Meeting summary

Four years ago, colleagues from the Charles University (Martin Vyhnálek and Kateřina Veverová) and the University of Oslo (UiO) (Evandro Fang) secured a competitive grant of € 1 404 000 on the project entitled ‘The Validation of specific mitophagy biomarkers across Alzheimer’s disease continuum’ (acronym MIT-AD), from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants and the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic within the KAPPA Programme.

On 11 April 2024, in the old university campus of Charles University (founded 1348), a one-day meeting entitled “From Mitophagy to Neurocognitive Impairment“ was organized. This meeting aimed to share the exciting research data the MIT-AD team generated as well as to have leading experts in the fields to share their works to the community.

Highlights of some of the topics:

NO-Age international member, keynote speaker Prof. Nektarios Tavernarakis shared the mechanisms of compromised mitochondrial homeostasis in ageing and dementia! Prof. Martin Vyhnálek and Dr. Kateřina Veverová reported the results of changes of a few mitophagy proteins in blood and CSF samples from AD patients; the paper was just accepted in a leading journal, with news release shortly. Prof. Evandro Fang presented a talk entitled ‘The ‘5As’: ageing, Alzheimer’s disease, autophagy, AI, and an ‘A’ molecule in brain health and longevity’. DPhil student Johannes Frank (UiO) talked on a novel cellular death pathway in Alzheimer’s disease. Young researcher Dr. Sofie Hindkjær Lautup showed the use of AI in identifying unknown causes of neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Davide D’Amico gave a talk on ‘Health benefits of the mitophagy activator Urolithin A – From preclinical models to clinical studies’.

More details of the meeting and the MIT-AD team: Charles University website and MIT-AD website

See pictures of the event below (copy right of the Photos: Charles University).

A group photo of speakers and organizers
(konference Od mitofágie k neurokognitivním poruchám, pořádaná Neurologickou klinikou 2. LF UK a FN Motol s univerzitou v Oslu – Praha, Karolinum 11.4.2024)

23rd June 2021

The 1st Hong Kong-Nordic Research Network zoom meeting, held on 16-17 June 2021, was a success. There were over 20 talks and 200 plus participants, with intensive discussions and network building. We thank Profs. W.Y. Chan, Andrew Chan, Stephen K.W. TSUI, and all the organizational committee for their big efforts. A summary email by Prof. Andrew M. Chan, Director of the School of Biomedical Sciences, CUHK, is shown below. We look forward to continue this meeting annually.

Dear all,

The SBS Virtual Research Day 2021 cum Nordic Symposium was successfully held on June 16-17, 2021. It would not be so smooth without your excellent support, and your presence has undoubtedly helped to make it a memorable occasion. I believe all the participants have enjoyed and inspired by this one-and-a-half-day event and will forge a closer, sustained and long-term partnership.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank members of the organizing committee, and all the staff and students who have contributed to this event. Your dedication is highly appreciated.

To recall the happy moment, you are welcome to browse photos and videos of the event at the following URLs:

Videos: https://noad100.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/videos_sbs_virtual_res_day_nordic.pdf

Thank you.

Best regards,

Andrew M. Chan, Ph.D.

Professor and Director
School of Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 3943 3771 Fax: (852) 2603 7698
Address: Rm G03A, G/F, Lo Kwee-Seong Integrated Biomedical Sciences Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong