Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Doctoral Networks
From the 18th to the 21st of March 2024, the Arctic University of Norway organized the first in-person meeting at the beautiful island of Sommarøy, Norway, as a joint event together with the EIC DeLIVERy consortium which has a number of overlapping laboratories.
Our freshly recruited DCs Shambhavi Dwivedi and Stefan Huijgens gave their first presentations to the delegates, as did an “honorary” DC, Øyvind Svendsen. The consortium is looking forward to more presentations from all of you at future network meetings!
There were numerous other highlights throughout the meeting. Harry Dawson from Cherry Biotech outlined all the efforts the company has made with VUB and UniBi in optimizing media within the CUBIX microphysiological system. Kajangi Gnanachandran (McTeam UiT) and Milan Lobo/Leo van Grunsven (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) separately presented their exciting collaborative work on liver spheroids built from primary mouse liver cells – the morphology and function of these are resembling livers in ways that potentially make them excellent in vitro mini-liver models. Team Bielefeld (Thomas Huser/Henning Ortkrass/Surjendu Bikash Dutta) presented a number of exciting new methodologies in super-resolution flouresence microscopy, along with Jan Schulte am Esch’s DeLIVERy team (Wolfgang Hübner / Annika Kiehl / Jasmin Schürstedt) who described their live LSEC studies with these methods. Karolina Szafranska (McTeam UiT) presented her long-term LSEC primary culture work – in her hands cultured LSEC are maintaining function beyond 12 days in culture – this is a major achievement and opens up immense possibilities for siRNA studies and similar. Jaime McCutcheon (UiT) described his work on diet-related changes in neural activity and the blood-brain barrier, and outlined planned studies of enestrated endothelium in the arcuate nucleus. Bartek Zapotoczny (IFJ) presented work on multiparametric imaging of living murine LSEC using novel atomic force microscopy methods. Lynn Butler (KTH/UiT) outlined her lab’s plans to use endothelial cell factors to improve disease risk profiling in relation to age. Karen Sørensen (UiT) described the role of LSEC in the clearance of virus and the research being done at UiT in this regard. Friedemann Kiefer (U Münster) gave an excellent presentation about oxygen tension gradients across tissues and explained the use of fluorescent hypoxia reporters in situ. Pieter de Beule (INL) showed us a fascinating combination of simultaneous and colocalized imaging with fluorescence imaging and atomic force microscopy in liquid media. Tomasz Zaba (ALM Services) demonstrated the use of smoothli.ai for image analysis. Caroline Adiels (UGot) explained her microfluidic tricks to mimic liver lobules. Morten Elde (NorI) inspired us to make money our of our IP by not ruining it with premature publications. Eelke Snoeren (UiT) was struck down with a nasty cold but managed to make a quick appearance to introduce herself and her work. Lorena Arranz (UiO) was busy with maternity leave but looks forward to joining us at the next ImAgE-D meeting. Last but not least, our Australian guests Victoria Cogger, Nick Hunt and Meng Ngu (ANZAC Research Institute) outlined their projects on ageing liver, nano-medicines and their oral delivery to the liver.
The DeLIVERy delegates gave fantastic presentations, and these were all much appreciated by all the ImAgE-D consortium, and vice versa. There were numerous extra-curricular social interactions as well.
It was a very enjoyable and successful meeting – thanks especially to all the speakers - and we all look forward to the next in-person meeting, in Krakow in a year’s time – thanks Bartek for the invitation!
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101119613. The website reflects only the author's view and that the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
