1^st Dutch Antisense Therapeutics Symposium by Laurie Kerkhof

On the 3^rd of June, the DCRT was present at the 1^st Dutch Antisense Therapeutics symposium in Leiden. The symposium started with an interesting talk from Annemieke Aartsma-Rus (LUMC) on the development of antisense oligonucleotide therapies, elaborating on some of the antisense oligonucleotide modifications that improve drug stability and efficacy. The rest of the morning session consisted of several interesting talks on peptide-based delivery systems and exon-skipping therapies for dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa and CADASIL. The morning session ended with a talk from Marlen Lauffer (LUMC) on N=1 personalized treatments and how the DCRT contributes to this goal.

The afternoon session started with presentations from invited speakers and early career investigators, including Irene Vazques-Dominguez (Radboudumc) and Claudia Milazzo (Erasmus MC), and a nice talk from the international keynote speaker Bruno Godinho (Atalanta Therapeutics) on the delivery of stabilized siRNA scaffolds to the central nervous system. The session continued with talks from a different perspective: Marjon Pasmooij (Medicines Evaluation Board) on regulation of antisense medicine and Elizabeth Vroom (Duchenne Parent Project Netherlands) on the role of patient organizations in drug development.

The talks were followed by poster presentations from Master and PhD students. The poster session was really interactive and a lot of people came to see the posters. This led to lively discussions and also to new insights and ideas.

The day ended with the awards for the best short talk and the best poster, which went to Irene Vasquez-Dominguez (Radboudumc) and Dyah Karjosukarso (Radboudumc), respectively, who both did a really great job! After an interesting day of science, the symposium concluded with networking drinks and a nice dinner. All in all, we look back on a really great and informative symposium. It was a perfect day to network and meet a lot of amazing scientists who are very willing to help out wherever they can!

posted on Jun 20, 2022