Course for professionals

MRCRM Mini Symposium 2022

Welcome to our first mini symposium! Young scientists and PIs are giving their talks on stem cells and regenerative medicine - and the big finale is the official opening of the ExVivo Facility! Join us for an exciting and scientific lunch and afternoon!

Passed

December

2022

07. Dec 2022, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Time and place

When

07. Dec 2022, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Organizer

Mohn forskningssenter for regenerativ medisin (MRCRM)

Sign up

Registration deadline: 05. Dec 2022

Program

11.00-11.30
Food and mingle (to attend the lunch: please send an email to MRCRM@helse-bergen.no by December 5)

11.30-11.35
Welcome, by Head of MRCRM, Einar Kristoffersen

11.35-12.20
Keynote lecture: Allogeneic Leukemia-Derived Dendritic Cell Vaccine in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, by Professor Bjørn Tore Gjertsen

12.20-12.45
Harnessing the immune system to promote bone regeneration, by Researcher Salwa Suliman

12.45-12.55
Break - serving of gløgg and gingerbread cookies

12.55.-13.15
iPSC-derived neural stem cells in disease modeling and drug screening, by PhD student Cecilie Kristiansen

13.15-13.40
Precision medicine in psychosis treatment, by Researcher Novin Balafkan (Teams lecture)

13.40-13.45
Closing remarks, by Coordinator for MRCRM Turid Helen Felli Lunde

13.45-14.55
Walk from auditorium in Sentralblokka to atrium in Laboratory building, for the opening of EVF

14.00-15.00
Official opening of Helse Bergen Ex-vivo Facility

Abstracts

Bjørn Tore Gjertsen:

Cellular immune therapy in the format of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation represents the most potent consolidation therapy in treatment of acute leukemia, and has secured long term survival in an increasing number of pateints the last two decades. This suggests that priming the immune system to eradicate or control residual disease could be an effective strategy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) maintenance therapy. Maintenance therapy in AML patients with measurable residual disease (MRD) remains challenging. We have explored maintenance therpy in a phase II study of allogenic leukemia-derived dendritic cell vaccine (DCP-001), aiming to induce an effective antileukemic response to control or kill remaining malignant cells (ADVANCE-II, Clintrials.gov: NCT03697707).

A total of 20 evaluable AML-patients received 4 biweekly doses at 25e6 or 50e6 cells per vaccination followed by 2

booster doses of 10e6 cells at week 14 and 18. MRD as a clinical outcome parameter, was assessed at baseline, week 14, 20 and 32.

Vaccination with DCP-001 resulted in durable MRD responses with 5 patients converting to MRD negativity, remaining relapse-free and alive during follow up. This translates in promising survival data with the median RFS for the full patient population not reached to date, at a median FU time of 15.4 months. Highest level of vaccine-induced T-cell responses to leukemia speci[c antigens were detected in MRD responders.

We demonstrate how the immune profile of patient eligible for DCP-001 cellular vaccine differ from healthy controls. Our preclinical data of DCP-001 indicate the direction for development of this cell vaccine. We anticipate DCP-001 as a well tolerated cell vaccine that provide immune priming with superior disease control in the maintenance phase.

Salwa Suliman:

Cecilie Katrin Kristiansen:

Studies of the pathological mechanisms defining neurodegenerative diseases have been hampered by limited access to the affected tissues, particularly neurons. This lack of relevant disease models hinders therapeutic drug development and disease treatment remains largely limited to symptom management and supportive care. The development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by reprogramming of human somatic cells has permitted in vitro generation of a range of neural cells from essentially any human individual, making it possible to study aspects of neurological diseases at a cellular level.

Novin Balafkan:

Antipsychotic drugs remain the only effective pharmacological intervention for the treatment of psychosis in individuals with schizophrenia. However, about half of the patient population shows limited response or no response at all to common antipsychotics.

The overall aim of the project is to better understand the biological differences between responders and non-responders to antipsychotics at the cellular and molecular levels using state-of-the-art methods such as patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells and CRISPR screening to improve diagnostics, predict clinical trajectories and develop novel therapeutic interventions.