Alkatras Project

ALKATRAS was an MSCA European Training Network established in 2015 and ended 2019. The project was an initiative of the European Research Initiative on Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK)-related malignancies, which is a functional research network to coordinate research into ALK-related malignancies. ALK is increasingly recognised as a prevalent oncogene in a number of human malignancies and therefore poses a prominent clinical problem, which requires coordinated research into its oncogenic mechanisms. Within ALKATRAS the consortium trained and mentored a cohort of 14 early stage researchers to become confident, competent, independent and well-connected European scientists with excellent career perspectives. The recruited fellows were trained by performing high calibre research and also exposed to environments from other sectors to broaden their experience through secondments. Training through research was complemented with a balanced programme of transferable skills and access to local courses.

All our early-stage researchers have formed a very active group of researchers who have since gone on to carve out their individual careers based on their training in state-of-the-art research and development at the forefront of translational science