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ELSI STREAMLINE Training, December 20 – 21st, 2022

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A two-day training session was held last week. A team of experts from the University of Maastricht (UM) held a series of practical lectures. The training was dedicated to data protection and data sharing in biomedical research. To apply the gained knowledge, the IMGGE researchers had to solve  some practical tasks that include answering the given questions and presenting a case study to the experts from UM. Under experts’ supervision and guidance , IMGGE researchers improved their knowledge in this very important area. Our sincere gratitude to Dorothee Horstkötter, Helena Bossini Castillo, and Birgit Wouters for the wonderful training and great experience.

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STREAMLINE Training: “Proposal preparation for EU calls”

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Under the umbrella of the STREAMLINE project, our partners from CERTH Dr. Spyros Petrakis and Mr. Dimitris Kaboukos opened a series of lectures on the following topic: Proposal preparation for EU calls. We have the opportunity to meet the requirements of EU funding programs, learn about the planning of research projects and call documents. Moreover, we have been given the guidelines to make it simpler for us to understand the application paperwork. At the very end, we shared experiences that researchers face during Budget preparation.

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Symposium “Microdeletion 22q11.2 – together towards better understanding and treatment”

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We would like to announce the symposium “Microdeletion 22q11.2 – together towards better understanding and treatment” that will be held at University Children’s Hospital, Tirsova 10, Belgrade on December 9, 2022. The Symposium will bring together patients with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, their families and experts from different fields (clinical geneticists, molecular biologists, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, psychiatrists, logopedists). It will cover topics about the latest achievements in the field of studying the 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome and neurodevelopmental disorders. Patient organizations will take part in the Symposium and they will share their experiences with the symposium participants.

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The international day of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

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22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) is a disorder caused by a heterozygous microdeletion of region q11.2 of chromosome 22. It is the most common microdeletion syndrome in humans with an estimated incidence of approximately 1/4000 per live births. The spectrum of clinical manifestations in patients with this syndrome is very variable, even within the same family. Approximately, 25% of patients with 22q11.2DS develop schizophrenia. Intellectual disability is detected in approximately 45% of patients with 22q11.2DS, while ASD is seen in 14-50% of cases. STREAMLINE research project aims to study molecular mechanisms underlying intrafamilial phenotypic variability in patients with 22q11.2DS.

November 22nd, is the international day of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. STREAMLINE team marked this day by wearing red.

Twinning STREAMLINE project

The presentation of STREAMLINE at the event “European Researcher’s Night 2022”

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Under the slogan: “Streets under the lights of science” on 30.09. 2022 and on 01.10. 2022, the 13th European Researchers’ Night was held in Belgrade. The main goal of the event was to raise public awareness of the importance and positive role of science for society by putting the researcher in the focus of public. This was an opportunity to promote STREAMLINE among general public. Within the session: “Fascination by innovation” Academician Milena Stevanović gave a lecture entitled: “The brain in a petri dish: The STREAMLINE project and innovative approaches for disease modeling.”

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Upcoming lecture of the STREAMLINE project at the event “European Researchers’ Night 2022”

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We would like to announce the lecture that will be held by Academician Milena Stevanović as part of the event: „European Researchers’ Night 2022“ and the “Fascination by innovation” activity. The lecture will be held on the 1 st of October 2022, starting at 5 p.m. in the Gallery of Science and Technology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Đure Jakšića 2)

 

 

“The brain in a petri dish: The STREAMLINE project and innovative approaches for disease modeling“

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) are caused by alterations in early brain development and for their research, cutting-edge technology must be applied. The STREAMLINE project allows researchers to use the newest state-of-the-art technology for neurodevelopmental disorders based on the use of stem cells and brain organoids. These innovative technologies will improve our understanding of the processes involved in brain development and advance our understanding of brain disorders. The project will contribute to the discovery of molecular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders as well as the development of novel potential therapeutics and their testing on these stem cell-based model systems.
Twinning STREAMLINE project

Stem cell-based systems for modelling human diseases in patient-specific genetic background

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Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are reprogrammed from human somatic cells through ectopic expression of various transcription factors. The iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka’s laboratory in Kyoto, Japan. This breakthrough scientific achievement won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 “for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent”.

iPSCs derive from skin or blood cells that have been reprogrammed back into an embryonic-like pluripotent state, which, in turn, can differentiate into different types of cells within the body, representing an unlimited source of any type of human cell needed for research or therapeutic purposes. The ever-improving technology to generate iPSCs has increased their applicative potential including disease modeling, drug testing and toxicology screening as well as regenerative medicine and cell therapy.

STREAMLINE goal is to raise the quality of research and innovation of the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering (IMGGE), University of Belgrade by introducing novel stem cell-based systems for modelling human diseases in patient-specific genetic background and by acquiring cutting-edge technology in generating brain organoids, unique 3D model systems that will provide further progress in understanding brain development and brain pathologies.

Dr. Danijela Drakulić and Dr. Nataša Kovačević Grujičić, associates of the Laboratory for Human Molecular Genetics, IMGGE, University of Belgrade, picked the first colonies of iPSCs derived from patients with familial form of the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome during staff exchange at Cardiff University as part of the exploratory research project within STREAMLINE. The obtain iPSCs will be further differentiated into neuronal and astroglial cells.  This stem cell-based systems for modelling human diseases combined with the generation of brain organoids provide an opportunity to recapitulate both normal and pathologic human tissue formation in vitro, enabling genuine disease investigation and further progress in understanding molecular mechanisms of neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Workshop

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The first STREAMLINE workshop titled: “State-of-the-art of stem cells-based research in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs)“ was held from 8. – 9. July 2022 at the Hotel Putnik Inn, Belgrade, Republic of Serbia. Workshop organizers were academician Milena Stevanovic (IMGGE), Prof.
Adrian Harwood (CU), Prof. David Linden (UM), Dr. Spyros Petrakis (CERTH) and Dr. Danijela Drakulic (IMGGE). It was a hybrid event with 40 in-person attendees and 25 remote meeting participants.
Participants had the opportunity to listen, discuss and learn about the latest methodological advances used to model NDDs. That was also a chance for audiences to get familiar with OMICs and bioinformatics data analysis approaches used for drug targets and biomarkers prediction. Also advances in drug testing were presented. In addition, the workshop was also an opportunity for the attendances to learn about the ethical, legal and social aspects in this field of research. The lecturers from CU, UM and CERTH presented some of their latest results. One of the sessions was devoted to the research on NDDs in the Western Balkans region, where health care professionals from Serbia and neighboring countries presented challenges in this field from clinical point of view.