Francesca Incardona of EuResist network, member of Avithrapid consortium, was in Bologna to explore international collaborations at a 2 days workshop for infectious diseases specialists and virologists: the ARCA (Antiretroviral Resistance Cohort Analysis) Factory event (Bologna 30 Sept-1 October).
ARCA Factory (https://www.informapro.it/arca.html) is one of the educational events organised by ARCA (http://www.hivARCA.net) a large HIV Italian cohort focused on resistance, led by Maurizio Zazzi at UniSiena and with the technical support of I-PRO (EuResist). ARCA is a public database for the studying of resistance to anti-HIV drugs (antiretroviral drugs). It is fed by data coming from different centres, mostly universities and care facilities. The database is aimed to develop mathematical prediction models of response to anti-HIV treatment, providing a freely accessible tool to optimize therapies.
Incardona briefly presented AVITHRAPID as a successful high level European network and had the opportunity to showcase the high-level profile of the international partners of the project. It was also an excellent opportunity to share their objectives of improving Europe’s research capacities by becoming a key instrument for supporting research on viral pathogens with epidemic and pandemic potential.
Dissemination of activities and exploitation of results are key activities of AVITHRAPID and workshops like ARCA Factory are main target events for spreading knowledge and exploring new collaborations.
Aware of the importance of sustainability of project results and multiplier effects, the Avithrapid consortium agreed to a programme for the use of backgrounds and foregrounds to leverage the results during and after project end. Special attention has been paid from the onset of the project to communicating effectively to the relevant community, e.g. the scientific community, that are not part of the consortium, especially for educational and training opportunities, trials and testing, bringing about expected scientific uptakes and policy measures.