News archive

From 31 March to 2 April 2025, the ImAgE-D consortium met again in Krakow to discuss the current status and the next steps in the project.

The conclusion of ImAgE-Ds third network meeting in Krakow on the 02nd of April marked the end of another successful ImAgE-D and DeLIVER event.

For many of our participants, in particular our doctoral candidates, this was the first opportunity to meet and get to know the consortium and their colleagues in person. Monday, 31st of March was therefore fully dedicated to our candidates, who had the opportunity to come together, exchange ideas and get to know each other on this day before the actual meeting began on the following Tuesday.

The first day of the third network meeting was dedicated to training our candidates with training sessions in areas sample preparation and clearing for microscopy, Introduction to 3D cell culture using MPS systems, Introduction to scanning probe microscopy  / atomic force microscopy, Optical Technologies for Intravital Imaging, and Fluorescence-activated cell sorting and downstream analysis. As well as a feedback round on the candidates' homework: a grant application!

On Wednesday, our DCs then had the opportunity to present themselves and their work to date, with some remarkable results already achieved! Presentations by our guests on the topics Shining light on basic liver physiology, ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY TO study MECHANICAL AND ADHESIVE PROPERTIES OF CELLS and their microenvironment, Preclinical models for metabolic adverse effects of antipsychotic agents, Antipsychotics and the Liver and The endocrinological role of  brain endothelial cells rounded off the second day of the event before the consortium then set off in small teams for a joint Teambuilding Activity in the centre of Krakow!

Team Thomas managed to win the event with outstanding combination skills, physical fitness and good teamwork, which was honoured with small gift boxes at the end!

We are already looking forward to the upcoming fourth Network Meeting in October 2025!

With Anqi Lyu the university of Gothenburg has hired the first of two DCs!

In January 2025 Anqi Lyu from the Fujian province in south-east China has started her work at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. With her backgrounds in Biomedical Engineering and Medical Bioinformatics, she will actively contribute to Work package 4 - BIOMARKER ID: Global effects of plasma factors on endothelial cells during health, ageing and disease.
Would you like to find out more about what interests she has outside of research, which parts of Europe she already knows and how she imagines her work in the ImAgE-D project?

Then check out her interview: 

Interview Anqi Lyu

The ImAgE-D consortium met for the second time from 18th to 20th November 2024.

On the 18th of November 2024, the first mid-term meeting in the ImAgE-D project was held and concluded in close collaboration with the projects representative of the The European Research Executive Agency (REA).
The focus of this first day was the introduction of the consortium to the REA, a presentation on the monitoring of project implementation, reporting and purpose of the mid-term check and the subsequent introductions of the individual doctoral candidates in the ImAgE-D project.
The 19th of November was dedicated to the training and further education of our candidates with courses such as Introduction to cellular fenestration biology on the example of liver SECs, Introduction to optical nanoscopy techniques, Introduction to blood-brain-barrier and hypothalamic interactions and Introduction to liver and bone marrow physiology and pathophysiology; opportunities for imaging.
The third day continued with courses in Entrepreneurship, Appropriate conduct and ethics in the sciences and AI userguide, including ethics for DCs before the meeting was concluded in the afternoon.

Gaetan and Yimeng join the team!

The University of Bielefeld has found a perfect candidate for position 6 in Gaetan Grima (Physics). The University of Oslo has found their excellent candidate for position 3 in Yimeng Chen (Biomedical imaging and Energy/Environmental engineering).
Who are they and what do they like to do in their free time? Find out here:

Interview Yimeng Chen

Interview Gaétan Grima

Biology and chemistry are getting support!

The remaining open positions are filling up steadily and consistently. With Emina Horvat Velic (Molecular) Biology) at the University of Tromsø and Manisha Chatterjee (Chemistry) at the Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, the ImAgE-D project has welcomed two more scientists who will contribute to its success with their extensive knowledge and experience!
Why don't you take some time to take a look at the interviews with the two of them?

Interview Emina Horvat Velic

Interview Manisha Chatterjee

Dibakar Borah and Arkajyoti Sarkar are now contributing to the project!

With our two candidates Dibakar Borah (Physics and Optical Engineering) at Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Science and Arkajyoti Sarkar (Biotechnology and Human Biology) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, positions number 5 and 9 in the ImAgE-D project have now been filled.
Find out more about them in their interviews about their background, their decision in favour of ImAgE-D and some exciting fun facts!

Interview Dibakar Borah

Interview Arkajyoti Sarkar

With Shambhavi Dwivedi and Stefan Huijgens, the project has found its first DCs!

In a short interview, we lean more about their personal backgrounds and their expectations of the project:

Interview with Shambhavi Dwivedi

Interview with Stefan Huijgens

Welcome to the project and we wish you all the best

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!

Oral nanotherapeutic formulation of insulin with reduced episodes of hypoglycaemia

Injectable insulin is an extensively used medication with potential life-threatening hypoglycaemic events. Here we report on insulin-conjugated silver sulfide quantum dots coated with a chitosan/glucose polymer to produce a responsive oral insulin nanoformulation. This formulation is pH responsive, is insoluble in acidic environments and shows increased absorption in human duodenum explants and Caenorhabditis elegans at neutral pH. The formulation is sensitive to glucosidase enzymes to trigger insulin release. It is found that the formulation distributes to the liver in mice and rats after oral administration and promotes a dose-dependent reduction in blood glucose without promoting hypoglycaemia or weight gain in diabetic rodents. Non-diabetic baboons also show a dose-dependent reduction in blood glucose. No biochemical or haematological toxicity or adverse events were observed in mice, rats and non-human primates. The formulation demonstrates the potential to orally control blood glucose without hypoglycaemic episodes.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-023-01565-2://www.nature.com/articles/s41565-023-01565-2

15-18.03.2024 - the first network meeting of the ImAgE-D project! 

The meeting will be held at the Sommarøy Arctic Hotel Tromsø on the beautiful island of Sommarøy near Tromsø, Norway. 

This first in-person meeting will be combined with an annual meeting of the EIC Pathfinder project DELIVERy.

ImAgE-D kickoff meeting