Two PhDs from the iPSpine project in one week
Within one week, two PhD students of Marianna Tryfonidou’s group successfully defended their dissertations. Lisanne Laagland and Xiaole Tong even worked together intensively on the iPSpine project that aims to find a remedy for lower back pain. How did they experience their time at the RMCU?
You both started in late 2019, which was right before the pandemic started. That must have been tough. How did you get through your first year?
Lisanne: We were just starting experiments, and all of a sudden the lab was shut down. It was quite challenging, because the induced pluripotent stem cells ( iPSCs) we worked on required attention every day. Thankfully we helped each other out and it actually wasn’t too bad in the end.
Xiaole: The RMCU gave priority to the PhD students so it went relatively smooth in the end. It brought us together too.
The project you both worked on, the Horizon 2020 iPSpine project, focuses on lower back pain due to intervertebral disc degeneration. This is a chronic disease that significantly affects daily life. What was your role in the project?
Xiaole: We aimed to develop a reporter iPSC line that we could validate and use to evaluate the potential therapy. But we were the first in our group to work on iPSCs so it was a bit challenging.
Lisanne: Within the project one of the main goals was to differentiate the iPSCs towards healthy cells of the intervertebral disc. Xiaole worked more at the gene level of the cells, using CRISPR-Cas techniques for example, while I focused on the environmental influences on the cells, such as medium osmolarity. So our work really nicely complemented each other. It was also great to see how the consortium developed from each partner working on their own ‘island’ to combining all the expertise over the course of the project, resulting in great collaborations.
Xiaole: It was nice to have the annual consortium meetings with everybody, and besides that, we both hosted PhDs from other Universities and got the opportunity to visit the partners abroad ourselves. Lisanne went to the University of Galway to learn about biomaterials and I to the University of Nantes to learn about iPSCs. In the end, I think the RMCU is the best place to do research that I’ve seen. It’s fancy, and the technician team is really good.
Can you say something about the key results so far?
Lisanne: Well, in the end we were able to create and characterize the cell line, we combined the cells with a promising biomaterial and tested the treatment within the degenerated intervertebral disc. This was a very exciting first translational step! The first results look promising but further analysis will give us more insights into the potency of this advanced treatment.
What else are you proud of, or are cherished memories of the RMCU?
Xiaole: I really developed my English and presentation skills a lot, that’s a big achievement for me, especially since this was also the first time that I’ve been abroad.
Lisanne: I’m happy with the connections and collaborations that we built.
I remember one time wanting to do a Western blot and I had never done it before. But Cornelieke from the Coffer group had a lot of experience with this, and was so kind to help me out. This is what I really like about the RMCU!
What’s next for you?
Lisanne: I’m staying on as a postdoc in the group of Marianna. My work will be embedded in the CPBT, developing advanced models for osteoarthritis with the aim to reduce the number of lab animals needed. Besides that, I am pursuing an academic career and intend to apply for a personal grant to continue exploring advanced treatment options for lower back pain.
Xiaole: I’m going to do a postdoc at Erasmus MC, on the topic of biomaterials for cartilage regeneration. But I’ll keep living in Utrecht; I really like it here and it’s the perfect size for a city.