EXPERT MENTORING SERVICE FOR RARE DISEASE RESEARCH PROJECTS 
In partnership with EATRIS, EJP RD has developed a mentoring service for researchers planning a project that has translational potential for rare diseases. The aim is to increase the impact of projects by providing tailored expertise along each step of the translational pathway. This expertise is delivered early on at the project proposal phase so that the route to patient impact can be planned out. This greatly reduces the barriers between promising science and accessible treatments. 

The aim is to increase the impact and patient benefit of translational research on rare diseases.
You can get support on the following topics: 

  • Translational feasibility 
  • Regulatory compliance 
  • Product classification 
  • Quality assurance and control 
  • Intellectual property strategy 
  • Suitability of analytical readouts 
  • Manufacturing 
  • Therapy development 

Any scientist working on (or planning to work on): 

  • a translational research project in rare diseases 
  • in the pre-proposal stage OR after having received funding

The mentors are international experts from government agencies (e.g NCATS), academia and industry. 

There are no costs – it is entirely free. 

If you would like the support of EATRIS, we will ask you to sign an engagement form, giving us permission to review your proposal and committing us to confidentiality with you for the project. Find out more in this Information Sheet to Principal Investigators. 

This service is not related to the formal review process of the second stage, and reviewers will not receive any information arising from the mentoring process. 

The mentors in the programme sign a mentoring  agreement that includes a conflict of interest declaration. Our mentors are obliged to inform us if they are involved in an active application.  We will not match a mentor to a project that is similar in disease area if there is a possible conflict, and when in doubt we will always talk with the applicant for the mentoring programme first.

Firstly, we advise you to consult the available resources on translational research from EATRIS and the EJPRD’s Innovation Management Toolbox.  

If you would like to find out more and register for the service, please access our helpdesk, and select translational support as the category. Your query will be dealt with by EJP RD and referred on to EATRIS.

Please note, in order for us to provide a valuable service, enquiries should be made at least 1 month before a proposal deadline.