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Lectures at Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering

The section seminars are a series of lectures in the context of the different research areas covered by the Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering. The speakers include high profile researchers from academia and industry and younger researchers at different levels of their career. The lectures aim to provide an inspiring and informative environment for everyone at the department to foster interdisciplinary research ideas and opportunities.


Medical Biotechnology Seminar Lectures



Friday 12 May 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Dr. Naveen Kumar Nirchal

Title: "Zooming into the Gastroesophageal Junction: Single-Cell Revelations of histogenesis & Barrett's Esophagus Beginnings"

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Exploring the fascinating world of Gastroesophageal Junction (GEJ) health and disease through the lens of cutting-edge single-cell sequencing and 3D stem cell-derived organoids. Delving into the intricate spatiotemporal cellular dynamics that may hold the key to understanding metaplasia and cancer development at the GEJ.

Dr. Naveen Kumar Nirchal


Friday 12 May 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Master Student Mathias Sønderholm Larsen

Title: "Discovery and characterization of nanobodies for inhibition of Hymenoptera venom allergy"

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Hymenoptera venom allergy is one of the main causes of anaphylaxis and is caused by the binding of venom allergens to receptor-bound IgE on the surface of effector cells. In my master project, I have selected and characterized nanobodies against one of the major wasp venom allergens. The selected nanobodies have the potential to block the binding of IgE to the allergen and thus prevent anaphylaxis upon exposure to the allergen.

Mathias Sønderholm Larsen

Master Student


Tuesday 11 April 2023, at 16.00-17.00

Lecture by: Professor Peter Korosec

Title: ”Immunological and genetic biomarkers for severity of allergic reactions”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Information about the lecture will follow soon.

Peter Korosec

Professor, University Clinic of Respiratory and Allergic Diseases Golnik, Slovenia


Friday 31 March 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Business Developer Steen Buchhave Villadsen

Title: "Introduction to The Kitchen and our initiatives”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Steen will talk about the startup hub "The Kitchen" as well as give examples of startups that emerged from the research-world.


Friday 31 March 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Project Coordinator Sara Seidelin Majidi

Title: "An Innoexplorer journey”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Sara will talk about the process of applying for an Innoexplorer grant and how this grant can be used. Furthermore, she will talk about her experience with the journey of going from products in the lab to attempting to bring them into the market.


Friday 17 March 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: PhD student Youssif Y. Merhi

Title: "Printed dry electrode for neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for e-textile”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Muscle atrophy is a well-known consequence of immobilization and critical illness, leading to prolonged rehabilitation and increased mortality. In this study, we develop a solution to preserve muscle mass using customized biocompatible neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) device. We demonstrate the printing of conducting electrodes on a compressive stocking textile that can be used for more than seven days without observing any inflammation. This solution consists of a dry and biocompatible electrode directly integrated into the textile with good mechanical compatibility with the skin.


Friday 17 March 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: PhD Student Pon Ganish Prakash

Title: "Modeling uterine cervix infections and disease using patient-derived 3D organoids at single-cell resolution”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Uterine cervix protects the upper reproductive tract from ascending pathogens; however, in some cases, it succumbs to the virulence of pathogens and carcinogenesis. Our study identified regenerative signatures of uterine ecto- and endocervical epithelial niches and their unique defense blueprint against infections at single-cell resolution.

Pon Ganish Prakash

PhD Student


Friday 3 March 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: PhD Student Bjarke Nørrehvedde Jensen

Title: "Wireless electromagnetic neural stimulation patch with anisotropic guidance for neural regeneration”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

The human body is limited in healing neurological damage caused by diseases or traumatic injury and advanced neurological therapeutics are required to repair damaged tissue. Electrical stimulation is known to promote neural growth and differentiation. Here, a wireless electromagnetic stimulation scaffold was created for the first time, combining stimulation through electromagnetic induction with physical guiding cues through structural anisotropy. The melt electrowritten polycaprolactone anisotropic structure with 80 nm gold coating directly employed the energy harvesting component (induction coil) as the stimulation delivery interface for direct contact of cells.


Friday 3 March 2023, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Postdoc João Ramos

Title: ”Biophysical studies of SorCS2 interactions required for synaptic plasticity”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

SorCS2 is an important player in the trafficking of neuronal receptors to the synapses. These receptors activate cellular pathways that dictate either cell survival and proliferation or apoptosis. Using biophysical and structural methods we aim to characterize SorCS2 interactions with these receptors to better understand its role in neurological diseases.


Friday 9 December 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Emilie Benedikte Rytter Olesen and Amalie Lykke Olsen

Title: ”Optimizing lipid nanoparticles to include DNA repair template for homology directed repair following  mRNA-based CRISPR gene editing”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

CRISPR technology have shown great clinical potential towards neurodegenerative disseases, here amongst muscular dystrophy. A key need that is still unmet is how to efficiently deliver the CRISPR/Cas9 therapeutic complex into the diseased cells. Lipid nanoparticles (LNP) can encapsulate RNA and have shown great potential as a gene and drug delivery system in therapeutic applications.

Emilie Benedikte Rytter Olesen

Master Student

Amalie Lykke Olsen

Master Student


Friday 25 November 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: AC-TAP Pernille Ommen Andersen and Postdoc Anne-Sofie R. Ballegaard

Title: ”Isolation of antigen-specific nanobodies by combining animal immunization with yeast surface display”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

In our laboratory we engineer and produce nanobodies towards different targets of interest in allergy.
In this presentation we will take you on the journey from animal immunization to in vitro and in vivo testing of identified nanobodies, and we will show how we use yeast surface display in the selection process.


Friday 11 November 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Stephanie Descroix

Title: ”Developing organ on chip for biology and clinics”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

The development of a new generation of in vitro models is of interest in different fields such as basic research in life science to decipher physiological and patho-physiological mechanisms or in pharma companies to drastically improve drug screening process. In the last decade, basic research showed how our understanding of the behavior of physiological and patho-physiological systems can be greatly increased thanks to a rational simplification of the human body in artificial microsystems. Among these different models, organ on chips are considered today as key technologies.

In this talk, we will demonstrate how microfluidics and microfabrication can be used to develop new relevant in vitro models in particular a gut on chip model that allows to the study for the first time he interplay between, stromal and epithelial cells.

As a critical problem in the development and deployment of effective anti-cancer treatments remains the lack of adequate in-vitro model systems, in a second part, I will focus on tumor on chip development recapitulating in vitro the complexity of the tumor-microenvironment.

Stephanie Descroix

Doctor, Research Director CNRS, Institut Curie, Paris

Dr. Stéphanie Descroix is team leader of the MMBM team at Institut Curie Paris and Institut Pierre Gilles De Gennes. Her team is worldly renowned for development of microfluidic device and concepts for fundamental biology, biophysics and clinic, with a strong commitment to technology transfer in the field of medicine and life sciences. The MMBM team is cofounder of the Institut Pierre Gilles De Gennes for Microfluidics.


Friday 28 October 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Catalina Suarez

Title: ”In silico study of the transport mechanisms of the blood brain barrier”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

This study presents the modelling of different transport mechanisms of molecules through the blood brain barrier in COMSOL, attempting to replicate experimental results found in literature to create a functional and accurate computational model to predict how particles will behave when crossing from the blood stream to the brain or viceversa.

Catalina Suarez

Master Student


Friday 28 October 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Hekla Liv Mariasdottir

Title: ”Blood-Brain Barrier Models in vitro: Image Analysis of Vesicular Trafficking and 3D Growth Guidance of Brain Endothelial Cells”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

The restrictive properties of the blood brain barrier (BBB) make drug delivery to the brain challenging. Questions related to the exact route of molecular transport across the BBB remain unanswered, however transferrin receptor (TfR)-mediated transcytosis through endothelial cells is believed to be a promising target for delivering therapeutics to the brain. I will present the master thesis I’m currently working on, focusing on super resolution microscopy of vesicular transport in endothelial cells, as well as mechanical studies of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived brain endothelial cells grown on 3D scaffolds.

Hekla Liv Mariasdottir

Master Student


Friday 14 October 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Jens Vinge Nygaard

Title: ”EMBLs Mathematics for Life”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

I will report on the recent EMBL course Mathematics for Life detailing how biochemetry and pathways is modelled and used to describe cellular behavior. I will then focus on what is wrong with a perspective on cells that is solely based on chemistry and introduce the concept of mechanogeometry that we will explore in a upcoming new project funded by a VILLUM Synergy grant between mathematics and BCE at AU.

Contact


Friday 14 October 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Christoph Alexander Müller

Title: ”Optoresponsive particles for intracellular electrical interrogation”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Wireless electrical modulation of cells via opto-stimulation is an emerging approach to trigger and control bioelectric phenomena with high spatiotemporal resolution. In my talk, I will show how optoresponsive materials like graphitic carbon nitride can be used to control neural growth, and act as a tool for intracellular electrical interrogation.


Friday 30 September 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Mikkel Haarslev S. Marqvorsen

Title: ”From Glycosylation to Immunology - A brief tour of miscellaneous projects”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Mikkel Marqvorsen is a newly appointed teaching assistant professor at BCE. In this talk, Mikkel will provide a brief overview of the various fields in which he has worked during the course of a ph.d and two postdoc positions before starting at BCE in June. Mikkel started as a ph.d. student working on glycosylation chemistry at the Dept. of Chemistry (AU) and then worked on the interface between organic chemistry and cell biology (Chemical Biology) in Leiden (NL) for three years before returning to AU at the Dept. of Biomedicine to focus on Immune Cell Biology.


Friday 30 September 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Simon Sutter Rolighed

Title: ”Enriching Synaptosomes for Imaging”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Synaptosomes are isolated synaptic terminals from neurons obtained by homogenization of brain tissue followed by fractionation using Percoll density gradient centrifugation. We have found that these samples contain a variety of vesicular structures, making the search and identification of synaptosomes a challenging and time-consuming task. This presentation will be part two of my master's thesis on the use of immunomagnetic isolation for selective enrichment of synaptosomes.


Friday 16 September 2022, at 09.00-10.00

Lecture by: Josephine Baunvig Aagaard

Title: ”Nanobody-based inhibitors of allergen-mediated anaphylaxis”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Hymenoptera venom allergy is one of the most common causes of anaphylaxis. Central in the allergic reaction is the binding of venom allergens to IgE/receptor complexes on the surface of effector cells triggering immediate allergic reactions and potentially anaphylaxis. In my PhD project, I have developed and characterized nanobodies and nanobody-based formats that block the IgE/allergen interaction and thereby potentially reduce the risk of anaphylaxis during allergen exposure.


Friday 20 May 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Peter Johansen

Title: ”Experimental Cardiovascular Biomechanics”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

This talk gives an overview of ongoing projects in CAVE Lab. Common for all projects are that they are anchored in clinical problems and challenges and therefore conducted in close collaboration with cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists. The general approach is to create in vitro models that can mimic the physiology surrounding different devices, implants, and procedures.

Contact


Friday 20 May 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Thomas Lykke-Møller Sørensen

Title: ”Highlight(s) from EMBO/EMBL symposium on Mechanobiology”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.


Friday 6 May 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Frederik Høbjerg Svejsø

Title: ”Anti-EpCAM Conjugated Melt-Electrowritten Microfibrous Filter for Capturing and Culturing Circulating Tumor Cells”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

This presentation will focus on my Master's thesis, where I am utilizing melt-electrowriting to fabricate porous filters of polycaprolactone (PCL). The fiber surface is subsequently conjugated with an anti-EpCAM antibody to allow for affinity-based capture of rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from a liquid biopsy, i.e. a blood sample. Due to the biocompatibility of PCL, the caught CTCs will be cultured ex vivo directly on the filter and the formed clusters may contain information useful for personalized medicine.

Contact


Frederik Høbjerg Svejsø

Master Student


Friday 6 May 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Pernille Ommen Andersen

Title: ”Development of a targeted drug delivery system for Staphylococcus aureus biofilm infections”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Conventional antibiotic treatment is inadequate for eradication of bacterial biofilm infections as only sublethal concentrations can be administered safely to patients. A potential solution to this challenge is targeted drug delivery.
In my PhD study, we tailored an aptamer-targeted liposomal drug delivery system that accumulates in S. aureus biofilm and delivers a combination of antibiotics locally inside the biofilm. In this presentation I will show the results and discuss what we learned from the study.

Contact

Pernille Ommen Andersen

Member of Administrative Staff

Friday 22 April 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Peter Johansen

Title: ”Experimental Cardiovascular Biomechanics”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

This talk gives an overview of ongoing projects in CAVE Lab. Common for all projects are that they are anchored in clinical problems and challenges and therefore conducted in close collaboration with cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists. The general approach is to create in vitro models that can mimic the physiology surrounding different devices, implants, and procedures.

Contact


Friday 22 April 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Camilla Jessen

Title: ”Establishment and Characterization of Polymicrobial Inter-kingdom three-species biofilm models mimicking the microenvironment of In Vivo Chronic Wounds in Diabetic Foot Ulcers”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Chronic wounds have become a global health problem. Chronic wounds are often infected with polymicrobial biofilms that hinders the normal healing of wounds. Consequently, chronic wounds remain in the inflammatory phase of healing. In vitro studies of chronic wounds often utilizes simple, monocultural models that exhibit unrealistic fast eradication of biofilms, once treated with antimicrobials. Given that these results are not observed in the clinic, there has become a need for more complex in vitro models comprised of multiple microbes. During my thesis, i aim to establish a polymicrobial, inter-kingdom biofilm model comprised of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans.

Contact


Camilla Jessen

Master Student


Friday 1 April 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Alice Le Friec

Title: ”Cellularized biomaterials for neural tissue engineering”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

I will first discuss cell and biomaterial co-transplantation for regenerative medicine in the Central Nervous System. I will then introduce my latest research, which aims to design a cryopreservable cellularized scaffold for neural tissue repair. 

Contact


Friday 1 April 2022, at 14.00

Lecture by: Anne-Sofie Ravn Ballegaard

Title: ”Food allergy sensitization – knowledge from animal studies”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

The presentation will give an overview of food allergy and different routes of sensitization. This will include results from animal studies with a focus on intestinal permeability and immune responses.


Thursday 18 March 2022, at 13.00

Lecture by: Simon Sutter Rolighed

Title: ”Enriching synaptosomes for imaging”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

Synaptosomes are isolated synaptic terminals from neurons which are obtained by homogenization of brain tissue followed by fractionation using Percoll density gradient centrifugation. We have found that these samples contain a variety of vesicular structures making the search and identification of synaptosomes challenging and time-consuming task. I’ll discuss our efforts to selective enrich the sample for synaptosomes.


Thursday 18 March 2022, at 13.00

Lecture by: Naija From Munk-Pedersen

Title: “Development of new mri protocol for knee osteoarthritis”

Place: Gustav Wieds Vej 10C, 8000 Aarhus C, Building 3130, Room 303.

 

Contact

Environmental Engineering Seminar Lectures

Industrial Biotechnology Seminar Lectures


Wednesday 4 May 2022, at 12.15

Lecture by: Nele Van Dessel,  CEO from Ernest Pharmaceuticals (USA)

Title: "The use of Salmonella bacteria to treat cancer”

Place: Zoom, https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/62375855091

The microbial biotechnology course will host an online guest lecture on the use of Salmonella bacteria to treat cancer.

The guest speaker is Nele Van Dessel,  CEO from Ernest Pharmaceuticals (USA), a small startup company, trying to bring this new and intriguing microbial biotechnology to the market.  

Contact

Jo Philips

Assistant Professor

Process & Materials Engineering Seminar Lectures