Education & Training
5-14 November 2012
Tradition and novelty. The Advanced Study School organized by the Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology “Nicolae Simionescu” (ICBP) has already tradition. From the first edition entitled ”From the cellular and molecular biology to the molecular medicine of the XXI Century”, organized in 2000, the attendances were exposed to the most recent discoveries in cellular and molecular biology, and, more important, they benefited of many hours of practical demonstrations and hands-on in the laboratories of the institute. The multidisciplinary school was founded as a bridge between the biomedical research and translational medicine the motto being “Cell and molecular biology for the benefit of human health; translation of data from bench to bed side”. Till the actual edition, the Advanced Study School organized in ICBP were financially supported from European Grants coordinated by Acad. Maya Simionescu, such as: “Center of Excellence” 2000-2004 si SERA 2005-2008.
Taking the advantage of the experience of the previous events, the 10 days Simionescu Advanced Study School organized this year has the following objectives: (i) exposing the attendances to the most recent results in the domain; (ii) practical courses focused on some modern techniques); (iii) active participation to an intensive training session, in the frame of an event organized during two days in Bran.
Simionescu Advanced Study School 2012 was a multidisciplinary event, at the interface between the cellular and molecular biology and the clinical and therapeutic aspects, especially in the cardiovascular field, but not only.
The thematic of the courses was focused on subjects of a great scientific actuality from biomedical research, covering a large spectrum of aspects, from modern technics in transgenesis, in vitro models to replace animal models, cellular and molecular biology, genetics, gene regulation and epigenetics, to modern therapeutic perspectives: nanotherapies, cellular therapies, and regenerative medicine. Posters with the recent results in cardiovascular biopathology obtained by the ICBP researchers, allowed actively interactions.
The invited speakers were senior researchers, PIs, senior field specialists, or professors from 7 different countries: Germany, Hungary, The Netherlands, Israel, Norway, and Denmark and Romania.
The lectures held during the Simionescu Advanced Study School were the following:
Acad. Maya Simionescu (ICBP, Romania) opened the Advanced Study School with the Welcome and Opening lecture: “The cell: the site of life and death”.
Acad. Octavian Popescu Professor at Babeş-Bolyai University, Interdisciplinary Research Institute on Bio-Nano-Sciences, Molecular Biology Center and senior researcher and Director of the Institute of Biology Bucharest, the Romanian Academy, held the lecture entitled “Glycan diversity and biodiversity”.
Jens-Ole Bock Senior Field Application Specialist, Targeted Genome Editing (ZFN) and Transgenic Service Sales, Research Biotech, Denmark: held the lecture “Gene Editing in Cell lines and Animals Using the Zinc Finger Nuclease Technology”
Dr. Alexandrina Burlacu (ICBP, Romania) had a lecture entitled: “In vitro experimental models for the regenerative medicine”
Dr. Stephanie Tobollik, application specialist, Roche Customer Support Centre Mannheim Germany. The title of her presentation was “Millions of qPCR gene expression assays with only 165 pre-validated Roche UPL probes”.
Anca Gafencu (ICBP, Romania) presented the lecture: ”Molecular biology techniques used for gene expression analysis”
Dr. Anca Sima (ICBP, Romania) held a presentation entitled “Atherosclerosis and its complications”
Dr. Felicia Antohe (ICBP, Romania) presented: “Proteomic analysis of membrane microdomains in cardiovascular diseases”
Dr. Guido Krenning Principle Investigator, Laboratory for Cardiovascular, Regenerative Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands presented the lecture entitled “The molecular pathways modulated by microRNA during diseases”.
Professor Dr. Guro Valen, MD, PhD, Department of Physiology, Institute of Basic Medical Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. “Using stem cells and other therapies as peripheral treatment to protect the heart”
Prof. Dr. Steven A. Johnsen, from Hamburg Eppendorf University, Germany presented “Histone H2B Monoubiquitination in Cancer and Stem Cells: A Universal Regulator of Differentiation?”
Dr. Nadir Askenasy, MD, PhD, Professor, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University; also affiliated at Frankel Laboratory, Center for Stem Cell Research, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel. Dr. Askenasy's presentation entitled “Cell transplant for organ regeneration” was related mainly to the general characteristics of stem cells and their use in cell transplant therapy.
Dr. Eugen Radu PhD, specialist MD, Scientific Researcher at Molecular Biology and Pathology Lab - Molimagex, University Emergency Hospital Bucharest. The title of the presentation: “Advanced fluorescence techniques for cell labelling”
Dr. Doina Popov (ICBP, Romania): presented “Role of WAT adipocytes in hypertension”
Dr. Manuela Calin, (ICBP, Romania): lectured “Drug delivery using targeted liposomes”
Dr. Lazlo Nagy senior investigator and professor at the Univ. of Debrecen, Medical School, Debrecen, Hungary, presented the lecture entitled “The global view on RXR regulated transcriptional events in mouse bone marrow derived macrophages”.
Dr. Mariana Pinteala – senior researcher in the "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iasi, Romania presented a lecture entitled: Non-viral genetic vectors. The topic of Dr. Pinteala's presentation was focused on design and derivation of functional entities characterized by: (i) Dimensions and conformations of DNA segments capable of association with the non-idle conditions; (ii) Solubility in aqueous medium, both individually and in association with DNA sections; (iii) Compositional and conformational stability in tissue and intracellular environment; (iv) The ability to penetrate cell membranes without association with DNA; (v) Resistance to enzymatic attacks in intracellular environment.
Dr Eugen Radu, PhD, specialist MD, Scientific Researcher at Molecular Biology and Pathology Lab - Molimagex, University Emergency Hospital Bucharest. The title of his presentation was: “Advanced fluorescence techniques for cell labelling”. During the presentation, Dr. Radu pointed out several important theoretical considerations related to the fluorochromes, fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence activated cell sorting assay (FACS).
Practical courses covered series of modern techniques:
- Laser Capture Microdissection- Instructor Dr. Gabriela Costache (ICBP, Romania)
- Stem cell culture techniques – principles, thawing, splitting, freezing-Instructor Dr. Alexandrina Burlacu (ICBP, Romania)
- Real-time PCR using UPL probes- Instructor Dr. Stephanie Tobollik, (Roche, Germany)
- Three practical courses in molecular cloning: Overlapping PCR, Ligation and bacterial transformation and testing the positive clones- Instructor Dr. Anca Gafencu (ICBP, Romania)
- Proteomic techniques Instructors Dr. Felicia. Antohe (ICBP, Romania) and Dr. Dragos Efstatiade (Pro Analysis Systems SRL, Romania)
- Miography- Instructor Dr. Adriana Georgescu (ICBP, Romania)
- Confocal microscopy assay - Instructor: Dr. Alexandrina Burlacu (ICBP, Romania)
- Gas Chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) - Instructor Ing. Mariana Deleanu (ICBP, Romania)
- Flow-cytometry - Instructor Dr. Horia Maniu (ICBP, Romania), and Dr. Eugen Radu (University Emergency Hospital Bucharest, Romania)
- Drug delivery using targeted liposomes - Instructor Dr. Manuela Calin (ICBP, Romania)
- Electron microscopy - Instructor Dr. Gabriela Costache (ICBP, Romania)
It is worth to be mentioned that ICBP has the necessary infrastructure for these practical courses, the participants using the equipment existing in the institute (electron microscope, thermocyclers, etc.) or acquired through a structural funds project (CARDIOPRO, project 143/2008): FPLC, mass spectrometer, flow cytometer, Real Time PCR, LASER microdissection microscop, ecograph for small animals, etc.
On Saturday and Sunday (November 10-11), the participants had the opportunity to discuss some of the invited speakers: Guro Valen, Nadir Askenasy, Guido Krenning and Steven Johansen, in the frame of the round tables entitled “From Nature to Science” that were organized at Bran. The informal format of the round tables allowed the students to actively interact with the invited speakers. The students formed groups of 6-8 persons and actively discussed about their projects with the instructor (invited speaker), as it is illustrated in the above pictures. The travel and accommodation for all the participants was sponsored by a Romanian company.
At the end of the event, the participants filled in the Evaluation Form, in which the participants expressed the impressions and the degree of satisfaction. The general evaluation of the participants was very good, and they were satisfied by the theoretical lectures as well as the practical courses. The final moment of the course was the award of the diplomas for the attendance and active participation. The course was credited with 40 points from the Biochemist and chemist Order in Sanitary System.
In conclusion, the participants benefited of the three aspects of the Simionescu’s Advanced Study School: lectures on the multidisciplinary approaches presented during this event, practical courses and interactive round tables of the session “From Science to Nature”. This event will contribute to the development of the scientific or medical carrier of the participants.
