Introducing Scifeon – a CARE SME organisation
Scifeon was set up in 2016 by Thomas P. Boesen (PhD) to help scientists have better, more flexible, adaptable and agile informatics support that can take them and their research to the next level.
Dr. Boesen’s vision was to provide scientists with the next generation of research data management software to help them in their research.
Scifeon is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform. This comprises the Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN), Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and Scientific Data Management System (SDMS). These systems collect, organize and securely store valuable research data for easier processing, better collaboration and faster results – giving scientists more time for science.
Scifeon provides scientists with better informatics on a day-to-day basis. It is the next generation of research data management software specifically developed for scientists by scientists.
Why did Scifeon choose to get involved in CARE?
Scifeon recognised CARE’s need for a flexible data management solution that could be adapted to its highly variable research effort. This involved the creation of CARE’s data management plan as well as creating and operating the data management cloud platform, CARE-4-DATA. The platform houses protocols for several biochemical and cellular assays and allows researchers from different institutions to collaborate on testing compounds in these assays and sharing the results. It also contains a registry of virus strains and plasmids that are present at several of the CARE partner organisations.
In addition to Dr. Boesen, the Scifeon team includes
What has Scifeon delivered for CARE?
The CARE-4-DATA platform houses protocols for several biochemical and cellular assays and allows researchers from different institutions to collaborate on testing compounds in these assays and sharing the results. It also contains a registry of virus strains and plasmids that are present at several of the CARE partner organisations.
What benefits has Scifeon enjoyed through participating in CARE?
Scifeon has seen its software platform grow and improve through incorporating feedback from CARE scientists.
CARE External Newsletter – June 2024
The new issue of our biannual newsletter is out. In this edition we learn an impressive app developed by AbbVie to determine genetic factors related to COVID-19 risk, plus we share news of an exciting partnership between University of Dundee and Novartis. We also introduce CARE partner Scifeon and the important role they play in managing CARE’s laboratory informatics.
Read the Newsletter here: CARE External Newsletter – December 2024
CARE – Infographic – Work Package 8 –
Management, ethics, communication, dissemination and exploitation: focusing on laboratory and clinical data management
CARE has 8 Work Packages but do you know what each one does? Last but not least, here you can learn about the Work Package 8 team with a particular focus on laboratory and clinical data management activities, objectives, partners, breakthrough moments and more.
The infographic is also available here
Collaboration between Dundee DDU and Biomedical Research Unit of Novartis announced, to continue development of an antiviral compound for future coronavirus pandemic preparedness
The University of Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) and the Biomedical Research Unit of Novartis have announced a partnership to enable collaboration on a target-based project to develop a broad-spectrum antiviral compound for coronavirus pandemic preparedness.
A lead chemical series developed in CARE Work Package 3 has shown promising pan-coronavirus activity with low mutation and resistance risks. It will be taken forward by the partnership to conduct toxicology studies and complex virus efficacy models.
Dr Duncan Scott, Coronavirus Portfolio Lead, DDU University of Dundee commented, “We are very excited at the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit to be collaborating with Novartis, a world-leading pharmaceutical company, to push the frontier of coronavirus drug research and develop medicines for any future coronavirus pandemics”.
Working alongside Duncan, the DDU team in WP3 are Colin Robinson, Ian Gilbert, Irene Georgiou, Craig Smith, Sandra O’Neill, Shamshad Ahmad, Lesley-Anne Pearson, John Post, Suzanne Norval and Sean O’Byrne. The DDU is led by Prof Ian Gilbert and Dr Duncan Scott with funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Novartis team is part of the NIH-funded Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern which were set up to accelerate antiviral treatments for pandemic preparedness and will be bringing toxicology and virology expertise.
While attention in the healthcare sector has shifted away from COVID-19, the DDU and Novartis still recognize the risk of a future coronavirus pandemic and are prepared to continue to develop the work started in CARE WP3. This endeavour reinforces the value CARE has brought to pandemic preparedness, thus contributing to CARE’S legacy – through being a platform from which CARE’s research can continue to bear fruit.
To learn more, click here:
Publication in Vaccines: Protection of K18-hACE2 Mice against SARS-CoV-2 Challenge by a Capsid Virus-like Particle-Based Vaccine
Using a pathogenic isolate of SARS-CoV-2, this study shows that a vaccine consisting of capsid virus-like particles (cVLPs) displaying the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 (Wuhan strain) induces strong neutralizing antibody responses and sterilizing immunity in K18-hACE2 mice; also protecting them from a lethal infection and symptomatic disease, while significantly reducing inflammation and lung pathology associated with severe disease.
To learn more, click here: Protection of K18-hACE2 Mice against SARS-CoV-2 Challenge by a Capsid Virus-like Particle-Based Vaccine – PubMed (nih.gov)
Five years on a page – CARE’s final infographic detailing the consortium’s objectives, achievements, outcomes and more
13 February 2025
Showing we still CARE - how we have moved the world closer to pandemic preparedness As we approach the five-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic, the CARE consortium draws to a close, handing the baton to other initiatives who continue the cause to get the world to a position of pandemic preparedness. Following our series [...]