At the Journées de l'Ecole Doctorale Normande de Chimie 2020, ESR6 Mirjana Antonijević won with her presentation the best oral communication prize. The meeting was held online on the 27/28. November 2020.
JEDNC is an annual meeting organized by PhD students and for PhD students of the Normandy University which includes three universities: the University of Rouen, the University of Le Havre and the University of Caen. This congress enables PhD students to share their research work, in different fields and with professionals from academia and industry.
Mirjana Antonijević won with her presentation about "Multi-target neurotrophin receptors ligands, an emerging strategy in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases".

• The University of Sheffield has been presented with a Queen's Anniversary Prize Medal at a Buckingham Palace reception
  
• The prize is the highest national honour recognising outstanding work by UK universities and colleges demonstrating quality and innovation in their areas of research
• Sheffield has been recognised for innovative approaches to improving patient outcomes for people living with neurodegenerative diseases

Neuroscience research at the University of Sheffield has been recognised for the real benefits it is delivering to the public in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace (Thursday 20 February 2020). The University was presented with the Queen’s Anniversary Prize (QAP) medal and scroll by TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen.

The prize awarded to the University of Sheffield recognises the work that the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) at the University does to improve patient outcomes for people living with some of the most devastating neurodegenerative diseases.

Achievements highlighted by the award included:

• A new orthotic device, ‘HeadUp’, developed for patients living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) who suffer from muscle weakness in the neck.
• Groundbreaking stem cell clinical trials for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients.
• The discovery of a first biomarker linked to the development of Alzheimer’s Disease which has the potential for earlier diagnosis and has sparked the development of new therapies.
• New drug discovery programmes to develop new treatments for Parkinson’s Disease
• New gene therapy treatments for patients with Motor Neurone Disease

The prize is unique in the UK honours system, as it is only bestowed upon a UK college or university which demonstrates new and unique innovative approaches to its research.

Professor Dame Pamela Shaw, Director of SITraN and the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre, said: “This prize recognises the University of Sheffield as a centre for excellence in neuroscience research and teaching, where our researchers are making lifechanging discoveries and progress in treating some of the most devastating neurological diseases, making a real difference to patients’ lives.

“As well as making life-changing discoveries today, we are also nurturing the next generation of talented neuroscience students, whose research will lead to pioneering treatments for those living with neurological diseases in the future. This includes the Euroneurotrophin PhD Studentship programme with colleagues from several European countries”

“We hope this award will help inspire confidence in patients and their families, research
partners and donors, as we continue to make discoveries that deepen the understanding of
neurological diseases and open up the potential for new treatments and therapies.”

SITraN’s vision is to harness the rapidly emerging, exciting developments in neuroscience to
translate into new treatments and improved quality of life for patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, MND, Alzheimer’s Disease, MS and Dementia.

The centre - considered a world-leader in neuroscience research - will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. Its work forms part of the University of Sheffield’s Neuroscience Institute, which aims to bring academics together from across medicine, science and engineering to translate scientific discoveries from the lab into pioneering new treatments.

Sir Damon Buffini, Chairman of the Royal Anniversary Trust, said: “It has been fantastic to celebrate the 13th Round of Prize-winners at Buckingham Palace alongside TRH Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The Royal Anniversary Trust showcased the exceptional, innovative and impactful work of our colleges and universities throughout the UK. We look forward to seeing how the work develops and progresses over the coming years!”

All the ESRs had the great opportunity to attend a two-day workshop on Patenting and Commercialising Novel Biomedical Inventions held by Ventac Partners. Dr. Kostas Alevizopoulos and Dr. Neil Thomas brought the ESRs to the patent world, dealing with drawing up of a business plan, request for a patent and negotiation with investors for funding.

The second training week of EuroNeurotrophin was held in the TU Dresden Faculty of Medicine, starting with School 2. The 4-day long school included theoretical lectures on in vivo models of neurodegenerative disorders, as well as hands-on experience in identification and analysis of these models. The school was organized by the contribution of the following network’s beneficiaries: TU Dresden Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Pathobiochemistry (TUD), Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB-FoRTH), University of Sheffield, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA).

Mirjana Antonijevic (ESR 6) and Prof. Christophe Rochais represented the EuroNeurotrophin project at the 27th Annual GP2A Medicinal Chemistry Conference, which took place at the University of Nottingham (UK) between 21st-23rd August 2019. During these three days, Mirjana presented the work she has done during her first PhD year at CERMN institute at the University of Caen Normandie. The poster presentation “In silico screening and development of small molecules neurotrophin receptors ligands” received the best poster award.

Interested candidates must satisfy the H2020 MSCA mobility and eligibility criteria. Please read carefully the eligibility criteria before submit your application.

You may apply for the ESR10 position by filling the application form and submit this along with the curriculum vitae and any other application material at the appropriate email.
It is compulsory that your curriculum vitae is submitted in the common European format. Please download the template here. Please note that your application will not be processed if this template is not used.

Position Description
ESR10: Development of Human Cell-Based Models for Neurotrophic Therapeutic Testing

• Host Institution: AvantiCell Science Ltd (ACS), Scotland, UK
• Contract Duration: 12 Months renewable up to 26 months
• Start Date: 1st September 2019
• Planned secondments: VUA, The Netherlands (2 months), FORTH, Greece (2 months)

The application deadline for the ESR10 position is the August 9th, 2019.