"This proposal aims at upgrading and improving the capacity of Research Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (RCGEB), at the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts for research and education in the fields of genomics and proteomics. The RCGEB is the major research, education and diagnostic facility in the field of molecular genetics and biomedical sciences in R. Macedonia which has acquired national, regional and international recognition. The RCGEB is one of the few institutions from the R. Macedonia that met the criteria for Centre of excellence due to its esteemed scientific and educational record in life sciences. The main goals of this proposal are: 1) to upgrade the RCGEB and to provide a technological platform for high throughput genomic and proteomic research that will meet the needs of the scientific community in the region; 2) to foster the networking with EU Research institutions through exchange of visits, training, collaborative projects etc.; 3) to enhance the participation of R. Macedonia in the 7th Framework Programme; 4) to promote the new trends in the field of genomics and proteomics and to disseminate the knowledge; 5) to create an improved interactive and competitive research environment that will increase the scientific carrier opportunities and will slow down the brain-drain phenomena. The MACPROGEN activities are designed to address the objectives and to bring the expected impacts of the REGPOT-2008-1 call. The MACPROGEN project will contribute to the strengthening of the research and development capacities and to the enhancement of human research potential, and will ultimately foster the integration of R. Macedonia and the region in the European Research Area. The project will stimulate multidisciplinary basic research for studying human diseases and application of knowledge/technologies for generation of new diagnostic, prevention and therapeutic tools, thus meeting the objectives of the FP7 thematic priority area “Health”."