All posts by : ZL Pro

It is our great pleasure to share that dr Danijela Stanisavljević Ninković, a member of STREAMLINE team, has been awarded an #IBROSpeakerSupport grant for the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Symposium!

On Friday, November 22th, the third Symposium entitled “22q Awareness Day ” was organized within the STREAMLINE project. We gathered around researchers, doctors, parents and children living with 22q11 deletion syndrome. This was another wonderful meeting with the hope that it will grow into a tradition.
The Symposium started with Dr. Danijela Drakulić who presented STREAMLINE projects activities. Her opening speech was followed by from representatives of National organization for rare diseases of Serbia (NORBS) and “22q ex YU”, Stefan Živković and Vesna Vujičić, who talked about the current activities of their associations. At the end of opening speech Ana Knežević (President of inclusive center “Here’s a hand” (Evo ruka)) said that her message is that we should help to parents and children living with 22q11 deletion syndrome.
STREAMLINE team members spent this wonderful evening with parents and children living with 22q11 deletion syndrome, enjoying in good talk and music. This was a great opportunity to better understand the life of people with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and their daily struggles, but also to become familiar with their way of thinking and their many talents. Perhaps the most important thing is that this Symposium enabled parents who share the same problems to exchange experiences, to broaden perspectives, and create new contacts.

Choosing a professional path is one of the most frequent problems students have in career counseling. Therefore, on November 8th, as part of the “Find out first-hand” program, the Center for Career Development and Student Counseling of the University of Belgrade and the Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGI) of the University of Belgrade, organized a visit for final year students from the different faculties of natural sciences, University of Belgrade. Students had the opportunity to become more familiar with IMGGI, projects, and career planning possibilities. Dr Mina Perić described students how it is to work with human induced pluripotent cells technology, an exciting new era for the fields of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, as well as disease modeling and drug discovery.

Congratulations to Academician Milena Stevanović, who was awarded for her contribution to the development of molecular biology in Serbia by the Serbian Society for Molecular Biology (MolBioS). The award ceremony took place at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts on October 8th. Prof. Dr. Gordana Matić highlighted Academician Milena Stevanović’s significant contributions to genetic engineering, human molecular genetics, elucidating molecular mechanisms of oncogenesis and neurogenesis, as well as disease modeling. Academician Milena Stevanović also made a great impact on the Faculty of Biology at the University of Belgrade through her dedication to student education. Prof. Dr. Gordana Matić also emphasized that Academician Milena Stevanović should be regarded as a symbol of molecular biology in Serbia.

Additionally, Prof. Dr. Goran Brajušković acknowledged Academician Milena Stevanović’s substantial contributions to the development and promotion of molecular biology in Serbia. At the conclusion, Academician Milena Stevanović shared her journey from her early days as a student, from her first SOX gene cloning to the first images of human induced pluripotent stem cells generated in Serbia, highlighting the beauty of molecular biology.

Academician Milena Stevanović considers her greatest success to be leaving a laboratory full of researchers capable of independently carrying on the research work.

In the period from 23rd to 27th September, PhD students from STREAMLINE team Stefan Lazić, Jelena Pejić, Luka Bojić, Jovana Kostić and Ivana Simeunović attended the course Multi-Omics and Data Sciences in Complex Disease held at the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands. The course is organized by the Netherlands School of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (BioSB), which focuses on knowledge exchange and training in these areas. 

During their stay in the Netherlands, they had the opportunity to hear more about current developments in the field of epigenomics, epigenome wide association studies (EWAS), as well as to apply the knowledge in practice on examples. In addition, the topics of the course were related to the design of studies in molecular epidemiology, machine learning, but also the integration of different types of data. Participants also had the opportunity to talk to experts in these fields about their experiments and analysis of their own data.

Thanks again to organizers from Netherlands School of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology from Maastricht for this great opportunity.

From July 16 to 18, 2024, Dr. Danijela Drakulic, Dr.Mina Peric, and Dr.Natasa Kovacevic Grujicic from IMGGE and Dr. Goran Cuturilo, University Children’s Hospital, Belgrade, attended the 13th Biennial International 22q11.2 Scientific Meeting at Praia D’El Rey Golf and Beach Resort, Obidos, Portugal.

Danijela gave a presentation „Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Carrying 22q11.2 CNVs as a Model System for Studying Neurodevelopmental Disorders” in Session TRANSITION, TRANSCRIPTION, AND iPSCS, and Goran attended Session COORDINATION, INTERVENTIONS, AND OUTCOMES with presentation “An Overview of 22q11.2 Diagnostic and Research Facilities in the Countries of The Western Balkan Region”.

Also, we have organized workshop where members of the STREAMLINE project, Danijela Drakulic, Adrian Harwood, and Janet Harwood, and STREAMLINE Advisory Board member, Goran Cuturilo, presented the project and current results.

The second STREAMLINE school dedicated to the latest research methodologies and approaches for Identification of key genes and novel drug targets for neurodevelopmental disorders was held from 4th to 6th of June at the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) in Thessaloniki, Greece. This Summer School was organized by CERTH and Maastricht University and gathered 31 PhD students and 8 researchers from Serbia and Bosnia. During this three-days event the young researchers had an opportunity to learn, throughout lectures and hands on trainings, about current state-of-the-art methodologies for identification of key genes and novel drug targets for neurodevelopmental disorders. The attendees got guidelines, from the experts in the field, on the methods of GWAS and imaging genetics, epigenetics and methylation analysis, microRNA analysis, methods and algorithms for in silico screening, pathway modelling, drug-related databases, PRS calculation algorithms and cell-based assays for experimental validation of selected compounds. This Summer School offered an excellent environment for fruitful discussions and new connections. We hope that this experience will be beneficial for their career and for further scientific discoveries.