Author: jibber

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Integration of Emerging Technologies in Mechanistic and Translational Toxicology

Application information

Applications for this meeting must be submitted by July 14, 2019. Please apply early, as some meetings become oversubscribed (full) before this deadline. If the meeting is oversubscribed, it will be stated here. Note: Applications for oversubscribed meetings will only be considered by the conference chair if more seats become available due to cancellations.

Conference description

The Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity GRC is a forum for showcasing the latest unpublished and innovative advances in mechanistic toxicological research and its translational application to safety assessment, risk management and public health policy. The program highlights innovations and challenges in mechanistic toxicology including the human exposome, big data and quantitative systems modeling, translational medicine and target organ toxicity, microphysiological systems, nuclear receptor targeting, and emerging technologies and alternative methods in risk assessment. Highlighted speakers have been selected to represent diverse perspectives on environmental, industrial, and pharmaceutical toxicology with a special session spotlighting rising young investigators. A distinctive “Power Hour” event will discuss the challenges women face in sciences, mechanisms to support their professional growth and offer an opportunity for feedback and professional advice from peers and leading mentors in an informal atmosphere.

Daily poster sessions will provide participants the opportunity to present their latest, unpublished work in an atmosphere that fosters a relaxed dialog and idea sharing. A select number of abstract submissions will also be chosen for “late-breaking” short oral presentations. A key to the success of the GRC format is the networking opportunities that occur at meal times and during daily social/recreational activities. These exchanges have often led to long-lasting scientific collaborations, connections and career opportunities.

A Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will precede this GRC conference. The GRS is organized and run by graduate students and fellows. It provides an expanded opportunity for trainees and young scientists to be exposed to cutting-edge science and to network with their future colleagues. All GRS attendees are also encouraged to apply to this GRC conference.

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the “Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity (GRS)” Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference program

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Registration is open: EUROoC 2019, 2-3 July 2019 in Graz

This year the annual EUROoCS Organ-on-Chip conference will be organized in Graz, in Austria, on 2 and 3 July 2019. It will provide many opportunities for scientific discussion and interaction, and bring together young scientists with top experts in the field.

The EUROoC conference series aims to gather the research leaders in the emerging field organs-on-chip (OoC) with a special focus on young and upcoming scientists. The extremely interdisciplinary field of OoC research is rapidly growing while new and innovative systems are constantly being developed. However, a variety of engineering challenges are remaining, which the OoC field has to address as a whole to enable a sustainable growth of this breakthrough technology.

The EUROoC 2019 is a scientific meeting focused on the challenges in the process of designing, fabricating, and implementing microphysiological cell culture systems addressing topics such as microfabrication of 3D matrices, integration of miniaturised sensors, microfluidic interfacing, cellular engineering, parallelization and automation.

 

Topics :

EUROoC 2019 Conference covers all aspects related to the research, development and application of Organ-on-Chips. Scientists and developers are invited to submit their original contributions in one or more of the following topics:

• Micro- and Nanoengineering
• Microfluidic interfacing
• Actuators for dynamic culture environments
• Integrated sensors
• Cellular engineering
• 3D cell culture environments
• Scaling
• Automation
• User-friendliness

We are looking forward to meeting you Graz! REGISTRATION

 

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ORCHID Questionnaire on training needs of the next generation OoC reseachers and technicians

Within the ORCHID project, the main goal is to create a roadmap for organ-on-chip technology and to build a network of all relevant stakeholders in this promising innovative field.

By identifying you as a stakeholder, we would like to draw your attention concerning the training needs of the next generation of researchers and technicians in the Organ-on-a-chip field. We invite you to give us your opinion on this by answering this 15 minute questionnaire.

Feel free to disseminate this questionnaire within your network of interested researchers in universities, research institutes, industries, hospitals and regulatory bodies so that they could share their views too. We thank you very much for your contribution.

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National Geographic article on the future of personalized medicine

In their January 2019 edition the National Geographic focused on the future of personalized medicine and how new technologies transform our health care. The article How personalized medicine is transforming your health care, is written from the perspective and expertise of American labs and universities, and with an important role for organ-on-chip technology.

More articles in The Future of Medicine special can be found on the website of National Geographic.

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Health EU launches its Manifesto to unify Digital Healthcare in Europe!

Health EU initiative makes important steps towards strategic recognition and launches today its Manifesto.

In a competition with many excellent projects, and, as a result of the 2nd phase evaluation of Coordination and Support Actions for FET Flagships, Health EU was recognized as the leading project on Human Avatars and Digital Healthcare and is currently in a potential position for future funding.

Health EU management is looking with strong conviction into a bright future of an European mission on creating the first European Integrative Human Avatar Platform under the umbrella of Digital Healthcare enabled by Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things.

Health EU launched the Health EU Manifesto (pdf) to unify all forces in medicine, biology, social sciences and engineering Europe under the visionary concept of Human Avatars for personalized, preventive and participatory healthcare.

Health EU invites all interested universities, research institutes, hospitals, industries and citizen/patient associations and other stakeholders to sign the Manifesto as an expression of direct support!

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European Organ-On-Chip Society launched

PRESS RELEASE, 13 November 2018

The new European Organ-on-Chip Society (EUROoCS) was officially launched at the third International Organ-on-Chip Symposium, held on 8 and 9 November 2018 at the University of Technology in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The Society will encourage development and coordination of Organ-on-Chip research in Europe in support of better health for all. Membership will be open from 2019 to all researchers in the field, providing access benefits to the pending digital Organ-on-Chip platform, the annual meeting and the future society journal.

In the presence of 180 scientists from twelve countries Christine Mummery, chair of the new Society, initiated the launch ceremony, which subtly referred to the annual light festival in Eindhoven, site of the launch, and the classical light bulb developed there a century ago. “It is a European Society but everyone worldwide is welcome to join. We are just at the early start, and there is much work to be done before we are operational and everybody can sign in. But we look forward to being the forum for this research in Europe and we are here to stay,” Janny van den Eijnden-van Raaij of hDMT says, among the first Board members of EUROoCS.

Accelerating Organ-on-Chip research
The purpose of the Society is to encourage and develop Organ-on-Chip research, and to provide opportunities to share and advance knowledge and expertise in this field towards a better health for all. EUROoCS is one of the first outcomes of the Horizon 2020 project ORCHID (Organ-on-Chip In Development), that aims to create a roadmap for Organ-on-Chip technology and to build a network of all parties involved.

Open for all researchers
Membership is open from 2019 to all researchers worldwide in the Organ-on-Chip field. The annual European Organ-on-Chip symposium will be organized in a different country in Europe each year. The next will be held in Graz, in Austria, on 2 and 3 July 2019. It will provide many opportunities for scientific discussion and interaction, and bring together young scientists with top experts in the field.

Easy connection via platform and journal
The membership will have many advantages for scientists, in particular finding collaborators via the digital Organ-on-Chip platform presently under construction, and disseminating results via the future Society journal.

The first Board members
The first Board of EUROoCS has the following members:

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ORCHID interim roadmap report proudly presented

The ORCHID team was proud to present the first interim roadmap report entitled: ‘Organ-on-Chip in Development: Towards a European roadmap for Organ-on-Chip’ during the International Organ-on-Chip Symposium on November 8-9 2018 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

This report surveys the current landscape in the research, development, applications and market opportunities for Organ-on-Chip devices to establish the pillars of a European OoC ecosystem. Based on a bibliometric study, a market analysis, expert interviews, and panel discussions held at the ORCHID Vision Workshop (Stuttgart, 23 May 2018), this report outlines presently unmet needs, key challenges, barriers and perspectives of the field, and finally proposes recommendations towards the definition of a European roadmap that could render OoC systems (OoCs) realistic models of human (patho)physiology in the near future.

For the report click here.

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High level attention for InForMed project in Brussel

On November 27th 2018 the ECSEL Joint Undertaking presented the results of the InForMed project and the Health.E Lighthouse Initiative at the high-level conference “The impact of EU research and innovation in our daily life” in the European Parliament building in Brussels.

One of the SME partners in InForMed, the Organ-on-Chip startup BI/OND, was invited to present their products. The ORCHID project, which participates in the Health.E Lighthouse Initiative, presented its first roadmap report.

 

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Soheila Zeinali wins Best Poster Award IOOCS18

Soheila Zeinali from the Organs-on-Chip technologies group of the University of Bern (Switzerland) received the Best Poster Award at the International Organ-on-Chip Symposium 2018 (IOOCS 2018) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. This year there were no less than 55 poster presentations which were all of high quality according to the scientific jury.

The poster jury, consisting of professors Ronald Dekker (chair; TUDelft, Netherlands), Cecilia Sahlgren (Åbo Akademi University, Finland), Shuichi Takayama (Georgia Tech, USA), and Jaap den Toonder(TU/e, Netherlands), had a hard time selecting the poster award winner from the high-quality poster contributions. First, 20 candidates were selected based on the submitted abstract, according to the rating by the scientific program committee. These posters were visited by the poster jury, and evaluated on the basis of four criteria: poster layout, presentation, scientific quality and innovation.

The winner was Soheila Zeinali, with her poster “Role of Rhythmic Breathing Motions on In Vitro Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling”. Her poster had a clear and attractive layout, and she presented the poster clearly and with enthusiasm. The topic of the poster is a nice example of a novel technological development applied to a biologically relevant question, and shows the great advantage of organ-on-chip technology, since the results could not have been obtained with conventional approaches. A deserved winner!

Poster title: Role of Rhythmic Breathing Motions on In Vitro Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling
Soheila Zeinali1, Emily K. Thompson1, Thomas Geiser1, 2, 3 and Olivier T. Guenat1, 2, 4
1 Organs-on-Chip Technologies Laboratory, ARTORG Center, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
2 Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
3 Department of Biomedical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
4 Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Inselspital, University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

You can download her poster abstract here.