University of Latvia

The Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine, University of Latvia (UL ICPM) is among the leading research institutes of the country to bridge basic medical research to the clinics. The mission of UL ICPM is to improve individual and public health through scientific knowledge. We conduct fundamental and applied research in the field of public health and disease prevention, including the implementation of population studies, screening, and intervention research, and the development of economically justified healthcare models (including research projects within Horizon Europe, EU4Health, Joint Action and other international and national programmes). We also conduct fundamental and applied research in various fields of clinical medicine, including oncology, microbiome, and infection research (sepsis, tuberculosis, etc.), internal medicine and surgical pathology, laboratory medicine, and visual diagnostics, as well as other natural sciences. The main focus is on gastric, colorectal, lung and breast cancer, as well as states before cancer development. Biomarker and new technology research, in particular for gastrointestinal cancer early detection and screening are among the key priority research areas.
Strategic partnership has been developed with the Riga East University Hospital (REUH), the leading clinical institution for managing cancer patients as well as multiple other clinical care institutions, including Academic Histology Laboratory which is the largest pathology analysis provider in out-patient care in Latvia. UL ICPM is also running its biobank in close cooperation with leading Latvian hospitals. The institute is closely collaborating to other research organizations in
the country including the Institute of Computer Science and Electronics and Institute of Organic Synthesis, as well as private companies.
Broad international collaboration, including with industry sector (Microsoft, ROCHE) has been developed. Close and regular collaboration is ongoing with IARC: the International Agency for Research on Cancer and NCI: the National Cancer Institute (US).
Currently the Institute is coordinating the following activities under EU4HEALTH program: TOGAS project with 20 participants and recently launched EUCanScreen project with 98 participants, and we are a partner in EUROHELICAN, AIDA, LUCIA, BEYOND, FAMLY and other international projects. We are also a partner in multiple collaborative networks like Million Microbiome of Humans Project (MMHP), BBMRI-ERIC (European research infrastructure for biobanking), European infrastructure for translational medicine (EATRIS), and Precision Medicine Network (PMNet).

Role of institution in the project

UL ICPM will provide the data as part of the Open Call.

Prof. Mārcis Leja

Professor Mārcis Leja is a distinguished researcher with a lifelong commitment to cancer prevention and screening, particularly focusing on gastrointestinal cancers. With decades of experience in the field, M.Leja serves as a Board member of the European Helicobacter and Microbiota Study Group (EHMSG) and is actively involved in several European and international guideline committees, including the Maastricht/Florence reviews and the IARC expert group. Since 2013, he has played a pivotal role in the GISTAR study (www.gistar.eu), a groundbreaking population-based, randomized gastrointestinal cancer prevention study—the only one of its kind in Europe. This initiative has led to the development of EU-based gastric cancer prevention activities, including the TOGAS project, which M.Leja coordinates. M.Leja is actively engaged in multiple international organizations, such as the Screening Committee of the World Endoscopy Organization (WEO), International Colorectal Cancer Screening Network (ICRCSN), and the International Digestive Cancer Alliance (IDCA). With past roles on the Scientific Committee of United European Gastroenterology and as a Cancer Mission Board member, he currently contributes as a member of the Research Committee at United European Gastroenterology and the Task Force on health data within BiomedAlliance.

Inese Polaka

Lead researcher Inese Polaka received her PhD in computer science and information technology in 2014 from Riga Technical University and has since worked on data analysis related activities in healthcare projects and machine learning. Her areas of interest are machine learning (supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised) applications in healthcare, data harmonization and data sharing for advancement of medical research.

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