Génopode retreat 2024: best poster prizes

The prizes for the best posters were given this year at the Génopode Retreat in Leysin (September 5 & 6, 2024) to:

1st price: Claire Paltenghi (van Leuwen lab) – Identification of suppressor genes rescuing Mendelian disease-causing genes in HAP1 cells (poster #42)

2nd price: Nathaniel Himmel (Benton lab) – A testis-expressed homologous of insect Gustatory and Odorant receptors (poster #31)

Seminar on Equality, Diversity & Inclusion: October 7, 2024, 12h15, Génopode Auditoire B

Dear All, 

As you know, the CIG takes all forms of workplace discrimination very seriously. To foster working conditions that respect Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI), PIs have recently attended a seminar led by UNIL’s EDI office. Moreover, a CIG EDI committee has been elected. 

As one of its first initiatives, the EDI committee has requested that an EDI seminar be presented to all CIG members, including PhDs, Postdocs and all PAT members, including those from central services.

The first EDI seminar will take place during a regular CIG seminar slot on Monday, October 7, 2024, at 12h15 in Genopode’s Auditoire B

As these topics are relevant to everyone, all CIG members are strongly encouraged to attend.

Discussion during this session and feedback from a questionnaire afterwards will be used to plan future events to ensure that all CIG members can openly discuss and receive training in EDI-related issues. 

Best regards,

Frédéric, for the CIG EDI Committee

Graduate Campus Courses

Develop your skills and contribute to the “savoir vivant”

Graduate Campus (https://courses.unil.ch/graduatecampus) offers a number of workshops specifically designed for doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers and supervisors from all faculties (UNIL, CHUV and Unisanté). These workshops are free of charge.

You can register for our workshops in the following four modules:

  • Thesis from A to ZWhere to find the tools to get your PhD off to a good start, get support along the way, and to prepare your thesis defense.
  • Strengthen your skills: Develop your transferable skills, increase your confidence, and enhance your practice.
  • Develop your career: What comes next? Come to a Career Café to talk about it. The Graduate Campus organises a range of workshops to help doctoral candidates and postdocs take their next career steps.
  • Supervision: Workshops for professors and senior researchers to acquire tools and share best practices in the supervision of early career researchers.

Cancer Cell, co-auth.: M.Quadroni

Fibrotic response to anti-CSF-1R therapy potentiates glioblastoma recurrence

Spencer S Watson 1Anoek Zomer 2Nadine Fournier 3Joao Lourenco 3Manfredo Quadroni 4Agnieszka Chryplewicz 5Sina Nassiri 3Pauline Aubel 1Simona Avanthay 2Davide Croci 2Erik Abels 6Marike L D Broekman 6Douglas Hanahan 7Jason T Huse 8Roy T Daniel 9Monika E Hegi 10Krisztian Homicsko 11Giulia Cossu 12Andreas F Hottinger 13Johanna A Joyce 14

. 2024 Sep 9;42(9):1507-1527.e11.

 doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.08.012.

Free article

Abstract

Glioblastoma recurrence is currently inevitable despite extensive standard-of-care treatment. In preclinical studies, an alternative strategy of targeting tumor-associated macrophages and microglia through CSF-1R inhibition was previously found to regress established tumors and significantly increase overall survival. However, recurrences developed in ∼50% of mice in long-term studies, which were consistently associated with fibrotic scars. This fibrotic response is observed following multiple anti-glioma therapies in different preclinical models herein and in patient recurrence samples. Multi-omics analyses of the post-treatment tumor microenvironment identified fibrotic areas as pro-tumor survival niches that encapsulated surviving glioma cells, promoted dormancy, and inhibited immune surveillance. The fibrotic treatment response was mediated by perivascular-derived fibroblast-like cells via activation by transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling and neuroinflammation. Concordantly, combinatorial inhibition of these pathways inhibited treatment-associated fibrosis, and significantly improved survival in preclinical trials of anti-colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R) therapy.

medRxiv. co-auth.:A.Reymond

Genetic modifiers and ascertainment drive variable expressivity of complex disorders

Matthew Jensen 1 2Corrine Smolen 1 2Anastasia Tyryshkina 1Lucilla Pizzo 1Deepro Banerjee 1Matthew Oetjens 3Hermela Shimelis 3Cora M Taylor 3Vijay Kumar Pounraja 1 2Hyebin Song 4Laura Rohan 1Emily Huber 1Laila El Khattabi 5Ingrid van de Laar 6Rafik Tadros 6Connie Bezzina 6Marjon van Slegtenhorst 6Janneke Kammeraad 6Paolo Prontera 7Jean-Hubert Caberg 8Harry Fraser 9Siddhartha Banka 9 10Anke Van Dijck 11Charles Schwartz 12Els Voorhoeve 13Patrick Callier 14Anne-Laure Mosca-Boidron 14Nathalie Marle 14Mathilde Lefebvre 15Kate Pope 16Penny Snell 16Amber Boys 16Paul J Lockhart 16 17Myla Ashfaq 18Elizabeth McCready 19Margaret Nowacyzk 19Lucia Castiglia 20Ornella Galesi 20Emanuela Avola 20Teresa Mattina 20Marco Fichera 20 21Maria Grazia Bruccheri 20Giuseppa Maria Luana Mandarà 22Francesca Mari 23Flavia Privitera 23Ilaria Longo 23Aurora Curró 23Alessandra Renieri 23Boris Keren 24Perrine Charles 24Silvestre Cuinat 25Mathilde Nizon 25Olivier Pichon 25Claire Bénéteau 25Radka Stoeva 25Dominique Martin-Coignard 26Sophia Blesson 27Cedric Le Caignec 28 29Sandra Mercier 27Marie Vincent 27Christa Martin 3Katrin Mannik 30 31Alexandre Reymond 32Laurence Faivre 14 15Erik Sistermans 13R Frank Kooy 11David J Amor 13Corrado Romano 20 21Joris Andrieux 33Santhosh Girirajan 1 2 34

[Preprint]. 2024 Aug 28:2024.08.27.24312158.

 doi: 10.1101/2024.08.27.24312158.

Abstract

Variable expressivity of disease-associated variants implies a role for secondary variants that modify clinical features. We assessed the effects of modifier variants towards clinical outcomes of 2,252 individuals with primary variants. Among 132 families with the 16p12.1 deletion, distinct rare and common variant classes conferred risk for specific developmental features, including short tandem repeats for neurological defects and SNVs for microcephaly, while additional disease-associated variants conferred multiple genetic diagnoses. Within disease and population cohorts of 773 individuals with the 16p12.1 deletion, we found opposing effects of secondary variants towards clinical features across ascertainments. Additional analysis of 1,479 probands with other primary variants, such as 16p11.2 deletion and CHD8 variants, and 1,084 without primary variants, showed that phenotypic associations differed by primary variant context and were influenced by synergistic interactions between primary and secondary variants. Our study provides a paradigm to dissect the genomic architecture of complex disorders towards personalized treatment.