Ecnis

ECNIS (Environmental Cancer Risk, Nutrition and Individual Susceptibility) - Network of Excellence created by 25 research institutions (~200 scientists) in Europe coordinated by the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź, Poland - project granted within Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP6). The ultimate goal of the ECNIS NoE is to establish an internationally competitive network of European research centres to overcome the existing fragmentation of activities and to enhance the quality and relevance of research on environment, nutrition, and cancer risk as modulated by diet and genetic disposition. The main focus of this virtual research centre of excellence will be on the use of biomarkers of exposure and bioindicators of disease in molecular epidemiology of cancer with the ultimate goal to reduce the cancer burden in Europe.

ECNIS have been classified into the following four groups of Activities and workpackages:

The Integrating Activities aimed to establish a durable network of strongly collaborating participants, using harmonized, integrated resources, data bases, procedures and quality standards for common use as a base for performing coordinated joined research activities
WP1 - Integrating available resources and setting up quality standards (Resources)
WP2 - Establishing an integrated organization of knowledge and information flow (Knowledge and information)
WP3 - Joint training and mobility programs (Training)
WP4 - Construction and implementation of a knowledge data base on Molecular Epidemiology and Cancer (MEC)

The Joint Research Activities, focused on the exploitation of technological and scientific innovation in a nutrition and molecular cancer epidemiology with an ultimate use for cancer risk
WP5 - Science Monitoring and Review (Science Review)
WP6 - Development, characterization and validation of biomarkers of exposure and of bioindicators of disease for use in epidemiology (Biomarkers of exposure)
WP7 - Development and validation of biomarkers of individual susceptibility (Biomarkers of individual susceptibility)
WP8 - Implementation of biomarker technology for cancer prevention
WP9 -Mechanisms of modulation of cancer by dietary factors (Modulation by diet)
WP10 - Mechanistic research to support cancer hazard and risk assessment (Mechanism of action)
WP11 - Integrated risk assessment (Risk assessment)
WP12 - The socio-ethical impact of biomarker use

The Spreading of Excellence Activities focused on training and mobility programmes for inside and outside network and sharing of the acquired knowledge with different stakeholders (researchers, industry, society, regulators, health care etc.)
WP13 - Dissemination of knowledge into the scientific community
WP14 - Dissemination of acquired knowledge to different stakeholders

The Management Activities aiming at establishing a functional, flexible management structure to ensure efficient communication between ECNIS participants, with EC, and different stakeholders and to guide the network towards its ultimate goal of gaining international recognition.
WP15. Management Activities

Partners of ECNIS – 25 partners in 13 countries
1. The Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
2. German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
3. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
4. Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
5. Institute for Scientific Interchange Foundation, Torino, Italy
6. The National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece
7. University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
8. József Fodor National Center for Public Health, Budapest, Hungary
9. Nicolaus Copernicus University, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Poland
10. Genetics Research Institute & Ospedale Policlinics, Milano, Italy
11. Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
12. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland
13. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
14. Lund University, Lund, Sweden
15. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
16. Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, United Kingdom
17. Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
18. Biochemical Institute for Environmental Carcinogens Prof. dr Gernot Grimmer Foundation, Grosshansdorf, Germany
19. Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain
20. Utrecht University, Institute Of Risk Assessment Science, Utrecht, The Netherlands
21. University of Dundee Biomedical Research Centre, Dundee, United Kingdom
22. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France
23. [http://www.netix.pl NETIX Skrzypczynski, Krzysztofowicz Sp. J.,] Warsaw, Poland
24. Leocordia AB, Stockholm, Sweden
25. Imperial College, London, UK

http://www.ecnis.org