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.
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.
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.
2022 Annual meeting
PREMSTEM partners from different parts of Europe and Australia attended the project’s first fully in-person meeting
A Model of Germinal Matrix Hemorrhage in Preterm Rat Pups
Masako Jinnai, Gabriella Koning, Gagandeep Singh-Mallah, Andrea Jonsdotter, Anna-Lena Leverin, Pernilla Svedin, Syam Nair, Satoru Takeda, Xiaoyang Wang, Carina Mallard, Carl Joakim Ek, Eridan Rocha-Ferreira, Henrik Hagberg
Introducing Doctor Daan Ophelders
Daan coordinates the large animal work carried out by the Department of Pediatrics at Maastricht University, including unique longitudinal studies in which consequences of perinatal inflammatory stress are assessed prenatally until adulthood
Introducing Doctor Ivo Bendix
A researcher at Universitätsklinikum Essen, Ivo is looking at improving the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neonatal white matter injury and evaluating potential new therapies in relevant experimental models
Introducing Doctor Caroline de Theije
A researcher at University Medical Center Utrecht, Caroline is interested in the optimisation of stem cell-based therapies and collaborates with industry partners on nutritional therapies for neonatal brain injury