BioWorld International Correspondent

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission launched its first call for proposals last week under its new 2002-06 research program.

About €513 million is to be made available to European researchers and companies under this first tranche for life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health. Applications have to reach the Commission by March 25.

The areas addressed in the call cover broad fields such as fundamental knowledge and basic tools for functional genomics in all organisms, gene expression and proteomics, or development of advanced array technologies. But there are also some 50 specific project areas defined for which research grants will be allocated to the selected applicants. They include the development and application of high-throughput proteomics technologies for the generation of a large data set of protein-protein interactions, the 3D-structure determination of membrane proteins, integrated tools for functional genomics of nonmammalian vertebrate models for human development and disease mechanisms, and development methods and resources in bioinformatics to focus on the annotation of human and other genomes.

Other projects cover multidisciplinary functional genomics approaches to basic biological processes, integrated comparative and functional genomics approaches for studying the cell cycle, and functional genomics of nonhuman embryonic stem cell differentiation. Some of the fields for which applications are invited relate to specific disease categories - such as multidisciplinary approaches of functional genomics to study chronic inflammation processes in human disease, genome-based therapeutic drugs for psychiatric disorders, and novel antiviral molecules targeting virus replication and integration. And some are geared toward process improvements, such as rational and accelerated development of new, safer, more effective drugs, including pharmacogenomics approaches, or screening for drug candidates targeting aberrant molecular signaling in protein phosphorylation pathways.

"The new program is now taking off," said European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin, launching the call for proposals. "It is time to start working on the new priorities. Invite researchers and entrepreneurs to join in and to help us make the program a success."

Battles Still To Come On GMO Labeling Issue

Although EU ministers have reached preliminary agreement over recent weeks on the two new EU rules on traceability and labeling of GMOS, the battle still continues between those who favor tighter controls and those who claim that industry risks being stifled. (See BioWorld International, Dec. 18, 2002.)

The environmentalist group Friends of the Earth-Europe is seeking additional changes to tighten up the rules in the final stages of the legislative process. It said after the Council of Ministers meetings that the agreement finally reached is "a compromise" that retains some of the laxity FoE sees in the original proposals, while accepting some of the more protectionist position taken by the European Parliament. This means that "there is still considerable room for improvement when the Parliament votes on this compromise" in the second reading of the legislation, probably in March.

Consumer organizations in Europe, too, will be watching closely as the legislative process moves toward its conclusion. "The EU effort to improve labeling and traceability of genetically modified organisms is at the top of the agenda for 2003" for the European consumers' organization, BEUC. BEUC reiterated its support last week for tough controls: "Consumers want food and food ingredients produced from GMOs to be labeled as such regardless of whether the presence or specific quantity of genetically modified material can still be detected," it said in a statement.

But EuropaBio, the European bioindustries association, said the ministers were placing "onerous burdens on the European agro-food industries and on national authorities who will have to enforce the law." It called on the Parliament to agree to practical rules that are enforceable and that strike a proper balance between the interests of the environment, consumers, industry and authorities.

The battleground is likely to be on the level of thresholds, according to European Union diplomats.