EUSAAT supported three students with travel grants to attend the EUROoCS 2026 in Braga
A committee consisting of eight persons has evaluated the applications with regard to scientific excellence and 3Rs relevance, both equally important. Out of 19 applications, EUSAAT was very happy to support following three excellent young scientists with a travel grant (500€ each) presenting her/his work in the field of the 3Rs orally or per poster at the EUROoCS Annual Meeting 2026 in Braga, Portugal from 22-24 June 2026.
o) Ana Spencer, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, “Towards a new neurovascular unit-on-chip to explore nanoparticles’ therapeutic effect"
o) Maëliss Calon, IStem, Corbeil Essonnes, France, “Modeling developmental defects affecting the dopaminergic system in Lesch-Nyhan disease using 3D human iPSC-derived on-chip models”
o) Sema Demir, University of Tübingen, Germany, „Monitoring stromal cells in a PEG-based in vitro peritoneal model”
Responses:
“It was originally planned as a poster presentation, but about 3-4 weeks before the conference, the organizers contacted me to ask if I would mind changing it to an oral presentation instead. Thank you again for the travel grant and the opportunity." - Ana Spencer
“I would like to sincerely thank EUSAAT for giving me the opportunity to attend such an inspiring event. Moreover, I am very grateful to the EUROoCs committee for placing their trust in me by appointing me as co-chair of the disease modeling session. This was an incredible and rewarding experience." – Maëliss Calon
"The EUROoCs conference allowed me to connect with people working in the field of Microphysiological Systems (MPS). I had several questions regarding the design of my microfluidic chips, and many researchers shared valuable ideas and suggestions to help improve my model. I am therefore extremely grateful for all the feedback I received. In addition, the scientific program was of exceptional quality, and the discussions throughout the conference, both during the presentations and the poster sessions, were stimulating and enriching. I have learned a lot regarding the latest techniques used in organ-on-chip and organoid-on-chip models." – Maëliss Calon
"Since I am the only one working on MPS in my institute, the various presentations were particularly informative and beneficial for me. Thank you once again for your trust and support.” – Maëliss Calon
“The EUROoCS conference was filled with a lot of advancements in the chip development community. I got many insights into different approaches on how to properly model an in vitro system and I will very likely use those impressions to perfect my own work. As my own research is predominatly focussed on in vitro models, I gained new insights into organ on chip systems by witnessing research focussed on the engineering and chip side." – Sema Demir
"I am very happy to have made a lot of new connections in the international organ-on-chip community, enriching me both personally and professionally. Those connections opened valuable opportunities for my future path as a researcher and possible collaborations” – Sema Demir
