ICVS

Training Course | Microsurgical Anastomosis
2023-05-29 08:00 - 2023-05-31 14:00 UTC
Theoretical and practical course on microsurgical anastomosis with hands-on training in animal model, in a fully equipped surgical lab.
Link: https://b-acis.pt/workshops/microsurgical-anastomosis/

Training Course | Gynecological Laparoscopic Surgery
2023-05-25 08:00 - 2023-05-27 17:00
Course on Gynecological Laparoscopic Surgery with three components: theoretical lessons, practical hands-on sessions on animal model in a fully equipped surgical lab, and live surgery at the Hospital.
Link: https://b-acis.pt/workshops/gynecological-laparoscopic-surgery/

ICVS Seminar "Unveiling Automatic Item Generation: Efficiency, Formation, Proficiency and Differential Item Functioning in Medical Education Assessment”
2023-05-22 13:00 - 14:00
Monday, may 22nd 1 pm, don’t miss Filipe Falcão’s seminar “Unveiling Automatic Item Generation: Efficiency, Formation, Proficiency and Differential Item Functioning in Medical Education Assessment” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Filipe Falcão is a PhD student at the Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Minho (PhDiHES program).
He’s currently investigating an algorithm-based item development procedure using proprietary software to automatically generate multiple-choice questions for tests in medical education.
He has a master’s degree in Psychology from the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto (2018).

Training Course | Capsule Endoscopy Training Program
2023-05-17 08:30 - 2023-05-19 14:00
With theoretical and practical sessions on individual workstations, this course is dedicated to Gastroenterology trainees and seniors. The course includes state-of-the-art lectures, an overview of the latest software developments, and practical tips and tricks to improve quality outcomes, such as bowel preparation, reading technique, image interpretation, and structured report.
Link: https://b-acis.pt/workshops/capsule-endoscopy-training-program/

ICVS Seminar “Parkinson’s Disease: from the microscope to the clinic (bringing all the good news as well!)”
2023-05-15 13:00 - 14:00
Monday, 15th of May at 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Margarida Rodrigues “Parkinson’s Disease: from the microscope to the clinic (bringing all the good news as well!)”at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Margarida Rodrigues, Neurologist at Hospital de Braga in the field of Movement Disorder; Degree in Medicine from ICBAS-UP.
Responsible for consultations on Movement disorders and botulinum toxin and Responsible for clinical trials in the field of movement disorders.

Training Course | Remote Access to the Neck
2023-05-12 08:30 - 19:00
This course on remote endoscopic access to the neck teaches the axillary-areolar access technique and the oral access technique. Fundamental aspects of the use of these approaches are presented by a group of experienced surgeons. There will be discussion of clinical cases, tips & tricks, and over 6 hours of hands-on training on cadaver and porcine model.
Link: https://b-acis.pt/workshops/remote-access-neck-course/

ICVS Seminar “Parkinson's disease; past, present and future work”
2023-05-08 13:00 - 14:00
Monday, 8th of may at 1 pm, don’t miss Miguel Gago’s seminar “Parkinson’s disease; past, present and future work”at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Miguel Gago is a Neurologist and Director of the Neurology Service at Hospital da Senhora da Oliveira-Guimarães. Miguel Gago has PhD in Medicine and is an Affiliate Professor at the School of Medicine of the University of Minho.
He Graduated in Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto in 2002, completing the medical specialty of Neurology in 2010 at Centro Hospitalar São João.
Postgraduate training with a special focus on Movement Disorders and Deep Brain Stimulation, with an internship at Neurozentrum-Kiel, Germany, being co-author of the honorable mention of the BIAL® award in 2011 at Centro Hospitalar São João.
Her PhD in Medicine is in the area of postural and gait control in neurodegenerative diseases.
He received the Melo & Castro 2018, Santa Casa Misericórdia award, as co-investigator, for the project “Thertact-Exo: A brain controlled exoskeleton for spinal cord regeneration”
and 2CA-Braga award in 2022 for the project “The ‘blue spot’ in a dish: patient-derived central noradrenergic neurons as a new platform for in vitro modeling of Parkinson’s disease”.
He is Member of national and international scientific societies in the areas of Movement Disorders, having been treasurer and later President of the Portuguese Society of Movement Disorders (SPDMov) from 2015 to 2017.
He is the Principal investigator and co-investigator of clinical trials in Alzheimer’s Dementia and Movement Disorders.
He is an Associate Editor of the Journal Of Alzheimer’s Disease, author and co-author of scientific books, having published 44 articles in indexed journals.

Seminar | "The challenge of preclinical drug development in depressive disorders” | Prof. John Kelly
2023-04-20 13:00 - 14:00
Seminar 20.04.2023 13h A0.02
The challenge of preclinical drug development in depressive disorders
Prof. John Kelly | Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Galway, Ireland
Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Galway.
Over 40 years involved in pharmacological and toxicological research, 8 of which at the industry level.
Research centred on preclinical animal models of depression, most particularly investigating the olfactory bulbectomized and whether this myriad of changes associated with this model
can be attenuated by chronic treatment with antidepressants, both established and novel treatments.
This research has demonstrated how valuable the integrated approach can be in ascertaining interactions between behavioural, physiological, neurochemical and immune changes.
This research has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications.

ICVS Seminar " Vascular sequestration of trypanosome parasites and its implications to disease “
2023-04-17 13:00 - 14:00
Next monday, 17th of april, at 1 pm, don’t miss Sara Silva Pereira’s seminar ” Vascular sequestration of trypanosome parasites and its implications to disease “ at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Sara Silva Pereira completed her PhD in Veterinary Parasitology, in 2018, at the University of Liverpool (UK), where she investigated antigenic diversity of African trypanosomes parasites.
In 2019, she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to study how variant antigens affect T. congolense tissue tropism at the laboratory of Luisa Figueiredo, in Instituto de Medicina Molecular (Lisbon). There, she discovered that Trypanosoma congolense sequestration, or adhesion to the vascular endothelium, is a virulence factor, suggesting that severe trypanosomiasis may be preventable by targeting parasite sequestration mediators. In 2022, Sara moved to the Bernabeu Laboratory at the EMBL Barcelona to develop a 3D in vitro model of bovine brain vasculature, a platform that allows direct assessment of sequestration. In 2023, the Silva Pereira Laboratory will open at the Católica Biomedical Research Centre to investigate the interactions of trypanosomes with the host vasculature.

Cell functional and phenotypical analysis
2023-04-10 08:00 - 2023-04-28 17:00
“Cell functional and phenotypical analysis: the usefulness of flow cytometry and related tools” is a hands-on course that will allow participants to learn from fundamentals to advanced applications of flow cytometry. The course will be lectured by researcher from the ICVS, in collaboration with by national and international experts, including flow cytometry facility coordinators, researchers, and specialists on FlowJo software for flow cytometry analysis. The course will be organized in theoretical and practical sessions. Practical sessions will include sessions of hands-on in the laboratory and also theoretical-practical sessions that are allocated for the understanding of data analysis. The course is designed to promote informal discussions and exchange of ideas. The interaction between speakers and participants will be promoted during the practical and theoretical-practical sessions.
The course is structured as follows:
– 1st week: This week will be dedicated to explore, using interactive and student centered strategies, principles of cell functional and phenotypical analysis including fundamental concepts on antibodies, fluorochrome selection as well as the fundamentals of flow cytometry. Lectures and discussions will be followed by hands-on laboratory sessions on a wide variety of flow cytometry techniques ranging from experimental set-up, sample preparation, data acquisition and data analysis.
– 2nd week: This week will be dedicated to advanced flow cytometry techniques on the analysis of RNA, cell cycle, cell death, metabolism and cytokine quantification.
– Workshop: by the end of the first week, several specialists will be invited to present their data and new challenges on the use of flow cytometry on exosome analysis, immunometabolism and microbiology as well as full-spectrum cytometry and cytoff.
A complete pipeline of different biological samples from yeast to human cells, and serum/cell culture supernatants will be used throughout the course.
Special fees were established independently for each course week to meet participants’ needs and demands.

ICVS Seminar "Cerebral malaria: Plasmodium falciparum effects on human brain microvascular endothelial cells and brain organoids"
2023-04-03 13:00 - 14:00
Monday, april 3rd 1 pm, don’t miss Ana Rita Pedrosa’s seminar ” Cerebral malaria: Plasmodium falciparum effects on human brain microvascular endothelial cells and brain organoids ” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
“I have a background in health sciences (bachelor’s by ISCSEM), biomedical sciences with molecular biology (master’s by UNL) and bioengineering (MIT-Portugal doctoral program) from Minho University. My career and scientific practice, in the last 10 years, have been dedicated in the infectious diseases and immunology field and I have worked in several research centers,
both nationally (IHMT and CNC) and internationally (Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic and Instituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia, Italy).
I have several scientific articles and some oral communications in international congresses.”

ICVS Seminar "Using an experimental medicine approach to characterise the mechanisms of antidepressant treatment in depressed adolescents"
2023-03-27 13:00 - 14:00
Monday, march 27th 1 pm, don’t miss Liliana Capitão’s seminar “Using an experimental medicine approach to characterise the mechanisms of antidepressant treatment in depressed adolescents” at the A0.02 auditorium in UMinho’s School of Medicine.
Liliana Capitão is an Auxiliary Researcher at the School of Psychology, University of Minho since September 2022. Previously, she completed a PhD in Neurosciences at Oxford University, UK (2010-2014), and then worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher and subsequently as a Research Coordinator in Experimental Medicine at the Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University (2014-2022), where she still holds a Visiting Researcher position. Liliana has an inter-disciplinary research profile combining expertise in psychology and neuroscience, with a focus on neuroimaging (fMRI) and psychopharmacology. Her research uses a translational experimental medicine approach to investigate mechanisms of antidepressant treatment in adolescence and markers of resilience vs. risk to develop depression.

Seminar | Detection and role of genome-wide chromosomal copy number aberrations in cancer | Prof. Dr. Bauke Ylstra
2023-03-20 13:00 - 14:00
Seminar 20.03.2023 13h A0.02
Detection and role of genome-wide chromosomal copy number aberrations in cancer
Prof. Dr. Bauke Ylstra Pathology department, AmsterdamUMC, The Netherlands
Ylstra is full professor in tumor genome analysis, and research coordinator of the Pathology department of AmsterdamUMC. His lab has a focus on genome analysis from archival (FFPE) materials. This includes copy number analysis by shallow Whole Genome Sequencing (sWGS), in combination with Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and translocation analysis with an emphasis on archival (FFPE) materials. Dedicated algorithms are developed, some of which have become the ‘industry’ standard for genome analytics. Of particular interest is the analysis of materials from cancer clinical trial series, given strict inclusion criteria and complete clinical follow up for dedicated (marker) discovery and validation. Currently the main focus is on GI, Lung, Head and Neck, Brain and lymphatic malignancies.

The mysteries of the Brain - Brain Awareness Week
2023-03-15 10:00 - 12:00
The International Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is a global initiative, which aims to make the research work around the study of the brain known to the general public. BAW is an initiative of the Dana Alliance, and coordinated in Portugal by the Portuguese Society of Neurosciences in collaboration with Ciência Viva.
ICVS celebrates the Brain Awareness Week by designing an event dedicated to the mysteries of the brain where school students can participate in interactive lectures, institute visits and hands-on activities about the brain.

Finding solutions in a dish: advanced human in vitro modeling approaches for fundamental and translational research
2023-03-13 08:00 - 2023-03-31 17:00
Several groundbreaking discoveries in the past decades have contributed to the exponential increase of in vitro models’ relevance in both fundamental and translational research. In 2007, the possibility of reprograming patient-specific somatic cells into (induced) pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) established the beginning of a new era of in vitro disease modeling studies. The additional development of versatile gene editing tools (e.g., CRISPR/Cas9), biocompatible and biomimetic biomaterials, microfluidics based culture platforms and dynamic culture systems (i.e. bioreactors) have added further complexity to these models. The present course was designed to provide a multidisciplinary discussion environment, mainly dedicated to the use of these innovative strategies and their application in the disease modeling field. For that, we will bring together national and international experts from these different backgrounds to provide students and external participants knowledge on:
Stem cell biology, particularly focused on iPSCs;
Embryonic development process and how is it recapitulated in vitro for obtaining the desired cell types from iPSCs;
Modern gene editing tools and their application in disease modeling context;
2D and 3D culture systems and how can they be modulated to improve cell maturation;
In vitro modeling studies as a tool for understanding organ-specific development and disease mechanisms.
Moreover, we will promote discussion on the advances and future challenges of these advanced in vitro models to support the replacing, reducing, and refining (3Rs) of the use of in vivo experimentation.

Research Methodologies
2023-02-20 08:00 - 2023-03-10 17:00
This course aims to provide students with knowledge and practice in terms of:
1. use of scientific language to communicate ideas and results (scientific writing);
2. definition of a project from a research topic with the formulation of research hypotheses grounded in relevant literature on the theme;
3. critical and comprehensive collection of information relevant to a project;
4. synthesis of information collected in a review work quality in terms of:
a. writing;
b. framework;
c. content;
5. production of a non-systematic internationally publishable literature review (minimum: Journal of Young Investigators – www.jyi.org).
