CONNECT Symposium 2025

🧠 More on vascularized brain organoids by our researchers here: https://lnkd.in/exgqkFtW Looking forwards to welcome you this Friday the 10th in Utrecht Science Park!

Here's hoping that you are having a wonderful holiday with family and friends! There are only 2 more days to register for the CONNECT Symposium in Utrecht. CONNECT to new minds and new insights in the new year: https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD

An exciting update to the schedule: Dr. Noelia Antón Bolaños is confirmed as our final speaker, sharing insights on her chimeric multi-donor cortical organoids!   See the full schedule and speaker lineup below:   💡 Dr. Nienke de Wit (Amsterdam UMC) Why the BBB? Why the BBB remains one of our greatest obstacles in neuro(patho)logical research, and how scientists today are developing innovative approaches to breech it. 🚀 KEYNOTE: Dr. Roberto Villaseñor Solorio (Roche) Advancing Robust BBB Models for Brainshuttles™ Technology: Generating robust fit-for purpose BBB models to accelerate development of next-generation Brainshuttles™ to deliver therapeutic antibodies to the brain 🧪 Dr. Nienke Wevers (MIMETAS) Microfluidic Models of the BBB: From Origins to Applications: The development story of in vitro BBB models from then to now, from both business and biological perspectives; where we are headed.   🧠 Dr. Elena Daoutsali (UMC Utrecht) Cerebral organoids as in vitro models of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (Dutch type): Developing novel organoids to model a rare neurovascular disease form predominantly found in populations of Dutch descent. 🧠 Dr. Femke de Vrij (Erasmus MC): Human adherent cortical organoids to study neuropsychiatric disorders: A new organoid platform with considerable potential for high-throughput drug discovery applications, neurotox screening, and mechanistic pathophysiological studies of brain disorders.   🧠 Dr. Noelia Antón Bolaños (UMC Utrecht) Multi-donor human cortical Chimeroids reveal inter-individual susceptibility to neurotoxic triggers: Multi-donor brain organoids to investigate inter-individual susceptibility and the role of genetic backgrounds in response to neurotoxic stressors   🧾 Jody Esveldt, LL.M (BG.legal) Informed consent in the age of organoids: How the legal landscape is shifting when it comes to working with donor material (i.e., donor-derived iPSC lines), and what you most need to know 🚀 KEYNOTE: Dr. Adrian Ranga (KU Leuven) Bioengineering neurovascular organoids-on-chip: Developing a novel microfluidic chip model, in which an iPSC-derived cerebral organoid become vascularized through co-development with a self-organizing vascular network of iPSC-derived pericytes and endothelial cells.   👩🔬 CONNECT Research Consortium: UMC Utrecht, Amsterdam UMC, @Confocal.nl, InnoSer , PimBio B.V., BG.legal, Danone/Nutricia, Eyesiu Medicines BV. The CONNECT Project: Developing a novel microfluidic chip linking a cerebral organoid to an in vitro BBB model; the implications thereof for translational neuroscientists and market applications. 🎟️ Spaces are now limited: https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD

This insightful speaker lineup awaits you on January 10th! See the full schedule below: 💡 Dr. Nienke de Wit (Amsterdam UMC) Why the BBB? Why the BBB remains one of our greatest obstacles in neuro(patho)logical research, and how scientists today are developing innovative approaches to breech it.   🧪 Dr. Nienke Wevers (MIMETAS) Microfluidic Models of the BBB: From Origins to Applications The development story of in vitro BBB models from then to now, from both business and biological perspectives; where we are headed.   🧠 Dr. Elena Daoutsali (UMC Utrecht) Cerebral organoids as in vitro models of Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy (Dutch type) Developing novel organoids to model a rare neurovascular disease form predominantly found in populations of Dutch descent. 🧠 Dr. Femke de Vrij (Erasmus MC): Human adherent cortical organoids to study neuropsychiatric disorders A new organoid platform with considerable potential for high-throughput drug discovery applications, neurotox screening, and mechanistic pathophysiological studies of brain disorders. 🧾 Mr. Jody Esveldt, LL.M (BG.legal) Informed consent in the age of organoids How the legal landscape is shifting when it comes to working with donor material (i.e., donor-derived iPSC lines), and what you most need to know   🚀 KEYNOTE: Dr. Roberto Villaseñor Solorio (Roche) Advancing Robust BBB Models for Brainshuttles™ Technology Generating robust fit-for purpose BBB models to accelerate development of next-generation Brainshuttles™ to deliver therapeutic antibodies to the brain   🚀 KEYNOTE: Dr. Adrian Ranga (KU Leuven) Bioengineering neurovascular organoids-on-chip Developing a novel microfluidic chip model, in which an iPSC-derived cerebral organoid become vascularized through co-development with a self-organizing vascular network of iPSC-derived pericytes and endothelial cells.   👩🔬 CONNECT Research Consortium (UMC Utrecht, Amsterdam UMC, Confocal.nl, InnoSer , PimBio B.V., BG.legal, Danone/Nutricia, Eyesiu Medicines BV) The CONNECT Project Developing a novel microfluidic chip linking a cerebral organoid to an in vitro BBB model; the implications thereof for translational neuroscientists and market applications. 🎟️ Register here: https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD

💡 Perfusing brain organoids with self-organizing vascular networks? Yes, it can be done! We are thrilled to introduce keynote speaker Dr. Adrian Ranga (KU Leuven), who will show you how. 🧠 Dr. Ranga is Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at KU Leuven. His research explores principles of development using engineered biomimetic model systems. Prior to joining KU Leuven, he obtained a B.Eng and M.Eng from McGill University, a PhD from EPFL, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. The Ranga lab focuses on the development of bioengineering approaches to generate in-vitro organoid models, and in understanding the role of mechanical forces and vasculature in specifying organoid fate, patterning, growth and morphogenesis. Adrian is an Allen Distinguished Investigator, whose lab has pioneered actuation and perfusion technologies, and is now developing the next generation of engineered neural organoids and associated disease models. 🔑 Sneak-peek of his keynote: "Cerebral organoids’ lack of intrinsic vascularization poses a major challenge to their ability to model elements of embryonic development, brain disease, and drug uptake across the BBB. Specifically, most current organoid vascularization strategies do not recapitulate the temporal synchronization and spatial orientation needed to ensure in vivo-like early co-development, and are thereby limited in scale and function. In this talk I will describe the development process of our microfluidic chip models. In these models, large-scale iPSC-derived brain tissues are perfused via fully synthetic vasculature, and an iPSC-derived cerebral organoid become vascularized through co-development with a self-organizing vascular network of iPSC-derived pericytes and endothelial cells." 🎟 Don't miss this. Claim your spot now and see you Jan. 10th! https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD The CONNECT Symposium is an initiative of the CONNECT Research Consortium (headed by Profs. Elly Hol (UMC Utrecht) and Elga de Vries (Amsterdam UMC)).

🤩 We're happy to share that Henrique Nogueira Pinto has been nominated for the Hugo van Poelgeest prize! 👏 He is being recognized for his work on the CONNECT project in developing a novel BBB model. This prize will be awarded to one young scientist for outstanding animal-free work in the life sciences sector. Please vote for Henrique here! https://lnkd.in/eymjRZAY 👀 You can catch both Henrique and Lois Kistemaker as they present their work on this model in one groundbreaking session at the CONNECT Symposium on Jan 10th. The CONNECT Project is made possible by the following consortium members: UMC Utrecht Brain Center (Elly Hol), Amsterdam UMC (Elga de Vries), Confocal.nl, InnoSer , PimBio B.V., Danone, Nutricia, & Eyesiu Medicines BV & BG.legal, and is funded by NWO (Dutch Research Council), Proefdiervrij and Hersenstichting.

💡 Exciting news! We're thrilled to introduce Dr. Roberto Villaseñor Solorio (Roche) as one of our keynote speakers of the day. He will share his insights on developing groundbreaking new BBB models.   🧠 Dr. Villaseñor heads the Brain Delivery lab in the Neuroscience department at Roche. He leads the preclinical efforts to develop next-generation technologies to deliver therapeutic antibodies to the brain. In this role, he has successfully developed in vitro human blood-brain barrier models to accelerate the profiling of novel compounds and gain a better mechanistic understanding of the impact of disease on transport to the brain. Roberto obtained his PhD in Dresden at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and genetics and has a track record of applying novel methodologies to better understand blood-brain barrier transport.   🔑 Sneak-peek of his keynote: "Receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT) across the blood-brain barrier has been recently validated as an effective pathway to deliver therapeutic antibodies to the brain. Optimization of brain delivery technologies requires scalable and robust in vitro human systems that recapitulate the mechanisms of RMT. In this talk I will summarize our efforts to develop robust fit-for purpose BBB models to accelerate development of next-generation BrainshuttlesTM."   👀 Stay tuned for keynote speaker Dr. Adrian Ranga as he shares methods for vascularizing cerebral organoids.   🎟 Claim your spot now and see you Jan 10th! https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD   The CONNECT Symposium is an initiative of the CONNECT Research Consortium (headed by Profs. Elly Hol (UMC Utrecht) and Elga de Vries (Amsterdam UMC)).

Do you have research that you would love to share with the in vitro modeling community? We are looking for speakers. Scan the QR code here or follow the link for more info: https://lnkd.in/eg7yWk7N 👉 Go here to sign up and submit your registration fee for the Symposium: https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD We look forward to seeing you Jan. 10th!

📢 Save the date! 📢 On behalf of the CONNECT Research Consortium (headed by Elly Hol (UMC Utrecht) and Elga de Vries (Amsterdam UMC)), we are thrilled to announce the CONNECT Symposium on January 10th, 2025! This full-day program details recent advances in bioengineering, in vitro BBB modeling and brain organoids, with emphasis on connecting the BBB to cortical organoids. The CONNECT Symposium provides a platform for established and junior scientists from academia and private industry to share their latest discoveries, challenges, and perspectives. Our keynote speakers of the day are Dr. Adrian Ranga (KU Leuven, BE) and Dr. Roberto Villaseñor Solorio (Roche, CH). Prof. Dr. Ranga will share methods for vascularizing cerebral organoids. Dr. Villaseñor will share techniques to generate high throughput in vitro models of the BBB. Come and see what is possible. Sign up and submit your registration fee here: https://lnkd.in/dG_YKrZD The CONNECT Symposium is an initiative of the CONNECT Research Consortium, including researchers from UMC Utrecht, Amsterdam UMC, Danone, Nutricia, BG.legal, PimBio B.V., Eyesiu Medicines BV, Confocal.nl, funded by NWO (Dutch Research Council), Proefdiervrij and Hersenstichting.