António Salgado
António Salgado Dr António SalgadoCoordinating Investigator and Vice-Dean for ResearchLife and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho (Portugal) Session: Alternatives and adjuncts to stem cells – Wednesday 14 May (3.30-5pm) António Salgado is a biologist with a PhD in Tissue Engineering and Hybrid Materials (2005), and a Habilitation (DSc) in Health Sciences, from the University of Minho. Currently he is a Coordinating Investigator at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS) and Vice-Dean for Research at the School of Medicine – University of Minho. His research interests are focused on the development of innovative therapies for CNS repair, namely on Spinal Cord Injury and Parkinson’s Disease, using stem cells secretome. His main areas of research are: 1) Development of ECM like hydrogels for the transplantation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells into the injured CNS; 2) Role of the secretome of MSCs in neuroprotection and repair,…
Máximo Vento
Dr Máximo Vento Dr Máximo VentoEmeritus ResearcherInstituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe (IISLAFE), Valencia (Spain) Session: From pre-clinical work to an approved therapy – Wednesday 14 May (10.30am-12pm) • MD, PhD• Professor of Pediatrics• Division of Neonatology, Univ and Polytech Hospital La Fe, Valencia• 475 publications; h-index 73• Oxygen metabolism and redox regulation in neonatology: experimental model, clinical and biomarker approach (mass spectrometry)
Suzie Miller
Suzie Miller Professor Suzie MillerDirector, The Ritchie CentreMonash University and Hudson Institute of Medical Research (Australia) Session: Using large animal translational models and how to do it better – Wednesday 14 May (8.30-10am) Suzie Miller was appointed Director of The Ritchie Centre in 2022 and she holds a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia Fellowship. Suzie leads the Neurodevelopment and Neuroprotection Theme in the Ritchie Centre, with her research utilising experimental large animal models of the primary causes of perinatal brain injury – including foetal growth restriction, intrauterine infection, preterm birth, and perinatal asphyxia – to better understand the progression of neuropathology, so that targeted interventions can be implemented. Suzie and her clinical and research colleagues are working towards the translation of neuroprotective therapies before or after birth, so that neonatal brain injury can be reduced, and neurodevelopmental deficits might be prevented. Suzie is also a keen advocate…
End of year message from the PREMSTEM coordinator
Once again, a busy year for PREMSTEM with progress made across all scientific work packages as well as an acceleration in the dissemination of our results through new publications and conference talks. Furthermore, planning is underway for our own conference in May 2025. This year, the European Commission approved an extension of PREMSTEM until the end of 2025, mainly due to delays we experienced in our scientific work during the Covid pandemic. We also received positive feedback in the recent review meeting with external reviewers. Scientific progress Our labs continue to investigate the potential of human mesenchymal stem cells (H-MSCs) originating from umbilical cord tissue as a potential treatment option for brain injury related to preterm birth. The following is a summary of the work that has taken place this year. The teams at the University of Maastricht and RMIT University have completed the short-term investigations in the large…
PhD candidates and postdoc researchers present at the 2024 PREMSTEM annual meeting
On 11 June 2024 in Gothenburg, PREMSTEM’s young investigators presented their latest research to other members of the consortium. This session has become a tradition at the project’s annual in person meeting following similar session in 2022 and 2023. This year’s presenters were: 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…
2024 Annual meeting
The PREMSTEM team met in Gothenburg on 10 and 11 June 2024 for the annual in person meeting and Young Investigator Session. Thank you to Henrik Hagberg from the University of Gothenburg for his hard work to host the PREMSTEM consortium in Sweden while also organising the biannual Hershey Conference on Developmental Brain Injury that started the day after. Besides hearing comprehensive updates from each work package leader, we also listened to a presentation from the Chiesi team about the road to clinical trials and got an update from RMIT Europe about the PREMSTEM final conference which is currently in the planning. Some key points from the discussions at the annual meeting: Our next meeting will be held in 2025 before the final conference in Barcelona.
Our co-creation journey comes to an end
In our final workshop, we co-designed solutions to two more issues which came up in interviews with parents
Introducing Lotte Smeets
Lotte is a PhD student at the MERLN Institute and the Department of Paediatrics at Maastricht University
PREMSTEM meeting February 2024
In our first consortium online meeting of 2024 we discussed scientific progress and future planning
Co-creating the final steps of the roadmap
The roadmap prototype aims to improve the clinical trials experience for families