Type

Range

Units

Status

Start Date

End Date

Financing

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Homepage

Partner

Brief description/objective

STROMA is an Initial Training Network promoting the study of stromal cell – immune system interactions during stroma development and function in health and disease. In STROMA we have bought together world leading experts from academia and industry in Europe to address the key scientific questions in this emerging field. STROMA will promote the training of three Experienced Researchers (ER) and thirteen Early Stage Researchers (ESR) combining research and training in state-of-the-art multidisciplinary technologies. Through “hands on” and a “Virtual Learning Environment” STROMA will train the ESRs in the latest imaging, animal models, genomics, infectious biology and stromal biology technologies in collaboration with our industrial partners. STROMA will provide training in communications skills, ethics, plagiarism, grant writing, intellectual property rights, industrial skills training, project management, entrepreneurship, research policy, commercial exploitation of results and public engagement and develop a Personal Training Plan for each ESR and ER. Through network meetings and localized training the ESRs will receive additional training in complementary skills. STROMA is a highly interconnected network with each ER/ESR project involving multiple collaborations and secondments with other network participants including an extensive placement with our industrial partners. The importance of stromal cells and the molecular mechanism of stromal cell function in the regulation of immune responses have only recently been appreciated and are an exciting new area in immunology. The purpose of STROMA is to ensure that Europe retains global leadership in this emerging field and translates basic research on stroma-immune cell interactions to novel products and technologies for European industry.