RadExIORSBoost project team members participated in Workshop 2 “Radiosensitivity of malignant tumors”, Workshop 3 entitled “Radioimmune staining”, and Training 4 held from 13 to 15 October 2025 in Ljubljana and organized by the project team from the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana. The event brought together team members from the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, University of Leicester, and host Institute of Oncology Ljubljana. Prof. Dr. Maja Čemažar welcomed the RadExIORSBoost team members at the opening.
Workshop 2 provided an excellent opportunity to acquire state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of radiosensitivity of malignant tumors, essential for advancing radiotherapy. Over three inspiring sessions, twelve exceptional lectures were delivered by Christopher Talbot (ULEIC), Gareth Miles (ULEIC), members from IORS: Katarina Kopčalić, Marija Popović Vuković, Nina Petrović, Marina Nikitović, and Ivana Matić, Gregor Serša (OI LJUBLJANA), Primož Strojan (OI LJUBLJANA), Katja Goričar (OI LJUBLJANA), Jasna But Hadžić (OI LJUBLJANA), and Blaž Grošelj (OI LJUBLJANA). Key topics were focused on patient-derived tumour explants, miRNAs, cytokines, electrochemotherapy, combining radiotherapy with other treatment modalities, treatment of post-irradiation xerostomia with allogeneic mesenchymal stromal stem cells, and side effects of radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer.
At Workshop 3, the RadExIORSBoost team members gained a comprehensive and valuable overview of the main principles of methodological approaches in radioimmune staining in modern radiobiology and cancer research to boost their research excellence. Team members heard excellent lectures from eleven speakers: Maja Čemažar, Boštjan Markelc, Tim Božič, Iva Šantek, Urška Kamenšek, Veronika Kloboves-Prevodnik, and Simona Miceska from OI LUBLJANA, Andrej Cör from Valdoltra Orthopaedic Hospital, Marlon Veldwijk (UHEI), Ahmad Šami (UHEI), and Nađa Grozdanić Stanisavljević (IORS). The lectures included the following topics: partial irradiation and immune cell population staining, intravital microscopy, advanced vasculature-on-a-chip models, preclinical tumor models, flow cytometry approaches in radiobiology research (cell cycle state, immune cell phenotyping), automating the analysis of the colony formation assay, comet assay, as well as histological techniques, and multiplex cryoimmunostaining.
Through Session I of Training 4, project team members learned about the new methodological approaches in tumor radiosensibilization – partial tumor irradiation from the experts in this field from the Department of Experimental Oncology, OI LJUBLJANA. At the second session of the training “How to write project proposals for Horizon Europe”, Stojan Sorčan from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Slovenia, provided a presentation of MSCA calls and the most common weaknesses in applications. In addition, Andreja Umek Venturini from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation,Slovenia, presented the ERC calls and the changes to the evaluation procedures.
Two very successful and inspiring workshops and training at Ljubljana significantly enhanced the knowledge and research capacity of the RadExIORSBoost project team in the field of radiobiology, and made a strong impact on future joint research plans.
RadExIORSBoost project team would like to thank Prof. Dr. Maja Čemažar and her team for a well-organized and excellent event and their kind hospitality.
