APC News
Launch of European Microbiome Centres Consortium
APC Director Prof Paul Ross travelled to Brussels to attend the launch of the The European Microbiome Centres Consortium (EMCC), a new initiative which APC was instrumental in establishing through the EU-funded Human Microbiome Action project.
The European Microbiome Centres Consortium (EMCC), a network of institutions working to ensure coherence and collaboration among leading experts in the field of human microbiome, which launched during the final conference of the EU-funded project Human Microbiome Action. In the past years, several links between changes in the human microbiome and various diseases have been observed, but clear connections are yet unknown. The European Microbiome Centres Consortium, launched through the EU-funded Human Microbiome Action project, aims to unlock these connections and starts a new phase of European research and innovation in the field.
Prof Paul Ross, Director of APC Microbiome Ireland, a world leading SFI Research Centre and co-Director of Food Microbiome and Heath Futures programme at University College Cork highlighted that “the EMCC will provide an essential partnership involving a collection of Institutions and Centres actively involved in microbiome research across the EU. The mission of the EMCC is to provide guidance and advice on how to advance microbiome science to tackle some of the major challenges that exist across the food-pharma interface. In this respect this initiative should accelerate the science-based translation of microbiome research to its main stakeholders including the public, policy-makers, and food & health-based industries.”
"The EMCC is committed to promoting and harmonizing standards for microbiome research, ensuring robust and reliable methodologies and practices across the research community. We aim to promote regulatory frameworks in Europe, advocating for the acknowledgement of scientific consensus and requirements in the field of microbiome research. This will foster innovative translational developments, potentially transforming preventive nutrition and healthcare." - Joël Doré, scientific coordinator of the Human Microbiome Action project, and member of INRAE, one of the five founding partners.
The EMCC is launched by five founding partners across Europe: EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory), UCC (University College Cork), University of Trento, UCPH (University of Copenhagen) and INRAE (Institut National de Recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement). Their aim after the conference will be to open it to broaden the networks to Europe-wide members who wish to contribute to this topic. In addition to its scientific mission, the EMCC is committed to raising awareness and educating the general public and healthcare professionals about the importance of the human microbiome in health and disease.
The conference To learn more about the EMCC and the human microbiome , we invite you to the conference “Navigating Policies Safeguarding Public Health, and Charting Future Frontiers” which will be held on February 29th, 2024 both online and at Les Ateliers des Tanneurs in Brussels. Distinguished speakers include Dirk Hadrich (EU Commission – DG Research and Innovation), Pascale Vonaesch (Microbiota Vault initiative), Joël Doré and Emmanuelle Maguin (INRAE), Dirk Haller (Technical University of Munich), Céline Druart (Pharmabiotic Research Institute), Paul Ross (APC Microbiome Ireland). Find the agenda link here and the online registration (contact us if you plan to attend in person). Human Microbiome Action Human Microbiome Action is an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project aimed at creating coherence and harmony in the way human microbiome research is and will be performed. The project has lasted for 3 years (2021-2024) and has been coordinated by France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE).
