News

As we've done in the last 10 years, from 3rd to 14th July we organized the Summer School of Experimental Surgery reaching the first milestone as 10th edition. The School main goal is to offer first hand training in surgical procedures to medical students as well as lectures from Internationally renowned professors and researchers on the techniques and latest findings in biomedicine. 32 students participated in the School from Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Serbia and Spain. Half of the School time consisted in the training of surgical procedures (both in vivo and ex vivo) in a porcine model in our operating theaters. Lectures were given by our international collaborators: Prof. Dr-med. Pierre-Alain Clavien (University Hospital Zurich, What to know about Liver Surgery?),  Dr. Monique M.A. Verstegen (Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, Design by Nature; Emerging Applications of Extracellular Matrix for Liver Regenerative Medicine), Prof. Dr. Inge Herrmann (ETH Zurich, Innovating medical materials and technology) and Dr. Alexandre H. C. Anthis (ETH Zurich, Robust and Intelligent Adhesives for the Abdominal Cavity). Other Lectures were given by collaborators from our Faculty departments and in particular by Prof. Dr. Kari Hemminki (Laboratory of Translational Cancer Genomics, Survival in Cancers), Prof. Dr. Jan Benes (Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, Anesthesia in Animals Experiments), Prof. Ing Jaroslav Hrabak (Department of Microbiology, Microbiology in Surgical Practice) and Prof. Dr. Zbynek Tonar (Department of Histology and Embryology, Histological Methods in Experiment).  Also members of our Laboratory gave lectures about Statistics (Ing. Petr Hosek), Tissue Engineering (Dr. Vladimira Moulisova) and Software Models (Ing. Miroslav Jirik). This year we also added practical lectures on the Basics of Vascular Anastomosis, Microsurgery and Plastic Surgery. We also had occasions to have fun during the School with Barbecue Parties and the visit to Pilsner Urquell Brewery followed by a LaserTag game.

We took the opportunity of the 10th edition to summarize the previous Summer Schools and create a Board of Members of our Team to acknowledge the yearly effort. We also take the opportunity to thank current and past members of the Team and the almost 300 students we trained in the past 10 years. More information can be found on the official website of the School, were also more pictures are available.

Important aspects of colon and pancreatic cancer research were presented through lectures by renowned speakers from many countries. The topics included epidemiology, genetics, epigenetics, microbiome and treatment of these serious diseases. The conference also provided a platform for young researchers to present their results in the form of posters and discuss their research.

Colorectal cancer is one of the critical problems in the West Bohemia region. This is one of the reasons why the research at the Biomedical Centre focuses on these types of cancer. The availability of a large pool of samples and patients with colorectal cancer in Pilsen is a great advantage for conducting studies in this area.

The main organizers of the conference were Professor Kari Hemminki, the central person of the ERA Chair "Chaperon" project at the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen of the Charles University, and Dr. Pavel Vodička, head of the Department of Molecular Biology of Cancer at the Institute of Experimental Medicine CAS. Professor Hemminki is a recognized expert in the field of epidemiology and genetics of cancer. Prior to his appointment as the "ERA chair" at the Pilsen faculty, he led a research group at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Now, thanks to the Chaperon project, he founded and leads the Laboratory of Translational Cancer Genomics at the Biomedical Centre of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen. Dr. Vodička is one of the researchers of the Chaperon project and a member of the Laboratory of Tumor Treatment and Tissue Regeneration at the Biomedical Center, and he also heads the Department of Molecular Biology of Cancer at the Institute of Experimental Medicine CAS. Dr. Vodička has been a recognized expert in the molecular epidemiology of cancer for many years, at both the national and international levels.

The conference was opened by the Rector of Charles University, Prof. Milena Králíčková, and during the opening ceremony she presented Dr. Pavel Vodička with a silver commemorative medal of the Charles University for his contribution to the development of medical sciences. Other guests who, together with the Rector, opened the conference, were the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen of the Charles University, Prof. Jindřich Fínek, and the Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the CAS, Ing. Jan Topinka.

The conference was a unique gathering in the Czech Republic, which brought together the top personalities in the field – a total of almost a hundred participants from three continents. Among other participants, the conference was honored to host:

• Ulrike Peters, from the Division of Epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, USA, a leader in research on the molecular epidemiology and biology of colorectal cancer. She leads the international GECCO consortium, which brings together scientists from all over the world (USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia).

• Federico Canzian, from the Department of Genetics and Epidemiology at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, is the long-standing leader of the European PANDORA consortium and, from 2022, the leader of the COST project bringing together scientists researching pancreatic cancer.

• Sergi Castellví-Bel, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital Clínic, University of Barcelona, Barcelona. Principal Investigator of two consecutive European COST projects looking in detail at the genetics of colorectal cancer.

• Richarda de Voer, Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, is a prominent figure in the molecular genetics of solid tumors.

• Alessio Naccarati from the Italian Institute for Genomic Medicine (IIGM), Candiolo, Italy, who is also with the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the CAS. His main research topic is the application of liquid biopsy methods and epigenetics in further characterization of colorectal cancer.

• Claire Palles, Department of Genetics and Genomics, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, College of Medical and Dental Science, University of Birmingham, UK. A leader in colorectal cancer research. Discovered a key polymerase enzyme proofreading in colorectal carcinogenesis.

• Ondřej Slabý, Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Masaryk Cancer Institute, Czech Republic. A prominent, world-renowned protagonist of research on non-coding RNA molecules in carcinogenesis.

The conference was held under the auspices of the "ERA Chair" Chaperon project (ERA Chair Position for Excellent Research in Oncology), hosted by the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University. The main idea of the "ERA Chair" projects is to bring excellent scientists to developing universities and research institutions, thus injecting them with world-class know-how in research. These projects operate on two levels - the presence of a top researcher in the position of "ERA Chair" allows, on the one hand, to attract, retain and increase the quality of human resources and, on the other hand, to make the structural changes necessary to achieve excellence in the institution. The Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen of the Charles University was one of only four successful applicants in the Czech Republic for this grant in the Horizon 2020 call in 2019. In the follow-up Horizon Europe call, the Czech Republic was awarded five grants, so there are a total of 9 of these prestigious positions in the country.

During the Chaperon project, Professor Hemminki's research team has already published more than 80 research papers. Among the most important results, which also deal with malignancies other than the main focus of the conference, are two studies on hepatocellular carcinoma.

These studies have revealed important links between the course of the disease and the infiltration of immune cells into the tumor and its surroundings, along with genetic mutations in the tumor cells. These findings may contribute to the development of new approaches to the treatment of this type of cancer.

We would also like to thank Jitka Horáková, Petr Hošek, Barbora Černíková, Lenka Kuberková and Petra Havlíčková for the perfect preparation and organization of the congress.

Photos from CUCAP are available on the Caperon project website.

Our PhD student Maria Stefania Massaro, MEng. attended the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) European chapter in Manchester. The meeting is one of the most important related to Tissue Engineering with more than 1000 registered attendees mostly from Europe. Plenary lectures included internationally renowned researchers such as Matthew Dalby (UK), Jennifer H. Elisseeff (USA), Viola Vogel (Switzerland) and Cato T. Laurencin (USA). Topics of the conference included mechanobiology, bioreactor development, cartilage engineering, vascular engineering and surgical translation of regenerative medicine. She participated with a poster about the porcine caval vein decellularization and repopulation in vitro. During the 4 days of the meeting, there were plenty of opportunities to exchange ideas about research methods and relative results with the scientific community.

In February, we welcomed a delegation of friends from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich to test new patches for intestinal anastomosis healing in vivo. Plenty of data were collected during this two weeks visit in order to strengthen our research activity.  

In January,our PhD student Maria Stefania Massaro, M.Eng. went to Graz (Austria) to perform the multi-photon imaging of caval veins samples. This technique is based on the self excitation of collagen and elastin fibers at specific wavelenght and is a powerful tool to analyze and extract parameters to describe the fibers allignment such as the angle of orientation. This imaging was performed at the Institute of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Graz in collaboration with Dr. Heimo Wolinski (https://homepage.uni-graz.at/en/working-group-wolinski/).

On the occasion of the national holiday, on October 28, 2022, the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman,  awarded the First Class Merit Medal to Professor Vladislav Třeška, among others, for services to the state in the field of science and education. Representatives of Charles University are among the other new holders of the First Class Medal of Merit, the medal for heroism in memoriam awarded by the President to several students and student representatives of the Charles University executed on November 17, 1939.

Prof. MUDr. Vladislav Třeška, DrSc., is a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University. As a native of Pilsen, he has remained loyal to his city to this day, even in the role of a renowned surgeon at the Department of Surgery in Pilsen University Hospital, where he has been the head for many years. Thanks to his professional work and successful medical practice, he became a world-renowned expert, especially in the field of transplantology, vascular and liver surgery. In these fields, he introduced a number of unique original methods that are applied in clinical practice. He was thus responsible for significant advances in medicine in the 21st century. Thanks to these key merits, he also became the head of the Transplantation Center in Pilsen. He participated in repeated internships at surgical clinics in Great Britain, the USA and Hong Kong.

Prof. Třeška works at the Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Pilsen as vice-dean for doctoral studies, habilitation and appointment procedures. For more than 30 years, he has been teaching to both Czech and foreign medical students, including post-graduate students – as a supervisor he led 10 doctoral students, all of whom defended their Ph.D.

His research and publication works (H index 23) are also significant, as well as his membership in many professional societies at the Czech and European level. He is the author or co-author of 19 monographs focusing on the above-mentioned professional topics. He is a frequently invited speaker and visiting professor in Europe, USA and Japan. He is the holder of many prizes and medals, especially for the creation of educational texts and important professional monographs.

Our PhD student, Ing. Massaro, just came back from an intenship in Graz, Austria, were she spent several weeks performing mechanical testing of some decellularized scaffolds for one of our projects. The internship is insidw the Institute of Biomechanics at Graz Technical University, led by Prof. Holzapfel (https://www.biomech.tugraz.at/).  The intership was done as part of the START Project (START/MED/027) to characterize the decellularized caval veins with specific focus on the mechanical behaviour. The samples are mounted on the machine and then inflated at the physiologic pressure while they are immersed in a saline solution at 37°C to simulate the in vivo environment. Tests were done for native caval veins and for decellularized scaffolds to study the effects of cells removal on the tissue biomechanics.

Prof. Holzapfel Lab is focused on the application of Experimental and Computational Mechanics to soft tissues, with specific studies on the blood vessels, stomach tissue or brain both in health and disease conditions.

Last month, between 19-20th september, members of our Team participated to the IX Congress of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery here in Plzen (HPB2022, https://www.chirurgieplzen2022.cz/) were we presented our research during several presentations. It was the meeting of the Czech Surgical Society and evidenced the importance of collaboration between the researchers at the University and the doctors at the hospitals in the development of new technologies for heathcare.  Talks were given by Prof. Liška, Prof. Třeška, Dr. Moulisová, Dr. Brůha, Dr. Pálek, Dr. Rosendorf, Ing. Jiřík, Ing. Massaro, and by our main collaborators from the Laboratory of Translational Cancer Genomics (Prof. Hemminki, Dr. Ambrozkiewicz, Dr. Trailin), from the Department of Anaesthesiology and Resuscitation (Prof. Beneš), from the Department of Biophysics (Dr. Bolek) and from the Department of Imaging Methods (Prof. Mírka). Some collaborators and students attended the congress as passive participants (Dr. Lenka Červenková, Dr. Sima Šarčević, Jan Ševčík, Lucie Kepková, Táňa Drhovská).