ExCarBon Summer School 2023 in Regensburg

Back at the place where it all began, the ExCarBon Summer School 2023 was hosted by Prof. Susanne Grässel and her research group in Regensburg. The meeting took place on the grounds of the University Hospital Regensburg from September 14-15. This year, the talks by our consortium members were complemented by the wonderful guest speakers, Prof. Eleftheria Zeggini from the TU Munich and Prof. Christopher Little from the University of Sydney (program). The summer School ended on a cheerful note in the Herrmann restaurant and later in the evening at "The BYRDCAVE".


Guest Speakers

Prof. Dr. Eleftheria Zeggini


Prof. Zeggini joined the Helmholtz Zentrum München in 2018 as founding director of the Institute of Translational Genomics. She and her team focus on sequence variations in the human genome and their impact on health and disease using high-throughput sequencing technologies. They also develop and apply robust statistical and computational tools for the integration of big multi-omics data. At the ExCarBon summer school 2023 Prof. Zeggini talked about “Translational genomics of osteoarthritis”.


Prof. Dr. Christopher Little


Professor Christopher Little is director of the Raymond Purves Bone and Joint Research Labs at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research at Royal North Shore Hospital, Australia. He and his team are working on defining the biochemical and molecular mechanisms of joint pathology in osteoarthritis. Prof. Little is internationally renowned for his excellence in the development and use of animal models of bone and joint disease. At the ExCarBon summer school 2023 Prof. Little talked about “Disease phenotype and the translation utility of pre-clinical osteoarthritis models: lessons from studying the immunobiology of joint injury and post-traumatic osteoarthritis risk”.



ExCarBon Summer School 2022 in Munich

After a Corona related break, the ExCarBon Summer School is back in 2022. Our hosts this year, the AG Aszódi, invited us to the Institute of Anatomy of the LMU Munich from June 29th to 30th. In addition to presentations by the consortium members, two guest speakers, Prof. Brachvogel and Prof. Beier, presented their research results. As always, the program was very exciting and informative, and led to lively discussions, which continued during the evening dinner at the Schiller Bräu.


Guest Speakers

Prof. Dr. Bent Brachvogel

Head of Experimental Neonatology at at the University Hospital Cologne

 

Prof. Brachvogels research focuses on a wide range of developmental factors that have a decisive influence on a child's health. Various risk factors such as nutritional disorders, inflammatory processes or premature birth can significantly limit the viability and quality of life of a newborn, and his lab want to understand the molecular causes of these changes. Furthermore, his research aims to understand the causes and mechanisms of musculoskeletal diseases such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Prof. Brachvogel talked about “Mitochondria and matrix organisation - novel insights into respiration dependent endochondral ossification process".


Prof. Dr. Frank Beier

Chair of the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario

 

Prof. Beier is the Canada Research Chair in Musculoskeletal Research at the University of Western Ontario and a member of Western’s Bone and Joint Institute. His lab explores mechanisms controlling cartilage and joint biology, using genetically engineered mice in combination with surgical, dietary and activity manipulations. One of his interest is to identify and study mechanisms, which start and drive osteoarthritis with the long term aim of identifying new treatments for this disease. Prof. Beier talked about “Epigenetic and genetic mechanisms in osteoarthritis pathogenesis”.



ExCarBon Summer School 2018 in Frankfurt

The second summer school of the research group ExCarBon took place from July 13th to 14th of 2018 in Frankfurt am Main at the Orthopedic University Hospital Friedrichsheim. Like last year, the program featured mature results, updates on work in progress and issues encountered, and lively discussions. This summer school was again an excellent opportunity for young researchers and students to expand their scientific horizon and to get in personal contact with the experts in the field of OA. This year, we invited three experts in the field of osteoarthritis to give a keynote lecture. We are very delighted and thankful that they accepted our invitation and shared the big picture of biomechanical, immunometabolic, and developmental aspects with us.


Guest Speakers

Prof. Ali Mobasheri

Professor of Musculoskeletal Physiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, UK and the President of the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI)

His main area of research is cartilage biology and the identification, validation and qualification of new biomarkers for degenerative and inflammatory diseases of joints like osteoarthritis. Prof. Mobasheri talked about Immunometabolic aspects of osteoarthritis".


Prof. Andrew A. Pitsillides

Professor of Skeletal Dynamics, Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, London, UK

The focus of his research is on skeletal mechanobiology during development, growth, adulthood and ageing. Prof. Pitsillides talked about “Evolving biomechanical aspects of osteoarthritis".


Prof. Brian Johnstone

Professor / Research Director, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, USA

His main areas of expertise are stem cell and chondrocyte biology during development and cartilage pathology and musculoskeletal tissue engineering. Prof. Johnstone talked about “Considering development as the inspiration for joint regeneration is very trendy, but is it valid?".

 



ExCarBon Summer School 2017 in Regensburg

From July 28-29, 2017, ExCarBon hosted its first Summer School in Regensburg to bring together all participating researchers. The primary goal of this summer school was to present and discuss current research results and emerging issues within the ExCarBon projects. The unconstrained character of the event was intended to foster communication between the different projects, and the lecture program was intended to give everyone the opportunity to present and discuss their data. In this environment, especially PhD students and young post-docs should gain experience in scientific networking. In this sense, looking back, the Summer School was a great success.


In addition to the ExCarBon members, two guest speakers and renowned experts in the field of osteoarthritis presented their research results: Prof. Dr. Gerjo J.V.M. van Osch and Prof. Dr. Tonia Vincent. They both presented their scientific achievements and current work and discussed in depth research questions and science related to osteoarthritis specifically with the young scientists during the meeting.

Guest Speakers

Prof. Dr. Gerjo J.V.M. van Osch

Head of the Connective Tissue Cells and Repair Group at the Department of Orthopaedics and Otorhinolaryngology at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam

 

Prof. van Osch is focusing her research interest on cellular responses in degenerating and regenerating connective tissues in osteoarthritis and tendinosis with a special emphasis on anabolic processes in tissue repair.


Prof. Dr. Tonia Vincent

Professor of musculoskeletal biology at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford

 

Prof. Vincents main research interests include pathways that drive mechanosensitive responses in cartilage, the role of the pericellular matrix in determining these responses and how they modulate osteoarthritis in vivo.


Contact

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Susanne Grässel

University Hospital Regensburg

Orthopedic Surgery, Div. Experimental Orthopedics

Biopark I - ZMB

Am Biopark 9

D-93053 Regensburg

 

Tel.: +49 (0) 941 943 5065

Fax: +49 (0) 941 943 5066

E-mail: susanne.graessel@ukr.de