The global objective of the Roumen Tsanev Institute of Molecular Biology is to develop its traditionally strong focus on epigenetics and chromatin biology towards a world-class level of research excellence. Our Institute has identified Prof. Stefan Dimitrov - a top level scientist and an internationally recognised expert in the field of epigenetics -as a prospective ERA Chair holder. We intend to achieve significant improvements in research and innovations capabilities of the IMB-BAS in the area of the Institute's long term specialisation, producing a clear impact on publication quality and newly acquired knowledge with translational potential. This should be achieved by: - Transfer of knowledge with a major focus on PhD students and young postdocs to provide for sustainable growth of IMB-BAS and reduce the "brain drain"; - Raising the standards of research quality; - Improving conditions for cooperative work; - Improved capability to obtain competitive international research funding both by the ERA Chair and the rest of IMB scientists; - Translational potential: reinvigorating research will create the conditions for better innovation the findings in epigenetics directly concern mechanisms of pathogenesis; The project's implementation will also contribute in an important way to developing the national R&D sector and smart specialisation strategies. At the International level, establishing the ERA Chair holder group at IMB will help integrate the Institute with an international network of researchers in epigenetics. The project implementation is expected to have positive impact on: institutional reforms, use of existing research infrastructures, increased international research collaboration, attractiveness to excellent talents, better circulation of knowledge and expertise including between sectors, contribute to Bulgaria’s Research and Innovation Strategies.

The World Health Organization has emphasized the importance of early and accurate diagnosis of bacterial infections. An ideal diagnostic tool would possess high speed, high throughput, accuracy, low cost and simplicity of use for the clinical laboratory or bed-side applications. Diagnostic tools that possess all these properties currently do not exist. To address this knowledge gap, in the BUG-ID consortium, seven European universities, one research institute, one hospital and six private companies have teamed up. Our consortium will train 15 doctoral candidates with skills in interdisciplinary research, spanning from nanotechnology and materials science to molecular microbiology, biochemistry, infection medicine to AI-based data analysis. Private sector participants will bring their full capacity to bear on intersectoral training, allowing doctoral students to forge links between science and innovation. At the core of the BUG-ID concept is the 2D nanomaterial graphene. Versatile surface chemistry, sensing capacity and possibility of integration with electronic and optical devices will be the key properties of graphene exploited by our consortium. Scientific challenges we will tackle will include the identification of suitable biomarkers for infection in complex environments (background of bacterial commensals), structural engineering of appropriate receptors for identified biomarkers, functionalization of graphene sensors with the receptors and their integration into functional sensors, miniaturization of sensor technology and optimization of complex signal readouts using machine learning techniques and explainable AI. To pave the way for building such game-changing technology, BUG-ID doctoral students will have to work together as a team, drawing competence from distant scientific disciplines, and moving across sectoral boundaries. In doing so, they will receive training that empowers them to become future leaders in science and innovation.

Euro-BioImaging (EuBI) is the pan-European research infrastructure project for imaging technologies in biological and medical sciences and has been on the ESFRI Roadmap since 2008. In close match with the scope and objectives of the INFRADEV2 call, Preparatory Phase II (PPII) funding will enable EuBI: • to finalize the submission and approval procedure of its ERIC statutes with the EC and bring them to signature by the EuBI Member States and EMBL to launch the EuBI-ERIC; • obtain commitments for the sustainable funding for the EuBI-ERIC by its Member States; • implement the operational EuBI Hub and recruit its staff to provide user access and services; • define and sign the service level agreements between EuBI-ERIC and the 1st generation of EuBI Nodes; • establish a procedure to increase EuBI-ERIC membership, so that new countries can continuously join the EuBI-ERIC with clear national benefits and contributions. From Dec 2010 until May 2014, EuBI successfully completed its EU FP7-funded Preparatory Phase I, which addressed key technical and strategic questions and provided a blueprint for infrastructure implementation. 14 European countries (BE, BG, CZ, FI, FR, IL, IT, NO, PL, PT, SK, ES, NL, UK), and the PPI coordinator EMBL have signed the EuBI Memorandum of Understanding to jointly undertake the remaining steps required to draft and submit the EuBI ERIC application to the EC. The MoU signatories constitute the EuBI Interim Board (IB), which now governs the Interim Phase. To maintain the successful momentum of Member State engagement, the EuBI PPII project consortium comprises and is fully supported by all IB Members. We have jointly defined clear and measurable objectives that will bring EuBI to full maturity in order to start operation and provide its services to European researchers immediately upon launch of the EuBI-ERIC. The award of PPII funding would leapfrog the start of EuBI-ERIC user access and service provision by at least 1,5 year’s time or more.

One of the greatest challenges facing regulators in the ever changing landscape of novel nano-materials is how to design and implement a regulatory process which is robust enough to deal with a rapidly diversifying system of manufactured nanomaterials (MNM) over time. Not only does the complexity of the MNM present a problem for regulators, the validity of data decreases with time, so that the well-known principle of the half-life of facts (Samuel Arbesman, 2012) means that what is an accepted truth now is no longer valid in 20 or 30 years time. The challenge is to build a regulatory system which is flexible enough to be able to deal with new targets and requirements in the future, and this can be helped by the development and introduction of Safe by Design (SbD) principles. The credibility of such a regulatory system, underpinned by the implementation of SbD, is essential for industry, who while accepting the need for regulation demand it is done in a cost effective and rapid manner. The NANoREG II project, built around the challenge of coupling SbD to the regulatory process, will demonstrate and establish new principles and ideas based on data from value chain implementation studies to establish SbD as a fundamental pillar in the validation of a novel MNM. It is widely recognized by industries as well as by regulatory agencies that grouping strategies for NM are urgently needed. ECETOC has formed a task force on NM grouping and also within the OECD WPMN a group works on NM categorisation. However, so far no reliable and regulatory accepted grouping concepts could be established. Grouping concepts that will be developed by NanoREG II can be regarded as a major innovation therefore as guidance documents on NM grouping will not only support industries or regulatory agencies but would also strongly support commercial launch of new NM.

The ISIDORe consortium, made of the capacities of European ESFRI infrastructures and coordinated networks, proposes to assemble the largest and most diverse research and service providing instrument to study infectious diseases in Europe, from structural biology to clinical trials. Giving scientists access to the whole extent of our state of the art facilities, cutting edge services, advanced equipment and expertise, in an integrated way and with a common goal, will enable or accelerate the generation of new knowledge and intervention tools to ultimately help control SARS CoV 2 in particular, and epidemic prone pathogens in general, while avoiding fragmentation and duplication among European initiatives. Such a global and interdisciplinary approach is meant to allow the implementation of user projects that are larger, more ambitious and more impactful than the EU supported transnational activities that the consortium is used to run. Our proposition is ambitious but achievable in a timely fashion due to the relevance and previous experience of the partners that we have gathered and that have complementary fields of expertise, which addresses the need for an interdisciplinary effort. Leveraging all these existing strengths to develop synergies will create an additional value and enhance Europe capacity for controlling emerging or re emerging and epidemic infectious diseases, starting with the COVID 19 pandemic. Such a global and coordinated approach is consistent with the recommendations of the One Health concept and necessary to make significant contributions to solving complex societal problems like epidemics and pandemics.