We invite you to the next NVF webinar organised by the Dutch Pharmacological Society.
The speakers are: Prof. Wiktor Szymański and Dr. Angelica Sabogal.
Speaker 1: Prof. Wiktor Szymański, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Photopharmacology and Imaging, Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, University of Groningen
Title of the talk: Photopharmacology: concepts, tools and applications
About Speaker: Molecular photomedicine holds the promise for precise treatments, which avoid systemic adverse effects and development of drug resistance. This promise is supported by current medical imaging modalities that are able to reveal the nature and location of malignancies, such as cancer and infections. At the same time, biomedical engineering has recently created methods to deliver light deep into human body. The photomedicine puzzle is currently missing its final piece – the way of translating light into a therapy. To address this challenge, drugs could be introduced whose activity could be reversibly or irreversibly controlled. The aim of this presentation is to describe the emerging concept of photopharmacology, which is currently being developed and applied to precisely control the activity of drugs using light.
Speaker 2: Dr. Angelica Sabogal, Department of Molecular, Cell Biology and Immunology, Amsterdam UMC
(The presented work was performed during my Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Groningen)
Title of the talk: The importance of microglia in metabolic changes of the brain: A world to explore
Abstract: Our research within the group of Dr. Dolga (University of Groningen, The Netherlands) focusses on understanding metabolic changes in basal and pathological conditions. Microglia are involved in metabolic reprogramming in response to inflammatory stimuli. In order to delineate inflammatory responses that are specific to murine and human microglia, we investigated the transcriptomic and metabolic profiles of mouse and iPSC-derived human microglia challenged with the TLR4 agonist LPS. We found that both species undergo metabolic reprogramming and displayed an overall increased glycolytic gene signature in response to LPS, although the metabolic pathways involve different enzymes in human microglia compared to murine microglia. We highlight these species-specific pathways involved in immunometabolism and the importance of considering these differences in translational research for potential therapeutic agents in neurodegeneration.