E
Tuesday, 29th September 2026
| 09.00 | Registration |
| 09.45 – 10.00 | Welcome Note LEMS Organising Committee Christine Selhuber-Unkel, Oliver Fackler, Kerstin Göpfrich, Peer Fischer, Michael Platten |
| 10.00 – 10.45 10.00 – 10.15 10.15 – 10.45 | Session 1 | Function-based Selection and Molecular Characterization of Highly Efficient Immune Cells Chair: Michael Platten, DKFZ / Heidelberg University and University Hospital Mannheim Deciphering elite immunity to brain tumors Michael Platten, DKFZ / Heidelberg University and University Hospital Mannheim, Germany Specificity Foundation Models: Antibody-Antigen is All You Need Sai Reddy, Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering, Basel, Switzerland |
| 10.45 – 11.30 10.45 – 11.00 11.00 – 11.30 11.30 – 11.45 11.45 – 12.15 | Session 2 | Microphysiological Model Systems Chair: Oliver Fackler, Heidelberg University Hospital Lymphoid Model Systems Oliver Fackler, Heidelberg University Hospital, Center for Integrative Infectious Disease Research, Germany Recapitulating Complex Immunocompetent Tissues using Organ-on-chip and Organoid Technologies Peter Loskill, University of Tübingen, Germany Break How to engineer biomimetic in vitro cell culture systems to generate valid and relevant scientific insights? Roman Zantl, IBIDI, Germany |
| 12.15 – 12.45 12.15 – 12.30 12.30 – 12.45 | Session 3 | Nanotechnology-based Therapeutics and Vaccines Chair: TBC Nanotechnology-based Therapeutics and Vaccines Hedda Wardemann, German Cancer Research Center, Germany AI-driven protein design for SynthImmune and beyond Michael Jendrusch, German Cancer Research Center, Germany |
| 12.45 – 14.15 | Lunch |
| 14.15 – 15.00 14.15 – 14.30 14.30 – 15.00 | Session 4 | Engineering Targeting and Delivery Chair: F. Nina Papavasiliou, German Cancer Research Center Target-cell specific delivery of nucleic acid cargo: Overcoming Challenges and Unlocking New Frontiers F. Nina Papavasiliou, German Cancer Research Center, Germany Engineering extracellular vesicles Ken Witwer, Johns Hopkins University, USA |
| 15.00 – 15.45 15.00 – 15.15 15.15 – 15.45 | Session 5 | Towards Synthetic Immune Effector Cells Chair: Kerstin Göpfrich, Heidelberg University RNA design: Folds for future synthetic cells and therapeutics Kerstin Göpfrich, Heidelberg University, Germany Functional DNA Origami Devices for Mechanical Actuation and Targeted Cytosolic Delivery Kurt Vesterager Gothelf, Aarhus University, Denmark |
| 15.45 – 16.45 | Poster Session with Coffee Break |
| 16.45 – 17.15 16.45 – 17.00 17.00 – 17.15 | Session 6 | Computational Modelling for Prediction and Validation of Key Parameters of Immunity Chair: Thomas Höfer, German Cancer Research Center Clonal selection in an adaptive NK cell response Thomas Höfer, German Cancer Research Center, Germany TBC Anna Kreshuk, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany |
| 17.15 – 18.00 17.15 – 17.30 17.30 – 18.00 | Session 7 | Ethics and Implementation Chair: TBC Bridging Science and Society: Ethics, Law, and Global Implementation in the SynthImmune Cluster of Excellence Markus Herrmann, Heidelberg University, Germany Collaborative Ethics & Engineering at the edges of life Jeantine E. Lunshof, Harvard University, USA |
| 18.00 – 20.30 | Welcome Reception |
Wednesday, 30th September 2026
| 09.00 – 10.40 09.00 – 09.30 09.30 – 10.00 10.00 – 10.20 10.20 – 10.40 | Session 7 | Organoid engineering Chair: Christine Selhuber-Unkel, Heidelberg University Mechano-hacking organoids for health Iain Dunlop, Imperial College London, UK Recapitulating Human Brain Development in a Dish to Understand Disease Simone Mayer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany Overcoming Obstacles – How to Train T Cells to Migrate in Dense Cancerous Tissues Alba Diz Muñoz, EMBL, Germany A high-throughput microchannel platform for multi-omic and single-cell profiling under defined physical confinement Jia Wen Nicole Lee, National University of Singapore, Singapore |
| 10.40 – 11.00 | Break |
| 11.00 – 12.50 11.00 – 11.30 11.30 – 12.00 12.00 – 12.30 12.30 – 12.50 | Session 8 | Organoid engineering Chair: Ramsey Najm, Heidelberg University Hybrid Vesicle-Base Artificial Cells Brigitte Städler, Aarhus University, Denmark Structured Hydrogels for Engineering Tissues Marcy Zenobi-Wong, ETH Zürich, Switzerland Bioengineering early neural development Adrian Ranga, KU Leuven, Belgium Next-Generation Immune Monitoring in Immuno-Oncology: From Response Assessment to TCR-Level Resolution Isabel Poschke, German Cancer Research Center, Germany |
| 12.50 – 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 – 17.10 14.00 – 14.30 14.30 – 15.00 15.00 – 16.00 16.00 – 16.20 16.20 – 16.50 16.50 – 17.10 | Session 9 | Organoid engineering Chair: Peer Fischer, Heidelberg University Nanoparticles and hydrogels for drug delivery in immunotherapy Miriam Breunig, Regensburg University, Germany Engineering Organoids: Tools and Models for Translational Research Ramsey Najm, Heidelberg University, Germany Poster Session Break Tissue engineered stem cell based cardiac models to investigate acquired heart disease Eric Schoger, Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany Head-mounted ultrasound stimulation enables Piezo1 sonogenetics in freely moving mice Soyeon Koo, Yonsei-IBS, Korea |
| 18.30 | Conference Dinner Kulturbrauerei Heidelberg Find here -> Google Maps! |
Thursday, 1st October 2026
| 09.00 – 10.40 09.00 – 09.30 09.30 – 10.00 10.00 – 10.20 10.20 – 10.40 | Session 10 | Engineering Molecular Systems Chair: Peer Fischer, Heidelberg University Engineering with Biomolecular Motors and Enzyme Cascades Henry Hess, Columbia University, USA Engineering dynamic behaviour in synthetic cells Macromolecular control; compartment-driven feedback and communication Dora Tang, Saarland University, Germany Patient-specific intestinal models of IBD via multimodal imaging-guided 3D bioprinting Florencia Diaz, Heidelberg University, Germany DNA Clutch-mediated magnetic nanomachine for reversible control Jiyoung An, Yonsei-IBS, Korea |
| 10.40 – 11.00 | Break |
| 11.00 – 12.50 11.00 – 11.30 11.30 – 12.00 12.00 – 12.30 12.30 – 12.50 | Session 11 | Engineering Molecular Systems Chair: TBC Beyond Electrochemistry: Cellular Mechanics in Brain Health Taher Saif, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA Learning without neurons in physical systems Menachem Stern, AMOLF, The Netherlands Synthetic microenvironments to regulate bacteria functions Aránzazu del Campo, Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany Genetically engineering induced iPSC-derived cerebellar granule cell progenitors to functionally investigate SHH-medulloblastoma driver genes Mallory Brodnik, German Cancer Research Center, Germany |
| 12.50 – 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 – 15.40 14.00 – 14.30 14.30 – 15.00 15.00 – 15.20 15.20 – 15.40 | Session 12 | Engineering Molecular Systems Chair: Christine Selhuber-Unkel, Heidelberg University Supramolecular structures of phase-separating proteins Charlotta Lorenz, Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany Engineering programmable nanoscale tools to manipulate cells Nicolas Völcker, Monash University, Australia Bio-Sourced Amphiphilic Copolymers as Self-Assembled Nanosystems for Mucoadhesive Drug Delivery David Gintsburg, University of Innsbruck, Austria Parasite-derived extracellular vesicles (nanoVAST) as a platform for immune cell engineering Katerina Spyridopoulou, German Cancer Research Center, Germany |
| 15.40 – 15.50 | Closing Remarks and poster prizes |