RegMed XB 2020 Annual Meeting

The second RegMed XB’s Annual Meeting was held in the Dutch National Railway Museum in Utrecht on 4 and 5 March. They were certainly very intense and exciting days, marked by the interactive, multidisciplinar and societal approach that characterizes the RegMed XB project.

Prof. Louise Gunning-Schepers, Chair of RegMed XB Supervisory Board, opened the event and introduced our new General Director, Bernard Mulder, to the audience.

Prof. Louise Gunning-Schepers, University of Amsterdam, Chair RegMed XB Supervisory Board

Bernard Mulder, General Director RegMed XB welcoming the participants

This was followed by a special interview led by Tom Oostrom, Patient Advocate RegMed XB. It was special because it allowed the patients to set the tone for the meeting, which is unusual at scientific conferences. They used this opportunity to share their expectations for these two days but also to share their personal experiences and fears with the people working to find a cure for chronic diseases such as type-1 Diabetes, Kidney failure, Cardiovascular disease, and Osteoarthritis.

Patient representatives from each of the Moonshots interviewed by Tom Oostrom, Patient Advocate RegMed XB

Later in the day, each group of Moonshot researchers had the opportunity to meet their respective patient representative and discuss the issues related to their investigation in greater detail. Through these encounters, important problems were addressed such as how to communicate realistic expectations to the patients or how to identify pertinent cases to study. This exercise contributed to a better understanding of the added value of patient-included research.

Learning from your prospective patient. From left to right: Cardiovascular, Kidney, Osteoarthritis and Diabetes Moonshots

None of RegMed XB’s objectives would be possible to achieve without all the scientists working behind the scenes. We would, therefore, like to especially thank all the researches for their hard work in helping to discover innovative solutions for chronic diseases.

During the event, scientists from all four Moonshots presented their progress in the fields of devices & scaffolds; cells, tissue and biology; and biomechanics & biomaterials. A special recognition goes to the winners of the Presentation and Poster Award: Alicia Damen, for her Presentation “Friction reducing ability of synovial fluid components”, and Anika Schumacher, for her Poster “Mapping kidney organoid maturation: a multimodal and multidimensional approach”. To both of them, their deserved congratulations!

Alicia Damen (Osteoarthritis Moonshot), winner of the Presentation Award at RegMed XB Annual Meeting 2020

Anika Schumacher (Kidney Moonshot), winner of the Poster Award at RegMed XB Annual Meeting 2020

We are very proud to have had amongst us renowned professors, Prof. Guido de Wert, Maastricht University; Prof. Tanja Weil, Director of Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research; Prof. René Bindels, RadboudUMC; and Prof. Philippe Menasché, University of Paris Descartes, who presented interesting lectures on key issues within the field of regenerative medicine.

Moments during Prof. Tanja Weil lecture on Supramolecular biomaterials to solve medical challenges

This year’s Annual Meeting was the perfect occasion to share with our partners RegMed XB's most recent updates: the constitution of our Supervisory Board and the launch of “FIRST”, a joint early phase investment fund in partnership with the Dutch CardioVascular Alliance (DCVA). Additionally, there was also room to talk about other important topics, such as RegMed XB’s valorization mission and opportunities for the future.