Elderly patients often have the same DNA errors as leukaemia patients

Roughly one in five elderly patients have DNA errors in his or her blood cells that are also present in leukaemia patients. Remarkably, these genetic defects in the elderly do not necessarily translate into a lower life expectancy. This was discovered by a group of researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), the Delft University of Technology and Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.

LUMC scientist Ingrid Meulenbelt has received a Vici grant of 1.5 million Euros from NWO. This funding enables her to continue her research to search for a therapy on osteoarthritis. Dr. Meulenbelt is a researcher at the section of Molecular Epidemiology within the department of Bio-Informatics and Medical Statistics.

In collaboration with NIHES and the NMC (Netherlands Metabolomics Centre), the BBMRI consortium will organize a metabolomics workshop, which will be held in Leiden at the 26th and 27th of Januari, 2016.

The workshop will consist of 1.5 day of lectures and a 0.5 day hands-on workshop. The hands-on part is intended for people who work (or would like to work) with the Brainshake metabolomics data and will be focused on quality control, data analysis, and visualization of results.

You can register for the workshop using the following link!

Please click here for the preliminary program (the speakers indicated in bold are confirmed).

In collaboration with NIHES and the NMC (Netherlands Metabolomics Center), the BBMRI consortium will organize a metabolomics workshop, which will be held in Leiden at the 26th and 27th of Januari, 2016.

The workshop will consist of 1.5 day of lectures and a 0.5 day hands-on workshop. The hands-on part is intended for people who work (or would like to work) with the Brainshake metabolomics data and will be focused on quality control, data analysis, and visualization of results.

Could you please let us (J.Deelen@lumc.nl) know before the 1^st of December 2015 if you are planning to attend this meeting, so we have an indication of the number of people we can expect.

Please click here for the preliminary program (the speakers indicated in bold are confirmed). 

How is it possible that all different organs and tissues in the body contain the same DNA molecule? A publication in the renowned scientific journal PLoS Genetics of October 22 solves some of this mystery by investigating for the first time epigenetic changes during fetal development. The research of our epigenetics group led by Bas Heijmans in collaboration with the group of Susana Chuva de Sousa Lopes (Anatomy and Embryology, LUMC) shows how in each tissue, developmental genes are gradually turned off, while genes that are required are turned on.

Look no further! Our Maarten van Iterson is looking for a Bachelor's or Master's student with basic R programming skills.

To disseminate her IDEAL EU project, Eline Slagboom organises a conference at October 12-14 2015 in Leiden about "Connecting development and late life health: Epigenetic mechanisms and beyond". Please find more details at the conference website.

The department of Molecular Epidemiology is happy to announce the PhD defense of Yolande Ramos. The title of her thesis is: Osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease of the articular joints

Molepi will be presenting at the OsteoArthritis Research Society International (OARSI) annual world congress on Osteoarthritis 2015, held in Seattle, WA. No less than five abstracts submitted by our Osteoarthritis research group were acknowledged for presentation whereas Ingrid Meulenbelt will present as invited speaker.