ARICE

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization, located in Lyon, France. The objective of IARC is to promote international collaboration in cancer research. The Agency is inter-disciplinary, bringing together skills in epidemiology, genetics, epigenetics, laboratory sciences and biostatistics to identify the causes of cancer so that preventive measures may be adopted and the global burden of disease and associated suffering reduced. A significant feature of the IARC is its expertise in coordinating research across countries and organizations; its independent role as an international organization facilitates this activity. The Agency has a particular interest in conducting research in low and middle-income countries, including Armenia, through partnerships and collaborations with researchers in these regions. A core part of the Agency's mission is education and training of cancer researchers worldwide. This is achieved through fellowships, courses and publications. Priority is given to training researchers from low and middle-income countries in the areas of laboratory-based cancer research and cancer registration.

IARC will be the major contributor to Biobanking quality enhancement and hands-on-training (WP3). The completion of these tasks will be managed by addressing particular issues: 1) training participants on the existing, new and updated standards in advanced pathology methods and biobanking, 2) the ethical, legal, data management issues related to biobanking; 3) the standard operating procedures and quality assurance aspects related to biobanking; 4) common activities in fostering networking for the dissemination of accrued knowledge, including for the facilitation of YSMU to get involved in international collaboration and consortia in cancer research.