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ava i lab le a t www.sc ienced i rec t . com

ScienceDirect

www.elsevier .com/locate/molonc

Editorial

Looking back, to go forward

“Study the past if you would define the future” Confucius

(551e479 B.C.E.)

On 1st January 2014, not more than a few months ago, the

Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) cele-

brated its 50th anniversary. Founded on 1st January 1964,

with 18 constituent societies, from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,

Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great

Britain, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland,

Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, FEBS has grown

to become one of Europe’s largest organizations in the molec-

ular life sciences, representing over 36,000 members. Through

its constituency, FEBS represents a considerable fraction of

the European research community, and as a consequence it

provides a voice for this community. The stated objectives of

FEBS are “.to contribute to and promote the advancement

of research and education for the public benefit in the sciences

of biochemistry,molecular biology and related disciplines.by

all suitable means”.

In 2007, FEBS launched a new journal, Molecular Oncology.

FEBS started Molecular Oncology because the organization had

many researchers in molecular life science disciplines that

were interested in translating basic discoveries into clinical

applications, ultimately for the benefit of humankind, which

is one of the tenets of FEBS. Translational research, however,

is a complex and slow process that has many barriers that

need to be addressed by all of those involved. Policy issues,

and high-level political decisions, in particular, can have a

tremendous impact on science, and translational research,

given its multidisciplinary nature, is, if anything, more sensi-

tive to funding focus and prioritization policies. As a result,

Molecular Oncology has been interested in science policy issues

from its inception e one of the main features of the journal is

in fact to provide a forum for discussion by all stakeholders of

topics germane to cancer research. The journal is actively

engaged in ongoing initiatives by the scientific community,

publishing reports and topical information, such as the crea-

tion of a collaborative platform comprising leading compre-

hensive cancer centers and basic/preclinical research

centres in Europe (Ringborg, 2008).

Although the European Union (EU) has limited legislative

powers on health matters, with healthcare being a national

competence, the EU plays a major role in health research in

member states, not least through its research funding policies.

For cancer researchers with a vested interest in translation of

discoveries, any EU provisions affecting science funding,

which will necessarily impinge on and shape the European

research system, is a potential source of concern. In a societal

conjuncture characterized by economic frailty, it is critical that

science policy decisions are informed. The cancer research

community, a major stakeholder in this issue, needs to be

involved, not just at the individual level, but in a coordinated

fashion in order to proactively influence EU cancer research

policy. Interest organizations, like the European CanCer Orga-

nization, which is trying to encourage the European oncology

community to address these issues through the creation of

the Oncopolicy forum (http://www.ecco-org.eu/Publics-af-

fairs/Oncopolicy-Forum-and-Events/Oncopolicy-forum,

2013), are doing just that, but there is little expertise as to how

to approach and influence the political system. One instance

where the research community successfully made its voice

be heard, as to its needs,waswith the creation of the European

Research Council (ERC). The ERC is an ‘investigator-driven’

funding activity, with funding priorities being defined by re-

searchers rather than set by politicians. For more than a

decade, FEBS, together with other research organizations in

Europe, worked towards the creation of the ERC and the expe-

rience gained in this process, is nowbeing used by the biomed-

ical community to catalyze the creation of the European

Council for Health Research (EuCHR) provisionally translated

at present into aScientific Panel forHealthResearch inHorizon

2020, the EU’s research-funding programme for the period

2014e2020. In this issue, Julio Celis, former Secretary General

of FEBS, and Jos�e Mariano Gago, former Portuguese Minister

for Science Technology and Higher Education, provide a first-

hand account of the events and measures leading to the crea-

tion of the ERC and the Scientific Panel for Health in H2020.

Even though this article does not address cancer research spe-

cifically, it is our belief that the lessons learned and solutions

found during the process of creation of the ERC and the SPH,

M O L E C U L A R O N C O L O G Y 8 ( 2 0 1 4 ) 4 4 5e4 4 6446

recounted in this document, are valuable and should be

readily available to the cancer research community.

R E F E R E N C E S

http://www.ecco-org.eu/Publics-affairs/Oncopolicy-Forum-and-Events/Oncopolicy-forum (accessed 07.01.13.).

Ringborg, U., 2008. The Stockholm declaration. Mol. Oncol. 2 (1),10e11.

Jos�e M.A. Moreira

Managing Editor, Molecular Oncology

E-mail address: jomo@sund.ku.dk

1574-7891/$ e see front matter

ª 2014 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Pub-

lished by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molonc.2014.03.012