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QSPainRelief PhD students receive awards at SIF Congress
17 November 2024
We proudly congratulate the consortium’s early career scientists (ECS), Elisabetta Cuna (PI: Andrea Bedini) and Chiara Cimetti (PI: Monica Baiula) from partner UNIBO, for being awarded one of approximately 15 “Best Oral Communication” and “Best Poster” awards, respectively, at the National Congress of Italian Society of Pharmacology (Società Italiana di Farmacologia – SIF) that took place in Sorrento, Italy, from 13-16 November 2024. Title of Elisabetta’s oral presentation: “Quantitative Systems Pharmacology platform to predict optimal drug combinations for chronic pain: Evaluation of morphine and pregabalin potential interaction in neuronal cell models“. Title of Chiara’s poster: “In-vitro investigation of Mu opioid receptor (MOR) interfacial residues computationally predicted to have a role in MOR/cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) heteromerization and crosstalk basally and in response to morphine treatment.”
Upcoming 6th General Assembly (GA) Meeting in Bologna, Italy
9-11 December 2024
Preparations for the 6th GA Meeting in Bologna, Italy, from 9-11 December 2024, are in full swing. The local host, partner UNIBO, the project coordinator Prof. Liesbeth de Lange (ULEI), and the organising team from concentris are looking very much forward to welcoming the consortium at the Welcome Dinner on Monday evening, starting into Tuesday morning with an early career scientist (ECS)-dedicated programme, including short talks by all ECS and two Masterclasses, and then proceed with integrative work package (WP) sessions on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. We are also expecting fruitful outcomes from the 3rd Impact and Innovation Board (IIB) Meeting and helpful feedback from our Scientific and Ethical Advisory Board (SEAB) members Nadia Malliou (president of Pain Alliance Europe, PAE), Dr. Jan Freijer (Independent Consultant), and Dr. Petra Bloms-Funke (Managing Director at BlomsFunkeResearch GmbH).
QSPainRelief represented at ECNP Congress 2024 in Milan, Italy
26 September 2024
The annual congress of the European College of Neuropharmacology (ECNP) is Europe’s prime scientific meeting for disease-oriented brain research. This year, the 37th ECNP Congress took place in Milan, Italy, from 21-24 September. It once again exceeded expectations, attracting nearly 7,000 participants from over 101 countries, with 90% attending in person and 10% participating virtually, bringing together psychiatrists, neuroscientists, basic researchers, neurologists, and psychologists from around the world. QSPainRelief’s aims and scientific approach were presented in a video loop, by distributing the project’s info brochure, and through direct interaction with the WP9 leader (concentris) at the company’s booth.
Patient-focused Masterclass on YouTube
01 July 2024
Our newest Masterclass is now available on YouTube: In her insightful keynote lecture at the 5th QSPAinRelief GA Meeting in Leiden, NL, on 08 December 2023, Deirdre Ryan, President of Pain Alliance Europe (PAE), explains the importance of patient involvement in health-related research, highlighting both the challenges as well as the strategies for meaningful stakeholder engagement. She emphasizes the need for improving patient-reported outcome measures and the mutual benefits of collaboration between patients and researchers. In the QSPainRelief project, chronic pain patients are actively involved in the co-creation of research (e.g. patient questionnaires) and presentation of research outcomes. Watch the full Masterclass on YouTube!
New Masterclasses – watch now on YouTube
15 December 2023
When it gets cold and snowy outside this winter, lean back, relax, and watch our newest Masterclasses!
The first one is presented by our scientific coordinator, Prof. Liesbeth de Lange from Leiden University (ULEI) in the Netherlands. The second one is presented by work package 8 (WP8) leader Prof. André Mouraux from UCLouvain (UCL) in Belgium.
We hope you enjoy Liesbeth’s comprehensive story-telling about the decades-long achievements of her research group and about “The miracle of smart data and mathematical modeling in unraveling pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic relationships” as well as André’s fascinating overview of “Human biomarkers of nociception”, including recent research results regarding pain perception, and an outlook to the future when we might have tools and methods to prevent, diagnose, and treat chronic pain with a much more personalized approach. Both lectures were recorded within the realm of the 4th General Assembly (GA) Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, on 5 December 2022, and have now been produced for YouTube.
Successful 5th GA Meeting & Patient Event
6-8 December 2023
The 5th QSPainRelief General Assembly (GA) Meeting took place in Leiden, NL, from 6-8 December 2023 and was a fantastic opportunity for the consortium to gain insights into the progress made in all work packages (WPs), attend an extremely high-quality early career scientist (ECS) poster session, and learn from our scientific and ethical advisory board (SEAB) member Deirdre Ryan, president of Pain Alliance Europe (PAE) on what it means to live with chronic pain and “How to co-create the future of research from bench to bedside” together with the patient community (see Deirdre Ryan’s lecture slides).
The focus of the entire GA was on the patient’s perspective and how to improve the dialogue between chronic pain patients and researchers. The GA was kicked off with the QSPainRelief’s 2nd Patient and Layman Event on Wednesday, December 6th, from 2-4 pm at the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR). The event was targeted towards the local patient community and was thus held in Dutch language.
We cordially invite chronic pain patients, relatives, and interested laymen to our 2nd QSPainRelief Patient Event at the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR) in Leiden on Wednesday, 6th December 2023. The event will be in Dutch language at CHDR’s auditorium from 14:00-16:00h. The panel discussion will focus on how to improve patient involvement in clinical studies. Online attendance is also an option, see agendafor details. We look forward to hosting you – please register here!
5th General Assembly & Patient Event
6-8 December 2023
Preparations for the 5th General Assembly (GA) Meeting in Leiden, NL, from 6-8 December 2023 are going strong. We’re kicking things off with the QSPainRelief Patient Event & Podium Discussion on Wednesday, December 6th (14:00-16:00h), hosted by the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR). The event will be in Dutch. More details will follow soon!
Translational Workshop at EFIC 2023
21 September 2023
Join the QSPainRelief Workshop “Towards translation: Studies probing analgesic synergy and opioid-sparing effects” on Thursday, 21 September 2023, from 10:30-12:00 (GMT +2h) at EFIC 2023 in Budapest! The session is chaired by our scientific coordinator, Prof. Liesbeth de Lange (ULEI), and filled with presentations (20 min talks + 5 min Q&A each) by consortium members from UPF, UNIBO, and CHDR. At the end, there will be a general discussion (30 min).
September is Pain Awareness Month
01 September 2023
September is Pain Awareness Month! The QSPainRelief consortium sends love and support to all patients, patient representatives, researchers, and clinicians who strive to improve the management of chronic pain and the quality of life for people suffering from it.
QSPainRelief Symposium at WCP 2023
5 July 2023
This afternoon at the 19th World Congress of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology 2023 (#WCP2023) in Glasgow, Scotland: Come and hear about the Horizon2020-funded QSPainRelief project in today’s symposium about mechanism-based modeling approaches to tackle chronic pain!
Does nonlinear blood-brain barrier transport matter for (lower) morphine dosing strategies?
New publication
Congrats to early-career scientists (ECS) Berfin Gülave, Divakar Budda, and colleagues from the group of coordinator Prof. Dr. Liesbeth de Lange at Leiden University (ULEI), who revently published a new manuscript in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences that addresses the question whether nonlinear blood-brain barrier (BBB) transport matters for (lower) morphine dosing strategies.
8th Steering Committee Meeting (remote)
14 – 15 June 2023
On June 14th and 15th, the QSPainRelief Steering Committee (SC) assembled remotely via Zoom for the 8th SC Meeting. We heard about the reviewers’ response to the recent periodic reporting (WP1), the progress made in the development of the model platform (WP2), data management (WP3), in silico computation (WP4), cellular pathways (WP5), preclinical validation (WP6), analgesic effects in healthy subjects (WP7), CNS biomarkers in real-world pain patients (WP8), ethical considerations (WP10), and the need to specify our exploitation plan (WP9). We also discussed specifics about the planned 2nd dissemination event for patients & the general public on 6th December 2023 – stay tuned!
First public QSPainRelief Masterclass
Event on Monday, 05 December 2022
Excited to announce the first public QSPainRelief Masterclass in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB building of the University Pompeu Fabra) in Barcelona on Monday, 5 December 2022, from 2:00-4:30 pm, featuring a talk by Prof. Dr. Liesbeth De Lange about the role of smart data in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and a talk by Prof. Dr. André Mouraux about biomarkers of nociception on the way to personalised management of chronic pain. Bring your colleagues and trainees – and spread the word!
See you soon in Barcelona!
05-07 December 2022
We can’t wait to catch up with the entire QSPainRelief consortium at the 4th General Assembly (GA) Meeting in Barcelona from 5-7 December 2022. Science- and fun-filled days are ahead, starting with two Masterclass lectures at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), followed by a welcome dinner at the hotel in Castelldefels, an early career scientists’ poster session (including an award for the best poster), updates from all work packages, and lots of discussions.
Successful 6th SC Meeting in Munich
26 May 2022
The 6th Steering Committee (SC) Meeting was held in Munich, Germany, from 25-24 May 2022. Despite the rainy weather, the SC members and all other attending QSPainRelief researchers and early-career scientists (ECS) enjoyed the science as well as the city. Important issues, such as COVID-19-related delays in the recruitment and start of the clinical study, set-up of the online platform, and data analysis were discussed. The meeting was a full success and the long-awaited first f2f meeting in two years, with some team members participating online via Zoom.
CNS quantitative systems biology Masterclass
29 July 2022
This is the 4th QSPainRelief Masterclass, held by Robert Carr (CEO) and Athan Spiros, Ph.D., from In Silico Biosciences Inc. (ISB), a biosciences company and QSPainRelief partner located in Lexington, USA, that specializes in computer-based mechanistic modeling of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. The Masterclass was held online due to the pandemic and recorded via Zoom on December 15th, 2021, within the realm of the remote 3rd QSPainRelief General Assembly (GA) Meeting.
New Masterclass Video by Prof. Jesús Giraldo
21 July 2022
“Molecular modelling and dynamic simulations of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs)” is the 3rd QSPainRelief Masterclass, held by Prof. Dr. Jesús Giraldo from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) who also leads work package 5 (WP5). His talk was recorded during the project’s remote 3rd General Assembly (GA) Meeting on December 15th, 2021. The research activities of Jesús Giraldo’s group are, amongst other topics, devoted to the elucidation of the signaling properties of GPCRs, including the phenomenon of receptor heterodimerization, via computational methods.
Scroll through the QSPainRelief December 2021 Newsletter to learn about the project’s progress, highlights and outcomes of the 3rd GA Meeting, two new Masterclasses, upcoming events, and new team- and SEAB-members. We are also updating you on Bachelor students’ projects conducted for QSPainRelief in Prof. Dr. Liesbeth de Lange’s group at ULEI and clarify that all 2020 registrations for the Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Conference are valid for QSPC2022 – the replacement date next year in Leiden, The Netherlands, from 20 – 22 April 2022.
Successful & motivating 3rd GA Meeting
13-15 December 2021
The 3rd QSPainRelief General Assembly (GA) Meeting took place as a virtual Zoom meeting from 13-15 December 2021. Highlights were the two Masterclasses held by Prof. Dr. Jesús Giraldo and Robert Carr together with Dr. Athan Spiros, a productive Impact and Innovation Board (IIB) meeting, and the early-career scientists’ (ECS) presentations. Despite the pandemic, all work packages (WPs) have been very productive and are doing their best to stay on track. Fun coffee break activities gave us insight into each other’s personalities.
3rd QSPainRelief GA Meeting
13-15 December 2021
We are very much looking forward to seeing the QSPainRelief team and SEAB members & hearing about the project’s progress during our next GA Meeting from 13-15 December – alas not, as hoped for, in-person in Munich, but again online via Zoom. Check your inbox for updates! Although the pandemic once more crossed our plans for a f2f meeting, we are not giving up the hope to see each other in person again next year.
Dutch translation of QSPainRelief info brochure now available
17 November 2021
The Dutch (NL) translation of our QSPainRelief info brochure is now available on the DOWNLOADS page (and on the project’s intranet). You can access and download a web version and a print version. Thanks a bunch, Liesbeth (ULEI), for providing the translation! We hope the brochure will be well-received by Dutch-speaking individuals participating either in the clinical or the healthy-volunteer trial.
Register now: EFIC Virtual Pain Education Summit
4-6 November 2021
The biggest online pain education event of the year will take place from 4-6 November 2021. With a dedicated track for physicians based on the EFIC Pain Curricula for Pain Medicine as well as topical lectures and interprofessional sessions, the #EFICVirtualPainSummit 2021 is your chance to advance your knowledge in pain management and learn from leading experts in their field!
French translation of QSPainRelief info brochure ready for the WP8 clinical trial
30 July 2021
You can now access a web and a print version of the project’s info brochure translated into French on the DOWNLOADS or TÉLÉCHARGEMENTS page, respectively. Thanks a bunch for the help of the team at UCL in providing the translations. We hope the brochure will be well-received by pain patients participating in the clinical trial of WP8, which is starting soon!
QSPainRelief Masterclass by Prof. Rafael Maldonado now online
21 July 2021
Watch our 2nd Masterclass on “Evaluating reward, drug abuse & addiction” held by the leader of work package 6 (WP6), Prof. Dr. Rafael Maldonado from UPF, an expert on preclinical research regarding nociception, pain medication, and the development of addiction. Learn about operant self-administration of opioids (or any other potential “drug”, including alcohol or food) in animal models of reward, reinforcement, abuse liability, and addiction.
Thank you, Joop!
20 July 2021
A big thank you to Joop van Griensven for his excellent service on QSPainRelief’s Scientific and Ethical Advisory Board (SEAB) and congratulations to receiving the well-deserved “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the EFNA Advocacy Awards. We are quite sad to see him leave as president of Pain Alliance Europe (PAE), but wish him all the best, and are looking forward to collaborate with his successor, Deirdre Ryan!
The 4th QSPainRelief Steering Committee (SC) Meeting took place from 13-14 July 2021 via Zoom. Highlights of the meeting were the progress made in developing the QSPainRelief model platform (WP2) and the readiness for patient recruitment in the clinical study at UCL (WP8). Looking forward to the next meeting, hopefully in person again!
Open position – PhD student (UNIBO)
23 April 2021
Apply until 21 May 2021: In the frame of the PhD program in Biotechnological, Biocomputational, Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences (B2F2), the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT) at UNIBO is looking for a PhD student as part of QSPainRelief! The selected applicant will join the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Unit to investigate gene expression and cellular signaling and to perform molecular pathway analysis in rat and mouse primary cultures from distinct brain regions as well as in human neuronal cell lines. This is aiming at developing and implementing an innovative Quantitative Systems Pharmacology platform for the identification of more effective and safer combinational treatments of chronic pain. If interested, please contact Dr. Andrea Bedini. For further information about the selection process, call for application, deadlines, and the admission board, click here.
QSPainRelief Masterclass by Prof. Albert Dahan now online
01 March 2021
This is the first QSPainRelief Masterclass, held by our scientific and ethical advisory board (SEAB) member Prof. Dr. Albert Dahan from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in Leiden, The Netherlands, during the project’s 2nd General Assembly (GA) Meeting on December 10th, 2020. As an expert on chronic pain treatment, he provides detailed insight on the current approaches used in the clinical treatment of chronic pain patients.
Originally planned in Cologne, the 2nd QSPainRelief General Assembly (GA) Meeting meeting took place from 09-10 December 2020 via Zoom. Please refer to Twitter and LinkedIn for updates form the meeting itself. We were also excited to have the SEAB members present and to hear about the first research results of our early-career scientists (ECS)!
First publication of the project by Jesús Giraldo
17 November 2020
The first QSPainRelief publication on the statistics of molecular dynamics simulations is out! Congrats to Prof. Jesús Giraldo and colleagues from Institut de Neurociències (INc) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) on this achievement!
Prof. Liesbeth de Lange wins lifetime career award!
13 November 2020
Congrats to “the Ferrari of pharmacology”, our scientific coordinator, Prof. Liesbeth de Lange, who just won the “Lewis B. Sheiner Lifetime Achievement Award” from the International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISoP)! Read more.
The QSPainRelief info brochure is available!
22 September 2020
Click on the image below to access the web version of the project’s info folder and to download it!
Project video & successful 1st patient event at PAE’s annual GA Meeting!
25 June 2020
QSPainRelief’s first patient event took place as part of Pain Alliance Europe’s (PAE) annual General Assembly (GA) Meeting this year: Our project’s scientific coordinator, Prof. Dr. Liesbeth de Lange, presented the scope of the project in a 20-min lecture on Wednesday, 24 June 2020. The talk was well-received by the audience of 23 laymen and representatives of European pain patient organisations from 19 different countries. Click below to watch the lecture video on YouTube!
2nd SC Meeting concluded
23-24 June 2020
The 2nd QSPainRelief Steering Committee (SC) Meeting took place on Tuesday & Wednesday, 23-24 June 2020, remotely via GoToMeeting due to the corona crisis. The progress of each work package was presented, upcoming tasks and issues around COVID-19 were discussed, and the data and safety monitoring committee (DSMC) was elected. Despite the unforeseeable challenges, such as closed laboratories and home office, the project is advancing well, especially the in silico modelling.
QSPainRelief first patient event: At 2:30 pm this Wednesday, Prof. Liesbeth de Lange speaks at PAE’s Annual Meeting!
22 June 2020
QSPainRelief’s first patient event will take place as part of Pain Alliance Europe’s (PAE) annual meeting this Wednesday. Our project’s scientific coordinator, Prof. Dr. Liesbeth de Lange, will present the scope of the project in a 30-min presentation at 2:30 pm on Wednesday, 24 June 2020! If you are a PAE member joining the event, we look forward to meeting you during Liesbeth’s talk and hear your feedback and questions regarding our research. We also hope you will help us make QSPainRelief known in your local and online patient community!
Dissemination & Communication Plan ready
25 March 2020
ULEI, ISB, and concentris have developed the “Dissemination & Communication Plan” (D9.1), a confidential 40+ page important document for the entire consortium that identifies key stakeholders, and outlines a detailed strategy as well as tasks, responsibilities and target release dates for internal communication, dissemination towards target groups, training activities, exploitation, and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) for the duration of the project. D9.1 is available for download from the intranet for all project partners and SEAB members.
Honorary Doctorate for Liesbeth de Lange – congrats!
05 February 2020
Professor Elizabeth de Lange was honoured on 31 January 2020 by the University of Uppsala, which appointed her Honorary Doctor at the end of 2019. During the ceremony, De Lange received all three symbols of honour for an Honorary Doctorate: a hat, a diploma, and a ring. ‘An incredibly wonderful experience!’ and ‘Wherever possible, I work with Uppsala and will continue to do so. Uppsala has become a second home to me.’ Liesbeth says about the ceremony and her Swedish colleagues.
Successful Kick-off Meeting in Leiden!
24 January 2020
QSPainRelief successfully kicked off in Leiden, The Netherlands, from 22-24 January 2020. Consortium members outlined the work ahead over the next 12 months, made first decisions, and incorporated valuable feedback from the scientific and ethics advisory board.
The QSPainRelief project starts today!
01 January 2020
Today, the 5-year long, pan-European research project begins. All of us are excited to roll up our sleeves and get to work! A total of 10 QSPainRelief work packages (WPs) will cover the entire value chain of research and development, from discovery to market preparation.
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