The Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (iBG), based at Dokuz Eylül University, was launched in Turkey last month. The Center is considered an opportunity to bring hope and prominence to research in the country. Turkey’s current science funding, most of which is allocated to applied research, though increasing, is less than half of the EU’s average. Mehmet Öztürk, director of the iBG, convinced the University to support both basic and translational research. The principal investigators are supported with grants totaling about $29 million so far from domestic and international sources. Additional, more stable aid for the institute may come from competitive research support from the European Commission. A new Turkish law funding the construction, operation and staffing expenses of institutions conducting multimillion-euro research projects will also provide assistance to the iBG. Other possible sources of support include funding from the national research agency, TÜB?TAK, which has put out calls for biosimilar research and also provides innovation grants for translational research. To be considered for this funding, the iBG plans to offer services to industry to develop biosimilars, and to have its principal investigators conduct parallel translational and basic research.

Source: Nature