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In the scientific context, results are mainly shared through publications in peer-reviewed and open access high impact journals.
Dissemination at key international conferences is crucial for fostering a dialogue within the scientific community.
As a Horizon 2020 project, VANGUARD produces deliverables reporting on its progress and achievements. Public deliverables can be found in this space.
Below is a list of all accepted VANGUARD scientific publications available to date. Further publications as well as conference posters, proceedings and presentations will be added when available.
Campo F, Neroni A, Pignatelli C, Bignard J, Berishvili E, Piemonti L, Citro A. Bioengineered vascularized insulin producing endocrine tissues. In: Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes. 2023:151-177. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-41943-0_8
Cronin AJ, Thom RL, VANGUARD Consortium. Regulatory challenges at the intersection of cellular and medical device therapies in Europe: The case of the bioartificial pancreas. Law Tech Hum. 2023;5(2):114-133.doi:10.5204/lthj.3118
Bellofatto K, Lebreton F, Fonseca L M, Hanna R, Bignard J, Galvan V, Peloso A, Berney T, Compagnon Ph, VANGUARD Consortium, Berishvili E. Vascularized endocrine pancreas for type 1 diabetes. Transplantation. 2023;107(10S2):58-58. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0000994052.77218.10
Bellofatto K, Lebreton F, Fonseca LM, Hanna R, Bignard J, Galvan V, Peloso A, Berney T, Compagnon PH, VANGUARD Consortium, Berishvili E. Hydrogel-based, prevascularized, retrievable endocrine construct to treat Type 1 Diabetes. Transplantation. 2023;107(10S2):57-57. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0000994048.59940.dd
de Jongh D, Thom RL, Cronin AJ, Bunnik EM, Massey EK. Clinical translation of bio-artificial pancreas therapies: Ethical, legal and psychosocial interdisciplinary considerations and key recommendations. Transpl Int. 2023;36:11705. doi:10.3389/ti.2023.11705
Thom RL, Cronin AJ, VANGUARD Consortium. Legal and regulatory challenges for emerging regenerative medicine solutions for diabetes. Transplantation. Published online 26 September 2023. doi:10.1097/TP.0000000000004797
Pires AS, Bollini S, Botelho MF, Lang-Olip I, Ponsaerts P, Balbi C, Lange-Consiglio A, Fénelon M, Mojsilović S, Berishvili E, Cremonesi F, Gazouli M, Bugarski D, Gellhaus A, Kerdjoudj H, Schoeberlein A. Guidelines to analyze preclinical studies using perinatal derivatives. Methods Protoc. 2023;6(3). doi:10.3390/mps6030045
Merlin S, Akula S, Cottonaro A, Garcia-Leal T, Serrano LJ, Borroni E, Kalandadze V, Galiano R, Borsotti C, Liras A, Sanchez MJ, Follenzi A. Therapeutic potential of fetal liver cell transplantation in hemophilia A mice. Haematologica. 2023;108(6):1544-1554. doi:10.3324/haematol.2022.282001
Bellofatto K, Lebreton F, Wassmer C, Fonseca L, Hanna R, Berishvili E. Generation of prevascularized endocrine constructs to treat type 1 diabetes. Transplantation. 2022;106(9S):S126-S126. doi:10.1097/01.tp.0000885936.38573.32
Honarpisheh M, Lei Y, Zhang Y, Pehl M, Kemter E, Kraetz M, Lange A, Wolf E, Wolf-van Buerck L, Seissler J. Formation of re-aggregated neonatal porcine islet clusters improves in vitro function and transplantation outcome. Transpl Int. 2022;35:10697. doi:10.3389/ti.2022.10697
de Jongh D, Massey EK, Cronin AJ, Schermer MHN, Bunnik EM, VANGUARD Consortium. Early-phase clinical trials of bio-artificial organ technology: A systematic review of ethical issues. Transpl Int. 2022;35:10751. doi:10.3389/ti.2022.10751
Berney T, Wassmer CH, Lebreton F, Bellofatto K, Mar-Fonseca L, Bignard J, Hanna R, Peloso A, Berishvili E. From islet of Langerhans transplantation to the bioartificial pancreas. Presse Med. 2022;51(4):104139. doi:10.1016/j.lpm.2022.104139
de Jongh D, Massey EK, VANGUARD consortium, Bunnik EM. Organoids: a systematic review of ethical issues. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2022;13(1):337. doi:10.1186/s13287-022-02950-9
Bunnik EM, de Jongh D, Massey E. Ethics of early clinical trials of bio-artificial organs. Transpl Int. 2022;35:10621. doi:10.3389/ti.2022.10621
Hanna R, Berishvili E. Advances and challenges of endocrine pancreas bioengineering. Curr Opin Endocr Metab Res. 2022;23(100320):100320. doi:10.1016/j.coemr.2022.100320
Lebreton F, Hanna R, Wassmer CH, Bellofatto K, Perez L, Othenin-Girard V, de Tejada BM, Cohen M, Berishvili E. Mechanisms of immunomodulation and cytoprotection conferred to pancreatic islet by human amniotic epithelial cells. Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2022;18(1):346-359. doi:10.1007/s12015-021-10269-w
Wassmer CH, Lebreton F, Bellofatto K, Perez Lisa, Cottet-Dumoulin D, Andres A, Bosco D, Berney T, Othenin-Girard V, Martinez de Tejada B, Cohen M, Olgasi C, Follenzi A, Berishvili E. Bio-engineering of pre-vascularized islet organoids for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. Transpl Int. 2021;35:10214. doi:10.3389/ti.2021.10214
Olgasi C, Borsotti C, Merlin S, Bergmann T, Bittorf P, Adewoye A B, Wragg N, Patterson K, Calabria A, Benedicenti F, Cucci A, Borchiellini A, Pollio B, Montini E, Mazzuca D M, Zierau M, Stolzing A, Toleikis P, Braspenning J, Follenzi A. Efficient and safe correction of hemophilia A by lentiviral vector-transduced BOECs in an implantable device. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2021;23:551-566. doi:10.1016/j.omtm.2021.10.015
Berishvili E, Kaiser L, Cohen M, Berney T, Scholz H, Floisand Y, Mattsson J. Treatment of COVID-19 pneumonia: The case for placenta-derived cell therapy. Stem Cell Rev Rep. 2021;17(1):63-70. doi:10.1007/s12015-020-10004-x
Lebreton F, Wassmer CH, Belofatto K, Berney T, Berishvili E. Organoïdes sécréteurs d’insuline. Med Sci (Paris). 2020;36(10):879-885. doi:10.1051/medsci/2020129
Berney T, Berishvili E. I’ve got you under my skin. Nat Metab. 2020;2(10):993-994. doi:10.1038/s42255-020-0268-8
Wassmer CH, Lebreton F, Bellofatto K, Bosco D, Berney T, Berishvili E. Generation of insulin-secreting organoids: a step toward engineering and transplanting the bioartificial pancreas. Transpl Int. 2020;33(12):1577-1588. doi:10.1111/tri.13721
Wassmer CH, Bellofatto K, Perez L, Lavallard V, Cottet-Dumoulin D, Ljubicic S, Parnaud G, Bosco D, Berishvili E, Lebreton F. Engineering of primary pancreatic islet cell spheroids for three-dimensional culture or transplantation: A methodological comparative study. Cell Transplant. 2020;29:963689720937292. doi:10.1177/0963689720937292
Wassmer CH, Berishvili E. Immunomodulatory properties of amniotic membrane derivatives and their potential in regenerative medicine. Curr Diab Rep. 2020;20(8):31. doi:10.1007/s11892-020-01316-w
Alibashe-Ahmed M, Berney T, Giovannoni L, Berishvili E. Targeting Toll-Like Receptor 4: a promising strategy to prevent type 1 diabetes occurrence or recurrence. CellR4. 2020; 8: e2850. doi:10.32113/cellr4_20205_2850
Members of the VANGUARD project continuesly participate in scientific conferences to present their latest progress. Below is the list of the oral presentations and scientific posters.
“Generation of gene-modified human mesenchymal stem cells with enhanced immune-protective properties in bioartificial pancreas” presented by Alessia Cucci, prepared by Alessia Cucci, Simone Assanelli, Cristina Olgasi, Chiara Sgromo, Fanny Lebreton, Francesco Campo, Cataldo Pignatelli, Citro Antonio, Lorenzo Piemonti, Ekaterine Berishvili, Consortium Vanguard, Antonia Follenzi, 13th EPITA Symposium, 30.01.2024, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
“Vascularized Endocrine Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Kevin Bellofatto, Third International Conference of Basic Sciences and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Science of South Valley University, 29-31.01.2024, online, Qena, Egypt
“Bioengineering Endocrine Pancreas” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), 21st Annual Meeting of the Swiss Transplantation Society, 26.01.2024, Thun, Switzerland
“Les Nouvelles Voies De Recherche En Thérapie Cellulaire” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Réunion scientifique Franco-Suisses, 19.01.2024, Annecy, Switzerland
“Bioengineering Endocrine Pancreas” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), 15th TERMIS-AST-ISCT Webinar, 11.01.2024, online
“Beyond beta cell replacement: bioengineering the endocrine pancreas” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Transplant Immunology and Innovations in Immunotherapies, 22.12.2023, Paris, France
“Construction endocrine a base prevascularisee et explantable de diabete de type 1” presented by Funny Lebreton (UNIGE), 23ème Réunion Annuelle de la Société Francophone de Transplantation, 08.12.2023, Brest, France.
“Clinical translation and implementation of a bio-artificial pancreas: a qualitative study exploring the perspectives of people with type 1 diabetes” presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), Annual Dutch Diabetes Research Meeting, 02.11.2023, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
“Bioartificial endocrine pancreas generated from human placenta for Type 1 Diabetes treatment” presented by Kevin Bellofatto (UNIGE), IPITA-IXA-CTRMS Joined congress 2023, 27.10.2023, San Diego, USA
“Hydrogel-based, prevascularized, retrievable endocrine construct to treat Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Fanny Lebreton (UNIGE), IPITA-IXA-CTRMS Joined congress 2023, 27.10.2023, San Diego, USA
“Bioartificial Pancreas to Cure Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Fokus Patient Transplantation Forum, 11.10.2023, Stockholm, Sweden
“Transgenic porcine neonatal islets expressing human PD-L1 reduce immune cell activation and cellular rejection in humanized NSG mice with type 1 diabetes” presented by Yutian Lei (LMUM), EASD 2023, 02-06.10.2023, Hamburg, Germany
“Hydrogel-based, prevascularized, retrievable endocrine construct to treat Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Fanny Lebreton (UNIGE), ESOT2023, 19.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Bioengineering Of Vascularized Insulin-Secreting Organoids For Type 1 Diabetes Cell Therapy” presented by Laura Mar Fonseca and Vanguard consortium (UNIGE), ESOT2023, 19.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Engineering Vascularized Endocrine Pancreas for Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Kevin Bellofatto (UNIGE), ESOT2023, 18.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Small Organs Large Aspirations. Next Generation Organoids“ State of the Art Lecture presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), ESOT2023, 18.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Generation Of Vascularized Endocrine Constructs For Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Laura Mar Fonseca and Vanguard consortium (UNIGE), ESOT2023, 19.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Clinical translation and implementation of a bio-artificial pancreas: a qualitative study exploring the perspectives of patients with type 1 diabetes“ presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), ESOT Congress 2023, 18.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Single-Cell RNA sequencing analysis of human amniotic epithelial cells to decipher the mechanisms of immunomodulation they confer to pancreatic islets” short oral communication presented by Juliette Bignard and VANGUARD consortium (UNIGE), ESOT Congress 2023, 18.09.2023, Athens, Greece
“Generation of a bioartificial pancreas for Type 1 diabetes” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), TREPID meeting, 01.06.2023, Biarritz, France
“Neonatal porcine pseudo-islets display an improvement in vitro function and transplantation outcome” presented by Mohsen Honarpisheh (LMUM), DDG Kongress, 17-20.05.2023, Berlin, Germany
“Clinical translation and implementation of a bio-artificial pancreas: a qualitative study exploring the perspectives of patients with type 1 diabetes“ presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), Clinical & Health Science Day, 09.05.2023, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
“Regenerative Medicine & Bio-Engineered Approaches to β-cell Replacement” postgraduate course presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), EDS 2023, 22.04.2023, Tbilisi, Georgia
“Generation of a bioartificial pancreas for Type 1 diabetes“ presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Congrès national de la Société Francophone du Diabète, 21.03.2023, Montpellier, France
“Overexpression Of hPD-L1 In Neonatal Porcine Islets Improves Long-Term Xenograft Survival In Humanized NSG Mice” presented by Yutian Lei (LMUM), 12th EPITA Symposium, 24.01.2023, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
“Biomarkers for Rejection” presented by Olivier Thaunat (CHU-LYON), 12th EPITA Symposium, 23.01.2023, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
“Organoids for the treatment of diabetes: “Fact or Fiction”?” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), 45th SITO National Congress, 24.10.2023, Trieste, Italy
“Ethics of early phase clinical trials of bio-engineered organs: points to consider” presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), EACME conference, 17.09.2022, Varese, Italy
“Generation of Prevascularized Endocrine Constructs to Treat Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), 29th International Congress of The Transplantation Society (TTS 2022), 10-14.09.2022, Buenos Aires, Argentina
“Generation of Prevascularized Endocrine Constructs to Treat Type 1 Diabetes” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), 29th International Congress of The Transplantation Society (TTS 2022), 10-14.09.2022, Buenos Aires, Argentina
“The ‘soft impacts’ of bio-artificial organ transplantation” presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), 16th World Congress of Bioethics (IAB), 22.07.2022, Basel, Switzerland
“Introduction to Islet Organoids” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), The 10th NICE/EPITA Islet Isolation and Beta Cell Replacement Workshop, 20.06.2022, Oslo, Norway
“Bioengineering of a vascularized endocrine pancreas to cure type I diabetes” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Spring 2022 Beta Cell Replacement Consortium Meeting, 23.05.2022, Los Angeles, USA
“Ethics of first-in-human transplantation trials of bioartificial organs” presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), 14th World Conference on Bioethics, Medical Ethics and Health Law conference, 07.03.2022, Porto, Portugal
“Engineering a bioartificial pancreas” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Séance commune SFT / ESAO, 21ème Congrès Annuel de la Société Francophone de Transplantation, 08.12.2021, Geneva, Switzerland
“Ethical considerations for responsible research and clinical development of chimeric bioartificial pancreases” presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), 6th Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) World Congress, 16.11.2021, Maastricht, The Netherlands
“Biofabrication of a functional Vascularized Endocrine Pancreas” presented by Antonio Citro (OSR), IPITA, 20-23.10.2021, online
“Homemade hydrogel from human amniotic membrane improves islet transplantation outcomes in diabetic immunodeficient mice” presented by Kevin Bellofatto (UNIGE), IPITA, 20-23.10.2021, online
“Human amniotic epithelial cells immunomodulatory properties protect islets against inflammatory cytokines in vitro” presented by Fanny Lebreton (UNIGE), IPITA, 20-23.10.2021, online
“The road toward a new Pancreas: from organoids to bio-engineered pancreas” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), ESAO – ESOT Joint Session- New challenges in organ replacement. ESAO Congress 2021, 10.09.2021, London, UK
“A systematic review of ethical issues of the use of organoids in research and clinical care” presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), European Association of Centres of Medical Ethics (EACME), 9-11.09.2021, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
“Super-Pancreas” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), Specialty Update Symposium- What is new in the translational pipeline? 20th Congress of ESOT, 29.08.2021, Milan, Italy
“Generation of Endocrine Pancreas Using Placental Derivatives” presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), State-of the-Art session- Cell and Biomaterials based Technologies in GI Bioengineering: Approaching the Bedside. ISCT 2021, 28.05.2021, New Orleans, online
“Generation of a bioartificial pancreas for type 1 diabetes“ presented by Ekaterine Berishvili (UNIGE), La néphrologie du futur” symposium, 15.04.2021, Lyon, France
“The effects of amniotic epithelial cells and their derivatives on pancreatic islets” scientific poster by Reine Hanna; Juliette Bignard; Laura Mar Fonseca; Fanny Lebreton; Kevin Bellofatto; Bosco Domenico; Vanguard Consortium; Ekaterine Berishvili, 13th EPITA Symposium, 28-30.01.2024, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
“Generation of vascularized endocrine constructs for type 1 diabetes” scientific poster by Laura Mar Fonseca; Fanny Lebreton; Kevin Bellofatto; Reine Hanna; Juliette Bignard; Cataldo Pignatelli; Antonio Citro; Lorenzo Piemonti; Cristina Olgasi; Antonia Follenzi; Philippe Compagnon; Thierry Berney; Vanguard Consortium; Ekaterine Berishvili, 13th EPITA Symposium, 28-30.01.2024, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
“Definition and optimization of new protocol for chimeric spheroids generation to bioengineer a bioartificial human pancreas (hBAP) for type 1 diabetes” scientific poster by Francesco Campo, Cataldo Pignatelli, Matteo Monieri, Alessia Neroni, Federica Casalnuovo, Fanny Lebreton, Kevin Bellofatto, Ekaterine Berishvili Berney, Cristina Olgasi, Antonia Follenzi, Silvia Pellegrini, Antonio Citro, Lorenzo Piemonti (OSR), PhD Meeting 2023 in Mario Negri Institute, 29-30.06.2023, Milano, Italy
“Definition and optimization of new protocol for chimeric spheroids generation to bioengineer a bioartificial human pancreas (hBAP) for type 1 diabetes” scientific poster by Francesco Campo, Cataldo Pignatelli, Matteo Monieri, Alessia Neroni, Federica Casalnuovo, Fanny Lebreton, Kevin Bellofatto, Ekaterine Berishvili Berney, Cristina Olgasi, Antonia Follenzi, Silvia Pellegrini, Antonio Citro, Lorenzo Piemonti (OSR), Ospedale San Raffaelle scientific retreat 2023, 08-11.03.2023, Baveno, Italy
“Early-phase clinical trials of bio-artificial organ technology: a systematic review of ethical issues” scientific poster by Dide de Jongh (EMC), 12th EPITA Symposium, 22-24.01.2023, Innsbruck-Igls, Austria
“Early-phase clinical trials of bio-artificial organ technology: a systematic review of ethical issues” moderated poster presented by Dide de Jongh (EMC), European Cell Therapy and Organ Regeneration Section (ECTORS) 3rd Meeting, 29.09.2022, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
“In vitro generation and characterization of human bioartificial pancreas for type 1 diabetes treatment” scientific poster by Cataldo Pignatelli, Federica Casalnuovo, Francesco Campo, Alessia Neroni, Fanny Lebreton, Kevin Bellofatto, Ekaterine Berishvili, Cristina Olgasi, Antonia Follenzi, Silvia Pellegrini, Antonio Citro, Lorenzo Piemonti, Ospedale San Raffaelle scientific retreat, 10-12.01.2022, Baveno, Italy
“A systematic review of ethical issues in organoids research for use in transplantation” scientific poster by Dide de Jongh (EMC), presented at the 20th Congress of ESOT, 29.08.2021, Milan, Italy
Together We Win Workshop: Together we win – combine European resources to tackle regulatory hurdles towards islet-cell ATMPs
January 24, 2023, Igls, Austria
As part of the 12th EPITA Symposium, VANGUARD partners KUGELMEIERS and Erasmus MC organised a workshop in a form of a roundtable lunch session. This event hosted on January 24, 2023, has welcomed representatives of scientific community and provided a platform for experience exchange in their research on pancreas and islet transplantation from the regulatory perspective.
Image by UNIGE
World Diabetes Days
November 2022 and 2023
VANGUARD partners yearly host patient-oriented events to create a platform for stakeholder engagement, talk about VANGUARD solution for type 1 diabetes patients and collect feedback. In November 2022 and 2023, UNIGE hosted Journée du Diabète – its annual event in Geneva, Switzerland. Furthermore, LMUM has hosted another patients-oriented event titled “Trends and advances in Type 1 diabetes” on November 27, 2023.
Ethics of early clinical trials in regenerative medicine in transplantation
February 3, 2022, Online
Bio-artificial organs and bio-engineered or bio-printed tissues for transplantation in humans are rapidly being developed. It is anticipated that some applications will be ready for clinical testing in the near future. How can first-in-human clinical trials be conducted in a safe and responsible manner? What are ethical points to consider for early clinical trials of regenerative medicine in transplantation? This workshop brings together experts in the fields of regenerative medicine and ethics to discuss these ethical challenges.
This video shows the full recording of the VANGUARD Ethics workshop held online.
VANGUARD is being featured in various media outlets.
TEDxTbilisi
April 22, 2023, Tbilisi, Georgia
The VANGUARD coordinator, Ekaterine Berishvili presented the VANGUARD project in form of a TEDx talk titled Envisioning an Insulin-Free Future as part of Defining Moments theme. This talk was given in Georgian at a standard TEDx event organised by local licensed event coordinators for a wide range of local residents using the TED conference format.
What role does stem cells play in the treatment of complicated type 1 diabetes?
April 26, 2023
VANGUARD has been presented on a Georgian TV channel – First Channel – by the project coordinator Ekaterine Berishvili on 26 April 2023. By talking about the role of stem cells in the treat-ment of complicated type 1 diabetes in the Georgian language, the coordinator could reach thousands of viewers from various audience groups including the general public in Georgia.
VANGUARD continuously reports its results and progress to the European Commission. Some of these reports (called “Deliverables”) are public and once submitted are made available for download here.
* Please note that these deliverables are undergoing review and acceptance processes. At this stage this deliverable reflects only the author’s view and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 874700