CCBIO SAB (Scientific Advisory Board)
The CCBIO Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consists of professors Carl-Henrik Heldin, Bruce Zetter and Ate van der Zee, all three being internationally leading researchers in CCBIO-relevant fields.
Hovedinnhold
Short bios of each SAB representative can be found at the bottom of this page.
The CCBIO Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consists of Professors Carl Henrik Heldin (chair), Bruce Zetter and Ate van der Zee, all three being internationally leading researchers in CCBIO-relevant fields. The SAB’s mandate is to give the center director and center staff advice on science and scientific matters. Usually, the SAB convenes once a year for a full day meeting with CCBIO’s investigators, mostly in connection with the CCBIO Annual Symposium. The feedback from the SAB has been of great inspiration and utility to CCBIO. Preceding every SAB meeting, CCBIO provides the SAB a report on its response to their previous recommendations. The CCBIO SAB convened in-person in Bergen on June 3, 2022.
In their 2022 report, the SAB stated being very much impressed with the development of CCBIO, both in terms of its high scientific production, its extensive training programs, and dissemination efforts. They consider CCBIO to have a strong leadership who has managed to bring together scientists with complementary skills to build a strong collaborative community, creating a vibrant scientific atmosphere.
The SAB was reassured by the fact that CCBIO, despite the sequela of the pandemic, has been able to retain the motivation and enthusiasm for highlevel translation of findings from the lab to the clinic. CCBIO’s large number of clinical trials, in particular in leukemias, gynecological cancers, prostate cancer and melanoma, speaks for this. The SAB was impressed by the work of the new junior faculty members Carina Strell and Agnete Engelsen, their work being highly collaborative and synergistic with other CCBIO members, and a significant potential for the future. Further, the inclusion of an Ethics and Economics program is a unique strength of CCBIO, e.g. influencing members of the center and others to reflect on their work in a broader context of societal impact. The ability to get easy access to high-level support in application of bioinformatics analyses remains a problem managed by the CCBIO scientists by forming research collaborations with bioinformatics environments.
Moreover, CCBIO researchers are involved in extensive training and teaching programs. CCBIO’s excellent Research School for Cancer Studies has a series of important courses, the newly established course in medical innovation being an especially commendable recent addition. Educational efforts such as these represent a significant strength and provide a clear advantage to CCBIO’s younger members. The CCBIO Masterclass, aimed at training promising young future group leaders, is very well received by the SAB. They believe that this is something that could potentially be expanded with benefit to junior faculty in other programs at the University of Bergen.
The SAB enthusiastically supports the continued development of these efforts and recommends that CCBIO’s educational efforts be further supported by the University of Bergen as it represents a jewel in the crown of the wider university.
Through its impressive annual report, newsletters and general outreach through the media, CCBIO has made extensive efforts to reach out to both the scientific community and the general public, providing information about its findings and activities.
In brief summary, CCBIO’s first 9 years have seen an excellent research environment being established and continuously developed, with a strong collaborative consortium of skilled scientists with complementary expertise and performing excellent basic, translational and clinical science; their research efforts have resulted in a large number of important publications and excellent educational and training activities.
Mandate
The SAB’s mandate is to give the center director and center staff advice on science and scientifically relevant matters.
The SAB convenes once a year for a full day meeting with the CCBIO PIs and associate PIs, following the CCBIO Annual Symposium.
