TCES Travel Bursary for TERMIS 6th World Congress 2021
Sara Memarpour Hobbi
In November 2021 I had the opportunity to present my PhD work for the first time as an oral presentation in the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) 6th World Congress meeting, which was held digitally. I am very grateful to TCES for granting me the travel bursary as otherwise I would have not been able to attend the conference.
The general theme of the congress was “Biologically inspired technology driven regenerative medicine”, where I was able to present my work in the session for bio-inspired technologies for peripheral nerve repair. I had the fantastic opportunity to listen and participate in various discussions throughout different sessions, not only in my field of interest but also other sessions. Sessions ranged from novel technologies involving different cell sources to mechanisms of action and biomaterial design and development. Personally, I really enjoyed the various keynote talks integrating both pre-clinical and clinical research which has highlighted the journey of different investigators across the world.
The digital nature of the conference was also a unique experience, whilst it would have been great to network in person, I think everyone was more than open to connect regardless, whether in the online networking sessions, mentoring sessions or simply via the platform messaging system. An advantage of the virtual platform is that I have been able to go back and watch presentations that I missed during the conference as the recordings have been available for re-watching in our own time
Overall, it was a fantastic experience and conference and I hope to be able to attend again in the future.
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Tosca Roncada (PhD student) at University of Portsmouth
The 6th world congress of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS2021) took place in Maastricht from the 15th of November to the 19th of November. Due to the current uncertain situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was held online. TERMIS is the most prominent society in the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The world congress, with over 1800 attendees, was a great opportunity for me to learn more about cutting edge techniques applied in TERM as well as to present my PhD work. I was able to present at two different poster sessions. The first one was “P_BM4 session “Biomaterials for stem cell culture and differentiation for stem cell therapy.” and the second one was the P_BM30 “Biomaterials for musculoskeletal application”. Both sessions were held in the format of 5/6 minutes presentation followed by Q&A. I was particularly lucky as in the second session only a few speakers showed up which allowed me to extensively explain and describe my project with an interactive discussion with the moderator.
The TERMIS congress gave me the opportunity to follow several sessions focused on biomaterials for joint repair which is the main focus of my project. It was really interesting to see the latest trend in cartilage repair and be able to observe the same problems from many different perspectives ranging from biomaterials development to organoid technologies. At the same time, I was able to join also sessions on different topics that I found particularly interesting such as decellularized matrix for tissue engineering and melt electrowriting.
TERMIS also gave the possibility to students and young investigators to chair poster sessions. I was the moderator during the P_MA14 session “Mechanobiology for 3D materials and tissues”. This was a great experience and I am grateful I have been involved. Further, the TERMIS SYIS EU organized various events on career development and possible career to undertake after the PhD.
Overall the TERMIS congress was a great experience and an opportunity to broaden my knowledge and introduce me to novel and cutting-edge technologies.
I am extremely grateful to TCES for awarding me a Travel Bursary to cover my registration to attend the conference giving me the possibility to participate in this exciting meeting.
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TCES travel report – 18th Annual meeting of IFATS Fort Lauderdale 18th-20th November
Samuel Higginbotham
In November, I travelled to Fort Lauderdale in Florida to attend the 18th Annual meeting of the International Federation for Adipose Therapeutics and Science (IFATS). The aim of the meeting was to bring together clinicians, scientific researchers, and industrial partners together to present, discuss and share information to help translate current knowledge into regenerative therapeutic applications. There were many themed sessions discussing regenerative medicine and current challenges in tissue engineering such as bone regeneration, matrix engineering, and novel hydrogel generation. There was excellent and interesting science being presented on the research area I am working in (skin and scar regeneration). Accompanying these were great plenary talks given by leaders in their field. My particular highlights were those given by Dr. Farshid Guilak and Dr. Camillo Ricordi.
As a result of funds given by TCES I was able to orally present my work on adipose tissue’s effect on myofibroblast differentiation. Furthermore, I was able to meet and discuss ideas with many of the most experienced researchers and clinicians in the field. As a final year Ph.D student, being able to present at an international conference was an important milestone for my career, alongside the networking and collaboration opportunities presented by being able to attend in person. I would like to thank TCES for the funds provided to help me attend this conference.