Category: Research

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ERC Consolidator Grant ‘Phoenix’ for Maria Tenje and collaborators

Maria Tenje, professor at Uppsala University, Sweden receives funding for her project PHOENIX, an ERC Consolidator Grant in physical sciences and engineering. Focus is on developing novel microfluidic tools for high-throughput and fully controlled organoid generation. Organoids are self-assembled 3D cell models that can be used as alternatives to animal testing for drug development and basic biomedical research.


In PHOENIX, Maria Tenje will further expand the droplet microfluidics toolbox that her lab has pioneered during the last ten years, to gain control of the cellular architecture of the organoids by using integrated acoustics. For the project, she will collaborate with researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and researchers at Karolinska Institute and Lund University in Sweden.

Maria Tenje, Uppsala University, Sweden

More information:

https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-2021-consolidator-grants-results

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CEN-CENELEC Organ-on-Chip Focus Group Creation

In April, the online workshop ‘Organ on Chip: Towards Standardization‘ took place as the 2021 edition of Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

The PSIS workshop gathered more than 200 participants from academia, industry, policy makers, regulatory experts, and standardizers. You can find out more about the workshop and the different themes and issues that were discussed over its two-day run in this event report published by the JRC.

In June, it was decided by CEN and CENELEC Technical Board that a CEN-CENELEC Focus Group on Organ on Chip (FG OoC) would be established. The secretariat of FG OoC is held by NEN, the Royal Netherlands Standardization Institute. The Focus Group shall ensure interaction between all relevant European stakeholders interested in potential standardization in the field of OoC, map ongoing activities, define priority needs and opportunities and recommend further action to ensure that standards support the deployment of OoC in industry and help to ensure its regulatory acceptance.

The primary objectives of this Focus Group will be:

– developing an overview for the stakeholder community on suitable standards already publicly available or in preparation
– developing a roadmap for potential standardization issues relevant for OoC
– identifying and considering technical bodies addressing areas related to OoC technologies, such as ISO/TC 276 Biotechnology, ISO/TC 215 Health Informatics, CEN/TC 140 In vitro diagnostic medical devices, CEN/TC 251 Health Informatics;
– advising CEN and CENELEC Technical Boards on strategic issues concerning standardization within the Group’s overall remit and, where no suitable standard exists, the FG OoC should recommend best ways to provide them;
– identifying and considering any relevant specific issues linked to European legislation; liaising with innovation/research projects impacting the field of OoC;
– establishing an active dialogue between stakeholders and liaising with the European Organ-on-Chip Society (EUROoCS) to identify potential synergies.

The Focus Group will be holding its kick-off meeting virtually on 2 March 2022.from 1.30-4.30 pm (Amsterdam/Europe time).

Researchers and organizations active in Organ-on-Chip can express their interest in contributing to this Focus Group by contacting their National Standardization Bodies (NSBs-CEN) or National Committees (NCs-CENELEC), who will organise the contributions at national level to the Focus Group.

Contact: Livia MIAN lmian@cencenelec.eu

Source: https://www.cencenelec.eu/news-and-events/news/2021/briefnews/2021-12-13-cen-cenelec-organ-on-chip-focus-group-creation/

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The Intersection of Stem Cells and Engineering

Podcast with Christine Mummery and Peter Loskill

Following the publication of the Special issue on Organs-on-Chip in Stem Cell Reports, the guest editors Christine Mummery and Peter Loskill were invited by Martin Pera (Editor-in-Chief of Stem Cell Reports) to join the podcast to talk about the intersection of stem cells, microphysiological systems and Organs-on-Chip technology in understanding disease, screening drugs and personalized medicine.

 

Guests
Christine Mummery, PhD, Professor of Developmental Biology at Leiden University Medical Center heading the iPSC & Organ-on-Chip Hotel at the LUMC. She is also chair of hDMT, the Dutch Organ-on-Chip Consortium), the recent past chair of EUROoCS and the recent past president of the ISSCR.

Peter Loskill, PhD W3-Professor for Organ-on-Chip Research at the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen and the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute as well as the recent new chair of the European-Organ-on-Chip-Society (EUROoCS).

Host
Martin Pera, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, Stem Cell Reports and The Jackson Laboratory

Supporting Documents
Special Issue: Organs-on-Chip

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Science paper with Roche’s perspectives on Human microphysiological systems for drug development

Microphysiological systems (MPS) may provide a way to better understand and address the main failures of clinical programs: lack of efficacy or unacceptable side effects that are not predicted in animals or simpler cell systems during early preclinical stages. Despite the mostly exploratory nature of current MPS, there is an appetite for the uptake of the technology by pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to improve on human predictivity, with the long-term goal of eventually replacing animal models wherever possible. Simultaneously, both academic groups and multiple biotech companies are developing increasingly refined MPS models to meet the needs and quality standards required for drug development such as scalability and robustness. Read more

Roth A and MPS-WS Berlin 2019 [Marx U, Vilén L, Ewart L, Griffith LG, Hartung T, Ingber DE, Mendrick DL, Steger-Hartmann T and Tagle DA]. Human microphysiological systems for drug development. Science 2021, 373:1304-1306

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc3734

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Special issue Stem Cell Reports on Organs-on-Chip

The special issue of Stem Cell Reports on Organs-on-Chip is the first result of the collaboration between the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) and the European Organ-on-Chip Society (EUROoCS). In the editorial the guest editors Christine Mummery and Peter Loskill, past chair and current chair of EUROoCS, welcome the readers of Stem Cell Reports to become inspired by the use of stem cell-derived tissues and organoids in Organ-on-Chip/microphysiological systems. The special issue includes commentaries on the future perspectives of Organ-on-Chip, interviews with pioneers in the field, and other interesting reports and articles. All papers are open access.

Table of contents special issue

Interested in submitting a paper to the next regular issue of Stem Cell Reports? Look at the benefits for EUROoCS ) members below.

Benefit for EUROoCS members
EUROoCS members benefit from a discount for publication of their manuscript in Stem Cell Reports. They will be charged the ISSCR-member rate of $3300 (the non-member rate is $3800). Sign up to become a member.

 

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Tumor-LN-oC project has kicked-off

On May 7th, 2021 Tumor-LN-oC project (Tumor and Lymph Node on Chip for cancer studies) was officially kicked-off via online conferencing service where all partners from 11 organizations participated. The project is coordinated by Institute of Communication and Computer Systems from Greece, with the participation of Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands), Biomedical Research Foundation Academy Of Athens (Greece), Åbo Akademi (Finland), Alpes Lasers (Switzerland)), Rayfos Ltd (UK), Vienna University of Technology (Austria), Elvesys (France), PhosPrint P.C. (Greece), Asphalion SL (Spain) and Amires (Czech Republic).

Tumor-LN-oC aims to offer a comprehensive solution for a robust, automated tumor-lymph node-on-chip platform that will connect primary surgically removed human tumors and LN tissue from the same cancer patient. This will allow to study the interaction of primary tumors with lymph nodes, identify their chemical signature, and offer personalized treatment relying on molecular characterization of lymph node metastasizing cells.

Read the press release. For more information about the project visit the Tumor-LN-oC website.

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Falling Walls Lab MSCA competition now open – Pitch your research!

Falling Walls Lab Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions is now accepting entries which showcase the quality, diversity and passion of the most innovative minds taking part in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). Falling Walls Lab is a world-class pitch competition, networking forum, and a stepping stone for the next generation of researchers, innovators, trailblazers, creators, and visionaries.

Organised independently by the European Commission in conjunction with the Falling Walls Lab, by pitching their research, MSCA fellows will be able to practise their transversal skills such as communication and outreach, drive their innovations and access new collaborations.

The aim of the Falling Walls Foundation is to promote exceptional ideas and connect promising scientists and entrepreneurs from all fields on a global level. Under its supervision, academic and research organisations around the world organise their own competitions at local and regional level. Each year, in November, the winners of each local Falling Walls Lab meet to compete in the Falling Walls Lab Finale.

The Falling Walls Lab MSCA competition will take place online-only on 30 September 2021.

For details on the Entry requirements, application process etc see website.

The application deadline is 4 July 2021.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/news/falling-walls-lab-msca-competition-now-open-pitch-your-research

 

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Recordings and presentations PSIS workshop on Organ-on-Chip now available

If you were not able to join the workshop Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) on standardization of Organ-on-Chip, please have a look at the presentations and discussions on the CEN-CENELEC website.

On 28-29 April 2021 the Putting Science into Standards (PSIS) workshop on Organ-on-Chip was held online. This workshop was organized by CEN-CENELEC and JRC in collaboration with experts of the Advisory board, including members of hDMT and EUROoCS. Many stakeholders from the Organ-on-Chip field, including developers, regulators and end users from industry were guiding or actively contributing to the online discussions in the different parallel sessions . At the end of the workshop the conclusions and perspectives for the way forward were summarized. The PSIS workshop was a very good kick-off for the standardization process of Organ-on-Chip.

On the event’s webpage post-event material including part of the recordings and the speaker’s presentations are published.

The report of the workshop is in preparation and the outcome will be used as starting point for the development of the Organ-on-Chip standardization roadmap.

 

 

 

 

 

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3Rs student grants 2021: call for submissions

The European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) supports students and young scientists with outstanding work in the field of alternative approaches to attend a high-profile scientific event.

Every year, several high-profile international meetings bring together world-class scientists working on the development and acceptance of 3R alternatives to animal testing (Replacement, Reduction or Refinement). Costs linked to participation may prevent students with promising work or young scientists at the beginning of their career from attending these events. The EPAA partners are therefore happy to sponsor the 3Rs student grants to facilitate the participation of students and young scientists in such events. Deadline July 12th, 2021.

A jury will assess the applications and propose a list of selected candidates to the EPAA steering committee. The jury will be composed of 4 members (two from the industry and two from the European Commission) who will judge.

For each of the eligible events, a lump sum of €1500 is available. Two levels of grants are offered by the EPAA partners: 1 half grant and 1 full grant.

A half grant covers the reimbursement of the event registration fees for the student/young scientist as well as travel and accommodation fees, based on the expense receipts up to a maximum of €500.
A full grant covers the reimbursement of the event registration fees for the student/young scientist as well as travel and accommodation fees, up to a maximum total amount of €1000, based on the expense receipts.

For Eligibility, Application and selection process details see the European Commission website.

Source: European Commission website.