During 13.09-17.09.2021, I took part on Data Steward School, a course created by Visnea company and carried out in close cooperation with the ICM UW (Interdysciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw) organization and GO-FAIR Initiative. GO-FAIR sets the standards for scientific data management and implements them all over the world. Visnea sp.z o.o. is the official partner of GO-FAIR Initiative in Poland. The Data Steward School training program covered among others: data stewardship, trends in data management in research, open access and creative commons or data protection topics. We have learned a lot about open data policy in research. We had a possibility to visit ICM UW and it’s impressive server room.
Second part of the course took place during 18.10-20.10.2021. That time we talked about security of research data, personal data protection, anonimisation and pseudonimisation of data, ethical issues in research, data repositories and we could consult data management plans that we prepared for this course’s purpose. We discussed also topics like: data quality, reliability of scientific data, data journals and possibilities of data citations but also data sharing and long term storage of data.
The last part of the course took place during 17.11-19.11.2021. The schedule of this part included intellectual property and data protection in case of cooperation between research units and industrial entities, copyrights, data protection issues in international research cooperation, FAIR Data rules and tools for FAIRification.
The whole course was very demanding and gave a lot of useful and important information and skills concerning open research and open data issues. The whole training allowed for gaining of new professional qualifications and unique competences in the field of scientific data management. It was also a great chance to meet colleagues from many different disciplines, which gave an opportunity to exchange our points of view and experiences in terms of open research data.
Later on, during the 5th Pomeranian Open Science Conference in December, a short meeting was held for all graduates of the Data Steward School training program. It was an opportunity to meet again with some of colleagues and take part in discussions among members of the Polish Working Group Data Stewardship Competence Centers PL (DSCC-PL).
Staff of the ICCVS Research Support Team – dr Wioleta Domańska-Babul, Magdalena Dziki, Joanna Grzegórska, Anna Krajewska, and myself – spent four training days at the University of Malta (UM) during 1-4 Nov 2021. We met colleagues from various UM units to exchange information and gain knowledge on processes and solutions related to our daily work.
We visited laboratories and met research staff at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Dpt. Applied Biomedical Science. At the Research Support Service Directorate we discussed the support for proposal preparation for European programmes. We were also introduced to how the process of introducing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as well as the research equipment inventory was organized and how the laboratory support unit works to support the faculties. At the UM Project Support Office the colleagues explained the way financial pre-award and post-award financial management of projects and presented the features of the electronic system for project administration. At the Knowledge Transfer Office we learnt about current applied projects in vaccine science. We also met the SEA EU project representatives and discussed the opportunities of next actions within the projects SEA-EU and reSEArch EU, but also other new upcoming activities such as the initiation of a joint PhD student network. We also presented UG’s current activities in the area of promotion of equality and diversity as well as exchanged views about the process of introducing Gender Equality Plans at both universities. Last but not least, we also explored the amazing attractions that Malta offers, such as sights in Mdina and Valetta, and visited the beautiful island Gozo – time used as enjoyable and effective team building activity for our team.
This year, for the first time ICCVS staff and PhD students participated in a dedicated Intercultural & Diversity Management Workshop. The workshop was led by prof. Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka and dr Magdalena Żadkowska from the University of Gdańsk, who have a broad coaching experience in this field.
The activity is part of the Human Resources Strategy for Researcher (HRS4R) of the University of Gdańsk that has received the Award HR Excellence in Research in 2016. ICCVS contributed to the recent periodic update of the Action Plan and prepared in 2021 its input after a need analysis at ICCVS (focus group meeting).
The workshop took place in the beautiful Sobieszewo Island situated on the Baltic Sea, between the Gdańsk Bay and the delta of the Vistula river.
The first part of the workshop was dedicated to learn more about working in an intercultural environment and benefitting from diverse teams. The following questions and issues were tackled:
Why do we need intercultural competences? – benefits of multiculturalism for individuals and organizations
Stages of development of cultural sensitivity – how to develop sensitivity to differences?
Intercultural differences – Poland vs. countries of origin
The second part of the workshop was focused on jointly proposing a series of activities strengthening our intercultural community, inclusiveness, diversity and internationalization to be conducted at ICCVS during the upcoming academic year.
In early July of 2019, multiple members of the ICCVS assisted to the Mass Spectrometry Summer School (MSBM) in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This event focused on learning all about the different mass spectrometry techniques and the evaluation of the knowledge in this field by different tests and exams.
The conference opened with a friendly talk by David Goodlett and followed with other interesting activities to learn our own personality and meet the people that assisted the event. Beside the different lectures and didactic activities, all the members of the ICCVS presented their work on a poster session, were they also learn more about the current uses of mass spectrometry in different fields of research.
During the conference Javier Alfaro was invited to do a lecture and two workshops, where he showed the computational strategies to follow in mass spectrometry analysis.
But not everything in the MSBM was about learning. Multiple companies that funded the event assisted to the summer school to show their last technologies in mass spectrometry and kindly networked with both students and professors. In the same way, the summer school offered free time to enjoy the magnificent weather of Dubrovnik in summer and organized a boat trip to one of the closest islands to the city and a beautiful banquet dinner as closing event.
The Mass Spectrometry Summer School offers a perfect event to learn about mass spectrometry techniques and how they work and also the perfect place to network with people that are on the edge of this field. It also create a balanced environment to both learn and enjoy at the same time.
The 1st Nanobody Symposium was held in Bonn, Germany and had more than 200 scientist and exhibitors in attendance. The 2-day symposium began with a welcome session by the organisers; current rising star in nanobodies Dr Florian Schmidt and the manager of the Core Facility of Nanobodies at the University of Bonn, Paul-Albert König. The first talk was presented by Prof. Serge Muyldermans, one of the founding scientist responsible for the development of camelid antibodies and a pioneer in the field of their derivatives, nanobodies. His talk took us through how his lab first discovered, validated and used Camelid antibodies and nanobodies. Prof. Muyldermans also discussed a number of collaborations over a variety of fields that demonstrated the rapidly expanding range of uses for nanobodies . His anecdotes were informative, engaging and highlighted the growing pains of this emerging class of proteins. After the opening talk, the sessions were divided into 5 sections focussed on different aspects of nanobody biology; 1st focused on the diagnostic and therapeutic uses of nanobodies in the clinic, 2nd on the technology of generating and developing nanobodies with target specific applications, 3rd on the use of nanobodies in structural biology, 4th on nanobodies in imaging and finally the last session on using nanobodies as tools in cell biology research.
As well as industry experts in nanobodies such as Prof Hidde Ploegh -one of the plenary speakers at the conference- and Prof Ulrich Rothbauer. There were several young scientists who really made an impression including final year PhD students Helen Farrants and Ruiyao Cai who showed really interesting and original results in the field of cell biology and whole-body imaging respectively. They showed how nanobodies can be controlled using small molecules intracellularly and that they can be used in whole body imaging of the vascular and neuronal network of rats. A number of talks provided a more technical look at both nanobody generation and structural biology applications, Markus Seeger and Jan Steyaert were the high points in this section. These talks provided me with a lot of technical points to consider in my own project and should contribute to helping me navigate the challenges associated with the laboratory based part of my project. Following all the talks a question and answer session was held. As well as taking part in asking questions I found the types of questions asked and the answers clarified and underlined the quality of the work of the presenters as well as showing potential faults/issues. The talks also had socio-political aspects with debates about free access to materials, methods, the generation of databases and intellectual property proved popular topics throughout the symposium and were carried forward into the workshops and breaks.
The Symposium included workshops on both days. I attended the Nanobodies as Tools and the nanobody libraries workshop. The set up for both was a Q&A/ discussion chaired by industry experts. The attendance included experienced post docs and like me, students new to the field. From the workshops, practical lab and data based tips for generating, handling and developing nanobodies were exchanged and have really changed the methods I have used for some of the experimental work.
At the Symposium, I was one of over 60 people to present a poster. With viewing session held throughout the symposium, I was able to both engage with other attendees and discuss their work and also present my research to the wider audience. The interest at my poster was very encouraging and provided a positive experience at an international conference on both an academic and social side.
Overall, the symposium was a great source of new scientific information from both a practical and knowledge perspectives and has helped shape my research plan and the methodologies I will use. Attending this International symposium certainly provided me with the opportunity to build a new scientific research network for my future career. I am grateful to t he James Rennie Bequest, ICCVS and FNP for providing me with funds to attend this symposium.
International Synthetic and Systems Biology Summer School (SSBSS) was held in Scuola Normale Superiore – Pisa, Tuscany, Italy (22-26 June). The summer school included 40 hours of lectures from the pioneers in the field including Jason Chin (MRC, Cambridge), Adam Arkin (UC Berkeley, USA), Ron Weiss (MIT, USA), Karen Polizzi (Imperial College London) and Virginia Cornish (Columbia University, USA). Each speaker first introduced the basic concepts related to their expertise; and then described the developments in the field. It was a great opportunity to learn about the recent advances in synthetic biology.
Although I was the only one from ICCVS participating to the summer school this year, I believe that more members from our team will attend in the following years. The summer school was quite interdisciplinary, and it was related to many subjects such as cancer, immunology and mathematical modelling. Besides the lectures, poster sessions created the ideal environment to have scientific discussions with peers (mostly masters, PhDs or postdocs) and lecturers.
In addition to the scientific fulfillment, I also had a lot of fun at the summer school. We managed to visit Florence and Cinque Terre with my friends – whom I met there – in our spare time. We had tons of good food, coffee and memories. I would definitely suggest going to this summer school. Only thing is, mosquitos in Italy have no mercy, so make sure you bring tons of mosquito repellent!
The annual Impact conference, based in Cracow, Poland, is a place you go to keep your finger on the pulse of the business-science-technology synapse. Having had the pleasure to participate in Impact’19, I could observe both the world-wide and local trends in the ecosystem of bioscience and healthcare.
A surprising thing to hear was senior managers of pharmaceutical and insurance companies talk about positive lifestyle changes, holistic approach to health and the roots of disease stemming from lifestyle, overuse of sugar, and… drugs. The ecosystem seems to be moving on from “detect-fix sickcare” to “predict-prevent healthcare” and the next big thing will be technology designed to put the patient in the centre, getting him/her more engaged and aware of the health consequences of their choices.
Both investors and company representatives praised polish scientists, engineers, analytical and data science capabilities, as well as some national funding available. The local challenges they mentioned were beaurocracy around science, a lack of senior personnel experienced in bio-business and the need for more technology transfer offices, proactively seeking promising ideas in academia and supporting the commercialization process. It was highlighted, that to attract new venture capital and to keep the funding and big pharma presence that we enjoy currently, national policies must promptly change, especially those slowing down research or the adoption, refundation and effecive use of nover therapies, such as in the case of Multiple Sclerosis antibody-based treatment.
The Next Health Investment Pitch was a great opportunity to observe a number of promising biomedical startups. The winner, AISENS company, who manufacture innovative movement tracker devices for the purpose of physiotherapy and sport excellence, demonstrated how strategic partnerships, validated and market-tested products, bring success, while no scientifically brilliant project can afford a lack of IP protection, unique selling point or clear business model. This sentiment was repeated on both open and closed meetings by senior pharma and national agencies managers who insisted that in applied science, projects exhibiting a realistic path to market and commercial viability in the polish environment should be prioritised – especially if we’re aiming at building polish biotech industry.
I was happy to notice the word “biotech” being repeated throughout all the event, by representatives of companies, funding bodies and government alike. Especially promising is the focus on building academia-industry consortia and willingness to fund such projects. After two decades of waiting for a polish biotech boom, it may just start.
Being a PhD student at ICCVS gives several benefits like conducting research at international institutions or participating scientific conferences. My name is Katarzyna Dziubek and I am a lucky ICCVS member who travelled to Atlanta (Georgia, USA) in order to attend AACR meeting that took place between the 29th of March and 3rd of April 2019. Participating lectures of the highest scientific level was one of many other advantages that AACR offers. In addition to this, I was an active participant presenting a poster summarizing “Investigation of tumour intrinsic PD-1/PD-L1 in canine urothelial carcinomas as a spontaneous translational model for human invasive bladder cancer”.
Thousands of researchers, clinicians and oncology professionals join AACR meeting every year to share cutting-edge discoveries, present the highest level of scientific work and professionalism. I spent the first two days attending educational sessions which highlighted crucial topics in fundamental research, cancer immunology and clinical oncology.
The major symposium started during an official opening ceremony, poster sessions were opened and Biomedical Research Fair brought representatives of numerous biotechnological companies presenting their newest technologies. When the conference finished, I was able to spare some time on discovering Atlanta and its most famous touristic attractions including visiting Atlanta’s Aquarium, World of CocaCola and Zoo Atlanta.
AACR 2019 meeting in numbers:
More than 21000 participants
Over 950 scientific presentations
5600 abstracts presented during poster sessions and minisymposia
National Institutes of Health (NIH) is one of the world’s foremost medical research centers. An agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the nation’s medical research agency making important discoveries that improve health and save lives (https://www.nih.gov/). Dr Udayan Guha is the investigator at Thoracic, GI Malignancies Branch & head of Cancer Signaling Networks Section which is located in Building 10 at National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA (https://ccr.cancer.gov/thoracic-and-gi-malignancies-branch/udayan-guha). Dr Guha’s group has state-of-the-art tumorigenesis, a quantitative mass spectrometry facility aimed at clarify the perturbed-signaling pathways that cause tumorigenesis and developing immunopeptidomics to identify direct therapeutic implications, strategies for the treatment of human cancer. I am developing a collaboration between the University of Gdańsk and NCI/NIH aimed at developing new methods for immunopeptidomics which is part of the research project concerning the neoantigen discovery pipeline.
From the 2nd until the 6th of June five members of the ICCVS (Dave, Sachin, Satya, Marcos) represented our research center at the 67th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The meeting focused on various topics within mass spectrometry and is the largest conference in the field with more than 6,500 attendees from around the globe.
The conference opened with an interesting talk by Mark Jacobson on the global transition to renewable energy. The next day we gave poster presentations (see attached photos). Marcos showed the results of his research on the proteogenomic landscape of undifferentiated pleiomorphic sarcomas.
During the conference, we attended various talks and workshops and learned about other incredible research projects while visiting posters in the exhibit hall. The conference ended with a dinner in the Georgia Aquarium where we saw sharks and dolphins and got the chance to pet starfishes!
Overall, we enjoyed our time in Atlanta and it was a great learning experience!
Mikołaj Kocikowski
