Periodic Reporting for period 2 - CEMBO (Excellence in the research area of Combating and evaluation of mixed biofilms.)
Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-11-30
Microbial biofilms are one of the most important risk factors for life-threatening infections associated with medical devices. Aiming for development in this research, CU was given the opportunity of Horizon2020 Twinning scheme to collaborate and thus strengthen its position with two leading EU research institutions: AMC, the Netherlands as a global leader in the development and invention of novel antimicrobial strategies to combat biomaterial-associated infections; and CHAR, Germany as one of the largest and most prestigious university hospitals in Europe, the core of Biofilmcenter – a laboratory internationally-recognized for its excellence in the field of diagnostics in biofilm infections.
In the summary, CEMBO project has fulfilled five pillars:
i) The first pillar represents a scientific development, which has been documented by measurable outcomes (Deliverable D4.3 - 21 publications ; Milestone M13).
ii) Transfer of expertise: mainly through CEMBO the third party MoKi Analytics GmbH spin-off (Deliverable D1.2; Deliverable D3.4). Another beneficial lecture was provided during CEMBO workshop 3 in Berlin (Deliverable D3.2). All these obtained experiences have provided to the CU Team a tool for the cooperation between business and academia.
iii) The coordination and management of CEMBO project have led to a valuable knowledge of practical experience in the project administration. The CU Team has participated in 15 trainings and webinars, which has covered the obtained technical, administration, presentation, and managerial skills. The CU Team has also gained a transfer knowledge of operational and financial system at CHAR and AMC.
iv) Involvement of all five target groups (TG1-TG5) in the project tasks preparations and solutions: The members have learnt successfully how to brainstorm and work under pressure in the scientific and in the administration field, too.
v) Dissemination towards public at various levels: CEMBO homepage; social media; a lecture for Highschool students; a nomination of PhD. student from CU Team in “Falling Walls Lab Slovakia”; a promotion of CEMBO in the “European Science Night”; etc. The CU Team has been cooperating with the Czechoslovak Microbiological Society for Microbiology, the member of FEMS.
In the summary, CEMBO project has fulfilled five pillars:
i) The first pillar represents a scientific development, which has been documented by measurable outcomes (Deliverable D4.3 - 21 publications ; Milestone M13).
ii) Transfer of expertise: mainly through CEMBO the third party MoKi Analytics GmbH spin-off (Deliverable D1.2; Deliverable D3.4). Another beneficial lecture was provided during CEMBO workshop 3 in Berlin (Deliverable D3.2). All these obtained experiences have provided to the CU Team a tool for the cooperation between business and academia.
iii) The coordination and management of CEMBO project have led to a valuable knowledge of practical experience in the project administration. The CU Team has participated in 15 trainings and webinars, which has covered the obtained technical, administration, presentation, and managerial skills. The CU Team has also gained a transfer knowledge of operational and financial system at CHAR and AMC.
iv) Involvement of all five target groups (TG1-TG5) in the project tasks preparations and solutions: The members have learnt successfully how to brainstorm and work under pressure in the scientific and in the administration field, too.
v) Dissemination towards public at various levels: CEMBO homepage; social media; a lecture for Highschool students; a nomination of PhD. student from CU Team in “Falling Walls Lab Slovakia”; a promotion of CEMBO in the “European Science Night”; etc. The CU Team has been cooperating with the Czechoslovak Microbiological Society for Microbiology, the member of FEMS.
Despite the period of the pandemic COVID-19, all CEMBO goals have been achieved successfully. In total, 17 projects meetings took place (remotely or in presence); 10 expert visits have been organized at CU and 11 staff exchanges were performed in all 3 countries. CEMBO project has fulfilled the activities to the full extent. Some of the activities, due to circumstances, have been organized on the online platform, which have improved technical skills at CU. Therefore, financially wise, we were allowed to organize extra activities in the last year 2023 focused on experimental work of young researchers, as well as brainstorming in the research management area (Workshop “Conventional and alternative approaches combating antimicrobial resistance” declared in the section 5 of the Technical Report B).
- Building scientific excellence: in the past three years of CEMBO, the CU team continued in the research of biofilms that is actual topic related to human health. The CU Team has obtained more skills and experiences. The quality of this research has been proven in numerous presentations during conferences, workshops, and several published manuscripts (as per listed in the Technical Report B).
Other CEMBO activities, which have helped to increase the credibility and potential abilities of the CU Team as per following:
- Transfer of expertise: research visits, international conference, workshops, training schools, face to face meetings, staff exchanges, expert visits and mutual discussions have been a crucial part of cooperation to connect practical and theoretical knowledge.
- Transfer of scientific results in the community (team or individual participation at international and national conferences; organization of other events mentioned above; creation of virtual laboratory visits and interactive laboratory manual at CU; career options of CEMBO team members, etc.);
- Transfer and collaboration between academic and private sector (inclusion of MoKi Analytics GmbH in several ways as linked third party to CHAR);
- Improvement of training technical management staff (participation in CEMBO workshops; international conference; webinars and trainings at national and European level; connections with peers, etc.).
- Searching for possibilities, ways of communication and transfer (creation of CEMBO homepage; social media CEMBO and partners’ platforms; and other CEMBO activities listed above). A transparent communication with the public has been set up; a visual platform (instructional videos, an animation, interactive manual) have been created and offered to the public audience.
- Building scientific excellence: in the past three years of CEMBO, the CU team continued in the research of biofilms that is actual topic related to human health. The CU Team has obtained more skills and experiences. The quality of this research has been proven in numerous presentations during conferences, workshops, and several published manuscripts (as per listed in the Technical Report B).
Other CEMBO activities, which have helped to increase the credibility and potential abilities of the CU Team as per following:
- Transfer of expertise: research visits, international conference, workshops, training schools, face to face meetings, staff exchanges, expert visits and mutual discussions have been a crucial part of cooperation to connect practical and theoretical knowledge.
- Transfer of scientific results in the community (team or individual participation at international and national conferences; organization of other events mentioned above; creation of virtual laboratory visits and interactive laboratory manual at CU; career options of CEMBO team members, etc.);
- Transfer and collaboration between academic and private sector (inclusion of MoKi Analytics GmbH in several ways as linked third party to CHAR);
- Improvement of training technical management staff (participation in CEMBO workshops; international conference; webinars and trainings at national and European level; connections with peers, etc.).
- Searching for possibilities, ways of communication and transfer (creation of CEMBO homepage; social media CEMBO and partners’ platforms; and other CEMBO activities listed above). A transparent communication with the public has been set up; a visual platform (instructional videos, an animation, interactive manual) have been created and offered to the public audience.
The building the Centre of Excellence at CU was one of the main goals of CEMBO project. The consortium has contributed to development of successfully a well-running team, which meets the parameters of well-recognized research in competitive European environment. It is based on interdisciplinarity combining of biofilm research (microbiology) and material science. This unique direction can have a significant impact in terms of originality. Therefore, the Centre of Excellence has currently combined the knowledge and know-how in several directions. The experts have offered thematically unique topics, from which one can expect a higher impact on the development of scientific research and possible applications. One of the main impacts is the originality of research topics. This process has addressed the academic environment, which has also involved the activities of students and young researchers at various levels within the university education. Furthermore, the sustainability of the Centre of Excellence will be depending on a continuous combination between young staff together and the background and skills of more experienced experts. The scientific quality of the CEMBO Team is underlined by being invited to two COST network proposals under the Open Call Collection OC-2023-1. Despite of numerous obstacles and problematic issues with tackling of daily tasks, CEMBO project has had a significant impact on development of administrative unit at FNS-CU already, observing and implementing the experience from CEMBO partners, based on intensive communication. Not all advice has been applicable into the conditions of widening country such as Slovakia. Despite of this, the CU team has learnt how to increase the efficiency of management and to overcome the excessive bureaucracy. As a result of this, the CU team published a series of critical articles in famous daily newspaper. Employment of new qualified people has strengthened the Centre of Excellence. There has been launched a well-running informational campaign to set up the Centre of Excellence of biofilms at CU. Gender equality has been an essential and inevitable aspect of CEMBO project: the consortium has offered flexible working hours, minding the employed women with small children. The European Commission’s initiative with Ukrainian opportunity has established two women in Slovakia, from which one of them has become an equal team member. Moreover, the CU Team has implemented for her a three-year governmental call successfully (within the framework of Slovakia’s recovery and resilience plan supported by EU).