E-Rare, the ERA-Net on Rare Diseases, receives continuing support from the European Commission through the FP7 programme

After a first successful 4-year programme, the European Commission has granted its support to the E-Rare network for a second 4-year period (2010-2014). E-Rare funds transnational research in rare diseases and aims at building the foundations of a transnational rare diseases research programme. The enlarged network, now under the name of E-Rare-2, consists of 16 research funding agencies and ministries from 12 countries (AT, BE, DE, ES, FR, GR, HU, IL, IT, NL, PT, TR). E-Rare-2 welcomes its new members from Austria, Portugal, Greece and Hungary and continues its efforts to enlarge the network to the benefit of rare disease researchers throughout the European Research Area.

The partners in E-Rare-2 have voiced their ambition to yearly launch a joint call for transnational research projects on rare diseases. The launch of the first call is planned before the end of 2010. Further major challenges for E-Rare-2 will be to expand the mobilization of political and financial support from member states and pave the way for a self-sustained network for funding transnational rare diseases research in Europe.


E-Rare 3rd Joint Transnational Call (JTC 2011)

The next joint call for transnational research projects on rare diseases will be launched in December 2010. For more information, visit the E-Rare website.

E-Rare database of Next Generation DNA Sequencing facilities in Europe now online

Researchers looking for collaborations or service providers for next generation sequencing will find this database helpful as it lists not only contact details, but also conditions for access and the technology that is available here.

This database, which was established in collaboration with the EU initiatives ERA-Instruments, gENVADIS and RDPlatform, is not an exhaustive list. If you are interested in listing your laboratory, please contact: jlievens@gis-maladiesrares.net