Program
February 16–18, 2026 at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Monday, February 16
| 08:00 | Shuttle bus 1 departs from the hotel for the meeting |
| 08:15 | Shuttle bus 2 departs from the hotel for the meeting |
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08:00 — 09:00
| Registration |
| 09:00 — 09:15 | Opening remarks by Yonatan Stelzer |
| 09:15 — 10:45 | Session 1 Chair: Yonatan Stelzer Invited speaker: Dirk Schübeler (Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel): Controlling CpG Islands Invited speaker: Marta Shahbazi (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology/University of Cambridge, UK): Developmental plasticity of the early human embryo Selected abstract – short talk: Saifeng Cheng (School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China): A weak-interaction model defines the cell-autonomous function of DNA methylation in gastrulation Invited speaker: Alexander Meissner (MPIMG, Berlin, Germany): Epigenetic regulation in early development |
| 10:45 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 12:45 |
Session 2
Chair: Raquel Fueyo Invited speaker: Jacob Hanna (Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel): Challenges and Advanced in Naive Pluripotency based Synthetic Embryology Invited speaker: Nicolas Rivron (IMBA, Vienna, Austria): Human blastoid uncovering of the molecular determinants and timing of blastocyst implantation Selected abstract – short talk: Tamer Önder (School of Medicine, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey): Chemical Induction of Human 8-Cell-Like Cells from Naïve Pluripotent Stem Cells Invited speaker: Kathy Niakan (University of Cambridge, UK): Molecular mechanisms regulating lineage specification in human embryos |
| 12:45 — 14:30 | Lunch |
| 14:30 — 16:00 |
Session 3
Chair: Jacob Hanna Invited speaker: James Briscoe (Francis Crick Institute, London, UK): The Dynamics of Neural Tube Formation Invited speaker: Naomi Moris (Francis Crick Institute, London, UK): Co-development and emergent cell fate in gastruloids Selected abstract – short talk: Harry McNamara (Yale University, New Haven, USA): Recording developmental signals during stem cell self-organization Invited speaker: Mitinori Saitou (Kyoto University, Japan): Mechanism and in vitro reconstitution of human germ-cell development |
| 16:00 — 17:30 | Poster Session A |
| 17:30 | Dinner for all participants |
| 18:30 | Shuttle bus 1 departs from the institute to the hotel |
| 19:00 | Shuttle bus 2 departs from the institute to the hotel |
Tuesday, February 17
| 08:00 | Shuttle bus 1 departs from the hotel for the meeting |
| 08:15 | Shuttle bus 2 departs from the hotel for the meeting |
| 9:00 — 10:30 |
Session 4
Chair: Efrat Shema Invited speaker: Anja Groth (University of Copenhagen, Denmark): How cells copy their epigenome Invited speaker: Giacomo Cavalli (CNRS / University of Montpellier, France): 3D genome architecture and Polycomb proteins as drivers of Epigenetic Memory Selected abstract – short talk: Mikhail Spivakov (Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Sciences, London, UK): Poising and connectivity of emergent human developmental enhancers in the transition from naive to primed pluripotency Invited speaker: Amos Tanay (Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel): Quantitative models for the epiblast and beyond |
| 10:30 — 11:00 | Coffee break |
| 11:00 — 12:30 | Session 5 Chair: Zack Smith Invited speaker: Kikuë Tachibana (MPIB, Martinsried, Germany): RISE and SINE: Mechanisms of zygotic genome activation Invited speaker: Vincent Pasque (KU Leuven, Belgium): Modelling Early Human Embryogenesis with Naïve Pluripotent Stem Cells: From Chromatin Regulators to Dosage Compensation Selected abstract – short talk: Raquel Fueyo (MPIMG, Berlin, Germany): Human-specific regulation driven by retrotransposons impacts preimplantation development in a 3D model of the human blastocyst Invited speaker: Kathrin Plath (UCLA, USA): Modeling human development |
| 12:30 — 14:00 | Lunch break |
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14:00 — 15:45
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Session 6
Chair: Denes Hnisz Invited speaker: Eileen Furlong (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany): Genome regulation during embryogenesis: Going loopy about enhancer regulation Invited speaker: Bertie Göttgens (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK): Charting the Transcriptional Relay from Pluripotency to Blood Selected abstract – short talk: Anna Dorothea Senft (National Institues of Health, Bethesda, USA): The LINE1-derived DUF3669-domain gave rise to an essential regulator of cardiac development in mice and humans Selected abstract – short talk: Zsuzsanna Izsvak (Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany): HERVH^Lin Coordinates LIN28/let-7 Activity to Preserve Genome Stability during Early Human Development Invited speaker: Joanna Wysocka (Stanford University, USA): Human development and evolution through the lens of gene regulation |
| 15:45 — 17:30 | Poster Session B |
| 17:30 | Free evening |
| 17:30 | Shuttle bus departs from the institute to the hotel |
Wednesday, February 18
| 08:15 | Shuttle bus departs from the hotel for the meeting |
| 09:00 — 10:45 |
Session 7
Chair: Alexander Meissner Invited speaker: Alex Schier (Biozentrum University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland): Global views of development Invited speaker: Barbara Treutlein (ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland): Reconstructing human brain development with organoids and single-cell technologies Invited speaker: Zachary Smith (MPIMG, Berlin, Germany): An Evolutionary Developmental Manifold for Decoding Epigenetic Landscapes Invited speaker: Yonatan Stelzer (Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel): Towards spatiotemporal models of embryonic development |
| 10:45 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 12:45 | Session 8 Chair: Amos Tanay Invited speaker: Alexander van Oudenaarden (Hubrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands): Novel sequencing tools to explore translation in individual cells Invited speaker: Denes Hnisz (MPIMG, Berlin, Germany): Transcriptional condensates Selected abstract – short talk: Ido Sagi (Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, USA): Nanoscale chromatin organization of regulatory loci during early human development Cancelled: Invited speaker: Anshul Kundaje (Stanford University, USA): Deep learning the regulatory syntax of fetal development and the genetic basis of developmental disorders |
| 12:45 — 13:00 | Concluding remarks by Alex Meissner |
| 13:00 | Shuttle bus departs from the institute to the hotel |