With this 400 000 euro support by Alzheimer Nederland, the van Weering lab will aim to restore synaptic connectivity in human neurons that accumulate intracellular tau aggregates, that resemble tau pathology found in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. Using an integrated approach of imaging, electron microscopy and biochemistry, his team will assess how trophic and metabolic signaling can be utilized to prevent the loss of neuronal connections under tau pathology conditions.

There will be a PhD position opening at the secretory vesicle trafficking and recycling team (see lab website).

Perspectives on Knowledge Utilization in Life Sciences

January 31, 2025

Theater 8, Rialto/VU (NU-4C47, De Boelelaan 1111, Amsterdam)

Knowledge utilization in the Life Sciences is vital to the improvement of healthcare outcomes, to address global challenges like public health and environmental sustainability, and also for advancing scientific research itself. By effectively applying their scientific discoveries, scientists can have tremendous impact, but the inroads towards effective knowledge utilization are complex and diverse. This symposium showcases different successful strategies for knowledge utilization in the life sciences, using different organizational structures inside and outside academia, different ways of exploiting and protecting intellectual property and different approaches to raising funds. With these insights the symposium aims to inspire future knowledge utilization, finding the optimal solution for each unique opportunity, exploiting the full potential of scientific advancements in the life sciences sector and producing tangible benefits for a healthier, more sustainable future. The symposium is free and open to the public, targeting students, life science professionals, and individuals working in the medtech and biotech sector. Registration is not required.

Program:

13:00 – 13:10: Introduction
Prof. dr. Iwan de Esch, vice Dean of Valorization, Science Faculty VU

13:10 – 13:30: Avengers assemble: uniting academia, industry, and regulators to bring novel treatments for rare diseases
Dr. Andrea Soto Padilla, Business Development Manager at Amsterdam UMC

13:40 – 14:00: The role of venture capital in bringing new treatments to patients
Dr. Cillian King, Managing Director EQT Life Sciences

14:10 – 14:30: Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte (TIL) therapy for the treatment of patients with advanced melanoma: from an academic phase III trial to marketing authorization and sustained patient access for an affordable price.
Dr. Inge Jedema, head of Translational Cellular Therapy NKI

14:40 – 15:00: Bridging academia & industry: accelerating drug development for neurological disorders
Dr. Claudia Persoon, co-founder and CEO of Neurospector

The symposium precedes the inauguration lecture of Dr. Ruud Toonen, professor of Neuroscience and Knowledge Utilization, entitled: Faltering nerve cells, from defective communication to recovery from brain diseases. The lecture starts at 15:45 in the aula op de VU University (VU main building, De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam) and is open to the public.

Speakers:

 Prof. dr. Iwan de Esch is professor in Drug Design & Synthesis and director of valorization at the Faculty of Science, VU University. Iwan obtained his PhD at VU University and received postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge. Iwan participated in many large national and EU projects for Top Institute Pharma, STW, FP7, ITN and IMI. Iwan is the co-founder of three academic spin-out companies: De Novo Pharmaceuticals Ltd (a spin-out of the University of Cambridge), IOTA Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Griffin Discoveries BV (the latter two spun-out of VU University). As director of valorization, Iwan aims to stimulate a wide variety of valorization activities within the Faculty of Science.

 

Dr. Andrea Soto Padilla is a Business Development Manager at Amsterdam UMC. Andrea started her career as a scientist in neurodegeneration and social behavior research. After her time in academia, Andrea worked as a consultant for biotech firms, helping them develop their business plans and secure funding. A few years later, she became an Associate at EQT Life Sciences to build their Dementia Fund. Through this work, she met and later joined Amsterdam Neuroscience as a Business Developer to help push academic innovations into real-life solutions. Andrea is also executive board member of ESCO, a European consortium that prepares for trial readiness for a rare neurodevelopmental disease.

 

Dr. Cillian King is a Partner at the venture capital firm EQT Life Sciences. Before EQT, Cillian worked as an Investment Manager for Life Science Partners and Swanbridge Capital and as an independent consultant for early-stage bio/medtech companies. Cillian obtained his PhD in molecular neuroscience at CNCR, VU University. Cillian has been a major catalyst in translating academic discoveries into business opportunities by data-driven decision-making, designing investment strategies and promoting sustainable growth. Cillian is known for connecting stakeholders, from investors and private companies to academic institutions and individual scientists.

 

Dr. Inge Jedema is head of Translational Cellular Therapy at The Netherlands Cancer Institute. Until 2020, Inge was head of the laboratory for Translational Hematology at Leiden UMC and developed several cellular immunotherapy strategies and clinical trials. Most recently Inge and her colleagues became nationally known for developing a treatment for metastatic skin cancer without the help of commercial investors. The project is unique in that it was all funded publicly (ZonMW, KWF, EU). If the team obtains approval from the EMA, it will be the first time that an academic hospital brings a complex cell therapy to the market. Because the therapeutic product will be offered via a not for profit model, the treatment is approximately five times cheaper than a comparable commercial therapy.

 

Dr. Claudia Persoon is co-founder and CEO of Neurospector, a contract research organization within the university that accelerates drug development for psychiatric and neurological disorders by combining the use of human (patient-derived) neurons and scale-able functional assays. Claudia studied life sciences in Amsterdam and obtained her PhD in cellular neurosciences at CNCR, VU University. Claudia received entrepreneurship training at Ace Incubator where she won a scholarship for best business plan and obtained several spin-out grants (NWO take-off, ERC-PoC) to establish Neurospector. Neurospector is a unique new solution for knowledge utilization by VU and Amsterdam UMC employers.

The grant of 850 000 euro will allow her to expand her research team to further investigate how changes in neuronal activity differentially affects AIS composition in excitatory and inhibitory neurons, and how this differential plasticity participates in network homeostasis during sensory-dependent experience.

This project will use proteomics and transcriptomics approaches in cultured neurons and in vivo, coupled to super-resolution imaging and electrophysiology.

There will be PhD and post-doc positions opening in the AIS lab (see lab website: https://cncr.nl/research-team/axon_initial_segment_biology/)

More information on awarded Vidi projects can be found here.

The awarded project, titled “Should I stay or should I go? Elucidating neuropeptidergic modulation of approach-avoidance behaviour” focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms that control our responses to challenging environments. In particular, Danai’s team will work on identifying how neuromodulators, such as norepinephrine and various neuropeptides, mediate behavioural choices during negative (stressful or threatening) experiences.

Taking advantage of a multilevel approach, that includes synaptic proteomics, electrophysiology and circuit manipulation in the behaving animal, Danai aims to highlight the endogenous systems that promote adaptive stress responses and prevent maladaptations linked to the development of psychopathology, inlcuding anxiety, impulse control and attentional disorders.

See the research team page for more information.

Kim (now a post-doc on a collaborative project of the labs of Max Koppers and Wiep Scheper) will share her research findings at the annual Alzheimer Nederland donor meeting and received 2500 euro to spend on her further personal development.

News item at Alzheimer Nederland:
https://www.alzheimer-nederland.nl/nieuws/kim-wolzak-wint-proefschriftprijs-alzheimer-nederland-2024

The grant of 1.5M euro will allow him to expand his research group to further investigate how specific mRNAs are captured at specific subcellular locations in neurons.

Brain function requires precise regulation of the neuronal proteome, which involves localizing thousands of mRNAs to neurites for their translation at specific subcellular locations. The mechanisms that ensure the correct localization, capture and translation of mRNAs remain elusive. A better understanding is urgent since dysregulation of mRNA localization is increasingly emerging as a pathological event in neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

In this project, his group will use new genetic and imaging tools developed in the lab together with super-resolution microscopy, live-cell imaging and RNA sequencing to investigate how different organelles coordinate mRNA transport, localization and translation in neurons to support neuron function and survival. This will provide important new insights into the role of mRNA localization in neuron physiology and neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS.

The team’s website can be found here.

 

The teams consisted of researchers and clinicians from the Functional Genomics department of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Human Genetics department of Amsterdam UMC, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Radboud UMC, University of Antwerp, and Antwerp University Hospital, as well as family members of STXBP1 patients. Each team biked more than eighty kilometers to the mid-point in Dordrecht, halfway between the labs of Amsterdam and the labs of Antwerp. In Dordrecht, all bikers were welcomed by supporters, family members of patients and colleagues.

We would like to thank all cyclists for their great achievement, the supporters for their enthusiasm and the sponsors for their donations. Especially Amsterdam Neuroscience for their generous donation of € 2.000,00! It has been heartwarming to see the overwhelming support for our cause. In total we raised € 6.359,00 and Penn State University will double this amount.

All donations have been transferred to the Million Dollar bike ride organization in the United States (team STXBP1). The Penn Medicine Orphan Disease Center will distribute the funds to the international scientific community through grant proposal applications. They will monitor and manage progress of the science and spending of the funds.

See the MDBR website for more information.

PSP and FTDs are part of a class of debilitating neurodegenerative diseases that may shorten a person’s lifespan, and for which no current treatments exist. The research program by van der Kant, is one out of four groundbreaking research projects funded through the Tauopathy Challenge Workshop, that will serve as building blocks toward ongoing efforts to find treatments and a cure for these diseases, known as primary tauopathies.

Work in the van der Kant lab focuses on examining how cholesterol, or other lipids, contribute to the tau pathology in PSP and FTD, knowing that recent studies have shown that excess levels of cholesterol in the brain can drive the build-up of tau. Dr. van der Kant will map how lipid metabolism in different iPSC-derived brain cell types is altered in these diseases, and how this might contribute to neuroinflammation. The project will help provide a better understanding of the early processes that drive PSP and FTDs.

Funding is awarded through the 2024 Tauopathy challenge workshop, which was held to close gaps in understanding and address current research challenges in primary tauopathies, such as Frontotemporal Dementias and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. Funding was made available through the Rainwater Charitable Foundation in collaboration with the Aging Mind Foundation and the CurePSP foundation.

More information can be found here: https://rainwatercharitablefoundation.org/the-rainwater-charitable-foundation-curepsp-and-aging-mind-foundation-announce-2-million-in-grants-to-fund-innovative-research-projects-from-the-tauopathy-challenge-workshop/

Dr. Scheper, trained as an RNA biologist at Utrecht University, started working on the export of misfolded proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum during her time at Cambridge University, UK, and developed a strong research program in Amsterdam that investigates the role of proteostasis in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Since 2013, Dr. Scheper is principal investigator at FGA, and has built a multidisciplinary team and a prominent international reputation in the field, with excellent publications and strong external funding.  Dr. Scheper is also a familiar face in national media for outreach activities, laymen talks and fundraisers.

The purpose of the new chair is to initiate and conduct research to gain and deepen understanding of the role of proteostatic stress mechanisms in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. This insight will lead to the identification of new targets for therapeutic intervention and associated biomarkers for therapy monitoring. Additionally, the chair focuses on the utilization of the results of this research through valorization towards the industry as well as science communication towards the general public.

Learn more about her research at her CNCR research page: https://cncr.nl/research-team/molecular_neurodegeneration_/ 

 

Dorret Boomsma received her two Master degrees in 1983 cum laude – one from the VU University in Amsterdam, in Psychophysiology and one from the University of Colorado, US in Behavior Genetics. After receiving her PhD cum laude from the VU in 1992 on the quantitative genetics of cardiovascular disease, she was appointed as an assistant professor at the VU University in Amsterdam, where she became the head of the Department of Biological Psychology in 1994.

Together with Prof Ko Orlebeke, Dorret Boomsma founded the Netherlands Twin Registry (NTR) in 1986, which currently consists of over 75,000 twins and their family members. The NTR has been and still is a tremendous success and an invaluable resource for the study of genetic and environmental influences on human nature, not only serving Dutch scientists, but facilitating worldwide collaborations. In thousands of scientific publications this resource has now been used, and Dorret’s work has delivered significant contributions to a broad spectrum of human behavior and disease, going from charting the relative influence of genes and environment to pinpointing the most likely causal genes using genomewide association tools and biomedical samples.

Dorret’s work has been lauded both nationally and internationally. She received numerous awards and prizes, including an advanced grant from the European Research Council (2008), the Ming Tsuang Life Time achievement award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (2022), and an Honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki Medical School (2022), Finland. In 2001 Dorret Boomsma received the Dutch Spinozapremie, which is said to be the Dutch equivalence of the Nobel Prize, recognizing her position as a top scientist.

The Department of Complex Trait Genetics is honored to be joined by Dorret Boomsma, she brings in a lifetime of scientific knowledge on quantitative and behavior genetics, an invaluable network of collaborations and worldwide recognition and opportunities, along with a spirit of unbridled scientific curiosity. The combination with the large scale genetic analyses conducted at CTG and the broader embedding in neuroscience and biology at the CNCR bears exciting future promises.