EULAR launches Virtual Research Center to conduct 'collaborative, outward-looking science'
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The launch of the EULAR Virtual Research Center may be a big step forward in meeting research challenges in the rheumatic diseases, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.
“We truly have some terrific stories to tell,” EULAR President Iain B. McInnes, PhD, FRCP, said in his presentation. “My first task is to tell you the first major initiative going on, which is the EULAR Virtual Research Center.”
McInnes, who is also Muirhead Chair of Medicine, Versus Arthritis Professor of Rheumatology and director of the institute of infection, immunity and inflammation at the University of Glasgow, noted that for the more than 200 conditions that fall under the rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease umbrella, “almost, without exception, there is no cure.”
For McInnes, the story he told today begins 3 to 4 years ago with RheumaMap, a platform dedicated to outlining unmet needs in rheumatology. “This brought traction to the idea that, in addition to the challenges brought by cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases and others, rheumatic diseases are also important and merit our attention,” he said.
It was with this in mind that the EULAR Virtual Research Center was created. “We want to improve the lives of people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases,” he said.
The idea is to bring rheumatology research up to speed with the technology and resources that have been brought to bear in those other, more high-profile diseases and conditions. “The idea of a single researcher in a single lab creating a new treatment is an antiquated idea,” McInnes said. “Moving forward, it will be team research.”
To accomplish this goal, the online center will include the EULAR Consultation Service, which will aid researchers and other professionals to formulate research questions, design studies and conduct analyses that will lead to clear conclusions. In addition, the EULAR Shared Technology Service will streamline access to state-of-the-art technology for researchers in resource-challenged settings.
The center will also serve as a hub for experts including scientists, clinicians and patient advocates. This multidisciplinary approach will serve as a problem-solving tool for research teams that may lack personnel in these areas.
McInnes envisioned experts from around the world sharing expertise, integrating capabilities and technology and providing one another with access to software, hardware, artificial intelligence, whatever the project demands. “This is what the research center will support,” he said. “This is how we will make a difference.”
The EULAR COVID-19 registry is an example of how integrated research programs can work. However, despite the success of this initiative, McInnes acknowledged that the resource center remains a “work in progress” that may not be fully active for another 1 to 2 years.
One reason for that is that the group wants to ensure that data collection and the ensuing trials are conducted “with meticulous methodological care to the highest possible quality,” McInnes said. “This is most likely to deliver the answers to the important questions being addressed. The goal is to conduct collaborative, outward-looking science.”
The final component McInnes mentioned was the EULAR School, which will help train the next generation of rheumatologists and rheumatology researchers.
“We are building a platform of excellence for the future,” he said. “We want to address current questions, and questions yet to come.”
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McInnes J. EULAR launches Virtual Research Centre: Improving the lives of people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases through research. Presented at: EULAR 2020 E-Congress; June 3-6, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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