CORDIS, a new service Unique Registration Facility (URF), was launched on April 27. It will facilitate the preparation of grant agreements between participants and the European Commission. Thanks to the new service, participants in the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and other programmes managed by the Research Directorate General will no longer have to submit their legal and financial information each time a new grant agreement is in the pipeline. Once participants have been validated by the European Commission´s central validation team for their existence as legal entities and their legal status they will only have to submit their Participant Identification Code (PIC). and Lenka Lepičová.
The aim of the Center is to focus on selected branches of basic research in developmental biology, biocompatible polymer synthesis, neuroscience and transplant surgery into one organic whole. This scan serve as an experimental foundation for cell therapy and tissue repair research on a level qualitatively comparable to research in the developed countries of the EU and the USA. and Eva Syková.
Also in this issue is an article on another centre of excellence to receive the support of the European Commission with a grant. It is the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the ASCR where civil engineering and architecture are the main fields of application for research results. This tradition is more than 80 years old. Increased attention has been paid to safeguard the established heritage and its integration into the life of contemporary society. The complexity of problems of cultural heritage calls for a modern interdisciplinary approach and this was inaugurated in a systematic way in 1995 by founding a new department at the Institute - the Associated Centre for Historic Structures and Sites. The process has continued and now involves scientists from other research institutes and universities working at two research units - one in Prague and the other at the World Heritage City of Telč. and Miloš Drdácký.
The research activities of this Centre are focused on the study of cyanobacteria, algae and symbiotic soil microorganisms (bacteria and algae), which are used for bioindicatoin and revitalization of toxic anthropogenic substrates and water resources. The targeted outcomes are methods for predicting cyanobacteria in drinking wter and water resources, technology of biogas production from algal biomass and the use of algal biomass for the pharmaceutical industry and biotechnology of microbial inoculations for more effective recultivation of brown-coal spoil banks. The research Centre is divided into three research groups each dealing with a portion of the research task: Group 1 - Cyanobacteria and their toxins in the waterworks industry; Group 2 - Use of algae for bioindication and revitalization of polluted water and biomass use; Group 3 - Use of microbial inoculations for soil revitalization. and Miroslav Vosátka, Jana Albrechtová.
The purpose of this project, coordinated by the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR, is to support basic research in chemical biology and genetics and offers Open Access to academic researchers. This infrastructure is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that includes an integrated robotic system for highthroughput screening, a system for automated microscopic highcontent analysis and an integrated robotic system for compound storage and management. Its mission is to create a national infrastructure for chemical biology comprised of the national compound collection and the database that enable identification of research tools and probes to be used in basic research and development of potential therapeutics. CZ-OPENSCREEN is a priority project within The National Roadmap of the Large Infrastructures and will serve as a National node in the ESFRI infrastructure EU-OPENSCREEN. and Luděk Svoboda.