Dr. Ana Beloqui is an Associate Professor and Research Associate from the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS) at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium), and group leader in the Advanced Drug Delivery and Biomaterials lab at the Louvain Drug Research Institute. Dr Beloqui’s main research interests are the investigation of the oral drug delivery route (especially focused on the oral delivery of biologics) and the interaction of the drug delivery system with the gastrointestinal epithelium. She has received multiple scholarships and prizes, including the Galien Prize 2021 in Belgium, the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Prize 2023 from the Belgian National Funds of Research, the Rising Woman in Science award from the Controlled Release Society in 2024, and the prestigious ERC starting and proof of concept grants from the European Research Council. She also serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Controlled Release.

Keynote Abstract

Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) produce ~20 gut hormones that regulate a wide range of metabolic processes, in which most hormones have more than one physiological role and most of these physiological roles are performed by more than one hormone. Nutrients, such as lipids, can interact with various G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) expressed on EECs and induce the release of gut hormones. Lipids are widely present in a wide range of excipients used in nanocarriers. During the last years, my group has been working on the stimulation of gut hormones secretion via lipid nanocarriers orally administered in the context of type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease treatment^1-5. The goal of this strategy is to stimulate the secretion of gut hormones while simultaneously providing with plasmatic levels of the encapsulating peptide towards an oral delivery alternative to the subcutaneous peptide injection. Mechanistic tudies in wild-type, dysglycemic, and gut Gcg knockout mice demonstrated that the effect exerted by lipid nanocarriers could be modulated by varying the excipients (e.g., nature and quantities), the formulation methodology, and their physiochemical properties (e.g., size and composition)⁶. This presentation highlights the therapeutic potential of using nanotechnology to modulate release of multiple endogenous hormones from the enteroendocrine system through a patient-friendly, inexpensive, and noninvasive manner.

References.

(1) Xu, Y.; Van Hul, M.; Suriano, F.; Préat, V.; Cani, P. D.; Beloqui, A. Novel strategy for oral peptide delivery in incretin-based diabetes treatment. Gut 2020, 69 (5), 911-919. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2019-319146.

(2) Xu, Y.; De Keersmaecker, H.; Braeckmans, K.; De Smedt, S.; Cani, P. D.; Préat, V.; Beloqui, A. Targeted nanoparticles towards increased L cell stimulation as a strategy to improve oral peptide delivery in incretin-based diabetes treatment. Biomaterials 2020, 255, 120209. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120209.

(3) Domingues, I.; Michalowski, C. B.; Marotti, V.; Zhang, W.; Van Hul, M.; Cani, P. D.; Leclercq, I. A.; Beloqui, A. Exploiting the biological effect exerted by lipid nanocapsules in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. J Control Release 2023, 356, 542-553. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.03.012.

(4) Beloqui, A. Gut hormone stimulation as a therapeutic approach in oral peptide delivery. J Control Release 2024, 373, 31-37. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2024.07.007.

(5) Marotti, V.; Xu, Y.; Bohns Michalowski, C.; Zhang, W.; Domingues, I.; Ameraoui, H.; Moreels, T. G.; Baatsen, P.; Van Hul, M.; Muccioli, G. G.; et al. A nanoparticle platform for combined mucosal healing and immunomodulation in inflammatory bowel disease treatment. Bioact Mater 2024, 32, 206-221. DOI: 10.1016/j.bioactmat.2023.09.014.

(6) Xu, Y.; Michalowski, C. B.; Koehler, J.; Darwish, T.; Guccio, N.; Alcaino, C.; Domingues, I.; Zhang, W.; Marotti, V.; Van Hul, M.; et al. Smart control lipid-based nanocarriers for fine-tuning gut hormone secretion. Sci Adv 2024, 10 (50), eadq9909. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adq9909.

Abstract

“Is this nanoparticle a drug, or a medical device?” The answer isn’t always clear-cut at the nanoscale and, in this story, the answer meant the difference between being “just an idea” and a company that now treats a patient every four minutes with its technology in over 45 countries around the world.

In the last 15 years, Dr Mayes has led the development of Endomag from an academic spin-out to a team of over 160 people that sold to global women’s health company, Hologic in the summer of 2024.  This lecture will detail the clinical need that opened the opportunity for Endomag’s growth, and the technical and regulatory challenges along the way.  It will also cover the value of developing close customer relationships to foster innovation, and other insights in the process of taking a company from an idea to a successful exit… and beyond.”

Short Bio

Dr Eric Mayes is Vice President, General Manager of Endomag, a Hologic Company, and has over 25 years’ experience in developing and leading “Deep Tech” companies spanning data storage, display technology, printed electronics and medical devices. Eric has led oncology focused Endomag from a UCL spin-out through its acquisition by leading women’s health company, Hologic, Inc. for $310m in 2024. Since marketing its first device for staging breast cancer in late 2012, the company has now helped over 600,000 patients receive a higher standard of care in over 1,500 hospitals across 45 countries. Prior to joining Endomag as CEO in 2010, Eric served as Director of Commercial Development for Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) which was sold to Sumitomo Chemical in 2007 for $285m. Prior to CDT, he served as CEO of NanoMagnetics that developed high performance materials for the data storage industry. For that founding role, he was named the Royal Society of Chemistry’s “Entrepreneur of the Year 2003”. With a strong interest in supporting the translation of scientific research, Eric lectures internationally on nanomaterials commercialisation and technology entrepreneurship. He has been an advisor to the University of Texas at Austin’s “Texas Health Catalyst”, the European Healthtech Translation Advisory Board (HealthtechTAB) and is currently on the Investment Committee for Cambridge Enterprise’s Technology Investment Fund (TIF). He holds a BSc in Physics from Arkansas State University, a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bath and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

SELECTED TALKS (12 min)

• 🏆 Best-ranked talk: Roger Molto Pallares (Group Leader, RWTH Aachen University Hospital) – Engineered microbubbles for enhanced drug delivery, ultrasound imaging & barrier opening
• Mario Martinez (Postdoctoral Researcher, IMDEA Nanociencia) – Multifunctionalized gold nanoparticles for biomedical applications
• María González Portela (PhD Candidate, University of Santiago de Compostela) – Nanoassemblies for oral delivery of antibodies: Targeted treatment of intestinal diseases
• Pablo Taboada (Full Professor, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela) – Biomimetic cellsome nanocarriers for cardiovascular disease treatment

FLASH TALKS (6 min)

• Josep Garcia Garcia (R&D Formulation Manager, Curapath) – Shielding lipo-polymers: PEG-free alternatives for lipid nanoparticles
• Giovanna Lollo (Associate Professor, Claude Bernard Lyon 1) – Hybrid lipid-polymer nanocomposites for targeted oral therapy in IBD
• Cristina Yus (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Zaragoza) – Antibacterial photodynamic therapy: a weapon against antimicrobial resistance

SELECTED TALKS (12 min)

• 🏆 Best-ranked talk: Sylvain Ladame (Reader in Biosensor Development, Imperial College London) – Swellable hydrogel microneedle patches to interrogate miRNA in skin fluid
• Alberto Martín Asensio (PhD Student, IMDEA Nanoscience) – Measuring nanoparticle transport in tumor-on-a-chip devices
• Chiara De Cesari (Postdoctoral Researcher, CNR Nanoscience Institute) – Neuronal extracellular vesicles to study Angelman Syndrome

FLASH TALKS (6 min)

• Silvia Picciolini (Researcher, IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi) – EVs as biomarkers for personalized cardiac rehabilitation
• Giovanni Nava (Professor, University of Milan) – Optical digital biosensor for whole-virus counting

SELECTED TALKS (12 min)

🏆 Best-ranked talks (ex-aequo):

• María Irujo (PhD Researcher, Advanced BioDesign) – Innovative ALDH inhibition for lung cancer therapy with SORT-lipid nanoemulsions
• Ambra Del Grosso (Postdoctoral Researcher, CNR Nanosciences & NEST Pisa) – Innovative Nanostructured Polymeric Platforms for Enzyme Delivery Across the Blood Brain Barrier
• Alba García-Fernández (Postdoctoral Researcher, CIBER/UPV) – Biocompatible fuel-powered nanomotors: Enhancing in vivo anticancer efficacy through deep drug penetration into tumors

FLASH TALKS (6 min)

• Bella Manshian (Team Leader, KU Leuven) – 3D Precision-Cut Tissue Slices for Personalized Medicine Translation
• Cristina Fornaguera Puigvert (Associate Professor, Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS) – Universitat Ramon Llull (URL) – Immunomodulatory pBAE polymers for mRNA vaccine delivery
• Camille Ménier (PhD Student, University of Angers) – Inhalable nanoparticles to fight lung cancer

SELECTED TALKS (12 min)

• 🏆 Best-ranked talk: Nuria Oliva (Associate Professor, IQS-URL) – Machine learning for precision nanomedicine: Forecasting cellular uptake
• Mingzhi Yu (PhD Student, University College Dublin) – High-throughput microfluidic & AI-driven screening of LNP formulations
• Alberto Martinez-Serra (Postdoctoral Researcher, BSC) – LLM-driven meta-analysis in nano research

Angela Nieto is currently Full Professor at Institute of Neurosciences (CSIC-UMH) in Alicante, Spain. President of the International Society for Developmental Biology until 2022. She coordinates the “Cellular plasticity and brain repair” programme at the Institute of Neurosciences and the CSIC Cancer national hub. After her PhD in 1987 (Madrid) she worked at the Institute for Biomedical Research also in Madrid and at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. She joined the Cajal Institute in Madrid in 1993, and since then she has led a research group interested in studying cell plasticity and, in particular, the Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), fundamental during embryonic development for the formation of multiple tissues and organs. The main contribution of her group has been the impact that the reactivation of this developmental program has in adult disease, including cancer progression and organ degeneration. She is a member of the Academies of Sciences of Europe, France, Spain and Latin-America. Among others, she has received the Ramón y Cajal Spanish National Research Prize; the Mexico Prize in Science and Technology and the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award for Europe.

Abstract.

Epithelial homeostasis is crucial for maintaining tissue architecture and must therefore be tightly regulated in the adult. In contrast, embryonic cells show a high degree of epithelial plasticity necessary for proper morphogenesis and for the massive cell movements that occur during gastrulation and neural crest delamination, among other developmental processes. We have studied cell movements, plasticity and epithelial to mesenchymal transitions (EMT) for many years and found that the aberrant activation of EMT programs in adult cells leads to several pathologies including tumor progression and organ degeneration. We have developed animal models and performed lineage tracing and single-cell transcriptomics allowing us to reveal how EMT programs are implemented in the different settings. We have characterized the embryonic EMT program implemented during neural crest development and the adult program that occurs during organ fibrosis.  In cancer, we find that cells activate EMT first to dedifferentiate and later cancer cells bifurcate into two distinct and antagonic cellular trajectories in segregated populations. Interestingly, these two trajectories correspond to the activation of the embryonic neural crest-like and the adult fibrotic-like EMTs to, respectively, drive dissemination towards metastasis formation or anti-tumor inflammation. Our data unveil a new role for EMT in orchestrating an additional layer of intratumoral heterogeneity and suggest its potential in the development of targeted therapies aimed at limiting metastasis and enhancing antitumor immune responses in cancer patients. Similarly, we find that inhibiting EMT attenuates established fibrosis in animal models, holding promise for new antifibrotic therapeutic approaches. In summary, understanding how EMT programs are implemented along cellular plasticity trajectories in different pathological contexts provides a suitable platform to design better therapeutic strategies for devastating diseases such as cancer and organ degeneration.

SELECTED TALKS (12 min)

• 🏆 Best-ranked talk: Ivan Ciganek (PhD Student, Sanofi R&D & ART ARNm INSERM) – LNPs for primary B-cell engineering via mRNA-CRISPR
• Lucía Sanjurjo Bouza (Junior PI, USC & IDIS) – Advanced mRNA nanocarriers for ex vivo & in vivo T-cell therapy
• Ainhoa González Caelles (PhD, IBEC) – PLGA nanobots for siRNA delivery in bladder cancer

FLASH TALKS (6 min)

• Marta Guerra Rebollo (Assistant Professor, IQS-URL) – Polymer-coated AAVs for Duchenne gene therapy
• Ela Cetin (PhD Student, Fraunhofer IZI) – In vivo LNP delivery to bypass ex vivo CAR-T manufacturing
• Victor Puntes (Professor, Vall d’Hebron Institute) – CeO₂ nanoparticles to scavenge ROS and prevent tumour progression

SELECTED TALKS (12 min)

🏆 Best-ranked talks (ex-aequo):

• Vincenzo Amendola (Professor, University of Padova) – Radiotherapy window expansion with multifunctional gold-alloy nanoparticles
• Inés Rubio Prego (PhD Student, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela) – Pre-targeting approach for radiotheragnosis in glioblastoma multiforme

FLASH TALKS (6 min)

• Regina Bleul (Group Leader, Fraunhofer IMM) – Continuous manufacturing of nanoformulations and nanotheranostics
• Marzia Conte (Research Fellow, Politecnico di Torino) – Ultrasound-activated hybrid nanocrystals for pancreatic cancer therapy