28 Apr GUTVIBRATIONS Progress Meeting in Örsundsbro, Sweden
On the 21st and 22nd of April 2022, members of the GUTVIBRATIONS consortium journeyed to Örsundsbro, Sweden. At Friiberghs Herrgård, to be exact, members of the GUTVIBRATIONS consortium gathered – for the very first time since the pandemic – for a progress meeting.
Arriving at the Friiberghs Herrgård
On the 20th of April 2022, several members of the GUTVIBRATIONS consortium arrived at Friiberghs Herrgård, a beautiful golf resort located in the vicinity of Örsundsbro, Sweden. After settling in in their rooms, they gathered at the dining hall of the resort to enjoy a delicious dinner prepared by skilled chefs.
Progress Presentations and Meeting Nanobiology Expert
The first day of the progress meeting occurred on the 21st of April 2022. On this day, members of each work packages within the GUTVIBRATIONS project presents the progress that they have made. During this session, all members of the work packages are encouraged to ask questions and initiate discussions with each other.
Following all of the presentations from the different work packages, we welcomed Prof. Anna Herland from KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Joining us during our progress meeting, Prof. Herland presented her research in a presentation titled ‘Microphysiological models with focus on the central nervous system’. After being awarded the “Wallenberg Academy Fellow” and “KTH Tenure Track” in 2016, Prof. Herland started a group focusing on in vitro neural models and Hybrid Bioelectrical Systems at the Department of Micro and Nanosystem at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. The group aims to understand neuronal interactions with other neural and neurovascular cells, specifically in terms of metabolic function and neuronal activity.
Kubb, anyone?
To end the productive day, Therése Kallur and Malin Kele, our partners from BioLamina invited us outside to play the traditional Swedish game, Kubb (wooden block in English). It is a game that involves two teams knocking down their opponents’ stacked wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. Ultimately, once the stacked wooden blocks collapsed, the opposing teams will have to knock down the ‘wooden king’. This game is also known as “Viking Chess”.
The Second Day of the Meeting: Meeting Experts in Experimental Pathology and Gene Therapy
After breakfast in the dining hall, the second day began with a presentation from Dr. Cecilia Lindskog Bergström, associate professor in experimental pathology at Uppsala University, Sweden, on the spatial proetomics in health and disease. Her research focus is on the integration of transcriptomics and antibody-based proteomics, linking cell type specificity with function and mechanisms of disease. At Uppsala University, Dr. Lindskog is head of the Human Protein Atlas project, which works with high-resolution imaging, antibody-based proteomics and cell type-specific expression patterns in human normal and cancer tissues.
Following the insightful presentation from Dr. Cecilia Lindskog Bergström, we welcomed Prof. Dr. Sander van Deventer, Chief Technology Officer at VectorY, who joined us to talk about next-generation gene therapies for central nervous system (CNS) and neuromuscular disease. Prof. Dr. van Deventer has over 20 years of experience in gene therapy. In the 1990s, he became director of the laboratory for Experimental Internal Medicine at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam where he worked on therapeutic signal transduction inhibition, gene therapies, and genetically engineered probiotics. He also co-founded the Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (AMT N.V., currently uniQure N.V.), developing Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapy products. In 2017, he was appointed as Chief Technology Officer at VectorY, a biotech company specializing on the development of innovative gene therapy approaches for the treatment of muscular and neurodegenerative disorders through vectorised antibodies.
Leaving Friiberghs Herrgård
After presentations from our experts and a few kind words from our coordinators, Dasja Pajkrt and Katja Wolthers, we wrapped up our progress meeting. We were then escorted to the dining hall to enjoy our last lunch at the dining hall before bidding our farewells to fellow members of the consortium and the wonderful staff of Friiberghs Herrgård.