Global experts converge in Barcelona for the PREMSTEM Conference: Research into neonatal brain repair
From 13 to 15 May 2025 the PREMSTEM consortium was joined in Barcelona by members of the scientific community, medical professionals, and parent and patient representatives from Europe, North America and Australia for our final conference. The conference theme ‘Research into neonatal brain repair’ set the scene to present PREMSTEM’s scientific findings to the public after over five years of dedicated research into human mesenchymal stem cells, and their potential to treat brain injury after preterm birth. The programme centred on topics related to the scientific work carried out by PREMSTEM researchers, but with the aim of going beyond the project’s own work to explore research activities, findings and experiences of leading international researchers working in related topics of brain injury. Following a call for abstracts, researchers from around the world joined us to present their own important work looking at the vulnerable newborn brain, including events such as hypoxic-ischemia…
2025 Annual meeting
The PREMSTEM team met in Barcelona on 12 and 13 May 2025 for the annual in person meeting, held just before the project’s public conference. Invited to the meeting were consortium partners as well as members of our scientific advisory boards. We shared our latest research progress and findings as well as updates related to the project’s important community engagement and dissemination activities. It was also an opportunity to discuss our future plans, including the translation of our work to the clinic and the strategies for disseminating our many results through scientific and wider public audience focused publications. Highlights from the annual meeting: We look forward to catching up again on online in September 2025.
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.
PREMSTEM meeting February 2024
In our first consortium online meeting of 2024 we discussed scientific progress and future planning
2023 Annual meeting
PREMSTEM consortium members came together for the project’s annual meeting on 6 and 7 September 2023 at the Maastricht Exhibition and Conference Centre. We were also joined virtually by members of our advisory board. Maastricht University researchers organised the two-day programme which included a session for PhD and postdoctoral researchers to present their research, the formal meeting where each work package leader presented updates and progress in their tasks, and networking within the team. Project coordinator Professor Pierre Gressens welcomed partners to the formal meeting before work package leaders took to the floor to present project updates from the different work packages. Some of the highlights are outlined below: We look forward to coming together again for the 2024 annual meeting which will be hosted by our consortium members at the University of Gothenburg next June.
Young investigators present their research at the 2023 PREMSTEM annual meeting
PhD and postdoctoral researchers presented their latest research to the PREMSTEM consortium
2022 Annual meeting
PREMSTEM partners from different parts of Europe and Australia attended the project’s first fully in-person meeting
PREMSTEM’s young investigators present their research at the 2022 annual meeting
The session was an opportunity to hear about the different PhD and postdoctoral research taking place among our partners
PREMSTEM meeting May 2022
Our first consortium meeting of 2022 was an opportunity to discuss the latest updates from our labs and to plan our annual meeting