RegMed XB 2022 Annual Meeting

The fourth RegMed XB’s Annual Meeting was held in the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven on 6 and 7 July. They were successful and exciting days, marked by the positive vibe of interaction. The whole RegMed XB ecosystem was connected and explored the possibilities of new opportunities to bring regenerative medicine solutions to patients and the collaboration to a next level.

There were excellent researchers, health foundations, involved companies, government representatives and patients on day one. The day was opened by a keynote lecture from Prof. Alicia El Haj about Engineering Cell Therapies to the Clinic. After this the progress in the Diabetes and Kidney Moonshots was presented by all the involved partners. At the end of the day there was an overarching moonshot session about Enabling Technologies, were Prof. Katja Schenke-Layland gave us an inside in the use of Raman microspectroscopy and imaging with her keynote lecture. The day ended with poster pitches and poster presentations from our scientists. Afterwards there was time for even more fun and relaxation with well deserved drinks.

During the first day of the Annual meeting there was also a parallel public diabetes session were patients received informed about the progress of the research in the diabetes moonshot. There was time to really interact, discuss and answer many questions from patients.

The second day started with the explanation of the structure of the five pillars from RegMed XB to create a fully working ecosystem for regenerative medicine to achieve our motto ‘from care to cure’. Next to excellent research of pillar 1 this day focused on the other pillars as well. Mainly on the business development and valorisation and infrastructure pillar.

We continued the day with the highlights of the Cardiovascular and Osteoarthritis Moonshot. Scientist at the bench, renowned professors, health foundations and involved companies, presented the progress of their moonshot. This showed again the essence and power of collaboration of RegMed XB.

The focus of the afternoon was valorisation and the launch of the RegMed XB Pilot factory. The afternoon was opened by the vice governor of the Province of North-Brabant, Martijn van Gruijthuijsen.

After an interesting keynote lecture from Rianne Ellenbroek from the F1RST fund about early stage investments, there was a lively round table discussion on the different steps and views to achieve a successful valorisation process. There was input from the expert panel on the matter who commented on the process and discussed the importance of the process to the audience. To bring sustainable solutions to patients, successful valorisation is needed. The collaboration between all the involved parties is therefore of the essence.

None of RegMed XB’s objectives would be possible to achieve without the commitment of the scientists. We would therefore especially like to thank all the researchers for their hard work in helping to discover innovative solutions for chronic diseases. Special recognition goes to the winners of the Poster Awards: Fjodor Yousef Yengej, for his poster with the best science, Denise de Bont for her poster with the best clinical translation, Julia Fernández-Pérez and Natalija Bogunovic for the best technical innovative poster. To all of them, well deserved congratulations!

On the afternoon of the 7th of July investors and interested companies were also welcomed to meet RegMed XB and her partners. Members of the NVP and BVA took that chance which led to an inspiring parallel session. Valorisation, investments and infrastructure are of the essence to create a working ecosystem, which can bring regenerative medicine solutions to patients. This ambitious goal can only be achieved when we all work together. To underline the importance hereof, the Director of the National Growth fund, Erwin Nijsse closed the event with a very inspiring lecture.

We also want to thank the involved health foundations within RegMed XB for all their continuous support and involvement to achieve our common goal to bring solutions to patients with chronical diseases.

This year’s Annual Meeting was the perfect occasion to share with our partners RegMed XB's most recent updates: progress in the moonshots, the launch of the RegMed XB Pilot factory and the establishment of RegMed XB Flanders. There was also room to talk about other important topics, such as RegMed XB’s valorisation mission and opportunities for the future. We would like to thank everybody who have joined us and made the event successful. We also thank our sponsors, Health Holland and the Province of North-Brabant for their contribution.

Please find below more pictures of these exciting two days: