Anna Giabelli, a PostDoc Bioinformatician from Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, recently took part in an EATRIS-CONNECT Knowledge Exchange, visiting Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS) in Madrid, Spain. Anna travelled to Madrid in June 2026 to investigate preclinical and clinical bioinformatics for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. We interviewed her about the experience.
What motivated you to go on an Exchange at IRYCIS?
The purpose of this one-week exchange was to gain insight into how digital technologies are applied across the translational research pathway within a hospital-based research environment. The exchange provided an opportunity to explore methodologies, workflows, and best practices for the analysis of biological, imaging, and clinical data, including omics analyses, radiomics, and electronic health records.
Moreover, since I work in a research centre that is not directly embedded within a hospital, an important objective was also to better understand how research, clinical practice, and clinical trials are integrated within a healthcare setting to support translational and personalised medicine.
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What was the focus of your Exchange?
During my EATRIS-CONNECT Knowledge Exchange visit, I explored how advanced data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) are being used to support biomedical research and healthcare.
Through discussions with researchers and visits to specialised facilities, I learned about projects ranging from the analysis of genomic and microRNA data to the use of medical images for predicting patient responses to cancer treatments. I also gained insight into methods for transforming information from electronic health records into structured datasets.
The exchange fostered valuable knowledge sharing and opened opportunities for future collaborations.
What did you take away from this experience?
The Exchange reinforced the importance of collaboration in translational research. Interacting with professionals from diverse backgrounds helped me gain new perspectives on my own work and opened opportunities for future collaborations.
What is the EATRIS-CONNECT Knowledge Exchange Programme and how can I participate?
The EATRIS-CONNECT Knowledge Exchange Programme provides up to €1K to researchers who wish to organise an exchange at an eligible research institution, with a specific focus on improving digital transformation in translational medicine.
Funds are available for both EATRIS-CONNECT partners and EATRIS organisations that are not official partners of the EATRIS-CONNECT project.
Interested in taking part in an exchange? Read more about the programme and application procedure here.
