Academic CentreThe institute conducts research and implements projects in the field of clinical medicine, including oncology, microbiome, and the study of infections (sepsis, tuberculosis, etc.), research in internal medicine and surgical pathology, laboratory medicine, and visual diagnostics, as well as other natural sciences; in the field of public health and disease prevention, population, screening, and intervention studies.
State research programs
VPP - State research programs in accordance with Section 35, Paragraph 1 of the Law on Scientific Activity of May 19, 2005 are a state order for conducting scientific research in a certain economic, educational, cultural or other state priority sector with the aim to promote the development of this sector.
VPP - State research programs in accordance with Section 35, Paragraph 1 of the Law on Scientific Activity of May 19, 2005 are a state order for conducting scientific research in a certain economic, educational, cultural or other state priority sector with the aim to promote the development of this sector.
VPP in biomedicine, medical technologies and pharmacy - "BioMedPharm"
WP7: Development of new cancer diagnostic and treatment methods(coordinated by BMC)
WP8: Implementation of big data-driven precision medicine solutions(coordinated by BMC)
Duration: 01.12.2022. - 30.11.2024.
Identification Nr.: VPP 2022/32
Total funding: 243 000 EUR
Scientific manager: Mārcis Leja
The Latvian Council of Science
LZP - The Latvian Council of Science was established in 1991. In accordance with the Law on Scientific Activity, the Latvian Council of Science is a collegiate institution of the scientists under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Science. The Council is a counsellor of the Latvian Government on research and researchers training issues. It advises on the formulation and implementation of science, higher education and R&D policy. The Council takes active part in project based competitive R&D funding, as well as promotes the development of Latvian researcher resources and fosters the international scientific cooperation.
The aim of the project: to find out how it is possible to practically apply the miRNA expression profile of extracellular vesicles as a biomarker of a malignant process in clinical decision-making, combining risk factors, clinical and genetic data, further moving towards less invasive lung cancer diagnosis.
Duration: 01.04.2023. – 31.03.2026.
Identification Nr.: lzp-2022/1-0410
Total funding: 300 000,00 EUR, including the funding allocated to the LU part of the project: 240 000,00 EUR
Scientific manager: Alvils Krams
HORIZON 2020
HORIZON 2020 - combines various EU research and innovation funding instruments into a single program. More than ever, the program aims to turn scientific discoveries into innovative products and services that create new business opportunities and improve people's lives. Horizon 2020 stimulates the economy, strengthens the EU's science and technology base and industrial competitiveness in the future, towards a smarter, more sustainable and inclusive society. Thanks to it, more breakthroughs, discoveries and unique experiences will be achieved by bringing to life the great ideas of the market.
ROSiE – Responsible science in Europe
The aim of the project: to analyze the ethical aspects of open science and to develop practical tools to implement the principles of research ethics in open science and amateur science.
The duration of the project: 01/03/2021 - 01/02/2024
Project identification Nr.: 101006430
Total funding: 184 740 EUR
Projec tscientific manager: Dr.sc.soc. Signe Mežinska
More information on project website
HORIZON EUROPE
Horizon Europe is the EU's research and innovation (R&I) program 2021-2027. for the period of 2018, which continues the previous program Horizon 2020. It is planned to allocate 95.5 billion to research and innovation within Horizon Europe. EUR. The focus of the program will be on strengthening European integrity, solving climate change issues and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and promoting Europe's global competitiveness. One of the main horizontal principles of the Horizon Europe program will be the principle of Open Science with the aim of promoting the wide use of findable, accessible, reusable and interoperable (jointly – FAIR) data. 5 mission thematic areas have been proposed: Adaptation to climate change, including social transformation; Cancer; Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters; Climate neutral and smart cities; Soil health and food.
The CCI4EU project is implemented within the Cancer Mission of the European Union program "Horizon Europe". This EU mission envisages the development of various aspects of cancer prevention and treatment in order to maximally improve the lives of 3 million people - cancer patients and their fellow human beings - by 2030.
Project duration: 01/04/2023-31/12/2030
Identification Nr.: ZD2023/21497
Total funding: 53 375 EUR
Scientific manager: Mārcis Leja
LUCIA - Understanding Lung Cancer related risk factors and their Impact
The aim of the project: to improve the early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of lung cancer. As a result of the project's research, recommendations for an early diagnosis program and methods for effective prevention of lung cancer will be developed.
Duration: 01.01.2023. līdz 31.12.2026.
Identification Nr.: 101096473
Scientific manager: Alvils Krams
More information: project website
LUCIA is run by the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology
The aim of the FAMILY project: to investigate the biological mechanisms underlying the familial inheritance of mental illness risk, to find out how resilience factors reduce risk factors, and to explore the social and ethical implications of mental illness risk prediction. Thus, the FAMILY project improves the lives of patients with mental illness and their loved ones by offering new tools for predicting the risk and resilience of mental illness. Such prediction allows early detection of potential risks of mental illness and support for families.
The KPMI research group in the FAMILY project leads and implements the 8th work package "Ethical aspects and social consequences of the risk and prediction of intergenerational transmission of mental diseases" in cooperation with the consortium partners.
Duration: 01.01.2022. - 30.09.2027.
Identification Nr.: 101057529
Total funding: 483 781 EUR
Scientific manager: Dr.sc.soc. Signe Mežinska
More information: homepage
The main goal of the BEYOND project is to robustly explore and advance individual and institutional responsibilities in RM and in the promotion of RE/RI. The consortium will achieve this goal by developing co-created, needs-and-case-based, streamlined, and best practices-based measures meant to engage, guide, and equip research-related stakeholders through guidance and educational instruments. BEYOND will adopt a complex ecosystemic perspective on research ethics and integrity that recognizes the multiple responsibilities of researchers and other stakeholders to enrich the overly simplistic Bad Apples approach that underpins most existing measures to prevent research misconduct.
Duration: 01.1.2023. līdz 31.12.2025. (24 mēneši)
Identificatrion Nr.: 101094714
Total funding: EUR 97 500
Scientific manager: Signe Mežinska
More information: homepage
REBALANCE - Mechanisms of focused ultRasound mEdiated BrAin cLeAniNg Coupled with enhanced mEchanosensation
Focused ultrasound (FUS) is a non-invasive, ground-breaking technique suggested for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. REBALANCE aims to discover the key cellular targets and molecular mechanisms underlying FUS-induced brain cleaning and therapeutic efficacy in Alzheimer’s disease. The combination of human-based models and state-of-the-art animal models bridges the preclinical mechanistic findings to clinical data and provide biomarkers indicative of therapeutic benefit. Continuous analysis of ethical issues will allow us to identify ethical challenges in the research and development process from the point of view of different stakeholders, to minimize ethical risks and to involve patient organizations in the dialogue. Combined these efforts will lead to efficient clinical translation of the preclinical findings and towards more efficient treatment of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. ICPM group of researchers leads and implements in collaboration with consortium partners work package 6 of REBALANCE project “Mapping of ethical risks”.
Duration: 01.04.2023. - 31.12.2026.
Identification Nr.: ES RTD/2023/22
Total funding: 300 000 EUR
Scientific manager: Dr.sc.soc. Signe Mežinska
More information: homepage
About the AIDA project: Since the beginning of 2023, LU KPMI researchers have been working on the AIDA project (An Artificially Intelligent Diagnostic Assistant for gastric inflammation). It is a multidisciplinary AI-powered assistive tool that helps doctors diagnose precancerous lesions, offers personalized therapeutic strategies for medical treatment, and provides personalized recommendations for monitoring patients' health status, promoting gastric cancer prevention.
Most cases of stomach cancer are detected at a late stage - when the patient's survival is predicted only for a year. The potential risk of developing stomach cancer can be detected at an early stage of its development, which is usually indicated by a chronic infection with the bacterium H. pylori residing in the stomach. This can greatly improve the patient's chances.
The AIDA project supports doctors and researchers by providing accurate and automated data analyses. It combines data from various sources to create a vast virtual data set to obtain a "risk score" for stomach cancer and discover the mechanisms of its development.
Detailed information is available on the project website: www.aidaeuproject.org
Identification Nr.: 101095359 LU reģ. Nr. ZD2022/21386
Leading partner of the project: FUNDACION PARA LA INVESTIGACION DEL HOSPITAL CLINICO DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA, FUNDACION INCLIVA (INCLIVA) (Spānija)
Project partners: LATVIJAS UNIVERSITATE (LU); INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACAO E INOVACAO EM SAUDE DA UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO (I3S); SERVICIO MADRILENO DE SALUD (SERMAS); FUNDACIO CLINIC PER A LA RECERCA BIOMEDICA (FCRB-CERCA); CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE DE NANTES (CHU-Nantes); LIETUVOS SVEIKATOS MOKSLU UNIVERSITETO LIGONINE KAUNO KLINIKOS (LSMU); INSTITUTO PORTUGUES DE ONCOLOGIA DO PORTO FRANCISCO GENTIL, EPE (IPO Porto); ERASMUS UNIVERSITAIR MEDISCH CENTRUM ROTTERDAM (Erasmus MC); STRATEJAI (Stratejai); DIGESTIVE CANCERS EUROPE DICE (DiCE); IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON.
The dutration of project: 01.01.2023. – 31.12.2026.
Total funding of LU: 755250,00 EUR
The project "Establishing of Cancer Mission Hubs: Networks and Synergies - ECHoS" aims to coordinate and drive research and innovation and health care processes in the field of cancer in line with policy-making processes that would help create people-centered healthcare and research systems. More than 50 government, health care, academic and non-governmental organizations from 28 countries work in the project consortium. As part of this, National Cancer Mission Centers will be established in each of these countries, thus involving a wide range of interested parties from different sectors in the processes and dialogue at the state, regional and national level.
Latvia is represented in the project by several organizations, such as the Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital, the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine of the Lithuanian University, which will closely cooperate with the leading partners of the consortium and leading experts around the world and in Europe. Joint efforts will help coordinate cancer research and innovation and health care with policy-making processes that focus on people-centered health care and research systems in ways that individual efforts and fragmented initiatives cannot achieve.
Project objective: to coordinate and drive research and innovation and health care processes in the field of cancer in line with policy development that would help create people-centered health care and research systems
The duration of the project: 01/05/2023 - 01/05/2026
Identification Nr.: 101104587
Total funding: 6 096 147.50 EUR
EU4HEALTH
The EU4HEALTH program was adopted in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and to strengthen crisis preparedness in the European Union. The pandemic highlighted the fragility of national healthcare systems. The program will help solve health problems in the long term, creating stronger, more sustainable and more accessible health care systems. Health is an investment. With a budget of 5.3 billion euros for the period from 2021 to 2027, the "EU for Health" program provides unprecedented financial support to the field of health. "EU - for health" is a clear message that public health is a priority of the European Union. The program is one of the main instruments laying the foundations for the European Health Union.
The EU for Health program will lay the foundations for a European Health Union by investing in urgent health priorities:
- Response to the Covid-19 crisis and enhanced EU resilience against cross-border health threats;
- European Plan to Beat Cancer;
- EU Medicines Strategy.
No effective screening modality to prevent gastric cancer is available in Europe. Elimination of H. pylori bacteria is expected to decrease the mortality by 40%; another approach is early detection of precancerous lesions for surveillance.
The TOGAS project aims at contributing to the improvement and fostering of health in the European Union by decreasing the burden, caused by gastric cancer. More precisely, TOGAS contributes to the Flagship 4 of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan: putting forward a new EU-Supported Cancer Screening Scheme, particularly, by developing novel approaches for screening and early detection of gastric cancer, and by providing options to extend screening for new cancers that are currently not included in the Recommendations of the European Council.
The general objective of the TOGAS: to provide the missing evidence-based knowledge to be further transferred to design plan and implement appropriate gastric cancer prevention across the EU.
The results from this project will help policy makers to incorporate gastric cancer screening into their healthcare priorities while balancing its effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability with long-term potential adverse effects.
Duration: 01.04.2023. - 31.12.2026.
Identification Nr.: Projekta identifikācijas numurs: 101101252
Total funding: 11 337 063 EUR
Scientific manager: Mārcis Leja
More informatoin: homepage.
The results from this project will help policy makers to incorporate the population-based H. pylori test- and treat strategy into their healthcare priorities for gastric cancer prevention while balancing its effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability with its short- and long-term potential adverse effects. Consequently, this will facilitate acceleration of gastric cancer reduction in Europe and prevent important loss of life and productivity caused by this preventable malignancy.
Project identification Nr: 101079944
Scientific manager: Mārcis Leja
Project partners: Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor (ZD MB), University of Latvia Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine (LU), The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization IARC/(WHO), Nantes University Hospital (NANTES)
Project duration: 01.11.2022. - 30.04.2025.
Project total funding: 500 005.65 EUR (LU daļa, tostarp ES programmas ES – veselībai finansējums 80% - 400 004.52 EUR, nacionālais finansējums 20% - 100 001.33 EUR)
E-mail: eurohelican@nijz.si
