EPigenetics of Immunity in Cancer
Cancer shows a high incidence in the area covered by the Interreg V-A ItaliaÖsterreich cooperation programme. As a consequence health budgets are under pressure, also in relation to the costs of new therapies. One issue that needs to be urgently addressed is the possibility of supporting high quality health care by avoiding waste and inefficiency of health systems. The EPIC project will address this problem and develop improved and more sustainable solutions for cancer therapies. These are not only based on the development of new drugs. EPIC will also focus on improving methods for predicting drug efficacy in cancer immunotherapy. Italian and Austrian research institutes with complementary tracks of excellence and expertise (Chemistry, Medicine, Biology and Bioinformatics) will create the EPIC network to provide new advances in cancer immunotherapy and to provide open and accessible knowledge to the territories of the program, including academies, clinical centers and all stakeholders. The program meets the RIS3 (Regional Innovative Specializations) objectives „smart-health“ of the regions Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Alto Adige/Südtirol, as well as the Life Science Strategy (WISS 2025) of Salzburg.