Report on the Workshop and Regular Meeting of the Imode-CKD and Bcmolmed Marie Curie Training and Research Programs.

A Workshop and Regular Meeting of the Marie Curie Training and Research Programs iMODECKD (Identification of the Molecular Determinants of established Chronic Kidney Disease) and BCMolMed (Molecular Medicine for Bladder Cancer) was held from 20-22 March at the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts (MASA). The meeting was hosted by the participating center University of Skopje (SKO) - Goce Spasovski and MASA - Momir Polenakovic (R. Macedonia). The representative from MASA proteomic research center - Katerina Davalieva (R. Macedonia) had presentation on proteomic research in prostate cancer (PCa). 40 researchers from 13 different countries participated at the meeting. The Workshop was devoted on "Chronic Kidney Disease: Clinical Management issues", and consisted of 15 oral presentations given by nephrologists and experts in the field of CKD. Raymond Vanholder (Belgium) - past president of ERA-EDTA had a keynote lecture on "CKD: Questions that need to be answered and are not (or at least not entirely)". The workshop continued in four sessions with lectures from Alberto Ortiz (Spain), Olivera Stojceva-Taneva (R. Macedonia), Dimitrios Goumenos (Greece), Joachim Beige (Germany), Marian Klinger (Poland), Goce Spasovski (R. Macedonia), Joachim Jankowski (Germany), Adalbert Schiller (Romania), Robert Johnson (USA), Franco Ferrario (Italy), Ivan Rychlik (Czech Republic), Fulvio Magni (Italy) and Giovambattista Capasso (Italy), all covering a training theme. Within the meeting there were two lectures on complimentary skills for ethics in science and career advancement from two principal investigators - Goce Spasovski (R. Macedonia) and Joost Schanstra (France). During the Regular Meeting, 13 PhD students i.e. Early Stage Researchers and one Experienced Researcher from both Programs presented their work and progress within iMODE-CKD and BCMolMed projects. This meeting was a great opportunity to exchange experience and ideas in the field of systems biology approaches and translational medicine and planning future collaboration.