Hypersaline environments with salt concentrations up to NaCl saturation are inhabited by a great diversity of microorganisms belonging to the three domains of life. They all must cope with the low water activity of their environment, but different strategies exist to provide osmotic balance of the cells% cytoplasm with the salinity of the medium. One option used by many halophilic Archaea and a few representatives of the Bacteria is to accumulate salts, mainly KCl and to adapt the entire intracellular machinery to function in the presence of molar concentrations of salts. A more widespread option is the synthesis or accumulation of organic osmotic, so-called compatible solutes. Here, we review the mechanisms of osmotic adaptation in a number of model organisms, including the KCl accumulating Halobacterium salinarum (Archaea) and Salinibacter ruber (Bacteria), Halomonas elongata as a representative of the Bacteria that synthesize organic osmotic solutes, eukaryotic microorganisms including the unicellular green alga Dunaliella salina and the black yeasts Hortaea werneckii and the basidiomycetous Wallemia ichthyophaga, which use glycerol and other compatible solutes. The strategies used by these model organisms and by additional halophilic microorganisms presented are then compared to obtain an integrative picture of the adaptations to life at high salt concentrations in the microbial world.
F.02 Acquisition of new scientific knowledge
COBISS.SI-ID: 33787097There is an increasing interest in exploring clinically relevant information that is present in body fluids, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) are intrinsic components of body fluids ("liquid biopsies"). In this report, we will focus on blood. Blood contains not only EVs but also cells, and non-EV particles including lipoproteins. Due to the high concentration of soluble proteins and lipoproteins, blood, plasma and serum have a high viscosity and density, which hampers the concentration, isolation and detection of EVs. Because most if not all studies on EVs are single-centre studies, their clinical relevance remains limited. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve standardization and reproducibility of EV research. As a first step, the International Society on Extracellular Vesicles organized a biomarker workshop in Birmingham (UK) in November 2017, and during that workshop several working groups were created to focus on a particular body fluid. This report is the first output of the blood EV work group and is based on responses by work group members to a questionnaire in order to discover the contours of a roadmap. From the answers it is clear that most respondents are in favour of evidence-based research, education, quality control procedures, and physical models to improve our understanding and comparison of concentration, isolation and detection methods. Since blood is such a complex body fluid, we assume that the outcome of the survey may also be valuable for that the outcome of the survey may also be valuable for exploring body fluids other than blood.
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice
COBISS.SI-ID: 34444249Molecular mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) have already been investigated in various different omics landscapes. We reviewed the literature about different omics approaches between 11/2005 and 11/2017 to depict the main pathological pathways for PD development. In total, 107 papers exploring different layers of omics data associated with PD were retrieved. The studies were grouped into 13 omics layers: genomics – DNA level, transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, ncRNomics, interactomics, metabolomics, glycomics, lipidomics, phenomics, environmental omics, pharmacogenomics, and integromics. We discussed characteristics of studies from different landscapes, such as main findings, number of participants, sample type, methodology and outcome. We also performed curation and preliminary synthesis of multiple omics data, and identified overlapping results, which could lead towards selection of biomarkers for further validation of PD risk loci. Biomarkers could support the development of targeted prognostic/diagnostic panels as a tool for early diagnosis and prediction of progression rate and prognosis. This review presents an example of a comprehensive approach to revealing the underlying processes and risk factors of a complex disease. It urges scientists to structure the already known data and integrate it into a meaningful context.
F.01 Acquisition of new practical knowledge, information and skills
COBISS.SI-ID: 4035720Despite being a well-established research discipline, pharmacogenomics (PGx) is not yet routinely applied in patient care. Education is a crucial step for the successful implementation of PGx into the clinic. We need to offer collaborative, interprofessional approaches that encourage learning about PGx on an international level. It is especially important that PGx education enables the development of one’s own thoughts and ideas to be able to understand and implement this rapidly developing field of science.
F.03 Increased qualifications of the research and development staff
COBISS.SI-ID: 34419673The workshop "Extracellular vesicles: mediators and biomarkers of pathology" took place on the 5th of December 2019 at the Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. The workshop was organized by Metka Lenassi (chair), Katja Goričar in Marija Holcar. Topics presented at workshop included novel discoveries, opportunities and challenges in research on extracellular vesicles, their role in pathogenesis and vesicles as biomarkers of disease. Invited lecturer at the workshop was prof. Kenneth Witwer, PhD (Executive Chair of Science and Meetings of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV); Johns Hopkins University, USA). A lot of Slovenian researchers also presented their results. The symposium encourages cooperation between Slovene researchers in this field and foreign experts, which has led to the establishment of SiN-EV: Slovenian Network for Extracellular Vesicles, which will further improve communication between researchers in this rapidly expanding scientific field and increase the visibility of their achievements to the outside world.
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 302996480