What can one Visiting Researcher grant turn into? Based on the research collaboration behind DDEA Visiting Researcher, Professor Carlos Salomon, the answer is: A lot.

Australian-based Professor Carlos Salomon is a visiting researcher funded by the Danish Diabetes and Endocrine Academy (DDEA). His project involves a collaboration with four Danish researchers: Professor and host Aase Handberg and MD, Clinical Lecturer Anne Sørensen from Aalborg University, Professor and DDEA Committee for Education member Louise Torp Dalgaard from Roskilde University, and Clinical Associate Professor and DDA-funded postdoctoral fellow Ulla Kampmann from Aarhus University.  

The group is now on the front page of Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews. The cover image features a graphical abstract from their review ‘Advances in extracellular vesicles as mediators of cell-to-cell communication in pregnancy’.

Extracellular Vesicles

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound vesicles secreted from a wide range of cells. They contain specific cargo such as proteins, nucleic acids and lipids that can be transferred to neighbouring recipient cells or to distant locations to elicit a biological response. Found in every bodily fluid examined, EVs may contain cellular markers from difficult-to-access anatomical sites, making them strong candidates as biomarkers of disease. Their ability to transport molecules and to target specific cell populations raise possibilities for their development as therapeutics.

Source: Advances in extracellular vesicles as mediators of cell-to-cell communication in pregnancy – ScienceDirect

The review summarises the physiological and pathological roles played by extracellular vesicles (EVs) in pregnancy and pregnancy-related disorders focusing in maternal obesity. EVs are cell-derived membrane-surrounded vesicles that carry bioactive molecules and deliver them to recipient cells. It describes the potential of EVs to be translated into clinical applications in the diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction and preterm birth.

– This manuscript is aligned with the goals outlined in the DDEA visiting researcher grant. It involves a multidisciplinary team that includes clinicians and basic researchers collaborating with Danish researchers, focusing on their role in the metabolic changes associated with obesity and diabetes, says Professor Salomon.

In a photo taken at the UQ Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR) in Brisbane, Australia, Professor Carlos Salomon, Research Fellow Dominic Guanzon and Andrew Lai from UQCCR, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Soumyalekshmi Nair from UQCCR, and Professor Aase Handberg from Aalborg University are seen together. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nair is the first author of the review published in the journal Cytokine and Growth Factor Reviews. Professor Handberg has just returned from a research sabbatical in Professor Salomon’s lab.

Extracellular Vesicles: A Common Research Interest

The common research interest in EVs and metabolism is what initially brought the group together:

– Our common research interests involve EVs and their utility as a biomarker, real time monitoring system for disease progression, and as carriers of therapeutic agents, says Professor Carlos Salomon.

The collaboration has been a fruitful one.

The foundation for the review and cover image was built when the group organised a Danish Diabetes Academy workshop that coupled EV analyses to clinical research in 2021, and a DDEA symposium on extracellular vesicles in endocrinology and metabolism in 2023.

Transcontinental Knowledge Exchange

Additionally, the DDEA visiting researcher grant has facilitated several exchanges between Danish researchers and Australian-based researchers, as well as international collaborative research projects.

Professor Handberg is the host for Professor Salomon’s Visiting Researcher project in Denmark. She is currently on a research sabbatical in Brisbane at Professor Salomon’s lab.

Professor Handberg is in Brisbane for three reasons: 1) to analyse and interpret EV proteomics data generated by Professor Salomon’s lab on her study of ectopic liver fat in obese individuals, 2) to initiate a lab protocol for studies of liver EVs, and 3) to extend her transcontinental networks.

– Professor Salomon and I have made several publications together. We also have an Ecuadorian postdoc in Aalborg who will be working on parts of his project here in Brisbane – just like a newly started PhD will also be coming down here. So, there is quite a lot of transcontinental knowledge exchange coming out of Visiting Researcher grants, says Professor and host Aase Handberg.

– We have been super productive in our collaborations thanks to the DDEA, and established a collaborative network on EV research, focusing on their role in the metabolic changes that occur due to obesity and diabetes during pregnancy and beyond, says Professor Salomon.

– It’s quite exciting. And Brisbane is a lovely city, Professor Handberg concludes.

DDEA Grant Schemes

We will open our 2024 call for applications in June for PhD scholarships, postdoc fellowships, and visiting researcher grants.

Learn more about the upcoming grant schemes and application processes.

Contact Information

Carlos Salomon
BSc (Hons I), MPhil, DMedSc, PhD
Professor and DDEA Visiting Researcher,
Director, UQ Centre for Extracellular Vesicle Nanomedicine
Head, Translational Extracellular Vesicles in Obstetrics and Gynae-Oncology Group
UQ Centre for Clinical Research
Faculty of Medicine
The University of Queensland
Brisbane Qld 4072 Australia

Dept. of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark
c.salomongallo@uq.edu.au
Professor Carlos Salomon (ddeacademy.dk)

Aase Handberg
Clinical Professor, Chief Physician, DMSc,
Department of Clinical Medicine
The Faculty of Medicine
Aalborg University
Aalborg, Denmark
aaha@dcm.aau.dk

Department of Clinical Biochemistry,
Aalborg University Hospital
Aalborg, Denmark

Publication

‘Advances in extracellular vesicles as mediators of cell-to-cell communication in pregnancy’.

Soumyalekshmi Nair, Melissa Razo-Azamar, Nanthini Jayabalan, Louise Torp Dalgaard, Berenice Palacios, González, Anne Sørensen, Ulla Kampmann, Aase Handberg, Flavio Carrion, Carlos Salomon

Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews, Volume 76, April 2024, Pages 86-98

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cytogfr.2023.12.004