This year 1300+ attendees were at the CRS Annual Meeting & Exposition in Valencia in the past July. Among them 49 countries represented, 75+ sponsors & exhibitors, 110+ speakers, 900+ poster presenters and 100+ received awards. Within 10 pre-meeting workshops & events there were a lot of activities organized specifically for the CRS Local Chapters allowing our Chapter to establish good communication with the Spanish-Portuguese, Italy, UKI and German Local Chapters. In one of these sessions two of our early career scientists gave an oral talk. 9 members were chosen/invited as a speaker. 4 of our early career scientists were awarded with the CRS Travel Grants. Among 10 posters from our Chapter members, 1 poster was nominated for the poster prize from the CRS Yearly Scientist Committee. During Networking Borrell of our chapter we hosted 39 members including early career scientists, assistant professors, professors and industrial representatives. In total, during this meeting we recruited 20 new members among which established connections which 10 industrial representatives and 7 companies. 

Most recently, the CRS BNLF Chapter established its Early Career Scientist Committee (ECSC): the team of six enthusiastic members who are coordinated by Roy van der Meel (Assistant Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology). The Committee is dedicated to contribute to the Chapter’s main objectives to support early career scientist members. To achieve this, the ECSC will regularly consult the Chapter’s early career scientist members to determine which opportunities and activities are most beneficial.

Examples of these activities include:

i) hosting sessions at local scientific meetings and conferences and acquiring sponsorship, fund travel grants;
ii) organizing webinars and workshops with leading scientists;
iii) creating mentorship and exchange programs, industrial internships.

We hope to grow further and welcome many more early career scientists to the Chapter. We are happy to announce our first members forming ECSC (see picture on the left).

Local Chapters Programming

The purpose of CRS Local Chapters is to promote and stimulate local involvement in the delivery science community, enhance delivery science through collaboration, provide local networks, and to introduce at a local level the benefits of CRS membership. International Local Chapters act as resources for CRS-hosted meetings and events, topical workshops, webinars and other scientific-based educational opportunities, by providing insight and scientific content.

https://2019.controlledreleasesociety.org/local-chapters-programming

Among 20 Board Members of the Chapter, Executive Council was elected to run the chapter for the term 2019-2020. We are happy to announce these names: 

1. President: Natalia Vtyurina (Groningen University, NL)

2. Vice-President: Jai Prakash (University of Twente, NL)

3. Secretary: Giovanna Lollo (Lyon University, Fr)

4. Treasurer: Koen van der Maaden (Leiden University, NL)

5. Industrial Relations Coordinator: Jos Paulusse (University of Twente, NL)

6. Early Career Scientists Coordinator: Roy van der Meel (Eindhoven University, NL) 

On 16th of April the very first meeting between the Board Members of Local Chapter took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It has been decided that in the coming year our Local Chapter will adhere to the following two missions:

 1. Bridging industrial and academic experts in the field of drug delivery and targeting by providing them an extra opportunity to communicate with each other and stimulating collaborations and partnerships 

2. Supporting early career scientists by providing them opportunities for career growth in academia or industry and boost their professional and personal development   

In the approaching 46th Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting & Exposition, our Local Chapter Partner, Dr. Cristianne Rijcken, the Chief Scientific Officer & Founder of Cristal Therapeutics, will give a talk as an invited speaker.

Focus Group Scientific Session: Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Drug Delivery (NNDD) on Wednesday, 7/24/2019 from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM.

“CriPec® platform and lead product CPC634: principles, nonclinical evaluation and clinical translation”

1. Valentina Francia, Postdoctoral fellow at Groningen University and Chapter Social Media Coordinator, will present her topic on “Studying the Biological and Cellular Interactions of Nanomedicines for Drug Delivery”

2. Keni Yang, PhD at Groningen University and Chapter Membership Coordinator, will present her work on the “Effect of Protein Source on Nanoparticle-Protein Corona and Cellular Uptake”

3. Koen van der Maaden, Postdoctoral fellow at Leiden University LACDR and Chapter Social Media Coordinator, will present how “Intradermal vaccination with influenza hemagglutinin-loaded ceramic nanoporous microneedle arrays induces protective immune responses”

4. Natalia Vtyurina, Postdoctoral fellow at Groningen University and Chapter Founder & Coordinator, will present her efforts on building up “A live-cell fluorescence imaging platform to characterize internalization of nanomedicines by human cells”

The grants will be distributed to awardees at the CRS Annual Meeting 2019 in Valencia, Spain.