On Friday 20 May, the consortium held its first in-person/partially remote user committee meeting at the Radboudumc, The Netherlands. In total 13 partners attended the meeting, in a great mix of scientists, biotech companies, funding agencies, and societal organizations. It was so nice seeing each other finally 18 months after the project kick-off.
In depts and frank discussions on project outcomes, project progress and user wishes came to the table and a lot of interaction fostered the scientific discussions on the first results generated in the project. Ideas for better outreach (social media engagements) of the project and new interactions with other projects (like the NWA-ORC and EU-networks) were also introduced.
Exciting first scientific publications are on their way, but still a lot of work is required for the making of new immortal cell lines and improved keratinocyte differentiation from iPSCs. However, the tools for characterizing them, like functionality vs. state-of-the-art omics-technologies (e.g. spatial single cell transcriptomics) are nearly all ready to go! So now we are pushing hard to get the cells ready for distribution and analyses. Exciting times to come!
Below a picture of the consortium:
From left to right. Bottom row: Abdoel El-Ghalbzouri (LUMC), Huiqing Jo Zhou (RU), Ellen van den Bogaard (RUMC), Sue Gibbs (Amsterdamumc/ACTA), Luca Meesters (RUMC). Second row: Boeke Boekema (ADBC), Hanna Niehues (RUMC), Camille LaBerthonierre (RU), Koen Dechering (TropIQ Health Services). On screen: Saskia Aan (Proefdiervrij), Lisette Krul (SGF), Christian Freund (LUMC), Elias Imahorn (CELLnTEC). (Carine van Schie, Dutch Burns Foundation, is not in the picture)
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