Keynote Speakers
Sarah-Maria Fendt
Sarah-Maria Fendt (VIB, KU Leuven, BE) - February 11, 2026 from 09:10 to 09:45 (CET)
Bio: Sarah-Maria Fendt is a Principal Investigator at the VIB Center for Cancer Biology and full Professor of Oncology at KU Leuven, Belgium. Sarah has a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry from TU Munich and a PhD in Molecular Systems Biology from ETH Zurich. Sarah worked as postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), before starting her independent research program in 2013. Sarah’s lab is specifically interested in understanding the role of metabolism in driving metastasis formation and in defining the principles of metabolic regulation that enable cancer cells to communicate with and respond to their environment. Her team applies the powerful technologies of single cell and spatial multi-omics analysis in pre-clinical mouse models and patient samples to study this interplay between cancer cells and their metabolic environment during metastasis formation. The research of Sarah’s lab has been published in high impact journals including Nature and has been funded by multiple (inter)national grants and industry, which include ERC consolidator and proof of concept grants. In 2020 Sarah has been awarded with the highly prestigious EMBO Gold Medal and was elected in 2022 as EMBO member. In 2023 Sarah received the Francqui-Collen prize (most important science prize in Belgium) and the 51st Léopold Griffuel award as well as the 2024 AACR Outstanding Achievement in Basic Cancer Research award.
Title of the talk: Metabolic rewiring driving metastasis formation
Abstract: Metastasis formation is the leading cause of death in cancer patients. We find that metabolic rewiring is a liability of metastasizing cancer cells. For example, we discovered that extracellular remodeling of the metastatic niche, a process essential to metastasis formation, requires a transcriptional-independent regulation via the metabolites. Moreover, we provide knowledge on intratumor heterogeneity of metabolism and its role in pre-metastatic niche and metastasis formation. Thus, we study the metabolism of metastasizing cancer cells with the goal to define novel therapeutic strategies.
Heidi McBride
Heidi McBride (McGill University, CA) - February 11, 2026, from 16:45 to 17:20 (CET)
Bio: Dr. McBride is a Professor at McGill University in the Montreal Neurological Institute. Her work focuses on the molecular mechanisms and function of mitochondrial dynamics. The overarching theme is to understand the fundamental behavior of the mitochondria, including fusion, fission and the generation of mitochondrial derived vesicles (MDVs). The overarching goal is to identify the molecular mechanisms of communication required to mediate cellular transitions, including metabolic, cell cycle, immune pathways and cell death transitions. Recent areas of research interest include mechanisms of mitochondrial contributions to neurodegeneration; the mechanisms of MDV formation and the role of the mitochondria as a unique signaling platform in the cell.
Title of the talk: Mapping new pathways of pyroptotic cell death
Abstract: Cell death is inhibited in cancers but increased in neurodegeneration, highlighting the importance of its regulation for human health. MAPL is an outer mitochondrial membrane SUMO ligase involved in cell death in both cancer and neurodegeneration in vivo, yet how MAPL controls the fate of this process remains unclear. Combining genome-wide functional genetic screening and cell biological approaches, we found that MAPL induces pyroptosis through an inflammatory pathway involving mitochondria and lysosomes. This discussion will detail the mechanisms by which MAPL and the mitochondria-to-lysosome pathway act at the nexus of immune signalling and cell death.
Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz
Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz (Howard Huges Medical Institute, US) - February 12, 2026, from 09:05 to 09:40 (CET)
Bio: Dr. Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz is a Senior Group Leader at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus and Head of the Research Program on 4D Cellular Physiology. Lippincott-Schwartz has pioneered the use of green fluorescent protein technology for quantitative analysis and modelling of intracellular protein traffic and organelle dynamics in live cells. Her innovative techniques to label, image, quantify and model specific live cell protein populations and track their fate have provided vital tools used throughout the research community. Her findings using these techniques have reshaped thinking about the biogenesis, function, targeting, and maintenance of various subcellular organelles and macromolecular complexes and their crosstalk with regulators of the cell cycle, metabolism, aging, and cell fate determination. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society of Arts and Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization. She is also a Fellow of The Biophysical Society, The Royal Microscopical Society and The American Society of Cell Biology. Her awards include the E.B. Wilson Medal of the American Society of Cell Biology, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Van Deenen Medal, the Keith Porter Award of the American Society of Cell Biology, the Feodor Lynen Medal, and the Feulgen Prize of the Society of Histochemistry. She co-authored the textbook “Cell Biology” and was President of the American Society of Cell Biology. Dr. Lippincott-Schwartz attended Swarthmore College, received her MS from Stanford University, and obtained her PhD in Biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University.
Title of the talk: Looking under the hood of cells from micron to atomic scales
Abstract: Powerful new ways to image the internal structures and complex dynamics of cells are revolutionizing cell biology and bio-medical research. In my talk, I will focus on three emerging technologies capable of revealing new properties of cellular organization at scales ranging from nanometer to atomic resolution. Whole cell milling using Focused Ion Beam Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM) was used to reconstruct the entire cell volume at 4-nm voxel resolution, revealing all membrane-bound organelles and their trafficking intermediates at isotropic resolution. Single particle tracking using Halo dyes revealed unexpected features of mRNA trafficking, including sites where secretory proteins are translated on ER and their regulation by lysosomes. Finally, High Resolution Template Matching (HRTM) of ribosome subunits in cryo-EM images of intact human cells afforded a look at ribosomes at different stages of peptide elongation at the atomic scale. Together, these new tools open-up a plethora of questions related to mechanisms of cell structure/function that can now be studied in intact cells at the nanometric/molecular level.