UPCOMING EVENT

PACT Summer School 2018

Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine

09 – 13 July 2018 in Vienna

 

 

PACT organizes its fourth Summer School from 09-13 July 2018 in Vienna.

 

This year’s summer school will focus on cell therapy for tissue regeneration and immune modulation. The program will include class lectures and hands on courses in the lab targeting different raw materials like the cryopreserved clinical grade transplantable cells and therapeutic extracellular vesicles. Furthermore we will highlight the importance of entrepreneurial thinking, which is needed to transfer an academic result to a medical application for the benefit of patients. There will also be plenty of time for fruitful discussions with the lecturers and participants and several social events for networking.

 

 

    • Lectures:

     

    Adult and induced pluripotent stem cell therapies (Dirk Strunk, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria)

  • Regenerative Orthopedics (Tobias Winkler, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany)
  • Extracellular Vesicles: Bench to Bedside (Bernd Giebel, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Germany)
  • Thrombotic risk of cell therapies (Katharina Schallmoser, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria)
  • Hematopoietic stem cell therapies (Michael B. Fischer, Danube University Krems, Austria)
  • Cell Culture Techniques in R&D (Renate Kunert, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria)
  • Primary cells as in vitro models in biomedicine (Regina Grillari, Evercyte GmbH, Vienna, Austria)

 

 

  • Hands-on courses:

 

 

Production of Recombinant Proteins – Bioprocessing in the Single Use Reactor

Patrick Mayrhofer, BOKU University, Vienna, Austria

 

Bioprocessing of mammalian cells in bioreactors ensures a controlled growth in a defined culture environment. During the summer school we set up a single-use bioreactor for monoclonal antibody production of recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary cells grown in suspension. After calibration and installation of pH and dissolved oxygen sensors the reactor was filled with a serum-free chemically defined medium and after equilibration the reactor was inoculated with cells. On day three, samples were drawn followed by initiation of a fed-batch process.

 

 

Clinical Stem Cell Therapy – Cell Product Handling
Dirk Strunk and Martin Wolf, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria,

Tobias Winkler, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

 

Traditionally cell and organ transplantation required major histocompatibility complex (MHC) testing to match donor and recipient and a peculiar regimen of immune suppression to support long-term engraftment and functional regeneration whenever autologous transplantation could not be realized. A preferred strategy in contemporary cell therapy and regenerative medicine favours off-the-shelf products that allow for immediate and, ideally, universal MHC-independent application. Highly standardized safe and reproducible protocols for cell/product cryopreservation and bedside thawing prior to transplantation are prerequisite for testing the efficiency of these novel strategies.

The training session will offer hands-on experience with clinical grade off-the-shelf cell therapy products and will mimic the delivery of cell therapeutics. Semi-automated hands-on thawing procedures and viability/quality control scenarios will be practiced using state-of-the-art controlled thawing devices.

 

 

Rotational Thrombelastometry (ROTEM) of Therapeutic Cells
Katharina Schallmoser and Michaela Öller, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria

 

Human stromal cells derived from bone marrow, umbilical cord and white adipose tissue as well as endothelial progenitor cells will be tested for their pro-coagulant activity in an in vitro coagulation assay (rotational thrombelastometry, ROTEM) to determine hemocompatibility. Frozen samples will be thawed, counted and exact cell numbers will be analyzed in plasma or citrated whole blood. Coagulation parameters will be analyzed and compared. Previous flow cytometry analyses of tissue factor expression will be presented and discussed with respect to the results of ROTEM.

 

 

EV Preparation and Evaluation
Bernd Giebel and Verena Börger, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Germany

 

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) may be new tools in stem cell therapy as they seem to be responsible for therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) in many cases. During the practical part, we will isolate EVs from supernatants of a cell line expressing  the CD63-eGFP fusion protein. Isolation will be done by PEG-precipitation and ultracentrifugation and distribution of the fusion protein will be evaluated in cells and EV preparations. Furthermore size distribution of EVs will be analysed by Nano tracking analysis (NTA).

 

 

Site Visit of a Transplant Center
Michael B. Fischer, Danube University Krems, Austria

 

a.) Clinic of Transfusion Medicine and Blood Group Serology,

b.) Stem Cell Transplant Unit – (‚KMT Station‘)

 

Medical University of Vienna – AKH Station 21 I/J

 

 

Telomerized Cells for the Estabishment of Relevant Potency Assays
Regina Grillari, Evercyte GmbH, Vienna, Austria

 

Human telomerized cells will be used to set up an in vitro bioassay for testing the angiogenic properties of novel substances or cell culture supernatants.

Therefore, the cells will be induced to differentiate on Matrigel matrix and form neoangiogenic webs. Additionally, we will establish 3D spheroid cultures, embed these spheroids into a collagen matrix followed by treatment with drugs or cell culture supernatants.

The extent of neoangiogenic web as well as sprout formation will be evaluated by microscopy.

 

 

Updated time schedule 

 

School credits: 2 ECTS

Please note: If you intend to receive an official report for this course, you have to co-registrate at the BOKU until 30 April 2018.

 

Fee: 250 €

The fee includes tuition, and social events during the course. Accommodation and meals must be organized individually.

 

Course prerequisites:

Qualified master students as well as MScs, PhD/doctoral students and human or veterinarian medical doctors are invited to apply. We accept the application of postdocs.

 

Application:

Please complete the Application Form and send it to office@pact.ac.at.

 

Application deadline: 18 May 2018

Applications will undergo a selection procedure and applicants will be notified on or before the 28 May 2018 about their resulting admission to the Summer School.

 

The fee has to be transferred until 11 June 2018. Your registration will be confirmed as soon as we receive the payment.

 

Organizers: Dirk Strunk, Michael B. Fischer

 

Course language: English

 

Venue:

University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU)

Muthgasse 11, 1190 Vienna, Austria

 

Supported by:

Hochschulraumstrukturmittel Project: „Development of Further Synergies Between Medical Biotechnology, Molecular Cell Biology and Cellular Therapies“ with financial contribution from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences,Vienna, the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna and the Institute of Science and Technology, Austria.

 

 

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us at office@pact.ac.at.