The closing event of the two-year Value+ project called for enhanced political commitment on patient involvement both at policy and project level. Meaningful involvement of patients enhances project results so that the project's learnings can contribute more effectively to patient-centred, equitable healthcare throughout the EU.

Transinsight's GoPubMed.org, the semantic search engine for the life sciences, is able to generate an advanced statistical overview applied to the eHealth domain. With novel text-mining technologies and ontological background knowledge this feature can analyze the potential and the trends of any scientific topic in a fast and automated way.

Telemedicine can help increase accessibility to healthcare for patients living in remote geographical areas, allow patients with chronic diseases to be monitored at home and involve patients in the management of their own healthcare.

The EU ERA-NET initiative EuroNanoMed will support eight transnational research projects with EUR 17 million based on the result of its first call for proposals, which was launched in May 2009 to promote collaborative and interdisciplinary research into nanomedicine - the application of nanotechnology to health.

The iawards ceremony at the Science Museum saw the teams behind this year's best British innovations. Topping the honours list was Horizon Discovery Ltd, a technology start-up company which scooped the iaward of the Year for its hi-tech, 'X-MAN Model Cancer Patient'; a product that identifies patients most likely to respond to particular cancer treatments.

Advances in healthcare have been boosted by the constant improvement of medical imaging technologies - for example, in terms of sensitivity and resolution. Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Computed Tomography are now widely used in the diagnosis and staging of many different diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

A powerful new biosensor developed by European researchers will help identify cells in the immune system that actively suppress tumour growth, then put them to use. Enlisting the patient's own immune system would be like sending reinforcements for resistance fighters.