Scientific Program

The scientific program below outlines the current structure of the Charles Weissmann Symposium. Lecture titles will be updated as speaker confirmations are finalized.

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Program

Monday, October 12, 2026

09:00 – 09:15 Opening Welcome Address Adriano Aguzzi
Session I – Molecular Biology I – Chair: Michael Hengartner
09:15 – 09:50 On 62 years of friendship and collaboration with Charles Weissmann Piet Borst
09:50 – 10:25 DNA damage at the basis of aging and neurodegeneration: the unexpected impact of nutrition and gene length Jan Hoeijmakers
10:25 – 11:00 Coffee Break
Session II – Molecular Biology II – Chair: Silvia Domcke
11:00 – 11:35 Bacteria and Archaea in their natural environments -
a global survey		 Christian van Mering
11:35 – 12:10 Phosphomachines: Active Organizers of the Cyto- and Nucleoplasm? Lucas Pelkmans
12:10 – 12:45 Dissecting Disease Mechanisms Through the Lens of Humanized Mice Esen Sefik
12:45 – 14:00 Lunch Break
Session III – Immunology – Chair: Francesca Peri
14:00 – 14:35 Bratwurst and Rösti, Brahms, Q-beta and more with Charles: DAMP molecules in cancer immunity Tadatsugu Taniguchi
14:35 – 15:10 What’s new? Immune sensing of cancer Richard Flavell
15:10 – 15:45 From interferon to cell death Shigekazu Nagata
15:45 – 16:30 Coffee Break
Evening Keynote – Chair: Beatrice Beck-Schimmer
16:30 – 17:30 Archaic Genomics Svante Pääbo

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

Prions / Neurodegeneration – Chair: Adriano Aguzzi
09:00 – 09:35 Reflections on transmissible dementias John Collinge
09:35 – 10:10 Translating Translation in Neurodegeneration Giovanna Mallucci
10:10 – 10:45 Coffee Break
10:45 – 11:20 Cellular models of TDP-43 pathology: the prion concept beyond prions Magdalini Polymenidou
11:20 – 11:55 Beyond amyloid: leveraging the physiological functions of APP for therapy Ulrike Müller
11:55 – 12:10 Closing Remarks Adriano Aguzzi
12:10 – 14:00 Lunch Break