On April 14 2025 we launched the first seminar of the Leiden CardioVascular Medicine (LCVM) organization at Leiden University. The LCVM connects cardiovascular scientists from the LUMC, LACDR and Leiden University Campus in the Hague. Bram Slütter kicked off this meeting by introducing the exciting cardiovascular research that is currently being performed at the Faculty of Science of Leiden University. Followed by a very nice presentation of our current advances in understanding B cell immunity in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease by B-specific member Jill de Mol. We closed this successful meeting with some nice drinks and good conversations!

On February 17-18, B-specific representatives Amanda Foks and Bram Slütter, participated in the first annual EIC Pathfinder Cardiogenomics Portfolio meeting, organized by the EIC Pathfinder team in Brussels. It was very exciting to meet the EIC Pathfinder Program Manager Orsolya Symmons, Program Officers Iliana Kostova and Ioannis Amarantos, and the other 6 Cardiogenomics consortia to discuss future collaborations and Portfolio actions. Stay tuned, next year the B-specific team will organize this annual meeting in Leiden!

As part of the BioPharmaceutical Sciences student society ‘Parents’ day’ on Saturday the 22^nd of February, the Leiden team provided multiple labtours for approximately 120 parents and students. Amanda Foks together with her PhD student Roy Snijckers, explained their cardiovascular research projects and organized a walking tour through the cell culture and labspaces. Everyone was particularly impressed by the human atherosclerotic plaque specimens the Leiden team processes with help from their clinical collaborators!

Ilze Bot, member of the B-specific ULEI team, gave her inaugural lecture ‘Vat op stabiele bloedvaten’ on 17 January at the Academy Building of Leiden University. Congratulations with this great achievement!

Link to news article to be added to this news item: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025/01/greater-understanding-of-specialised-cell-could-prevent-strokes

On January 9 2025, Amanda Foks was invited to present her research on age-associated B cell immunity during the Science Meets Business event at the Leiden BioScience Park. The Science Meets Business Foundation brings together students, scientists, young business professionals and entrepreneurs. Great discussions and new connections were made during this event!

On October 14, 2024, Noa Rosenberg (Harteraad), Jan Smook (member of the B-specific advisory board as a cardiovascular patient) and Ilze Bot hosted a patient participation workshop, where they discussed with approximately 150 participants how patients can contribute to scientific research. Participants were invited to share their experiences. In addition, Ilze Bot gave the lecture “Inflammation in Atherosclerosis” during the course.

The B-specific consortium is proud to be mentioned in a recent paper in Nature Biotechnology entitled “The European Innovation Council supports innovative portfolios in health biotech”  LINK to paper and we would like to thank Iordanis Arzimanoglou for his work.

The European Innovation Council (EIC) was officially launched in March 2021 with the aim of creating an ecosystem that promotes deep-tech, science-based businesses by leveraging European research and development initiatives and unlocking Europe’s innovative potential. B-specific is participating in the EIC Cardiogenomics Challenge, which seeks to enhance the correlation between the well-established pathology of heart disease and various biomarkers.

The EIC Cardiogenomics portfolio is designed to offer valuable, interdisciplinary insights into how known and newly identified polymorphisms contribute to the susceptibility, onset, and progression of various forms of cardiovascular disease.

Here you can find the link: to open access version of the paper