ABSTRACT
The European Nuclear Experimental Educational Platform - ENEEP is currently being established by five European educational and research organizations in the framework of a Horizon 2020 project, initiated in 2019. The ENEEP partner institutions are the Jozef Stefan Institute (JSI, Slovenia), the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU, Slovak Republic), the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, Czech Republic), Technische Universitat Wien (TU Wien, Austria) and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME, Hungary). ENEEP is intended as an open educational platform, offering experimental hands-on education activities at the ENEEP partner facilities. ENEEP education activities will be offered in different formats (group and individual) and are targeted at university students at all educational levels and young professionals in the nuclear field. This paper gives an overview of the ENEEP project activities and the progress achieved thus far, highlighting the experimental capabilities which will be offered. In the first implementation phase, ENEEP will be based on a comprehensive set of experiments comprising the basics in Reactor Physics and Nuclear Engineering curricula, as well as more specific experiments focusing on particular aspects investigated phenomena, types and working principles of detectors, etc. Subsequently, novel education activities will be introduced and implemented in ENEEP, following scientific development in nuclear science and technology and nuclear instrumentation detectors, stemming from research activities. Attention will be devoted to the development and optimization of remote education capabilities at the ENEEP partner institutions, of particular relevance during the current Covid-19 pandemic, which is responsible for major changes in education activities worldwide.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Vaccination against SARS CoV-2 results in excellent personal protection against a severe course of COVID19. In People with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS) vaccination efficacy may be reduced by immunomodulatory medications. OBJECTIVE: To assess the vaccination induced cellular and humoral immune response in PwMS receiving disease modifying therapies. METHODS: In a monocentric observational study on PwMS and patients with Neuromyelitis optica we quantified the cellular and humoral immune responses to SARS CoV-2. RESULTS: PwMS receiving glatiramer acetate, Interferon-ß, Dimethylfumarate, Cladribine or Natalizumab had intact humoral and cellular immune responses following vaccination against SARS CoV-2. B-cell depleting therapies reduced B-cell responses but did not affect T cell responses. Sphingosin-1-Phospate (S1P) inhibitors strongly reduced humoral and cellular immune responses. There was a good agreement between the Interferon gamma release assay and the T-SPOT assay used to measure viral antigen induced T-cell responses. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that S1P inhibitors impair the cellular and humoral immune response in SARS CoV-2 vaccination, whereas patients receiving B-cell depleting therapies mount an intact cellular immune response. These data can support clinicians in counselling their PwMS and NMOSD patients during the COVID 19 pandemic.