The EU, fighting against brain cancer, is reinforcing this effort by providing funding to an Italian scientist who is pioneering a new treatment that could help squash this disease.

Milo Malanga presented details of his new research into the development of an anti-cancer drug at the Marie Curie Conference in Turin, Italy.

'State-of-the-art drugs to fight different types of brain cancer are, unfortunately, scarce and not as effective as they should be to ensure an acceptable degree of success,' Mr Malanga said, adding that the new anti-cancer drugs might be developed by 2013.

Experts say that researchers must develop drugs that can kill cancerous cells but also safeguard the healthy ones. Another headache for them is getting past the brain's layer of high-density cells which keep existing anti-cancer treatments from doing their job.

Mr Malanga, along with 398 research fellows attended the Marie Curie Conference in the northern Italian city, in the margins of the 2010 EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF). The main objective of the conference was to provide EU-funded scientists and researchers with information they could use to fuel their experiences and boost their knowledge.

The EU has earmarked over EUR 4.5 billion for the Marie Curie Actions scheme for the period from 2007 to 2013. For the last 14 years, Marie Curie Actions have been instrumental in fuelling the creation of the European Research Area (ERA). The new Research Executive Agency (REA), oversees the management of the Actions.

The Marie Curie scheme brings together the best talents in higher education and research so that knowledge moves freely across borders and stimulates innovation and new ideas.

EU Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn will address ESOF. Her talk will focus on how the European Commission's forthcoming Innovation Union Strategy will help advance science and sustain prosperity.