Guest lecture by Prof. Marcia de Almeida Monteiro Melo Ferraz, Faculty of
Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany
Join the COMBIVET ERA Chair of the Estonian University of Life Sciences for a guest lecture by Prof. Marcia de Almeida Monteiro Melo Ferraz from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Germany. The lecture theme is " The secretory life of cells: Spying on (and simulating) cell communication to improve Assisted Reproductive technologies".
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Dr. Ferraz graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil as a Veterinary doctor and she completed her Master’s degree in Animal Genetics and Biotechnology of Reproduction from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain in 2013. Then She completed her doctoral degree at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands in the year 2018 after which she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, VA, USA during 2017-2020. In 2020, Dr. Ferraz was appointed as an Affiliate professor in the Department of Biology, UBC Kelowna, British Colombia, Canada, and also, she is the Group Leader in Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology, Gene Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany. In the year 2021, she was appointed as the Professor for Clinical-Experimental Reproductive Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, and in the year 2020, she was granted the “Sofja Kovalevskaja Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation” which is granted to young exceptionally promising researchers from abroad in recognition of outstanding academic achievements and to enable them to embark on academic careers in Germany by establishing their research group at a research institution in Germany.
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Guest lecture by Prof. Claudia Klein, the Institute of Farm Animal Genetics
in Mariensee, Germany
Join the COMBIVET ERA Chair of the Estonian University of Life Sciences for a guest lecture by Prof. Claudia Klein from the Institute of Farm Animal Genetics in Mariensee, Germany. The lecture theme is "Advances in embryology and animal reproduction".
The lecture would take place via zoom on 11th May 2023 at 11.00 Estonian time ( https://zoom.us/j/92899508665?pwd=WDJxOWIrUGw2NWY2TjB6bGJCdjVUZz09 )
The lecture would take place via zoom on 11th May 2023 at 11.00 Estonian time ( https://zoom.us/j/92899508665?pwd=WDJxOWIrUGw2NWY2TjB6bGJCdjVUZz09 )
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Dr. Klein graduated with honors from JLU Giessen, Germany in 2004. She then prepared her Dr. med. vet thesis entitled “Identification of genes induced by the conceptus in the bovine endometrium during the pre-implantation period” in the Laboratory of Functional Genome Analysis at the LMU, Munich, Germany. Following a year as Clinical Instructor at the Clinic for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Andrology of Large and Small Animals, JLU Giessen, Dr. Klein joined the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida as Resident in Theriogenology. In 2009 Dr. Klein obtained the status of Diplomate of the American College Theriogenologists (ACT) and the European College of Animal Reproduction (ECAR) in 2009. In 2010 she successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis “Embryo-Maternal Communication During Early Pregnancy in the Horse – A Transcriptional Approach”. Dr. Klein joined the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Calgary in 2012 as a Professor of Theriogenology. Since 2020 she is the head of the Institute of Farm Animal Genetics in Mariensee, Germany.
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Guest lecture by Prof. Adriele Prina-Mello, Trinity College Dublin,
the University of Dublin
Join the COMBIVET ERA Chair of the Estonian University of Life Sciences for a guest lecture by Prof. Adriele Prina-Mello, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin.
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SEMINAR 1
March 2nd 2023. 14.00 onwards. Room A110, Kreutzwaldi 62 ''Characterisation of NanoMedicines: Overview, introduction, complex characterisation, and applications'' |
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SEMINAR 2
March 3rd 2023. 10.00 onwards. Room 1006, Ravila 19 ''Iron Oxide Nanoparticles intended for Magnetic Hyperthermia: A Translational Story'' |
Guest lecture by Dr. Albert Lu, University of Barcelona
Join the COMBIVET ERA Chair of the Estonian University of Life Sciences for a guest lecture by Dr. Albert Lu, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Barcelona. He will talk about his latest research into “Exploring extracellular vesicle biology and beyond using unbiased genetic screening approaches”.
The lecture would take place via zoom on 22nd November 2022 at 12.00 Estonian time (https://zoom.us/j/7349300849?pwd=b3k5WXZ4S1gzakVpOCtCemw2MDFoZz09)
The lecture would take place via zoom on 22nd November 2022 at 12.00 Estonian time (https://zoom.us/j/7349300849?pwd=b3k5WXZ4S1gzakVpOCtCemw2MDFoZz09)
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After finishing his Medical Degree, Dr. Albert Lu started his PhD at the Laboratory of Professor Oriol Bachs at the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona where he dissected endosomal trafficking and signaling pathways of the K-Ras oncogene. During this time, he visited Professor Michiyuki Matsuda’s Lab at Kyoto University where he used in vivo FRET microscopy technologies to visualize K-Ras signaling on late endosomes.
For his postdoc, he moved to Stanford University (CA, United States) where he joined Suzanne Pfeffer’s Laboratory. During the first period of his postdoctoral studies, he elucidated a Golgi-localized pathway controlling cell cycle progression. Later, he spearheaded two projects that involved devising novel CRISPR/Cas9 genetic screening approaches to interrogate, at genome scale, different aspects of extracellular vesicle biology (both of which he will be talking about today). |
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He then moved back to the University of Barcelona where he recently obtained a tenure-track assistant professor position. He currently holds a grant from the Michael J Fox Foundation (US) to study the role of the endolysosomal lipid BMP (also known as LBPA) as a novel exosomal biomarker of Parkinson’s disease. He has also served as a scientific consultant for Mantra Bio, a San Francisco-based company developing exosome therapeutics.
Guest lecture by Prof. Gregory Lavieu
Dr. Lavieu is a world expert in membrane trafficking and a pioneer in the field of EV functionality, especially the EV uptake and cargo delivery aspects of intercellular communication. His research career began in the Pierre and Marie curie university in Paris and he continued his post-doctoral research in Yale university, USA. He is currently the director of the Lavieu lab of University of Paris and an INSERM permanent investigator.
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SEMINAR 1
October 17th 2022. 11.00. Room 0088 in Ravila 19 (biomedicum) Title : ''Cellular and Molecular characterization of Extracellular Vesicle Uptake and Delivery'' Extracellular Vesicle or Exosomes are thought to mediate transport of biomolecules such as proteins or nucleotides between donor and acceptor cells. Although the physiological importance is EVs is recognized, we still don’t know much about the mechanisms that dictate EV cargo delivery within the acceptor cells. Here, Prof. Lavieu will share his most recent work and discuss his current model for EV uptake and content delivery. |
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SEMINAR 2
October 18th 2022. 15.00. Kretzwaldi 1a Title: ''Virus-free Method to Control and Enhance Extracellular Vesicle (EV)-Cargo Loading and Delivery: Toward the Bioengineering of “Killer EVs”'' EVs are promising vectors for therapeutics delivery, however their intrinsic capacity to deliver cargo inside acceptor cells seems too limited to utilize natural EVs as efficient delivery vectors. Here, Prof. Lavieu will describe a novel method to control EV-cargo loading and enhance EV cargo delivery within acceptor cell. This method doesn’t require any viral components that are classically used in artificial delivery vectors. Using this method, the group have engineered killer EVs that contain a lethal toxin capable to eliminate acceptor cells, including cancer cells. This may open new doors in precision care medicine. |
Guest lecture by Dr. Ignacio Caballero-Posadas of INRAE, France on
“Boosting innate immunity to fight infectious diseases in the pig lungs”.
The lecture will take place via zoom on 8th September 2022 at 11.00. Please join via the Zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/7349300849?pwd=b3k5WXZ4S1gzakVpOCtCemw2MDFoZz09#success.
https://zoom.us/j/7349300849?pwd=b3k5WXZ4S1gzakVpOCtCemw2MDFoZz09#success.
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Dr. Caballero-Posadas graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Murcia, Spain in 2003. His studies were focused on the pig, both for its great economic impact as livestock and its growing importance as a biomedical model. He started my career working on the development of porcine reproductive biotechnologies, and then shifted towards the generation of transgenic pig models and the study of the immune response. After obtaining Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship to work at Dr Fazeli’s lab at the University of Sheffield, he developed an interest in Toll-like receptor signaling, which he has continued as a researcher at the INRAE, Centre Val de Loire, France. In particular he studies how we can modulate Toll-like receptor and NFkB signaling to develop novel alternative therapies and immune-stimulation strategies.
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Guest lecture by Dr. Stefania Raimondo on plant-derived vesicles and their role
in cross-kingdom communication
Join the lecture on 28th of July 2022 at 11.00 a.m (Helsinki time) via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7349300849?pwd=b3k5WXZ4S1gzakVpOCtCemw2MDFoZz09
Dr. Stefania Raimondo is a post-doctoral researcher who is currently employed at the University of Palermo, Italy. In the year 2014, she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Immuno-Pharmacology from the University of Palermo under the mentorship of Professor Riccardo Alessandro. Her Doctoral and Post-doctoral studies were mainly focused on the identification of the molecular mechanisms underlying intercellular communication in cancer allowing her to develop a strong background in oncology, biomarker discovery, and inflammatory-based disorders.
During her career, she was involved in the isolation, molecular characterization, and functional roles of tumor-derived exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs), which recently emerged as important mediators of the horizontal propagation of oncogenic signaling locally and at distance. During the early years of her PhD program, she worked closely with Dr. Jan Lotvall’s research group in Gotheborg, Sweden, where they demonstrated the value of studying EVs in various conditions.
In the last 8 years, Dr. Raimondo’s research interests were mainly focused on the study of vesicles isolated from plants. Particularly the interactions between plant vesicles and mammalian cells. As a result of her passion for plant EV research, she co-founded the startup Navhetec S.r.l. in 2016. Since 2019 Dr. Raimondo has been a StarShip Health Innovation fellow, an educational initiative in collaboration with leading European academic and health industry partners.
During her career, she was involved in the isolation, molecular characterization, and functional roles of tumor-derived exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs), which recently emerged as important mediators of the horizontal propagation of oncogenic signaling locally and at distance. During the early years of her PhD program, she worked closely with Dr. Jan Lotvall’s research group in Gotheborg, Sweden, where they demonstrated the value of studying EVs in various conditions.
In the last 8 years, Dr. Raimondo’s research interests were mainly focused on the study of vesicles isolated from plants. Particularly the interactions between plant vesicles and mammalian cells. As a result of her passion for plant EV research, she co-founded the startup Navhetec S.r.l. in 2016. Since 2019 Dr. Raimondo has been a StarShip Health Innovation fellow, an educational initiative in collaboration with leading European academic and health industry partners.
Joint Seminar Program between Estonian University of Life Sciences and the
Polish Academy of Science, Olsztyn
The idea for a joint seminar program was put forward by Prof. Alireza Fazeli and Prof. Aneta Andronowska together to discuss and share knowledge on the amazing scientific work that the researchers from these two institutes have been doing in their specific fields of science, and with expectations of broadening our own horizons.
Session 1 (17.05.2022; 11-13 pm Helsinki time)
Session 1 (17.05.2022; 11-13 pm Helsinki time)
Sylwia Machcińska
Department of Biological Function of Food, Polish Academy of Science, Olsztyn |
Sylwia Machcińska is a final year PhD student at the Department of Biological Function of Food at the Polish Academy of Science in Olsztyn. She implements a research program as part of the National Science Center project entitled: , Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α) and transcription factor Foxn1 guide regenerative vs reparative skin wound healing processes' under the supervision of Prof. Barbara Gawrońska-Kozak. The results of the research and analyzes is a scientific work published in 2021 in the prestigious FASEB Journal, and currently, the second work is awaiting publication. Moreover, Sylwia is also the co-author of 6 original papers in which she participated during her PhD.
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Sinith Withanage is a first-year PhD student at the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research in Olsztyn. His research interests are mainly focused on the fields of electrophysiology, biophysics, physic-chemical characterizations, and hydrogels for advanced biomedical applications.
He is a former research engineer contributing to the research groups of natural nanomaterials and 3D bioprinting at “Solution chemistry for advanced materials and technology laboratory” in Saint Petersburg. He has completed his Masters’s degree in Molecular biology and biotechnology with a specialization of Nanopharmaceuticals at the National Research University of ITMO, Saint Petersburg. He has obtained his bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from Tianjin Medical University, China. Currently, he is working on the project titled “Voltage Across Hydrogels - A New perspective on cell’s membrane potential” under the supervision of Dr. Magdalena Kowacz. |
Sinith Withanage
Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Olsztyn |
Kasun Godakumara
Institute of Biomedicine and translational medicine, University of Tartu, Estonia. |
Kasun Godakumara is a final-year Ph.D. student at the University of Tartu. He started his research career at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka where he studied hard tissue biology in osteoporosis conditions. He earned his Bachelor’s in Medical Laboratory Science and Master of Philosophy in Biotechnology from the University of Peradeniya in 2013 and 2016 respectively. After being employed as a laboratory analyst in the chemical pathology sector, he joined the University of Tartu as a doctoral student in 2018. He was attached to the ERA Chair of Translational Genomics (TransGeno) under the supervision of Prof Alireza Fazeli. His studies are focused on extracellular vesicle-based embryo maternal communication.
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Guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Jennifer Schoen and Dr. Shuai Chen,
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany
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Join the COMBIVET ERA Chair of the Estonian University of Life Sciences for a guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Jennifer Schoen and Dr. Shuai Chen, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Berlin, Germany. They will talk about their latest research into “Application of compartmentalized in vitro models to explore maternal interactions with gametes and early embryos”. Prof. Schoen’s group investigates reproductive adaptations underlying different reproductive strategies in mammals and the impact of environmental factors on fertility. They are interested in cell biological and molecular mechanisms of reproductive processes and their hormonal regulation and establish and optimize new methods for assisted reproduction and contact-free/minimally invasive hormone monitoring of wild animals. |
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Jennifer Schoen
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Jennifer Schoen is Head of the Department of Reproduction Biology at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and Professor of Cellular Reproduction Biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. She has studied Veterinary Medicine in Berlin and completed her doctoral thesis at the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.
After a postdoctoral period in the Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin and short stays at the University of Concepcion, Chile, and at Charité Berlin, she took over the Reproductive Cell Biology Unit at the Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology in Dummerstorf, Germany, in 2014 before she returned to the IZW in 2021. Prof. Schoen’s group investigates reproductive adaptations underlying different reproductive strategies in mammals and the impact of environmental factors on fertility. They are interested in cell biological and molecular mechanisms of reproductive processes and their hormonal regulation and establish and optimize new methods for assisted reproduction and contact-free/minimally invasive hormone monitoring of wild animals. |
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Shuai Chen is currently working at the Department of Reproduction Biology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) as the head of the Cell Culture Lab. Early embryonic development is a particularly sensitive phase that critically depends on a complex network of embryo-maternal interactions. It is crucial not only for the course of pregnancy but also for the individual’s health in later phases of life. Her main research field is animal reproductive biology, particularly focusing on events during the early stage of embryo development in domestic and wild animals. Her current research interests include: in vitro models of the female reproductive tract, actions of steroid hormones, preimplantation maternal stress, and extracellular vesicles as mediators in embryo-maternal crosstalk. The objective is to improve our understanding of the dynamic milieu of the oviduct and uterus and the signal exchanges between early gametes/embryos and the mother in health and disease, with the long-term goal to improve animal fertility and pregnancy outcome.
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Shuai Chen
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Guest lecture by Prof. Masako Harada, The Institute for Quantitative Health
Science & Engineering, Michigan state University, USA
Seminar by Masako Harada PhD on 22nd March
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Join the COMBIVET ERA Chair of the Estonian University of Life Sciences for a guest lecture by Prof. Masako Harada from The Institute for Quantitative Health Science & Engineering, Michigan state University, USA. Prof. Harada will talk about her latest research into “Engineering extracellular vesicles for targeted therapeutic delivery”.
Prof. Harada received her undergraduate degree in molecular genetics from King’s College London. She earned her Ph.D. in experimental oncology from Karolinska Institute in Sweden and conducted her postdoctoral training in cancer chemotherapy at Stanford University. Her lab is currently working on targeted epigenetic therapy using engineered EV-CRISPR/dCas9 system, EV mediated microRNA delivery for cancer therapy and development of “therapeutic guide proteins” using an in vivo EV-display screen. The ultimate goal of her research is to translate basic scientific findings into clinical applications. The lecture would take place via Zoom on 22nd of March 2022 at 15.00 Estonian time. Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3MuL7lR |
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Special guest lectures by Prof. Richard G Lea (PhD SFHEA)
Two special guest lectures will be held on 1st and 2nd March 2022 in Tartu. The lectures will be delivered by Prof. Richard Lea. Richard Lea is Professor of Reproductive Biology in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham. He is also the Deputy Head of Division of Global Health and the Chair of the Committee for Animal Research & Ethics. Prof. Lea is currently serving as the chair of the society for reproduction and fertility, one of the largest learned bodies for the biology of reproduction in the world. He is a world renowned expert on the effects of chemicals in the environment on mammalian fertility and reproductive health.
All are welcome to these public lectures at the following dates and locations
Reproductive function in a polluted world: lessons from animal models
Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU), Kreutzwaldi 1a.
10.00 onwards.
1st March 2022
Environmental influences on fertility and reproductive function: of man and man’s best friend!
Room 1006, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu (UT), Ravila 19.
14.30 onwards
2nd March 2022.
The lectures will be available for online participation.
Join the lecture on 1st March 2022 using
https://emu-ee.zoom.us/j/82223725747?pwd=UzlSancveEM4VFRia2JaM1VXU1J1dz09
passcode 877718
Join the lecture on 2nd March 2022 using
https://emu-ee.zoom.us/j/84266294338?pwd=LzJWcWRmN1hOcFVpNjlxVS84TW9EUT09
passcode 205748
