The COST Action “CardioRNA – Catalysing transcriptomics research in cardiovascular disease”, proposed by the Cardiovascular Research Unit of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), was successfully launched with a kick-off meeting on 3rd October in Brussels, Belgium.

COST is a European framework supporting international cooperation among researchers. COST Actions have a duration of four years and include at least five countries that receive support from the H2020 Programme for networking activities and training. This year, the COST board funded 39 out of the 422 proposals.

CardioRNA, proposed by Dr Yvan Devaux and Dr Clarissa Pedrosa da Costa Gomes, was approved in April 2018. It is the first COST Action to be initiated by LIH. IBBL also actively participates in the network. CardioRNA aims at accelerating the understanding of transcriptomics in cardiovascular disease and furthering the translation of experimental data into practical applications for diagnostics and therapies to improve personalised medicine.

‘This COST Action will provide opportunities for collaboration between stakeholders from complementary backgrounds to address the complexity of transcriptomics in cardiovascular disease’, points out Dr Devaux. ‘As a network of academic, clinical and industrial partners we will be able to more rapidly decipher RNA functions and interactions for translation into the clinic. CardioRNA will refine guidelines for transcriptomics investigations to increase reproducibility of results, facilitating clinical product development.’

At the kick-off meeting, working group leaders were defined and Dr Devaux was designated as Scientific Chair of the Action. To date, 72 members from 24 EU countries have joined the network.