The 2025 edition of the Dutch Antisense Therapeutics Symposium was a showcase of cutting-edge research and vibrant scientific exchange, but one moment stood out above the rest: Phd student Imke Schuurmans was awarded Best Oral Presentation for their outstanding talk on "Targeting AASS improves neurotoxicity and mitochondrial function in patient-derived astrocyte models for PDE".

Imke captivated the audience with a clear, compelling narrative and a deep dive into the innovative aspects of her work. The talk stood out not only for its scientific rigor but also for the way it connected complex concepts to real therapeutic potential. The award recognizes excellence in scientific communication and highlights the impact of emerging research in the field of antisense therapeutics.

On behalf of the CHARLIE consortium we congratulate Imke with this award and we are very happy with her being part of our consortium.

Phd student Imke Schuurmans recently received the 15th Annual DSSCR symposium 2024 best presentation award. This price is awarded once a year by Dutch Society for Stem Cell Research in the Netherlands.

This meeting aims to unite researchers from the Dutch stem cell community, thereby promoting knowledge exchange between the students.

In this meeting Imke presented the new protocol for the differentiation of hiPSCs directly into functional astrocytes previously published on BioRXiv (Navigating Human Astrocyte Differentiation: Direct and Rapid one-step Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Functional Astrocytes Supporting Neuronal Network development | bioRxiv). She showed how we used this protocol to better understand PDE and GA1 and to test new therapeutic strategies for these lysine metabolism disorders.

On behalf of the CHARLIE consortium we congratulate Imke with this award and we are very happy with her being part of our consortium.

Phd student Imke Schuurmans recently received the Amalia Children’s Hospital research meeting 2021-22 best presentation award. This price is awarded once a year by Radboud UMC in the Netherlands.

In this meeting Imke presented her project in which cellular model systems are used to investigate both the mechanism of disease for PDE and GA1, as well as the efficacy of new therapeutic strategies. As a model she made use of patient-derived cells (skin cells) which are reprogrammed into stem cells and subsequently differentiated towards neuronal cells. Various read-outs are used to characterize the cells in which there is specific focus on the neuronal activity, the morphology and the metabolite excretion of these neuronal cells.

On behalf of the CHARLIE consortium we congratulate Imke with this award and we are very happy with her being part of our consortium.