Category: EUROoCS

Learn About the ISSCR’s Recommendations to Improve Rigor and Reproducibility in Stem Cell Research via the On-Demand Webinar.

View the Free, On-Demand Webinar to review the updated draft of the ISSCR’s quality standards and core principles for the laboratory culture and characterization of both adult and pluripotent human stem cells and in vitro model systems using them.

These practical standards can set researchers up for success, enhance rigor in preclinical research, and ultimately strengthen the pipeline of therapies for patients.

Source: ISSCR

Are you planning to attend the 2nd MPS World Summit in Berlin, between 26 – 30 June 2023, take advantage of the EUROoCS Members Early Bird Discount. Register until March 31st via the MPS World Summit website. After Early Bird sales end on March 31st, ticket prices will increase.

Are you registering as EUROoCS member, please be prepared to provide membership status confirmation upon request. Pay your membership Fee for 2023 in time. All members of EUROoCS have received their membership invoice for 2023, on February 1st (reminder on March 1st). 

When you have paid the invoice, the proof of payment can be found in your personal membership profile under the tab “invoices”. In case you paid by the provided link this proof of payment will immediately be visible, if you have done a bank transfer (include the reference) it will take more time.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) is honoring Christine Mummery, Ph.D., Professor of Developmental Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands, with the 2023 ISSCR Public Service Award. The prize recognizes the outstanding contributions of public service to the fields of stem cell research and regenerative medicine. The award will be presented at the Presidential Symposium on 14 June 2023 during ISSCR 2023 Boston + Virtual, the world’s leading gathering of the brightest minds in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.

“Christine has made an enduring impact on the ISSCR, shaping the society and the field through her selfless dedication, leadership, and advocacy,” ISSCR President Haifan Lin, Ph.D. said. “Among her many contributions, Christine is the founding editor-in-chief of our society journal, Stem Cell Reports, and is a past president of the society. An advocate of the global stem cell field, Christine’s tireless support of women scientists has built and bridged scientific communities around the world. It is my honor and privilege to recognize Christine with this prestigious public service award.”

“I’m truly honored for this award from ISSCR, an organization that has done so much to promote worldwide collaboration on stem cells,” Dr. Mummery said.

Dr. Mummery is a superb, internationally recognized scientist in cardiovascular biology, who throughout her 40-year career has contributed pioneering work that is advancing our understanding of human cardiovascular development and disease, Her research has underpinned her pioneering studies on methods for accurately predicting toxic effects of drugs on the human heart and capturing cardiac disease phenotypes including identifying individual vulnerability.  Presently, she leads the disease modeling theme in the Novo Nordisk Foundation project reNEW and the Netherlands NWO-Gravity grant, Organs-on-Chip. She also co-founded European Organ-on-Chip Society and is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Mummery currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the ISSCR.

Source: ISSCR

See also: Unprecedented honour for European stem cell research (Cordis)

Do you have experience with working towards defined culture media and extracellular matrices for cell culture? Have you worked on laboratory automation and mechatronics for cell culture applications? Do you have a perspective on the regulatory, ethical and legal context of cell culture models, including organs-on-chips? Then please join the CEN and CENELEC Focus Group on Organ-on-Chip (FGOOC) and contribute your expertise!

Many EUROoCS members already support the FGOOC by providing their expertise and perspectives as a stakeholder in the field of organs-on-chips. Their contributions are essential for the drafting of a Roadmap for Standards in Organ-on-Chip, which is the main intended deliverable for the FGOOC.

In the drafting of the roadmap, the FGOOC works on many aspects: from terminology, biology, engineering, experimental design, data management to the broader regulatory and legal context. So there are many ways in which you, as a stakeholder in the field of organ-on-chip, can contribute!

Join the FGOOC now!! For more information, contact Andries van der Meer or Lysette Meuleman, or please see: https://lnkd.in/eRpzD-FJ

Next year, the 5th edition of the Annual EUROoCS Conference, EUROoCS 2024, will again be organized somewhere in Europe. With the increasing number of EUROoCS members and activities in the Organ-on-Chip field, we expect that EUROoCS 2024 will be at least as successful as the meeting in the beautiful Grenoble in France last year.

Application

Are you interested in becoming the organizer of EUROoCS 2024?
Please send your application to the EUROoCS Board (contact@euroocs.eu) with reference to ‘EUROoCS 2024’. Deadline: April 17th 2023

Instructions

For the application you have to address the following topics:

1. 1. 1. 1. Motivation
            

            Why this country, location and hosting organization?

         2. Project management

            • Conference chair/hosting organization
            • Local Organizing Committee
            • Scientific Program Committee
            This committee should include two EUROoCS Board members, as well as two members of the EUROoCS Regulatory Advisory Board and the Industrial Advisory Board, respectively
            • Program
            The program should be attractive for the Organ-on-Chip community, in particular for the young researchers (PhD students) with plenty of room for interaction and the possibility to present their results
            • Dates
            The meeting should be held just before the summer holidays with a duration of 2.5 days (extended from 2 days in previous editions)
            • Location & Venue
            The intended venue should be suitable to host scientific sessions, special sessions, posters, exhibition, climate control
            • Accommodation & travel information
            The location should be easy to reach by public transport and have enough hotels in the area to accommodate all participants. Note: take care of affordable accommodations for students
            • Catering & social event
            Coffee/tea breaks, lunches, dinner, evening program
            • Administration & support
            Badges, technical support, photographer, keynote speakers
            • Registration & Abstract handling
            Registration and abstract submission will occur via the EUROoCS website. There should be a discount registration fee for EUROoCS members, as well as a reduced fee for students
            • PR & communication
            Website (EUROoCS Annual Meeting page), social media, newsletters, conference report
            • Awards
            Jury and certificates
            • Sponsoring/booths
            Please include the support letters of potential sponsors in the Annex. Sponsors can include, among others, companies (pharma, biotech, equipment, CRO), local organizations, non-profit
            • Budget/finances
            The budget should be at least cost neutral. Financial reporting should be performed in a manner that the EUROoCS Board can track and evaluate.
            • Annex
            Potential annexes include support letters of sponsors, and CV of  proposed Conference chair(s)
            Note: It is highly recommended to add visuals (photos or movie) to illustrate the environment, venue with floorplan, organizing committee etc. in order to get a good impression of the team and conference site.

            Selection

            The applications will be evaluated by the EUROoCS Board and a decision can be expected in late May/early June 2023. The organizer of the EUROoCS 2024 conference will be announced via the EUROoCS communication channels and at the MPS World Summit in Berlin from 26-30 June 2023.

            Questions

            If you have any questions, please send an email to contact@euroocs.eu.

All members of EUROoCS have received their membership invoice for 2023, on February 1st.

Do you want to profit from the discount during the early bird registration of the MPS world summit, co-organized by EUROoCS, pay your membership fee in time and register before the early bird deadline of March 31st.

When you have paid the invoice, the proof of payment can be found in your personal membership profile under the tab “invoices”. In case you paid by the provided link this proof of payment will soon be visible, if you have done a bank transfer (include the reference) it will take more time.

EUROoCS has several Working Groups (WGs) for which we are looking for enthusiastic members willing to contribute to the vision and mission of EUROoCS.

The following WGs have been set up and are open for members:

• Digital Meetings
• Dissemination & Outreach
• Technology and Science Implementation
• Teaching & Training
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Fundraising

If you are interested to join and/or would like more information on these WGs, please contact the chair of the corresponding WG via the email address provided in the respective descriptions.

On Thursday, September 29, 2022 Senate Bill 5002, ‘FDA Modernization Act 2.0’ was both introduced in the Senate and passed by unanimous consent.

The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (FFDCA) of 1938 mandated that all new drugs be tested in animals to protect patients from unknown toxicity. New technologies have now come to the point that they can often better protect society against unforeseen toxic effects of new medicines than animal testing. Animal models have been essential in the development of all kinds of medicines. But now it is known that a large proportion of the drugs that are safe in animals eventually fail in human trials. So on Sept. 7, representatives from several universities and companies wrote an open letter to representatives of the US Congress encouraging them to pass the FDA Modernization Act. This law provides the opportunity to use suitable alternative methods. This law has now been passed.

This bill marks a turning point in how animal testing is seen in drug development.  By stating that innovative technologies such as Organs-on-Chip and microphysiological systems can be used to evaluate drug safety and efficacy, the bill enables relevant validated human models to replace animal tests. Importantly, the FDA Modernization Act doesn’t call for the immediate elimination of animal testing. Rather, it allows researchers to use the models that are most appropriate for their studies, which may often mean using microphysiological systems (MPS) instead of animals.

For more information:

FDA Modernization Act 2.0 pdf
Open Letter to the U.S. Congress
Act to end animal testing requirement passes Senate