The European Partnership for Radiation Protection Research (PIANOFORTE) and EP PerMed are pleased to announce a collaborative effort aimed at advancing research and innovation in personalised healthcare, particularly in all areas and aspects of biomedical imaging, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy.
This collaboration seeks to combine the complementary strengths of both initiatives to support inventive approaches that enhance radiation protection and personalised diagnosis, treatment and prevention strategies for the benefit of patient care and public health across Europe and beyond. Furthermore, there could be new and innovative jobs created by such an overarching collaborative approach effecting research and healthcare.
The collaboration will be focussing on:
Biomedical Imaging
Both EP PerMed and PIANOFORTE recognise the crucial role of biomedical imaging technologies in diagnostics, personalised treatment and prevention strategies for a wide range of diseases, as well as for individual patient monitoring. The partnerships aim to collaborate on the development and improvement of imaging techniques, with a focus on ensuring radiation safety and enhancing the precision and efficacy of personalised approaches.
Radiotherapy and nuclear medicine
Radiotherapy and nuclear medicine remain a cornerstone especially in cancer treatment. The collaboration between PIANOFORTE and EP PerMed will focus on optimising the clinical use of radiation therapy, aiming to maximise diagnostic and therapeutic benefits while minimising unnecessary radiation exposure.
The partnerships are committed to encourage interdisciplinary research that connects biomedical imaging, radiation protection domains and personalised medicine for the benefit of patients, citizens and for society. This will include, but not limited to, the sharing of knowledge, expertise and best practices among the partnerships and their funded projects to catalyse innovations in imaging and radiotherapy. Through regular exchanges and coordinated research and communication activities, both partnerships want to leverage the impact of their ongoing and future efforts. By aligning their available and foreseen strategic research agendas, they seek to reach more relevant stakeholder groups, such as various researcher communities, healthcare professionals and payers, policymakers and last but not least the public.
Both partnerships acknowledge the potential for collaboration in additional areas, which represent promising avenues to further integrate personalised medicine with radiation protection, ensuring safer, more effective, and patient-centred healthcare solutions, accounting for vulnerable groups (e.g., children, pregnant individuals). PIANOFORTE and EP PerMed are both committed to collaborate, acknowledging that each of the two partnerships has to fulfil their obligations as well in other areas. Thus, this statement does not create any formal obligations, in particular with regard to allocation of resources. Instead, it represents the basis for future collaborative efforts and mutual support.
Signed May 2025, on behalf of both Partnerships