CANVAS comprises a variety of twinning activities and training opportunities to strengthen the research potential at ICCVS and establish long-term scientific collaboration between all CNAVAS partners. The core are:
- twinning visits of the staff of the International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science to staff to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission – Interdisciplinary Research Institute of Grenoble and the Department of Biology of the University of Rome Tor Vergata
- scientific workshops led by each of the four CANVAS partners
- further training-related modules, such as “summer school” event, hackathon event, joint supervision of PhD students, participation in external workshops
- for more information please have a look also HERE
Spring School 2023:
The CANVAS Spring School 2023 took place in Sobieszewo/ Gdańsk during 27 – 30 March 2023. Researchers of the CANVAS partners gathered together to attend lectures, discuss science, and participate in workshops. Representatives of all four CANVAS partners – International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science at the University of Gdańsk (ICCVS UG), University of Rome Tor Vergata, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, and the Polish biotech start-up Real Research – gave presentations in the thematic sessions:
- Novel approaches to cancer diagnostics, monitoring and Therapy
- Current Oncology & Future Perspectives
- Models in cancer research
- Cell culture models
In addition, several invited speakers from outside the CANVAS consortium shared insights from their research work, for example dr Łukasz Skalniak from Jagiellonian University, prof. Sarnowski from the Polish Academy of Science, dr Lucia Lisa Petrilli from the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital- IRCCS as well as collaborators from the medical University of Gdańsk, prof. Jacek Jassem, dr Tomasz Marjański and prof. Karol Połom. The event included a poster presentation where young researchers from all three CANVAS academic partners presented the results of their PhD projects. Best poster award has been won by Katarzyna Dziubek from ICCVS and the Audience Poster Award went to Dominika Bedran from ICCVS.
Webinars:
Webinars by Dr. Daniele Mezzana, social researcher and educator at Knowledge & Innovation (K&I), Rome, and member of the UNESCO Interdisciplinary Chair in Biotechnology and Bioethics (Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata). His research spans Europe, Africa, India, and Latin America, covering innovation, science-society relations, state-citizen dynamics, training needs analysis, communication processes, and development project evaluation. He contributes to multiple EC-funded projects. Dr. Mezzana delivered:
Webinar by Janire Salazar Villacorta from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain. An expert in technology transfer to citizens and science education, she participated in the H2020 Citizen Science project STEPCHANGE. Her talk, titled:
Webinar by Dr. Damiano Orru, Librarian and Director of the Library of Economics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. With extensive expertise in generative AI and open access. Titled:
Hackathon on Predictive Modeling in Systems Pharmacology, Grenoble:
The training has been held at CEA Grenoble from March 17 to 20, 2026. The event was co-organized by experts from CEA, INRIA, CHU Limoges, and the Toulouse Cancer Research Center, and brought together participants from the CANVAS and DIGPHAT (Digital Pharmacological Twins, funded by France 2030 Digital Health program) consortia with diverse backgrounds in pharmacology, bioinformatics, and computational biology.The hackathon was designed as an intensive, hands-on training initiative aimed at bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application in systems pharmacology. Participants engaged in collaborative and interdisciplinary work, exploring a range of predictive modeling approaches applied to real-world biomedical challenges. The program combined methodological lectures, software tutorials, and team-based problem-solving sessions, fostering active learning and knowledge exchange.The scientific content was structured around three complementary themes: pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling in the context of cancer immunotherapy, network-based modeling to predict the effects of targeted therapies, and predictive modeling in pharmacogenomics for patient response to immunotherapy. Participants worked in rotating teams, promoting cross-disciplinary interactions and maximizing knowledge transfer.