Action profile
What is STRATAGEM?
STRATAGEM is a COST action. The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) is a EU funding organisation for the creation of research networks. For more information on COST actions and how they work please visit the COST website.
After its creation in 2019, STRATAGEM built the first multidisciplinary network – including academic laboratories, research institutes, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with a wide range of high-level and non-overlapping expertise – all of which aiming to improve both the diagnosis and therapy of multidrug resistant (MDR) solid tumours.
STRATAGEM joins forces to enrich the limited knowledge about biomarkers and therapeutic tools that can be used against MDR tumours, predictive/diagnostic algorithms for MDR tumours ex ante. So far all previous therapies against MDR tumours have failed. The key challenge which STRATAGEM works to resolve is nto fill these gaps by producing a comprehensive, open and user-friendly platform of knowledge on MDR tumours, by identifying new diagnostic/predictive biomarkers, and producing new, safe compounds that can be used for the personalised treatment of MDR tumours.
Up to 70% of solid tumours are resistant at diagnosis. This means poor life quality and poor prognosis for patients, and high management costs for European healthcare systems. This Action is working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with MDR tumours and reduce the costs of their management.
Furthermore, the Action aims to raise the level of European research on MDRs, and thus reduce the disparity in research quality between EU countries and ITCs, providing the necessary training for European Early Career Investigators (ECIs) to grow as future independent research leaders, regardless of location, age or gender.
Currently, there is no professional figure of young scientists that are adequately instructed in the different disciplines, trained to have interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary views and approaches that cover preclinical and clinical research in MDR tumours in order to successfully develop diagnostic tests or new drugs for MDR tumours. STRATAGEM was awarded with the COST Innovator Grant (CIG) 2022, for the proposal “PANDORA – Pan-European Educational Platform on Multidrug Resistant Tumours and Personalised Cancer Treatment”. This CIG aims to create this new professional figure. By exploiting the scientific excellence present in the COST Action and the experience accumulated in organising training schools, practical-theoretical courses and workshops for young scientists, the CIG aims to create a prototype for a training platform that will allow each scientist to fill the gaps in her/his scientific knowledge, and acquire a broader set of skills and expertise that will be advantageous at multiple levels.
STRATAGEM Brochure: download
STRATAGEM Flyer: download