SaxoCell Newsletter Issue No. 5
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December 2022
 

"SaxoPhone" - SaxoCell Newsletter

One year has passed since our first newsletter was circulated. Thank you for reading!

In this edition, we are looking back at our Scientific Advisory Board meeting in Leipzig in October and we are sharing insights into some of our autumn events.

With 2022 approaching the end, we wish you all a joyous Holiday season and a happy and peaceful New Year.
Christmas greetings & review of 2022

News from our projects

News from our website

Save the date - SaxoCell events

News from industry

News from science

past Events

Upcoming events

[© SaxoCell; Happy Holidays]
 

Christmas greetings and review of the year 2022

[© SaxoCell, Ulrike Köhl and Ezio Bonifacio]
SaxoCell’s very successful and inspiring first year is now behind us and we are excited about the many different tasks and challenges we have accomplished together within the cluster.

Our 12 projects are well into the first implementation phase and are producing a lot of interesting data, some of which is clearly visible in high-ranking publications – congratulations (and thank you)! The platforms have started working with the projects to support them in the best possible way. Two opportunities to look at the workings of our projects and platforms were in June at our consortium meeting this year in Dresden, and at our first Scientific Advisory Board Meeting in October at Fraunhofer IZI. Moreover, there has been exchange with other Clusters4Future this year, especially at the BMBF meeting in Berlin.

The year 2022 was accompanied by workshops, lectures and seminars, which were realized with the help of the Hub team. In addition to two workshop series on more general topics such as transfer and GMP, there were also specialized sessions, such as the Thymus Symposium. We also heard descriptive, popular science lectures on medical topics related to cell and gene therapy from cluster-internal speakers. Furthermore, the Hub's transfer team visited a number of partnering conferences, in particular this year's BIO-Europe in Leipzig, to spread SaxoCell's mission and attract industry partners. We also had some public relations fun with events such as the Long Night of Science and the action day "Türen auf mit der Maus", which brought the future of personalized medicine closer to a broad audience of young and old and explained its importance vividly.

We are pleased with the large number of individual projects that have been realized, which as a whole embody a lively and progressive cluster. Many thanks to all the PIs, each and every postdoc, student, technical assistant, clinician, study nurse, secretary and beyond who worked with us to make this first year so exciting and successful. This is what makes such an innovative large-scale project like SaxoCell possible in the first place. Now, one ‘Bitte’ for your New Year’s resolution list...😉, please remember that 2023 will be a challenge in order to prepare the proposal for the next funding period. The BMBF requires more industry partners – please keep this in mind and start early on with more cross-link in that direction.

With that, we would like to wish you a Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a very happy and healthy new year 2023!

Best wishes,
Ulrike Köhl & Ezio Bonifacio

[© SaxoCell, Our achievements in 2022]
 

News from our projects

[© SaxoCell; xMac]

xMac

The project - coordinated by Michael H. Sieweke at TU Dresden - focusses on macrophages and their expansion.
 
» Continue reading

[© SaxoCell; NK4Therapy]

NK4Therapy

Achim Temme from Universitätsklinikum Dresden brings together partners from Dresden academia and Leipzig industry in a project to exploit the potential of terminally differentiated NK cells.
 
» Continue reading
 

News from our Website

You can find some more new content in our members area:
  • 1st progress report (Clusterfortschrittsbericht)
  • Presentation slides and photos from our SAB Meeting in October
  • Training material from our "How to cooperate" Transfer Workshop session
  • Company presentations from this year's BIO Europe
 
» You can visit our members area by following the link.
 
Ho Ho Ho! Check out our SaxoCell Advent Calendar here!
 

Please participate in our survey!

We would like to hear from you which kind and variety of events you would like to see more of in the new year. Please follow the link and tell us your preferences by January 15th.
 
» Link to survey
 

Save the date - SaxoCell trainings and events

January 2023
(details will be announced)
Exchange
SaxoCell Stammtisch
Our casual get-together
Ort Dresden & Leipzig
(MORE INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW)

February 1st-3rd, 2023
Workshop
A Practical Introduction to NGS Data Analysis
Offered to SaxoCell members at a reduced price of 350 € plus 19% VAT
Ort Online
» for registration please contact

March 16th-17th 2023
Workshop
SaxoCell CLINICS Workshop
Training on regulatory processes related to clinical trials - Hybrid event
Ort University Hospital Leipzig
» for more details and registration please contact

Planned for early 2023 (details will be announced)
Exchange
Contact Board
BIO-Europe 2022 contact board for match-making
Ort Online
(MORE INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW)
 

Funding Opportunity!

The company CSL Behring has initiated a Research Acceleration Initiative (RAI), where you can get a two-year grant for your research project with a total amount of 340,000 euros. Researchers who wish to apply are required to submit a nonconfidential, 300 word online abstract by 23rd February 2023. 

Interested researchers are invited to reach out to the SaxoCell Hub people at their institutions! 
 
More info on RAI
 

News from industry

We have compiled an overview on latest news from industry
in the field of gene and cell therapy.
» News from industry
[© SaxoCell; Industry News]
 

News from science - latest SaxoCell publications

Nanosensors in clinical development of CAR-T cell immunotherapy.
Nguyen-Le TA, Bartsch T, Wodtke R, Brandt F, Arndt C, Feldmann A, Sandoval Bojorquez DI, Roig AP, Ibarlucea B, Lee S, Baek CK, Cuniberti G, Bergmann R, Puentes-Cala E, Soto JA, Kurien BT, Bachmann M, Baraban L.
Efficient correction of oncogenic KRAS and TP53 mutations through CRISPR base editing.
Sayed S, Sidorova OA, Hennig A, Augsburg M, Cortes Vesga CP, Abohawya M, Schmitt LT, S R N D, Stange DE, Mircetic J, Buchholz F.Cancer Res. 2022 Jul 8:can.21.2519. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-21-2519. Online ahead of print.
Immune dysfunction signatures predict outcomes and define checkpoint blockade-unresponsive microenvironments in acute myeloid leukemia.
Rutella S, Vadakekolathu J, Mazziotta F, Reeder S, Yau TO, Mukhopadhyay R, Dickins B, Altmann H, Kramer M, Knaus HA, Blazar BR, Radojcic V, Zeidner JF, Arruda A, Wang B, Abbas HA, Minden MD, Tasian SK, Bornhäuser M, Gojo I, Luznik L. J Clin Invest. 2022 Nov 1;132(21):e159579. doi: 10.1172/JCI159579.
Impact of IDH1 and IDH2 mutational subgroups in AML patients after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
Kunadt D, Stasik S, Metzeler KH, Röllig C, Schliemann C, Greif PA, Spiekermann K, Rothenberg-Thurley M, Krug U, Braess J, Krämer A, Hochhaus A, Scholl S, Hilgendorf I, Brümmendorf TH, Jost E, Steffen B, Bug G, Einsele H, Görlich D, Sauerland C, Schäfer-Eckart K, Krause SW, Hänel M, Hanoun M, Kaufmann M, Wörmann B, Kramer M, Sockel K, Egger-Heidrich K, Herold T, Ehninger G, Burchert A, Platzbecker U, Berdel WE, Müller-Tidow C, Hiddemann W, Serve H, Stelljes M, Baldus CD, Neubauer A, Schetelig J, Thiede C, Bornhäuser M, Middeke JM, Stölzel F; A. M. L. Cooperative Group (AMLCG), Study Alliance Leukemia (SAL). J Hematol Oncol. 2022 Sep 5;15(1):126. doi: 10.1186/s13045-022-01339-8.
CAR T cells targeting Aspergillus fumigatus are effective at treating invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in preclinical models.
Seif M, Kakoschke TK, Ebel F, Bellet MM, Trinks N, Renga G, Pariano M, Romani L, Tappe B, Espie D, Donnadieu E, Hünniger K, Häder A, Sauer M, Damotte D, Alifano M, White PL, Backx M, Nerreter T, Machwirth M, Kurzai O, Prommersberger S, Einsele H, Hudecek M, Löffler J. Sci Transl Med. 2022 Sep 28;14(664):eabh1209. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abh1209. Epub 2022 Sep 28.
Automated, scaled, transposon-based production of CAR T cells.
Lock D, Monjezi R, Brandes C, Bates S, Lennartz S, Teppert K, Gehrke L, Karasakalidou-Seidt R, Lukic T, Schmeer M, Schleef M, Werchau N, Eyrich M, Assenmacher M, Kaiser A, Prommersberger S, Schaser T, Hudecek M. J Immunother Cancer. 2022 Sep;10(9):e005189. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2022-005189.
ATRA works synergistically with the γ-secretase inhibitor crenigacestat to augment BCMA on multiple myeloma and the efficacy of BCMA-CAR T-cells.
García-Guerrero E, Rodríguez-Lobato LG, Sierro-Martínez B, Danhof S, Bates S, Frenz S, Haertle L, Götz R, Sauer M, Rasche L, Kortüm KM, Pérez-Simón JA, Einsele H, Hudecek M, Prommersberger SR. Haematologica. 2022 Sep 1. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2021.281339. Online ahead of print.
Potential solutions for manufacture of CAR T cells in cancer immunotherapy.
Blache U, Popp G, Dünkel A, Koehl U, Fricke S. Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 5;13(1):5225. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-32866-0.
Differences in classification schemata for myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative overlap neoplasms.
Patnaik MM, Zeidan AM, Padron E, Platzbecker U, Sallman DA, DeZern AE, Bejar R, Sekeres M, Taylor J, Little RF, Bewersdorf JP, Kim TK, Kim N, Hourigan CS, Dela Porta MG, Stahl M, Steensma D, Xu ML, Odenike O, Carraway H, Fenaux P, Nazha A, Komrokji R, Loghavi S, Xie Z, Hasserjian R, Savona M, Bennett JM. Leukemia. 2022 Nov 5. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01754-3. Online ahead of print.
Finding consistency in classifications of myeloid neoplasms: a perspective on behalf of the International Workshop for Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
Zeidan AM, Bewersdorf JP, Buckstein R, Sekeres MA, Steensma DP, Platzbecker U, Loghavi S, Boultwood J, Bejar R, Bennett JM, Borate U, Brunner AM, Carraway H, Churpek JE, Daver NG, Della Porta M, DeZern AE, Efficace F, Fenaux P, Figueroa ME, Greenberg P, Griffiths EA, Halene S, Hasserjian RP, Hourigan CS, Kim N, Kim TK, Komrokji RS, Kutchroo V, List AF, Little RF, Majeti R, Nazha A, Nimer SD, Odenike O, Padron E, Patnaik MM, Roboz GJ, Sallman DA, Sanz G, Stahl M, Starczynowski DT, Taylor J, Xie Z, Xu M, Savona MR, Wei AH, Abdel-Wahab O, Santini V. Leukemia. 2022 Oct 20. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01724-9. Online ahead of print.
Neoantigen reactive T cells correlate with the low mutational burden in hematological malignancies.
Saini SK, Holmberg-Thydén S, Bjerregaard AM, Unnikrishnan A, Dorfmüller S, Platzbecker U, Tirado-Gonzalez I, Bönig H, El Fassi D, Grønbæk K, Pimanda J, Medyouf H, Hadrup SR. Leukemia. 2022 Nov;36(11):2734-2738. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01705-y. Epub 2022 Oct 8.
Luspatercept mitigates bone loss driven by myelodysplastic neoplasms and estrogen-deficiency in mice.
Weidner H, Wobus M, Hofbauer LC, Rauner M, Platzbecker U. Leukemia. 2022 Nov;36(11):2715-2718. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01702-1. Epub 2022 Sep 29.
Compartment-specific mutational landscape of clonal hematopoiesis.
Hartmann L, Hecker JS, Rothenberg-Thurley M, Rivière J, Jentzsch M, Ksienzyk B, Buck MC, van der Garde M, Fischer L, Winter S, Rauner M, Tsourdi E, Weidner H, Sockel K, Schneider M, Kubasch AS, Nolde M, Hausmann D, Lützner J, Goralski S, Bassermann F, Spiekermann K, Hofbauer LC, Schwind S, Platzbecker U, Götze KS, Metzeler KH. Leukemia. 2022 Nov;36(11):2647-2655. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01700-3. Epub 2022 Sep 21.
Prospective validation of a biomarker-driven response prediction model to romiplostim in lower-risk myelodysplastic neoplasms - results of the EUROPE trial by EMSCO.
Kubasch AS, Giagounidis A, Metzgeroth G, Jonasova A, Herbst R, Diaz JMT, De Renzis B, Götze KS, Huetter-Kroenke ML, Gourin MP, Slama B, Dimicoli-Salazar S, Cony-Makhoul P, Laribi K, Park S, Jersemann K, Schipp D, Metzeler KH, Tiebel O, Sockel K, Gloaguen S, Mies A, Chermat F, Thiede C, Sapena R, Schlenk RF, Fenaux P, Platzbecker U, Adès L. Leukemia. 2022 Oct;36(10):2519-2527. doi: 10.1038/s41375-022-01669-z. Epub 2022 Sep 7.
Luspatercept in patients with non-transfusion dependent β-thalassaemia.
Platzbecker U, Morison JK. Lancet Haematol. 2022 Oct;9(10):e709-e711. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(22)00256-3. Epub 2022 Aug 22.
Please keep us informed on publications from your labs!
» Contact us!

Another relevant publication:
IL-2 delivery by engineered mesenchymal stem cells re-invigorates CD8+ T cells to overcome immunotherapy resistance in cancer.
Bae J, Liu L, Moore C, Hsu E, Zhang A, Ren Z, Sun Z, Wang X, Zhu J, Shen J, Qiao J, Fu Y-X. Nature Cell Biology volume 24, pages 1754–1765 (2022).

News from science - Base editing: Revolutionary therapy clears girl's incurable cancer.
Doctors at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital succeeded in using base editing to engineer a new type of T-cell capable of hunting down cancerous T-cells. The teenage patient has now been cleared of cancer after all other treatments had failed. (Dec 11th, 2022)

 
 

Events – Retrospect

[© SaxoCell; Türen auf mit der Maus at CRTD 2022]

Türen auf mit der Maus at CRTD

Die Sendung mit der Maus  is a well-known German TV show for children that many of us remember as a programme that not only explained the world to us but also triggered the love for knowledge and science.

Every year in October, Die Maus invites institutions, museums and companies to open their doors to the public.

This year, SaxoCell took part in this event - with great success. We counted about 170 visitors in 4 hours, roughly half of them children.

We offered pipetting stations, microscopy workshops, lectures, games and more and it was a lot of fun with a lot of positive feedback from all sides.

Thanks again to all participants at the CRTD who made this possible!

SAB Meeting

Our first Scientific Advisory Board Meeting took place in Leipzig on October 28th with most of our projects represented on site at Fraunhofer IZI. At the same time, a great audience joined the meeting online.

Our SAB members Lorenz Mayr,
Ute Modlich, Axel Schambach and Nadine Winter attended the presentations from our projects, platforms and hub - all followed by lively discussions.

The day was topped off with a dinner attended by our SAB members and SaxoCell speakers. We thank organisers and guests for making this a great day, and we thank our SAB members for their valuable feedback!
[© SaxoCell, Scientific Advisory Board Meeting]

Mini Symposium on Thymus Transplant and Development

In November, SaxoCell successfully staged a hybrid symposium on Thymus Transplant and Development at CRTD with talks from:
  • Georg Holländer (University of Oxford, ETH Zurich & University of Basel),
  • Austen Worth (Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children),
  • Catharina Schütz (Universitätsklinikum Dresden),
  • Maximina Yun (TUD) and
  • Duran Sürün (TUD).
Participants at CRTD and online enjoyed the talks and the lively discussion afterwards.
[© SaxoCell, Thymus Mini-Symposium CRTD]

[© SaxoCell; Prof. Dr. Gilbert Fruhwirth]

Seminar with Gilbert Fruhwirth

We staged another of our SaxoCell seminars in Dresden on November 29th - this time with speaker Gilbert Fruhwirth, Reader in Imaging Biology at King's College London.

His talk on „How in vivo cell tracking can boost cell-based immunotherapy development“ was followed by participants at the CRTD auditorium and online.

 

Creative Workshop Series: Be creative – Shine at a pitch – Start a startup

After three successful workshops we finished our series " Be creative - shine at a pitch - start a startup".

These events where packed with hands-on activities, room for creativity and a lot of questions on the topics. And all this framed by a great setting in the Impact hub Dresden with a delicious lunch to discuss further ideas. We hope to continue the workshop series next year!

Let us know, if there are any specific topics you are interested in.
 
» Send an e-mail!
[© SaxoCell; Creative Workshop Series]
 

Upcoming events with SaxoCell participation

March 28th-29th, 2023
Conference
German Biotechnology Days
National forum for the German biotechnology industry
Ort Wiesbaden
» to the event

November 6th-8th, 2023
Conference
BIO Europe
Industry's largest gathering of biopharma professionals in Europe
Ort Munich
» TO THE EVENT

If you are interested in more information about any of these events or about the role of SaxoCell at these tradefairs, please do not hesitate to contact us.
 
» Contact us
 

Contact us

[© SaxoCell]

We'll be happy to hear from you

If you have any questions, suggestions and feedback regarding the newsletter, please feel free to contact the SaxoCell HUB team.
 
  E-Mail

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SaxoCell Hub
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