The European Commission has published new calls for proposals for Energy Efficiency under H2020.

Giannis Zacharakis, Researcher of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL) of FORTH, has been elected member of the council of European Society of Molecular Imaging (ESMI).

Nektarios Tavernarakis, a Research Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Foundation of Research and technology Hellas (FORTH), and a Professor- at the Medical School of the University of Crete was today elected a member of the Academy of Europe (Academia Europaea).

Panayiota Poirazi, a Research Director and Head of the Computational Biology Lab (www.dendrites.gr) at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation of Research and Technology-Hellas (IMBB-FORTH) has been selected, together with three other ERC grantees, to represent the European Research Council at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions to be held from 10-12 September in Tianjin, China.

A state-of-the art approach to enhance the resolution of non-invasive medical diagnosis techniques is to utilize nano-size materials which are delivered at the regions of interest and allow improved tissue contrast. For such applications, magnetic iron oxides are emerging as promising probes in the diagnosis of various diseases and especially in the area of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In the context of the Greek Presidency of the E.U. Council, the Foundation for Research and Technology (FORTH) will host on the 20th of May the meeting of GenderSTE: Gender, Science, Technology and the Environment COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology (Action TA 1201) in Heraklion.

Researchers at the Department of Biomedical Research IMBB Ioannina revealed that growth factor signaling in cells integrates the response mechanism to the presence of unfolded proteins (Unfolded Protein Response, UPR) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). This study shows that ER plays an important role in normal cell functions, such as signaling by growth factors, and is not limited to the adaptation of the cell to stress.

The call has now opened for the 24th Award for Excellence in Academic Teaching in memory of Vassilis Xanthopoulos and Stephanos Pnevmatikos, both professors at the University of Crete and members of the Foundation for Research & Technology (FORTH).

This work (theory and experimental details) has recently appeared in the (high impact factor journal) of Advanced Materials: DOI: 10.1002/adma.201305083; (2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim).

Art has long been interested in research and science: from Renaissance art and Leonardo da Vinci with his studies of physics, to 20th century art with Surrealists drawing on Freud and the subconscious, to the contemporary American James Turrell working with the optical illusions of light and the young Chinese WU Juehui dealing with the visual aspects of neuroscience, artists have been fascinated by research and science and have been deeply influenced in the course of their work. However, the creative approach of art by scientists and researchers could prove highly interesting as well.