Case Testimony of the Participation of One Particular Laboratory to the European Research Programmes in Life Sciences (4th and 5th Frameworks) Prof. Dr. ir. Jean Swings

1. Laboratory of Microbiology at Ghent University Research group BCCM/LMG Bacteria Collection 2. Projects in the 4th and 5th EU Research Framework Projects and research teams Life of a project Outputs and excitements Our Italian partners 3. Difficulties & Frustrations 4. How to proceed in the 6th Framework ? Overview

Laboratory of Microbiology Ghent University

GHENT UNIVERSITY - FACULTY OF SCIENCES LABORATORY OF MICROBIOLOGY RESEARCH GROUPS  TEACHING  TEACHING UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN BIOLOGY, BIOTECHNOLOGY, BIOCHEMISTRY  RESEARCH  RESEARCH on CLASSIFICATION, PHYLOGENY, IDENTIFICATION AND TYPING OF BACTERIA, related to ECOLOGY, BIODIVERSITY, BIOTECHNOLOGY Rhizosphere bacteria (N 2 -fixers), plant pathogenic bacteria Bacillus and allied groups Lactic acid bacteria (probiotics) Drinking water systems Antarctic mats, fresh waters, tropical soils Biodegradation of bioplastics, xenobiotics Horizontal gene transfer Bacteria from clinical, veterinary and industrial environments

GHENT UNIVERSITY - FACULTY OF SCIENCES LABORATORY OF MICROBIOLOGY BCCM™/LMG BACTERIA COLLECTION  PRESERVATIONDISTRIBUTION  PRESERVATION and DISTRIBUTION of BACTERIAL CULTURES  SERVICES  RESEARCH Taxonomy, phylogeny, classification, identification and typing of bacteria from clinical, veterinary and industrial environments Data mining Standardization, automation / robotisation Quality control

GHENT UNIVERSITY - FACULTY OF SCIENCES LABORATORY OF MICROBIOLOGY BACTERIA CULTURE COLLECTION The BCCM™/LMG BACTERIA CULTURE COLLECTION holds named strains, representing species : Plant pathogenic or plant associated bacteria  Plant pathogenic or plant associated bacteria Bacteria of medical or veterinary importance  Bacteria of medical or veterinary importance Bacteria of marine origin  Bacteria of marine origin Various groups of potential biotechnological interest  Various groups of potential biotechnological interest

Projects in the 4th and 5th EU Research Frameworks 20 projects with partners from 25 countries

“Micro-organisms are everywhere” Antibiotic resistance Probiotics Microflora of cheeses New bioactive compounds from Antarctic micro-organisms Aquaculture related microbiological problems Bioplastics and biodegradable composites Microbiological characterization of drinking water systems Biodeterioration of cultural heritage

Setting up a EU project was the most exciting part of it, particularly as a coordinator The initial enthousiasm was very inspiring Project Life

waiting for evaluation results project execution preparation final reports publications other output 5-6 years meetings

Kick-off meetings : always euphoric, not to be underestimated Project meetings (+extra meetings) Reports Exchanges of scientists / technicians Scientific successes & failures Publications and presentations New ideas —> new contacts —> new proposals Project Life

In total the Laboratory of Microbiology, RUG has secured : from EU Frameworks 4 and 5 programmes over 3’000’000 euro

Publications (total LMG)

Project publications >50 in peer reviewed international journals

Succession of projects : an example on bioplastics ECLAIR Bacterial polyester plastics AIR Biodegradability testing of bioplastics FAIR Biocomposites INCO Drinking water treatment using bioplastics

The end of the project Final report Publications Human contacts often remain Other outputs: - collections of micro-organisms - databases (sequences, properties) - PhD theses

Excitements Planning phase Approval Kick-off Exchange of materials Putting together the data (puzzle) Publishing together Meeting again at other occasions

Other positive sides Involvement and training of PhD students & postdocs Personal contacts Interdisciplinarity as a professional enrichment Deepening of own expertise Requirement to collaborate and communicate My participation in the EU evaluation panel on projects, thematic networks & mobility was a very positive experience

Our Italian Partners

We greatly appreciate our Italian partners for : scientific excellence trustworthiness enthousiasm loyalty

Difficulties Several difficulties arose during the execution of some projects, with the coordinator, with the other partners, others (industrial partners, EU), e.g. important cuts in the budget coordinator got ill, was replaced only after months coordinator was not coordinating participants doing less than promised late reports (and thus late reimbursement of costs)

Frustrations 1. The unacceptable low success rate upon application: so many excellent proposals were turned down 2. Scientists need more flexibility to deal with the scientific problems that arose, but also with the coordination and management problems 3. Unsolved aspects, e.g. how to deal with : intellectual proprietary rights companies or SME’s the aftermath of a project

Conclusions 1. EU projects were a EU success story 2. The participation in EU projects is seen as a proof of quality of the research group

And now … to the heart of the matter: How to proceed in the 6th Framework ?