PDF file: EURASNET Annual Report 2008

14 SUMMARY EXPLANATION OF THE IMPACT OF MAJOR DEVIATIONSFROM COST AND PERSON MONTH BUDGETThe EC payment for 2007 was received in April 2008 only and was immediately distributed to members. The ECpayment for 2008 has been received December 31, 2008. It could therefore be distributed only in January 2009.The REPORT ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE COMMUNITY'S CONTRIBUTION (Section 13) thereforeshows a non-distributed amount of 1.956.874,18 Euro. This does therefore not constitute underspending.Transfers from the Coordinator's escrow account made in 2008 are listed in the justification of major cost itemsfor participant 1a (coordinator). Eurasnet partner Stefan Stamm (#3) receives money until the end of February2008 (the termination of his status as Eurasnet member). Stefan Stamm continued to work on EURASNETdeliverables during all of 2008 and will continue to work on the completion of his deliverables of the JPA month25-42. Future PMs originally assigned to him will be shouldered by other network members. We thereforeinclude in this Report 2008 an updated table PM Efforts for the full duration of the project (Section 15.9) whichshows how the PM have been redistributed. Due to the unclear situation of his status he did not receive fundsduring 2007/2008 and his final payment will be made in 2009 only (that is balancing and closing his Erlangenaccount with the date Feb 29, 2008). The research funds assigned to University Erlangen (Stefan Stamm) inAnnex I remain under the control of the coordinator and will be distributed for tasks previously assigned to St.Stamm following case by case decisions. As already mentioned in our 2007 Annual Report, the website-relatedtasks and connected funds were switched to Eurasnet member John Brown (#14) effective July 1, 2007. Thishappened also in anticipation of a possible move of Stefan Stamm. An amendment request addressing theleaving of Stefan Stamm is submitted with this Annual Report 2008.Steering Committee and Coordinator hold the firm opinion that the contact to clinical practitioners is of highestimportance to establish the awareness of the connections of alternative splicing and disease processes in themedical community. In this view we are supported by our Scientific Advisory Board. As already pointed out inour reply letter to the 2007 Reviewer's Report, EURASNET is striving to give this connection to practitioner anddiagnosis a stronger standing within the framework of EURASNET. EURASNET therefore decided inNovember 2008 to support a proposal brought forth by Eurasnet partner 32 Diana Baralle, University ofSouthampton. In a flagship study in cooperation with the National Genetics Reference Laboratory, UK Eurasnetwill explore the needs, technical aspects and quality assurance of RNA analysis as a means of interpretingsequence variants. Principal investigator for this study is Diana Baralle. Eurasnet supports this study with 60.000Euros for a one year scientist position. These funds originate from money saved during the cost-efficientorganisation of workshops and meetings and in particular the cost-efficient operation of the EURASNETwebsite.Partner 32 does not claim eligible costs for 2008. The explanation is given in the justification section 10.32.15 JOINT PROGRAM OF ACTIVITIES (MONTH 25-42, JAN 2008-JUNE 2009)15.1 THE FUTURE OF EURASNET RESEARCH: GOALS AND OBJECTIVESAFTER TWO YEARSTwo years into the network, EURASNET thought it appropriate to reconsider its goals and perspectives, itsapproaches and structures. To this purpose the coordinator convened a PI-only session during the IFM onBiophysical Methods, Berlin January 2008. Taking into consideration achievements and deficits of the last twoyears, surveying the rapidly evolving field of alternative splicing with many new technologies and researchoptions emerging, network members discussed where new avenues of research should be ventured and whereoutdated goals should be abandoned.206