Researchers are gaining unprecedented access to mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies and the diseases they carry, thanks to a groundbreaking EU-funded initiative that pools resources, technology and expertise to counter the world's most devastating insect-borne pathogens.

An EU-funded project is developing infrastructure to support innovation and accelerate the development of new vaccines. This will enhance European competitiveness in this field and bring major societal benefits.

An EU-funded project has developed a technique to design and synthesise highly stable proteins. The approach enables proteins to be made from scratch, tailored to carry out specific tasks for advances in fields such as biomedicine and biotech - boosting Europe's competitiveness.

Detectors at the accelerators of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) help answer big questions about the Universe and support advances in fields such as medical technology. An EU-funded project is fostering collaboration on detector development to boost such scientific progress.

Advanced imaging technologies are revolutionising biological and biomedical science. An EU-funded project enabled researchers worldwide to better access cutting-edge biological and medical imaging technologies, to accelerate the great societal benefits this technological revolution will provide.

For the tenth time, the conference invites researchers and entrepreneurs from North Rhine-Westphalia and regions in Europe to find new European research and innovation (R&I) partners for Horizon 2020 projects.

The series of events has been a great success with over 2600 participants since 2009. The networking event will be structured in parallel workshops focussing on seven topics:

• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) • Nanotechnology, Materials and Manufacturing (NMM) • Energy • Circular Economy • Life Sciences • Transport • Innovative Public Procurement (PCP/PPI)

Giving a short presentation (ideas and/or results) or finding a partner by talking to decision-makers opens doors for new research and innovation projects in Europe with a focus on Horizon 2020.

Virus collections are vital resources for understanding the basis of diseases and formulating control strategies. An EU-funded project is developing an easily accessible global archive of pathogens - a way of boosting research into protecting human and animal health.

Millions of Europeans suffering from one of the many rare diseases will have a new hope for improved diagnostics and better treatments and care, resulting in enhanced quality of life. This is thanks to a new research partnership launched by the European Commission.

With a better understanding of how Klebsiella Pneumoniae evades our body's immune system, researchers with the EU-funded U-KARE project are developing new treatments based on boosting our defences against the potentially deadly disease.

Humankind has always had a fascination with the brain - how it develops, how it works and how things can go wrong. By tracking a neuron's path through the brain, neuroscientists with the EU-funded MOMECODE project have given us new insight into how the brain develops.

The EU-funded UPECBCG project set out to study the bladder's immune system, with the aim of advancing our understanding of UTI and bladder cancer to improve treatment of these diseases.

Cells are packed with proteins, encoded by the recipes in our genes. An EU-funded researcher has discovered key differences in protein production between healthy cells and tumours, revealing exciting potential avenues for the development of future cancer treatments.

The European Spallation Source (ESS) will be the world's most powerful source of neutrons, a key tool in advancing materials science and technological progress. An EU-funded project has supported the development of ESS, which could lead to scientific breakthroughs that improve our quality of life.

A new generation of particle accelerators will help physicists explore the mysteries of the universe, provide engineers with novel tools to combat pollution and enable doctors to treat cancer more effectively. An EU-funded project is leading the advance, developing technologies that are set to have a profound impact on science and society.

EU-funded researchers are leading efforts to develop a functional cure for HIV using innovative therapeutic vaccines to halt the progression of the devastating virus, increase the availability and affordability of treatment, and improve patients' quality of life.

An emotionally intelligent, partially autonomous social robot could help children with autism spectrum disorder improve their social skills, according to EU-funded researchers who have been developing the next generation of robot-enhanced therapy.

Scientists have long hoped that uncovering the mechanisms of the ageing process may provide hints as to how to halt or slow it down in humans. Now, EU-funded researchers have found that bats hold important clues.

This conference brings together scientists from multidisciplinary fields employing different research strategies:

• Epigenetic profiling at genome-wide and/or single cell level to identify complex dynamic regulatory interactions, • Bioinformatics and mathematical modelling to understand and predict observed (dynamic) phenotypic responses, • Innovative epigenetic interference tools using for instance CRISPR/dCas-based epigenetic editing tools to locally overwrite epigenetic signatures and to verify the impact of defined alterations in epigenetic regulation.

The meeting provides a platform for scientists focusing on fundamental and biomedical research, clinicians and private sector scientists.

The Systems Epigenetics: Towards Precision Cancer Medicine Conference is organized in the context of the EpiPredict EU H2020 Innovative Training Network (www.EpiPredict.eu) coordinated by Dr Pernette Verschure.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 24 million to F2G Biotech, a research-intensive company in Austria, focusing on the discovery and development of novel drugs to treat life threatening fungal diseases.

Key nutrients can improve vision both in ageing and in healthy eyes, according to EU-funded research. Doctors are now prescribing supplements of these nutrients, while the researchers are investigating other possible health benefits.