BIOCAN

On 15 October 2026, BBMRI-ERIC, the European research infrastructure for biobanking and biomolecular resources, officially announced that Montenegro, Portugal and Ukraine have joined the infrastructure. Portugal joined as a Member, while Montenegro and Ukraine joined as Observer countries.

As we reported in June (https://biocan.ucg.ac.me/2026/06/30/montenegro-becomes-an-observer-in-the-european-biobanking-infrastructure-bbmri-eric/), Montenegro was granted Observer status at the BBMRI-ERIC General Assembly. The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montenegro is the national contact institution, and the BIOCAN biobank is the country’s central operational biobanking structure.

In the announcement, Dr Maša Ždralević, National Node Director, said that “Montenegro’s key strength lies in the opportunity to develop an integrated national biobanking ecosystem.”

With this enlargement, BBMRI-ERIC brings together 28 Member and Observer countries, plus IARC/WHO.

Read the full announcement: https://www.bbmri-eric.eu/news-events/montenegro-portugal-and-ukraine-join-bbmri-eric/

Our team members from the University of Donja Gorica (UDG), Prof. Dr. Ramo Šendelj and Prof. Dr. Ivana Ognjanović, represented the project at the International Conference on Informatics, Management and Technology in Healthcare (ICIMTH 2026), held in Athens, Greece, on July 3–4, 2026.

At the conference, the team presented the paper “Understanding Biomedical Researchers’ Expectations of Biobanks: Experience in Montenegro,” exploring researchers’ expectations and needs regarding the organization and functioning of biobanks, based on experiences and challenges within Montenegro’s national research context. The topic is directly linked to the project’s work on establishing standardized procedures for the collection, processing, storage, and management of biological samples and data.

The presentation strengthened the international visibility of the BIOCAN project and enabled valuable exchange with the broader community of researchers in biomedical informatics, biobanking, and translational research.

We are pleased to announce that Dr Maša Ždralević has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant for a six-month research stay at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, USA, supported by the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica. The Fulbright Visiting Scholar program is intended for established researchers with clearly defined, internationally relevant research plans, and is awarded according to strict criteria of scientific excellence.

Her research project, “Harnessing Tumor and Circulating-Free DNA Methylation for Prognosis and Treatment Stratification in Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma,” will analyze epigenetic DNA methylation patterns in tumor tissue and circulating free DNA to identify prognostic biomarkers for this rare and heterogeneous malignancy.

The results are expected to advance the molecular understanding of the disease and lay the groundwork for future translational research, international collaborations, and potential clinical applications.

As part of its ongoing efforts to promote translational research in oncology, our active researchers contributed to the symposium “Malignant Tumors of the Head and Neck – Current Developments,” organized by the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU) on December 15, 2025. Prof. Dr. Ljiljana Vučković delivered a lecture titled “Molecular Pathology in the Diagnosis of Head and Neck Tumors,” while Dr. Maša Ždralević presented “Liquid Biopsies and Epigenetics – Opportunities and Challenges in the Diagnosis of Rare Tumors.”

The lectures addressed contemporary concepts in molecular pathology, liquid biopsies, and epigenetic approaches to tumor diagnostics, directly relevant to the scientific framework of the BIOCAN project.