Cancer and Extracellular Vesicles Summer School

Cancer and Extracellular Vesicles Summer School is organized by the Institute of Biomedicine and Cancer Research Community at the University of Eastern Finland.

Course description
This course will focus on extracellular vesicles (EVs) and cancer biology, concentrating on the role of EVs on cancer pathophysiology and the potential of EVs as cancer biomarkers and tools of therapy. Moreover, the latest EV-related methods and techniques will be introduced in the course. The summer school consists of two days of seminars. The goal of this course is to give a wide overview of the role of EVs in cancer introduced by top-level EV/cancer researchers nationally and internationally.

The course is mainly aimed for young researchers (postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers) but is open for all interested. The summer school is organized as a hybrid event, you can attend the course on site at Tietoteknia Auditorium, Savilahdentie 6, Kuopio or virtually via Zoom. Link will be send after registration to participants.

Credit points:
- 1 for attendance at lectures both days
- 2 for attendance at lectures both days and own presentation (poster or oral presentation).

Registration
The summer school is free of charge for university students and faculty members, but registration to the event is required.

Registration fee for other participants (from companies) is 100 €. Please pay the registration fee by bank transfer by May 15th, 2022. Bank account: Danske Bank FI87 8919 9710 0011 36. Please make sure to include the reference number 65932 as reference on your remittance.

Abstracts of posters or short oral presentations are asked to submit by May 15th together with the registration. The researchers selected for poster or oral presentation will be informed by May 20th.

You are also welcome to join dinner in Saana on Wednesday June 1st at 7 pm. Please pay the dinner fee 50 € by bank transfer by May 15th, 2022. Bank account: Danske Bank FI87 8919 9710 0011 36. Please make sure to include the reference number 65932 as reference on your remittance.

Welcome! Minor changes in the program are possible.

Day 1 - Wednesday, 1 June 
 

9.00 Welcome coffee, registration, exhibition 

9.30–9.40 Opening of the course: Kirsi Rilla 

Session 1: EVs as biomarkers  

Chair: Sanna Pasonen-Seppänen 

09.40–10.20 Pia Siljander (University of Helsinki): Lessons learned from EV cancer biomarker studies – methodologies matter? 

10.20–10.50 Janne Leivo (University of Turku): Extracellular vesicle glycosylations as biomarkers of cancer

10.50–11.20 Arto Mannermaa (University of Eastern Finland): Identifying EV biomarkers for anticancer treatment response   

11.20 – 11.40 Henna Tynjälä (University of Eastern Finland): Role of extracellular vesicles secreted by
cancer cells in response to radiotherapy and in radioresistance

11.40–12.40 Lunch break (at own cost)

Session 2: Therapeutic potential of EVs  

Chair: Leena Latonen 

12.40–13.10 Saara Laitinen (Finnish Red Cross Blood Service): Extracellular vesicles offer novel approaches for cancer therapy 

13.10–13.40 Seppo Vainio (University of Oulu): Do EVs provide an opening for early stage P4 cancer disease diagnostics? 

13.40–14.10 Riina Harjumäki (University of Helsinki): Therapeutic stem cell-derived EVs  

14.10 – 14.30 Sponsor talk: Lauri Paasonen (UPM Biomedicals): Nanofibrillar cellulose for advanced 3D cancer cell models and EV research  

14.30–15.15     Coffee + exhibition + posters 

Session 3: Role of EVs in immunity, immune evasion and tumor microenvironment  

Chair: Kirsi Ketola 

15.15–15.45 Delphine Fradin (University of Nantes, France): MicroRNAs in tumor exosomes drive immune escape in melanoma (via Zoom) 

15.45–16.15 Sanna Pasonen-Seppänen (University of Eastern Finland): Melanoma cell derived EVs – immunomodulators of the tumor microenvironment 

16.15–16.45 Lothar C. Dieterich (Institute of Pharmaceutical SciencesSwiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland): Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles, draining lymph nodes, and tumor immunity (via Zoom) 

16.45 – 17.05 Saket Ahuja (University of Eastern Finland): Role of extracellular vesicles in cancer
pathogenesis under glucose deprived conditions.

19.00 Evening program – dinner at Saana 

Day 2 - Thursday, 2 June

Session 4: EVs and their role in cancer pathogenesis  

Chair: Kirsi Rilla 

9.00–9.30 Eva Henriksson (Åbo Akademi University): Cancer cell invasion alters the protein profile of extracellular vesicles  

9.30–10.00 Maria Yanez-Mo (University of Madrid, Spain): Tetraspanins interweave EV secretion, endosomal network dynamics and cellular metabolism (via Zoom) 

10.00 – 10.20 Kirsi Kainulainen (University of Eastern Finland): Extracellular vesicles derived from proinflammatory macrophages stimulate target cell invasion by upregulating MMP9 expression

10.20–11.00 Coffee + exhibition + posters 

Session 5: EV methodologies 

Chair: Anna-Liisa Levonen 

11.00–11.30 Kirsi Rilla (University of Eastern Finland): Power of imaging in EV research  

11.30–12.00 Tapani Viitala (University of Helsinki): Label-free multi-parametric surface plasmon resonance (MP-SPR) in EV analysis  

12.00–12.30 Maija Puhka (University of Helsinki): RNA sequencing as a tool for deciphering the potential of EV as a liquid biopsy  

12.30 – 12.50 Heikki Kyykallio (University of Eastern Finland): A quick pipeline for the isolation of 3D cell
culture –derived extracellular vesicles from nanofibrillar cellulose hydrogels

Closing words: Sanna Pasonen-Seppänen 

For more information, please contact Sanna Pasonen-Seppänen, email sanna.pasonen@uef.fi, Kirsi Rilla, email kirsi.rilla@uef.fi, Kirsi Ketola, email kirsi.ketola@uef.fi or Maarit Sillanpää, email maarit.sillanpaa@uef.fi.