Increasing research excellence of the coordinating institution in the field of research as a result of the twinning exercise;
2) Enhancing the reputation, attractiveness and networking channels of the coordinating institution;
3) Enhancing the scientific and technological capacity of the linked institutions with a principal focus on the university or research organization from the Widening Country
In the 2nd period following activities were carried out: Workshop “Morphological studies in autoimmnune disease research”, 13-14 October, 2022 (with 58 participants); Workshop “Basic aspects of biostatistics, clinical and laboratory data management”, 23-24 February, 2023 (with 33 participants); Practical workshop on proposal preparation and project management, 26-27 June, 2023 (with 29 participants); Seminar “Enhancement of scientific manuscripts preparation quality”, 28 March, 2022 (with 50 participants); Summer school “New trends in molecular and immunological detection methodology of persistent viral infections”, 9-15 July, 2022 (with 56 participants); Summer school “Clinical and laboratory data Management and modelling”, 3-7 July, 2023 (with 50 participants); International Conference “Autoimmune diseases: main problems and solutions” (with 130 participants) , 9-10 November, 2023 (with 130 participants).
New knowledge on actualities in autoimmunity research are acquired by participating in Friday Mosaic of Autoimmunity International Meetings organized by Israeli partners Prof Yehuda Shoenfeld). The 2nd ISRAEL – LATVIA – ITALY Symposium of Autoimmunity was organized in Nazareth, Israel, 20.05.2022 – 22.05.2022 (6 participants from Latvian side with 6 presentations, including 2 early/mid-career researchers. 30 research articles on autoimmunity are published within 2nd reporting period in open access journals, 4 of them in collaboration with partners from Italy, Israel and Germany, one manuscript is submitted for publication. PhD thesis (Dr.med.) “Thyroid autoimmunity: exploring the role of Th17-associated cytokines and pathomorphological mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease” and BSc thesis: “Presence of human parvovirus B19 and activin in patients with ME/CFS” were defended. More than 30 reports were presented at international meetings/conferences/congresses. conferences/congresses (face to face or on-line due to the various COVID situations in different countries).