"GoPubMed is a sort of an intelligent Google for biomedical specialists," explains Dr Michael Alvers, CEO and Co-founder of Transinsight. "The search engine saves time and so accelerates research significantly."

CORDIS, the Community Research and Development Information Service, has launched a new online service covering the research and innovation activities carried out under the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (1 July to 31 December 2006). Highlighting the latest news and most relevant developments in the research and development (R&D) policy sphere during this period, the Finnish Presidency Service is part of the gateway to national and regional activities on CORDIS.

A new healthcare model in Europe based on preventive and personalised health systems is needed in Europe and can only be achieved using information and communication technologies (ICT), the European Commissioner for Information society and Media, Viviane Reding, told participants at the "ICT for Biomedical Sciences 2006" conference in Brussels on 29 June. Computational simulation and modelling were cited as cornerstones to this new model.

Finland has announced its priorities for research and innovation during its Presidency of the EU, started on 1 July: concluding negotiations on the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7); and developing a broad-based innovation policy.

The European Commission has adopted an amended proposal for the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), which seeks to incorporate amendments made by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in their first readings. The Commission reports that the revised proposals "take up in spirit and content if not necessarily always with the exact wording, to a large proportion the position taken by the other institutions".

Software that gives doctors much-needed help in the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumours is being developed by an international consortium of scientists and medics.

The technology will give medical staff access to the results of hi-tech scans and laboratory tests gathered from across Europe and will enable them to respond more effectively to new cases of this disease which is notoriously hard to treat. The unprecedented access which the HealthAgents initiative affords will be of particular benefit to the many children and young adults who develop these tumours.

The recent EU-US summit in Vienna has opened the door to increased cooperation between European and US researchers, especially in the areas of education, environment, energy efficiency, global pandemics and new energy sources.