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Latest updatesUPDATE: Welcome ESR9! All positions closed.
We are happy to announce that the ESR position 9 has been filled. The new PhD student Francisco has joined the group of Henrik Zetterberg at the University of Gothenburg. Welcome to the team!
2nd MIRIADE training week – 18th to 22nd October 2021
The second MIRIADE training week took place from the 18th to the 22nd of October. Initially, the meeting was planned to take place in Luxembourg, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we had to meet online again.
During this year’s program, three keynote lectures were given by Bengt Winblad, Reinhard Schneider, and Ulf Andreasson, which were all open to the public. This way, not only the ESRs, but also other colleagues and interested persons were able to learn about “Recent drug development for treating Alzheimer’s disease”, “Big data integration through advanced biostatistics, Introduction, state of the art, needs, clinical possibilities and FAIR principles”, and “Reproducibility in Science”. In the beginning of the week every ESR gave a short project update. These presentations also gave the ESRs the opportunity to discuss challenges they encounter in their research with the other students and learn from each other. The further educational program was based on two topics: ”Big data analysis” and “Transferable skills”. The team-spirit of MIRIADE became clear especially during the last assignment of the week, where the ESRs were exploring disease maps. Due to the interdisciplinary character of MIRIADE, each ESR has competences in different fields. In groups of 4, the ESRs were working on the assignment together, each working on a task that would fit their previous experience.
During the whole week one thing in particular became clear: an in-person meeting to get to know each other is deeply desired by the ESRs and the PIs. Hopefully, we will find a way to meet already before the next training week. If not, we will see each other in Stockholm in 2022!
EU Project Check Meeting - 26th January 2021
At the beginning of the new year, on January 26th 2021, the entire MIRIADE consortium gathered again on Zoom for the EU project check meeting. The aim of the meeting was to give the European Commission Research Executive Agency a progress update of the MIRIADE project since its start in 2019. For this reason, we also welcomed project officer Paula Hokkanen who was representing the agency.
The meeting kicked off with a “Tour de table” where every consortium partner had the chance to present themselves and explain their contribution to MIRIADE. In the following, each ESR had the chance to introduce themselves, their background and their research aims. Later, they could learn more about their rights and obligations as part of a Marie Skłodowska Curie Action.
The project check meeting thus offered a great opportunity for everyone involved to find out about the project’s development and many questions could be answered. Every recruited ESR showed that they are highly motivated and on the right track to achieve their project goals.
1st MIRIADE training week – 9th to 13th November 2020
As a cross-sectional research project, MIRIADE aims to combine expertise from different disciplinary fields. Each year a training week will be hold to equip early stage researchers (ESRs) with a unique combination of those skills in big data analysis, biomarker assay development, innovation management, and a thorough understanding of medical needs.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the first educational meeting, which was to take place in Amsterdam, hosted by the VU and the VUmc, took place online. Leading into the training week, Prof. Charlotte Teunissen gave an introduction into the MIRIADE project. Later, biofluid biomarker research was discussed and the ESRs were able to socialize and get to know each other through a virtual pubquiz. The following days, the ESRs learned about research integrity, project management, bioinformatics and were able to peak into practical examples of business and entrepreneurship. The highlight of the week were interviews with persons diagnosed with different forms of dementia that were led by Alzheimer Nederland and Alzheimer Europe. For some of the ESRs it was the first possibility to directly interact with a diagnosed person and ask questions about their journey from diagnosis to adapting their daily life to the disease. These interviews were very encouraging, not only for the researchers, but also for the interviewees, who expressed the importance and their gratitude for our work.
In the end, albeit only virtually taking place, the first training week was a great possibility for all participants to learn more about key components of the project, get to know each other and marked, what felt like, the real start of MIRIADE. We are looking forward to the next training week from the 18th to the 22nd of October 2021, hopefully taking place in Luxembourg.
Kick-off Meeting - 12th November 2019
Twenty-five members of the brand-new MIRIADE consortium came together in Amsterdam for the first official MIRIADE assembly. The goal of the meeting was to get acquainted with fellow consortium members and together discuss and shape the detailed outline and action plan of the MIRIADE project. The 1-meter-high spaghetti towers that were built because of excellent team work set the stage for a fruitful discussion on the contents later that day. MIRIADE is ready to change the biomarker field!
Members from beneficiaries and partners of the MIRIADE consortium were brought together from 12 countries in- and outside Europe to the kick-off meeting in Amsterdam. Consortium work package leaders presented their general goals and strategy for the coming 4 years, creating insight for everyone into the more detailed project structure and how all pieces fit together. For consortium members it became clear where in the project their expertise is especially desired. In the afternoon program, the individual PhD projects of the (to be recruited) early stage researchers were discussed in small teams including supervisor and co-supervisor. This resulted in ambitious plans of challenging and fun experimental projects for the talented future PhD students.
After an energetic day, the MIRIADE consortium members left the conference venue with their heads full of ideas, new friends, and a MIRIADE-customised blocnote and pen to not forget any great ideas that might pop up during their travels back home.