Marie Curie Actions: Inspiring Researchers - Imdea

This experience has made me aware of the additionalbenefits of collaborative research between scientistsworldwide from both academia and enterprises.’‘The great advantage of a project like this is that it allows you tomeet great people from all over Europe, share your knowledgewith them, discuss problems that may occur during research,create new contacts that can be important for your futurecareer and, most importantly I think, to make a lot of friends,’adds Kamila Pytel, a Polish early-stage researcher based atAston University.Match made in heaven?One of the aims of the Marie Curie Actions is to promote longlastingcollaborations between research groups in differentcountries and sectors. Proof of their success in this comes inthe form of Dr Said El Alaoui. Back in the 1990s, he was a MarieCurie Fellow under Professor Griffi n. He subsequently movedto France where he founded the biotech SME (and Tracksproject partner) Covalab. Over the years, he has continuedto work extensively with many scientists, including ProfessorGriffi n, across Europe.‘Dr El Alaoui is involved as a partner on this project andhas an early-stage researcher in his employment, thusdemonstrating the success of EC training programmeslike Marie Curie and the longevity of network systems andcollaboration,’ states Professor Griffi n.Meanwhile, Professor Griffi n is optimistic that the relationshipsestablished through Tracks will continue long after the projecthas ended. ‘The partners have expressed a desire to continuetheir collaboration through applications for European researchfunding, including an application to set up a new researchtraining network.’Project acronymTracksFull project titleTransglutaminases: role in pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapyType of grantTraining NetworkBudgetEUR 2 945 000Duration of project30-11-2006 - 29-11-2010Scientific disciplineLife sciencesLead partnerProfessor Martin GriffinSchool of Life and Health SciencesAston UniversityAston TriangleGB-Birmingham B4 7ETTel. +44 121 204 4096 // e-mail: m.griffin@aston.ac.ukOther partnersUniversity of Rome, Italy - University of Tampere, Finland -Covalab, France - University of Debrecen, Hungary - University of Oslo, Norway -XLINK Ltd, United Kingdom - University of Trieste, Italy55