Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ANTIVIRALS (European Training Network on Antiviral Drug Development)

Teaser

Virus infections are and remain a global threat to public health, and pose important medical, socio-clinical and economic impact on the lives of people in the EU and worldwide. There is no doubt that Europe needs and will continue to need researchers who are able to face these...

Summary

Virus infections are and remain a global threat to public health, and pose important medical, socio-clinical and economic impact on the lives of people in the EU and worldwide. There is no doubt that Europe needs and will continue to need researchers who are able to face these challenges. The Marie Skłodowska Curie European Training Network ANTIVIRALS (www.antivirals-etn.eu) is designed to prepare talented Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) for a leading role in antiviral drug discovery in European industry or academia.
The development of innovative antiviral drugs requires knowledge of various disciplines, ranging from molecular virology to structural biology and medicinal chemistry. Few, if any, universities can offer a training programme that encompasses all fields. The ANTIVIRALS network brings together Europe’s experts in these fields dedicated to antiviral drug development. The seven academic institutions and four industrial partners (complemented by one non-academic partner specialized in training) are highly committed to training the 15 ESRs to become specialists in their field, with a broad view of other fields of antiviral drug development.

Work performed

Since the start of the project in March 2015, 15 ESRs have been recruited with an exceptionally high proportion of female ESRs (14 out of 15!). They are researching various aspects of antiviral drug development using state-of-the art technology, focusing on viral causes of important diseases such as SARS, MERS, Dengue and foot-and-mouth disease and others. Recent development have led to the addition of Zika virus to the list.

To successfully develop new antiviral compounds, knowledge from fundamental science performed at universities must be translated to innovative applications that are generally led by companies. After their ANTIVIRALS training, the ESRs will be able to understand both the academic and the industrial (research) world. Therefore, all ESRs spend time in both of the sectors and receive training on many transferable skills that are useful for any future career path, such as Management, Intellectual Property Rights, Communication, Team Skills and Entrepreneurship.

All ESRs participate in training courses from their own local graduate schools, as well as from the ANTIIVRALS network. So far, ANTIVIRALS organized three research training courses on Virus Replication & Evolution, Small-Molecule Screening and on Structural Biology & Structure-based Drug Design, which were taught by European experts from within and outside the network. Also, the 15 ESRs have participated six transferable skills workshops organized by the network with the help of external trainers, with a focus on personal effectiveness, team skills, research ethics and integrity, research grants, scientific communication and dissemination/societal outreach.

Final results

The young scientists are fully aware that science has a great societal impact and that they have an important role in engaging with the general public. Several ESRs contributed to public engagement events, such as La Fête de la Science or Career Events at universities and there are plans to organize a TEDx event. In fact, all ESRs will be involved in at least one face-to-face outreach event and all will write an article for the lay public. Please also check their own blog site (link on ANTIVIRALS website) for interesting discussions on virology-related subjects!

The first nice scientific developments are lining up and several ESRs have already contributed to scientific publications and presented their work at scientific conferences. But the big dissemination is still to come. Chalk up the international Conference of Antiviral Research 2018 in your calendar: you won’t be able to miss the ESRs at that meeting!

“Creating a network of scientists which work together to complement good scientific research is crucial” says ESR-7 (PhD student at Cardiff University). This highlights the importance of networking and interdisciplinarity. Indeed, the 15 ESRs have become a very tight group within the two years since the start of the project, as are their scientific supervisors. The resulting (life-long?) network will be the basis when the ANTIVIRALS-trained reseachers are making a contribution to strengthening Europe’s position in this competitive research field.




Quotes:
The possibilities I get from the network and the PhD experience in Cardiff are exactly the start of the career I was hoping for in my life.”
ESR-8, PhD student at Cardiff Univeristy

“I chose ANTIVIRALS for the comprehensive, multidisciplinary training programme, the international cooperation and networking opportunities and the strong link to industry. It´s great!”
ESR-6, PhD student at Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg)

Website & more info

More info: http://www.antivirals-etn.eu.