Events

August 29

Special seminar: Eelco de Koning

Professor of Diabetology, Eelco de Koning will give a special seminar on his team’s research, which ranges from clinical islet cell transplantation to stem cell derived islets and human islet cell biology and function

Diabetes and human islet cell identity issues


Eelco de Koning is Professor of Diabetology at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Utrecht and is a board-certified endocrinologist (2001). He worked towards his Ph.D. at the Diabetes Research Laboratories in Oxford (1991-1994) and was a visiting scientist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston (2004-2005). He coordinates the national islet transplantation program in the Netherlands and is medical director of the human islet isolation and transplantation unit at the LUMC. His research aims at a better understanding of human islet biology, islet regeneration and preservation, and novel sources for insulin producing cells. He is a principal investigator in the international stem cell consortium reNEW, the regenerative medicine consortium RegMedXB and the European Union consortium ISLET that are focused on developing novel islet replacement strategies for type 1 diabetes. He is past president of the European Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (EPITA) and council member of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplantation Association (IPITA)



Start time: 29/08/2024 14:15
End time: 29/08/2024 15:00
Duration: 45 minutes
Location: Biomedicum1, lecture hall 2, Haartmaninkatu 8, 00290 Helsinki
Type: Seminar
Organization: UH, Faculty of Medicine
Contact person: kaisa.a.sarkkinen@helsinki.fi
August 30

Dissertaion: Marko Oksa

Marko Oksa, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, Helsinki University Hospital
Perioperative surgical options and medications in mandibular fracture patients

Opponent: Honorary professor Pekka Laine, Patient Insurance Centre



Start time: 30/08/2024 12:00
End time: 30/08/2024 14:00
Duration: 2 hours
Location: HUS Siltasairaala, Kruunuhakasali, Haartmaninkatu 4
Type: Dissertation
Organization: UH, Faculty of Medicine
Contact person: marko.oksa@helsinki.fi
August 30

Dissertation: Severi Mulari

Severi Mulari, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki
Ischemic heart disease therapeutics and molecular signatures - transplantation of bone marrow mononuclear cells and atrial appendages

Opponent: professor Karl-Henrik Grinnemo, University of Uppsala



Start time: 30/08/2024 13:00
End time: 30/08/2024 15:00
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Naistenklinikka, Seth Wichmann -sali, Haartmaninkatu 2
Type: Dissertation
Organization: UH, Faculty of Medicine
Contact person: severi.mulari@helsinki.fi
August 30

Dissertation: Väinö Lithovius

Väinö Lithovius, University of Helsinki, Faculty of Medicine
Modelling of congenital hyperinsulinism with stem cell derived islets

Opponent: professor Eelco De Koning, University of Leiden



Start time: 30/08/2024 13:00
End time: 30/08/2024 15:00
Duration: 2 hours
Location: Haartman Institute, lecture hall 1, Haartmaninkatu 3, 00290 Helsinki
Type: Dissertation
Organization: UH, Faculty of Medicine
Contact person: vaino.lithovius@helsinki.fi
September 02

HiLIFE / Biomedicum Helsinki seminar: Edward Grow: Reprogramming oocyte and embryo development

Reprogramming oocyte and embryo development

Speaker: Assistant Professor Edward Grow from the Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences at UT-Southwestern Dallas, Texas.
Professor Grow has a strong background in developmental and reproductive biology, epigenetics, and transposable element research (more below). Please note that Prof. Grow will be available for meetings in Helsinki from 2nd to 4th September for which inquiries should be made to Sanna Vuoristo.
 
There will also be a student lunch, which is a great opportunity not only to talk about Prof. Grow’s research but also learn about their journey to becoming a PI.
 
The warmest of welcomes and hope to see many of you at the seminar and student lunch!
 
Sanna Vuoristo (sanna.vuoristo@helsinki.fi) and the student host Sonja Nykänen (Sonja.e.nykanen@helsinki.fi)

Summary of research
Fertilization brings together two unipotent gametes that together can generate a totipotent embryo. This process requires both epigenetic programming to prepare specialized gametes and epigenetic reprogramming after fertilization to form the embryo. How this is controlled at the chromatin level is critical for embryogenesis, and failures in this epigenetic reprogramming lead to developmental failure, gestational losses, and growth disorders often attributed to imprinting defects.
Our research program is focused on the development of the egg, its epigenome, and its role in controlling early embryonic development. We have two main goals 1) determine how mammalian embryos navigate embryonic genome activation (EGA) 2) establish and develop bovine and human follicular culture to tap in to the large “ovarian reserve” to maximize female fertility. This work will not only establish foundational datasets charting the epigenomic and transcriptomic landscape of oogenesis, but will provide a key link between in vivo oogenesis, in vitro follicle culture, and in vitro maturation (IVM), that will inform efforts to establish in vitro gametogenesis from stem cell-derived in vitro produced primordial germ cells.  
 
Latest publications
L Adams, Y Liu, T Patrick, E Grow, E Ruggeri, B Durrant, I Polejaeva. Development of interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) caprine-bovine embryos injected with demethylase mRNA and mitochondrial extract. (Reproduction, Fertility and Development, 2023).
 
Christina M Smith, Edward J Grow, Sean C Shadle, Bradley R Cairns. Multiple repeat regions within mouse DUX recruit chromatin regulators to facilitate an embryonic gene expression program. (eLIFE, 2023).
 
Edward J. Grow, Ying Liu, Zhiqiang Fan, Iuri Viotti Perisse, Tayler Patrick, Misha Regouski, Sean Shadle, Irina Polejaeva, Kenneth L. White, Bradley R. Cairns. Chromatin Reprogramming of In Vitro Fertilized and Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer Bovine Embryos During Embryonic Genome Activation. (BioRxiv, 2023). https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.04.10.536281v1
 
Xin Zhang, Qiqi Cao, Shreya Rajachandran, Edward J. Grow, and Haiqi Chen. Dissecting the Spermatogonial Stem Cell Niche Using Spatial Transcriptomics. (Cell Reports, 2023).
 
Edward J. Grow. Endogenous retroviruses steer transcriptional condensates away from pluripotency. (Nature Genetics, 2022).

Start time: 02/09/2024 13:00
End time: 02/09/2024 14:00
Duration: 1 hour
Location: Biomedicum1, lecture hall 2, Haartmaninkatu 8, 00290 Helsinki
Type: Seminar
Organization:
Contact person: hilife-seminars@helsinki.fi