canSERV

Providing cutting edge cancer research services across Europe

Cancer research requires concerted efforts, if we want to accelerate the development and implementation of anticancer solutions. With this in mind, the EU-funded canSERV project brings under the same umbrella existing oncology research infrastructures across Europe. The network combines expertise along the oncology development pipeline but will also serve as the contact point for a comprehensive portfolio of cutting-edge services. The concept is to set the grounds for a long-standing pan-European collaboration that can foster innovative research projects and bring precision medicine solutions to benefit the cancer patient community. 

canSERV’s mission is to make cutting-edge and customised research services available to the cancer research community EU-wide, enable innovative R&D projects and foster precision medicine for patients’ benefit across Europe. By connecting, co-ordinating and aligning existing oncology and complimentary research infrastructures (RIs) and providing services in a synergistic way transnationally, canSERV will capitalise on the critical mass of experts and cutting-edge services offered by canSERV’s RIs and their extended network. canSERV brings together world-class European life science RIs (BBMRI, EURO-BIOIMAGING, ELIXIR, EU-IBISBA, EuroPDX, EU-OPENSCREEN, INSTRUCT, EATRIS, INFRAFRONTIER, EMBRC, ECRIN, MIRRI, ARIE) that collectively not only cover all aspects along the development pipeline for oncology, but are also capable of interconnecting these technologies providing users a guidance for navigating them through the entire translational value chain. With EORTC, CCE and IARC, also key organisations in the field of oncology are present in the canSERV consortium. The two SMEs, ARTTIC and ttopstart, will provide valuable input regarding sustainability, stakeholder engagement and project management activities.
A common access management system (CAMS) will be developed based on mature solutions from INSTRUCT and BBMRI. The CAMS will provide a method for selection of services, construction and submission of research proposals, multi-step review of research proposals and tracking of the access process from approval through delivery to conclusion. Through a united user-intuitive transnational access, where a united catalogue of oncology services will be offered, the users will have access to a comprehensive service portfolio. The ambition is to scale up canSERV to a pan-European collaboration of RIs for accelerating the development and implementation of solutions for the cancer patient community; the sustainability of this network beyond the end of the project will also be addressed.