Regő Baráth Benjámin presented the results of research on macrophages from human placentas conducted at the University of Debrecen at the 12th Annual JHAC Research Symposium of the Johns Hopkins University All Children’s Hospital in the United States. The sixth-year medical student gave his presentation as the youngest speaker at the congress.
Benjámin Regő Baráth represented the University of Debrecen at the conference in Florida at the end of October, as the only medical student speaker at the symposium – among senior researchers and doctors from renowned American universities. In his presentation in English entitled Isolation, Molecular Characterization and Reprogramming of Human Hofbauer Cells, the Nuclear Receptor Working Group of the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Debrecen and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology presented the results of the research in the Infection and Immunity section.
It was a huge honor and a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be a speaker at Johns Hopkins University. I am grateful to those who helped me achieve this success. I was able to join the work of the research group this spring under the supervision of Professor László Nagy. I am glad that so far everything is going as well as possible in relation to the project, and that the cooperation between the research group and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic is so smooth
– said Benjámin Regő Baráth to hirek.unideb.hu.
The subject of the research conducted at the University of Debrecen is one of the important cell types of the placenta that provides the connection between the mother and the developing fetus, the so-called Hofbauer cells.
These special immune cells, called macrophages or phagocytic cells, control the functioning of the placenta. Extracting them is not an easy task, but we managed to solve it, and thus we had the opportunity to examine the cells using cutting-edge molecular and cell biology methods. We received a lot of interesting data, which, by analyzing it, we now have a better understanding of how these cells are formed and what their exact molecular function might be. We want to study this further and examine it in pathological pregnancies in order to understand why the material and information flow between the mother and the fetus is impaired, so that in the future we can influence the development of diseases with drugs or therapeutic protein molecules
– explained László Nagy.
The professor added that the fact that Benjámine’s was selected from dozens of abstracts is a confirmation that it is possible to conduct interesting cutting-edge research in Debrecen in the well-organized and well-functioning cooperation of clinical and basic research specialists and working groups.
The research is one of the projects taking place at the Faculty of Medicine that effectively connects basic research with the clinic, giving university students the opportunity to get involved. The appropriate test materials are provided by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, its doctors and midwives under the coordination of university assistant professor Tamás Deli.
The medical student of the University of Debrecen is currently in the United States because he can spend three months at the Methodist Hospital in Houston, organized by the American Hungarian Medical Association, where he can gain insight into the operation of the hospital during surgery, neurology and anesthesiology exercises. Now his exercises and strictures have priority, but in addition to them, he tries to deal with the scientific project as much as possible.
In the future, he wants to work as a clinician, according to his plans, as an obstetrician-gynecologist. He believes that the experience gained in basic research and the approach learned can be useful for all clinicians in the long term.
(unideb.hu)
