On 27 September 2019, the first WP2 face-to-face meeting took place in Antwerp. With 15 attendees, all partners involved in WP2 were well represented. After some updates on the WP2 division of work and building of the External Advisory Panel, every partner presented their capabilities to successfully carry out their tasks. University of Antwerp described their expertise on the different areas required in this WP, such as biomarker research, next generation sequencing techniques, bioinformatic tools and biobanking activities including the set-up of the Antwerp biobank that is ready to receive samples from WP4. The status of WP4, on which the tasks of WP2 heavily depend, was discussed at length. Bioaster described their involvement in many projects and some novel bioinformatics tools and ideas on how to perform their tasks, which they are already field-testing. bioMérieux provided information on how they could support the rest of partners in WP2 and their vision on the development of the VALUE-Dx biobank. This first meeting yielded fruitful discussions in which clear synergies were identified among the partners. These activities will be discussed further in the upcoming monthly telecons of WP2.
WP2 Team – From left to right and top to bottom: Herman Goossens (UA), Philippe Cleuziat (bioMérieux), Greet Ieven (UZA), Alex van Belkum (bioMérieux), Cyril Guyard (Bioaster), Carine Malcus (bioMérieux), Samir Kumar-Singh (UA), Adrien Villain (Bioaster), Surbhi Malhotra-Kumar (UA), Florence Frager (bioMérieux), Christine Lammens (UA), Liesbet van Heirstraeten (UA), Juan Pablo Rodriguez Ruiz (UA), Basil Britto Xavier (UA), Domenico Mancuso (UA)
