Major VR grants to SciLifeLab for accessibility to infrastructure
The Swedish Research Council (VR) has decided on the applications to be awarded funding within Grant for accessibility to infrastructure. Out of six granted applications, two are SciLifeLab based: technologies for grants to make available new technologies for clinical studies in precision medicine, as well as the establishment of a national SciLifeLab Training Hub.
In total, six infrastructure projects are awarded just over SEK 57 million, to be run over 4 years. The researchers represent five universities, of which KI receives the largest grant and SU the second, both applications being SciLifeLab based.
The SciLifeLab Precision Medicine Capability team, together with the Clinical Genomics platform, Genomic Medicine Sweden, the Center for Clinical Cancer Studies (CKC) and Precision Medicine Center at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital receive a total of SEK 14.7 million from the Swedish Research Council to make available new technologies for clinical studies in precision medicine in selected pilot projects. The four-year grant is part of the Swedish Research Council’s investment in research infrastructure and making them available also for stakeholders outside academia.
“We are very happy and humbled by the trust and funding for this great challenge”, says Päivi Östling, researcher at the Department of Oncology-Pathology at KI and one of the Scientific Leads for the Precision Medicine Capabililty at SciLifeLab. “Today’s clinical trials increasingly need molecular analyses, such as e.g., genomics to match patients to studies. SciLifeLab offers a large range of molecular profiling methods and thanks to this grant we can start to adapt additional technologies to clinical studies nationally”.
Jessica Lindvall is main applicant for the funded application “Establishing a national SciLifeLab Training Hub”, which was granted 10.9 MSEK, a project aiming to consolidate SciLifeLab Infrastructure expertise into open, accessible, and flexible training formats to upskill specifically the industry user community in advanced technological and data-driven life science topics. The focus lies on equipping individuals with the skills they need to thrive in the modern workplace, ensuring they remain competitive and adaptable in an ever-changing job market.
“The funding enables the SciLifeLab lifelong learning intiative to reach beyond the academic research community, to the industry stakeholders, including SMEs and larger businesses. We believe that by investing in the skills of individuals, we, as in SciLifeLab, can support to build a more resilient workforce that is better equipped to tackle the challenges of the future; a challenge shared across the research, industry, and health-care disciplines” says Jessica Lindvall, Head of Training at SciLifeLab Training Hub and the Bioinformatics platform.
The funds are awarded as part of the Swedish Research Council’s investment in supporting researchers who participate in building and developing research infrastructures. The idea is that research infrastructures should be made available to an increased extent and used by customers from business and the public sector.
The evaluation of the scientific quality of applications was based on five criteria for the project; relevance for the call, significance, and impact, expected socio-economic impact and feasibility.
”The fact that two of the six funded projects are SciLifeLab related is proof that our national infrastructure is a strong and important pillar for the scientific community in Sweden, both in terms of the research infrastructure and SciLifeLab’s commitment to lifelong learning” says Annika Jenmalm Jensen, Infrastructure Director, SciLifeLab.
Read more about the decision from The Swedish Research Council >> https://www.vr.se/5.518a37141817fcec4a825045.html
