British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (BSGCT)’s Post

Gerta Hoxhaj receives a 2024 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. An alum of Boğaziçi University, Hoxhaj completed her PhD at the University of Dundee, before moving to the United States to pursue postdoctoral research work on cancer metabolism at Harvard University. Hoxhaj is an Associate Professor at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at the UT Southwestern Medical Center. She receives the $50,000 prize for her work on mapping the molecular links between signaling pathways and metabolic networks of cancer cells. Her research focuses on identifying vulnerabilities in cancer metabolism that could be used to develop targeted therapies. #CancerResearch #CancerScience #WomeninScience #WomeninSTEM #VilcekPrize

𝐏𝐡𝐃 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐠: 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 HTRIC's PhD student Meryl Maria Vilangattil is currently working on developing GMP-compliant radiopharmaceuticals targeting Fibroblast Activation peptides (FAP) in oncology. "FAP plays a crucial role in tissue repair but is overproduced in many cancers, aiding tumour growth. Starting a PhD is a challenging yet rewarding journey". Currently, she is conducting cell culture experiments, with plans to move to animal testing if the results are promising. Each step, whether a success or setback, builds resilience and determination. Read more about her research in the first few months of her PhD in her new blog ➡ https://lnkd.in/eq9EGXPa #research #blog #update #health #technology UMCG research, Faculty of Science and Engineering - University of Groningen

📖 I’m delighted to be associated with this publication by Peter de Greef et al. in #ScienceAdvances (KIRBERG’s & de BOER’s labs). This is most probably going to be my last paper in Immunology! So, please allow me to reflect on two topics : scientific achievements and people. 🔬 Ever so often, people inquire about my/our discoveries, asking me: « Did you (ever) find something? » Indeed, it turns out that I/we have « found » some relatively interesting phenomena (*) : - We provided some insights on how lymphocyte numbers are maintained, and factors regulating immune cells’ lifespan - We highlighted (some of) the rules of peripheral B and T cell competition - We showed that recirculating peripheral T cells can mediate thymocyte positive selection in the thymus, a function typically orchestrated by dedicated cell types! - In this paper, in which my contribution was very modest, we propose a mechanism to explain how clonal diversity is kept in the immune system. This is particularly important for adult T cell populations as de novo production of T lymphocytes decreases sharply after puberty. Basically, we all have to deal with a large, but limited, set of T cells, and it is of utmost importance to avoid restriction of the T cell repertoire (i.e. potential oligoclonality arising with time due to interclonal competition for limited resources). Indeed, diversity in the immune system is key to mount responses against all kind of « aggressions ». Not bad, don’t you think? 🧑🔬 During the course of my scientific career in various countries, 🇫🇷🇨🇭🇨🇦, I had the opportunity to meet many respected scientists and I had the privilege of working with numerous talented researchers. In this regard, I was definitely very lucky. It is necessary for me to cite and thank one of them specifically: Antonio Freitas 🇵🇹 / Institut Pasteur 🇫🇷 who supervised my PhD thesis. Antonio was among the first to draw a parallel between the immune system and ecological systems. His vision was very intuitive to me: as an immunology apprentice, that was the way I naively perceived the immune system. However, in science, as Antonio used to say, the obvious must be proven! He led the way in this field. As for all young scientists, he had a profound impact throughout my career… up to this day and this publication. #research #immunology #collaborations #science #France #Canada #Switzerland #Germany #Netherlands #ScienceAdvancesResearch (*) papers referenced online : https://lnkd.in/d5ptXVHA Peter de Greef 🇳🇱 Dr. Sospeter Njeru 🇩🇪 🇰🇪 Claudia Benz 🇩🇪 Simon Fillatreau 🇫🇷 Bernard Malissen 🇫🇷 Fabien Agenès 🇫🇷 Rob J. de Boer 🇳🇱 and Jörg Kirberg 🇩🇪 https://lnkd.in/dMnzUsmE

🎓 Attended an Informative Academic Seminar 📚 I had the privilege of attending a fascinating academic seminar titled "Bioinspired Nanoparticles for Activation of Potent Antitumor T Cell Immunity," presented by Dr. Rui Kuai. It was an enlightening experience that shed light on cutting-edge research in the field of immunotherapy and cancer treatment. The event was hosted on October 10 at the Minhang Campus East Middle Court 1-106 at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China. Dr. Kuai, a renowned researcher from Tsinghua University's School of Pharmacy, delved into the promising use of bioinspired nanoparticles to enhance the body's immune response against cancer. His talk emphasized the importance of developing methods to boost antitumor T cell immunity, especially for non-responders to immune checkpoint blockers (ICBs). In the first part of his presentation, he discussed the ingenious use of bioinspired nanoparticles to target innate immune cells in lymphoid organs, paving the way for more robust antitumor T cell responses. In the second part, he introduced another innovative nanoparticle approach that mimics the process of phagocytes eliminating pathogens, ultimately aiding in cancer cell elimination and activating antitumor T cell immunity. Dr. Kuai also highlighted the exciting synergy between these nanoparticles and ICBs, showcasing their potential for revolutionizing cancer therapy. His research holds immense promise and could significantly impact the treatment of various tumors. I'm truly inspired by the groundbreaking work presented at the seminar and look forward to more advancements in the field of immunotherapy. Kudos to Dr. Kuai and his team for their dedication and innovation! 🙌 #AcademicSeminar #Immunotherapy #CancerResearch #CuttingEdgeScience #LinkedInUpdate #Biomaterials #GeneEditing #Immunoengineering #RegenerationMedicine #BiomedicalEngineering #MedicalSciences #ResearchSummits #Innovation #SJTU

The UC San Diego Agilent Center of Excellence in Cellular Intelligence's weekly series--#DidYouKnow--features examples of how you can push the limits of #Measurements-#Across-#Scales. This is our 8th post of this series. #DidYouKnow that #cancers can be #cured if only we had a way to track (see) and selectively reprogram (or kill) the only #cells that matter, i.e., cancer stem cells (CSCs)? CSCs can escape all currently available Rx modalities and #drug category, including #immunothrapies. Which makes CSCs *the* main reason for why cancers #relapse and grow into new tumors elsewhere (#metastasize). #Relapses and #metastases are what lead to deaths. #CSCs frustrate us all (#patients, loved ones, #doctors, #researchers), and remain the unvanquished #challenge in need of #precision #medicine. It is also a worthy #opponent which deserves respect and humility as three centers within the UC San Diego Institute for Network Medicine (iNetMed) join in their fight, fully acknowledging that #failure is a #possibility. This week's post (👇) was possible because the Center for Precision Computational Systems Network (PreCSN) identified a drug #target worth pursuing to selectively annihilate CSCs (using their cutting edge ML approaches). It is predicted to work in 7 different types of cancers, including #pancreas, #colon, #esophagus and #stomach, to name few. The HUMANOID: Human Organoid Center of Research Excellence (CoRE) used the first-in-class drug in Phase '0' preclinical trials (using their biobank of cancer #PDOs). The Agilent Center of Excellence in Cellular Intelligence helped image and quantify (using their sophisticated systems). In doing so, this post showcases that #nimbleness, #teamwork and #off-the-beaten path #approaches can be streamlined to tackle worthy opponent as CSCs. What was done: Gastric cancer PDOs were treated or not with AI/ML-identified candidate drug and stained to look for a well known marker for differentiation programming of cells, i.e., relocalization of a protein called b-catenin (green) from the nucleus (blue) to the tight and adherens junctions in cells. Cancer cells lose junctions, which is a defining feature of the healthy epithelium. Drug has no effect on healthy PDOs. Post credit to: Kevin Perry Link to access #equipment: https://lnkd.in/g2iChuYf Contact us at: Kevin Perry [k3perry@health.ucsd.edu]. Link to learn more about the BioTek Cytation: https://lnkd.in/ewYEdZ5V #QuantitativeBiology; #Rigor; #cancerstemcells; #metastasis; #imaging; #Drugdiscovery; #precisionmedicine; #machinelearning; #AI; #drugdevelopment; #organoids.

Thrilled to announce that my research paper, "A Novel Inhibitor of the Mitochondrial Respiratory Complex I with Uncoupling Properties Exerts Potent Antitumor Activity," has been officially published! After months of dedicated research and hard work during my thesis, I'm excited to share these groundbreaking findings with the world. This article showcases the compelling potential of one of the molecules studied in my thesis, shedding light on its dual action on mitochondria, exhibiting remarkable antitumor properties. 🔬💡 Dive into the details of our discoveries by checking out the article here: https://lnkd.in/dQrNagjm Special thanks to my PhD supervisor Eric Fontaine for the invaluable support and guidance throughout this journey, collaborators and everyone who contributed to the work. Passionate about mitochondria as crucial organelles involved in health and disease, I am deeply committed to unravelling their mysteries and exploring their potential in advancing medical science. I believe that understanding the role of mitochondria holds the key to unlocking innovative approaches in cancer and beyond. #Mitochondria #MitochondrialResearch #Antitumor #MedicalScience #CancerResearch #Publication #NatureJournal #ScienceTwitter #BiomedicalResearch

Cancer Detection: Ants as Rapid and Reliable Living Tools for Early Diagnosis! French researchers led by Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou, Patrizia d'Ettorre and Jean-Christophe Sandoz have discovered that ants can be trained to detect cancer cells through volatile organic compounds (VOCs), offering a promising solution for early cancer detection. 💡 Key findings of this paper published in the iScience Journal: 1️⃣ Ants as Rapid Learners: Ants can be conditioned to associate the odor of cancer cells with a reward in just a few training trials, showcasing their exceptional learning abilities. 2️⃣ Cancer Cell Discrimination: Ants can effectively discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells, and even between two different cancerous lines, by detecting specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 3️⃣ Noninvasive, Inexpensive, and Efficient: The use of ants as living tools for cancer detection offers a promising solution for early cancer detection that is noninvasive, inexpensive, and efficient compared to traditional methods. The research suggests that using ants as living tools for cancer detection is not only feasible but also fast and less laborious than using other animals, potentially revolutionizing cancer diagnosis! 🌐 Read more about these findings: https://lnkd.in/gmeARN7m. Join #DOS2024 this December in Tokyo and stay tuned for all recent developments and innovations in scent-based diagnosis and treatment! #DOS #DigitalOlfactionSociety #olfaction #odor #senses #science #technology #biosensors #cancerdetection #volatileorganiccompounds

🔊 Weekly round-up! 💻Biomarker identification in the realm of rare diseases In this Q&A, Debiopharm’s Principal Scientist Dr Luke Piggott defines the critical requirement of biomarkers for identifying rare diseases. He illuminates how AI-enhanced approaches are accelerating the drug discovery process, particularly regarding clinical trial enrolment, and the breakthroughs he hopes to see in the future. 👩🏻🔬Women in Stem with Stephanie Flückiger-Mangual Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual, Chief Executive Officer, is one of TOLREMO therapeutics’ scientific founders and an expert in drug resistance in cancer therapy. She is a biomedical scientist and biochemist by training (University of Fribourg and ETH Zurich, Switzerland) and holds a PhD in Molecular and Translational Biomedicine from ETH Zurich. She led the team of scientists who discovered novel molecular mechanisms that can be exploited to prevent the development of non-genetic resistance to cancer therapies.  🧠Novel protein function inhibitor regenerated myelin sheaths Researchers at Cincinnati Children's have discovered that mice with symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and lab-prepared human brain cells demonstrated the ability to regenerate myelin coatings when treated with a novel protein function inhibitor named ESI1. 🔬 New study challenges assumptions about the development of RA Scientists at Utrecht University have discovered the complexity of the antibodies involved in the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Using lab tools that enabled the analysis of the immune system at a molecular level, their findings indicate that current thoughts regarding the origin of RA are too simple, which may lead to improved diagnostics. Click on the links in the comments to read more! 👇 #drugdiscovery #lifescience #drugtargets 

So proud of my former postdoc, physician scientist, Longhao Sun for his promotion to Full Professor, Chief Physician and vice Chair of his department at Tianjin Medical University in China! He was among the first group of doctors who went to Wuhan to support medical care during the initial Covid crisis. This paper on IGFBP2 in pancreatic cancer published a couple of years ago with Longhao as the first author is one of my favorite.

Our poster( Which I definitely forgot to upload) titled ' The clinical significance of exosome in patients with cancer' has won the Best Poster Award in Computational Biology and Health Science category at the International Conference on 'Advances and Challenges through Translational Research in Biological Science' held on 27th April. You can find the poster at this link: https://lnkd.in/ghi7NvDJ