Lotte Smeets, PhD candidate at Maastricht University: Biodistribution of MSCs after intravenous and intranasal administration. Lotte has been studying the biodistribution of stem cells in a preclinical large animal model of preterm birth after intravenous administration, and the biodistribution of stem cells after intranasal administration in a preclinical small animal model of preterm birth. Both studies use gold nanoparticles as a trace source.

Ezgi Şengün, PhD candidate at Radboudumc: Human mesenchymal stem cells induce immune memory response through down regulation of key molecular pathways. Ezgi presented her research into the downstream effect of human mesenchymal stem cells on T cells to find out about the different pathways and to see if any particular genes would stand out.

Marta Tiffany Lombardo, PhD candidate at IN-CNR: RNA-seq analysis: h-MSCs effect on inflamed microglia. Marta has been investigating the biological mechanisms modulated by human mesenchymal stem cells on inflamed microglia, the immune cells of the brain, in an in vitro model of encephalopathy of prematurity. To do so, she exploited RNA-sequencing, a bioinformatic tool to evaluate how cells change their transcriptome and, in the end, to detect novel features useful to interpret the contribution of the stem cells to the damaged brain.

Meray Serdar, postdoctoral researcher at Universitätsklinikum Essen: Protective effect of h-MSC on a double-hit model of neonatal brain injury. Meray has carried out a histological analysis of brain volume, myelination and activation of microglia and astrocytes following the intranasal administration of mesenchymal stem cells in a model of white matter injury caused by maternal inflammation and postnatal hyperoxia.

Gaurav Verma, postdoctoral researcher at University of Gothenburg: Improving neuronal survival by stem-cells in ischemic brain injury. Gaurav has been investigating whether mesenchymal stem cells can restore mitochondrial respiration in neurons in a model of oxygen glucose deprivation as well as trying to understand the mechanisms of neuroprotection mediated by stem cells.

Sara De Palma, PhD candidate at UMCU: Optimizing mesenchymal stem cell secretome to enhance neuronal differentiation in vitro. Sara has been studying the differentiation of neuronal stem cells and the extent of their networks in experiments with naïve mesenchymal stem cells and seeing if they can be optimised further through creatine preloading or hypoxic preconditioning.

Chantal Kosmeijer, PhD candidate at UMCU: Mesenchymal stem cell therapy to restore developmental delays in a rat model for encephalopathy of prematurity. Chantal presented data from a rat model of foetal inflammation and postnatal hypoxia in which the aim was to see whether mesenchymal stem cell therapy show rescue effects, focussing on myelination in the white matter, as well as to see whether the stem cells can restore behavioural deficits.

Judit Alhama Riba, PhD candidate at UMCU: Organ development in growth-restricted fetuses in the reduced uterine perfusion pressure rat model: a trinary vascular approach of brain, heart, and kidney. Judit has applied a multi-organ approach using a rat model of reduced uterine perfusion pressure to investigate histological changes in vascular pathophysiology related to foetal growth restriction.

Markus Gallert, PhD candidate at Universitätsklinikum Essen: Maternal inflammation followed by postnatal hyperoxia reduces brain vascular complexity. Markus has used a double hit model of brain injury to look at the effect of mesenchymal stem cell administration on blood vessels in different areas of the rat brain, including changes in vessel area, complexity and density.

David Guenoun, PhD candidate at Inserm: Premature brain ageing, the aftermath of an early-life inflammatory event. David is investigating whether preterm birth-associated neuroinflammation could accelerate the natural ageing process, using a mouse model of perinatal inflammation.