JANE-2 is the second Joint Action of the EU on Networks of Expertise on Cancer. The project will be coordinated by the Italian organization Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy, with 121 partners from 29 European countries. It is cofunded by the European Union (EU), with more than 40 million Euros dedicated to the project. Its mission is to create seven Networks of Expertise (NoE) on cancer in the EU. These health networks will involve regular collaboration amongst leading healthcare professionals and scientists focusing on items pertaining to the mission of the particular network. The JANE-2 NoEs will focus on:

• complex and poor-prognosis cancers;
• palliative cancer care;
• survivorship;
• personalized primary and secondary prevention;
• omics technologies;
• hi-tech medical resources;
• adolescents and young adult patients with tumours.

These are among the most crucial items of today’s oncology. They require greater harmonization in the EU, cooperation among health and research institutions, and a high degree of scientific and technological sharing. These challenges would be exceedingly facilitated by functioning health networks.

In particular, poor-prognosis cancers pose a difficult challenge by definition (special attention will be given to pancreatic cancer); palliative care and survivorship, together, will focus on all cancer patients, though addressing problems on opposite sides of the disease spectrum; primary and secondary prevention could benefit from the ability of omics to help “personalize” approaches (e.g., by moving from a population-based screening to early diagnosis based on individual risk); omics and hi-tech resources share all challenges of technology transfer (namely within the stage where they are no longer a research subject but are still not standard of care, timely availability of innovation, as well as inequitable access to innovation); adolescents and young adult patients with cancers pose special psychological and social problems.

The Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics PAS participates in the JANE-2 initiative as an Affiliated Entity. IBB PAS will be involved in the execution of tasks related to the complex and poor-prognosis cancers, personalized primary and secondary prevention, omics technologies and hi-tech medical resources.

The groups of Prof. Tomasz Sarnowski (Leader of the IBB PAS part), Prof. Jarosław Poznański, Prof. Piotr Zielenkiewicz, Prof. Michał Dadlez, Prof. Wojciech Bal and dr Robert Gromadka will be involved in tasks of JANE-2.

For more information see here: JANE-2-Press_Release