VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, GE Healthcare, a division of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and a Consortium of leading research institutions across Europe today announced the PredictAD project, a research collaboration aimed at developing new diagnostic procedures for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Patients across the EU and associated states suffering from genetic conditions are already benefitting from work conducted within the framework of the EU-funded EuroGentest network of excellence (NoE), according to the network's coordinator and president elect of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG), Professor Jean-Jacques Cassiman.

Health Atlas Ireland, an Open Source application to analyse health related datasets using geographical information systems (GIS) and statistical software, was one of twenty projects that were given the 'Prime Minister Public Service Excellence Award'. The awards were handed out last month by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

All biobanks (collections of human biological samples) should be given a unique identification code, EU-funded scientists suggest. Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), they argue that such a scheme would optimise the use of these resources and open up new avenues for genetics studies.

CORDIS, the Community research and Development Information Service, has added a new project search function to its Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) website. By selecting 'Find a project' in the website's navigation bar, users will have access to a search form, enabling them to conduct free text searches. Users can also search by thematic priorities or by a specific activity within each priority.

TRIL (Technology Research for Independent Living) Centre launched the BioMOBIUS™ Research Platform, an open shareable technology platform, which allows researcher to rapidly develop sophisticated technology solutions for biomedical research. This platform helps researchers to reduce the time spent on developing foundational technologies, allowing them to focus on their actual research.

The European Commission is moving a step closer to making it easier for companies, in particular Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), to bid for public sector contracts anywhere in the EU; a crucial step towards achieving the Single European Market. The Commission will co-finance a pilot project, driven by eight European countries that will create the conditions to link existing national electronic public procurement (e-procurement) systems.