Single cell ‘omics’ is evolving at an incredible pace with emerging genomic technologies. It is widely used in genetics – and in biological sciences – but will it be used in clinical practice? Hence the title: ‘Single cells, to care or not to care?’
The meeting comprises scientific sessions with invited keynote speakers at the plenary sessions and oral contributions from young investigators, selected from the best-scoring abstracts, in parallel sessions.
These will be complemented by poster presentations and visits to the exhibitors’ booths.
Moderators: prof. Geert Mortier, PhD, MD (UZ Leuven) & dr. Damien Lederer, MD (IPG Gosselies; BeSHG)
08:00 – 09:00 Registration
09:00 – 09:15Welcome address by the president of the BeSHG, Dr. Damien Lederer, MD (IPG Gosselies, BE)
09:15 – 11:00Plenary session 1
Chair persons: prof. Geert Mortier, PhD, MD (UZ Leuven) & dr. Damien Lederer, MD (IPG Gosselies; BeSHG)
9:15 An introduction to single cell and spatial multi-omics
prof. Bernard Thienpont, PhD & prof. Thierry Voet, PhD (KU Leuven, BE)
9:40 Single cell human genetics: from genotype to phenotype one cell at a time
prof. Malte Spielmann, PhD, MD (University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel & Lübeck, DE)
10:20 Linking common and rare diseases using gene regulatory networks
prof. Lude Franke, PhD (University Medical Centre Groningen, NL)
11:00 – 11:30BeSHG Annual General Assembly
11:30 – 12:00 Coffee Break + Meet your sponsor + Poster viewing
12:00 – 13:00 Selected Oral Presentations
12:00 Parallel session 1: Tools and tricks in genetics
Chair persons: prof. Bernard Thienpont, PhD (KU Leuven) & dr. Julie Soblet, PhD (UH Brussels; BeSHG)
Evaluation of a novel antisense oligonucleotide therapy targeting a 5’UTR mutation in the RDH12 gene (Manon Bouckaert, UGent)
Two models, one mutation: functional characterisation of a Brugada syndrome associated CACNA1C variant in stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes and zebrafish
(Bert Vandendriessche, UA Antwerpen)
Dissection of the 3D genome and long non-coding RNAs in the regulation of FOXL2 in novel ovarian granulosa cell models (Charlotte Matton, UGent)
Unsupervised ECG feature extraction using deep learning empowers discovery of genetic determinants of cardiac electrophysiology (Ewa Sieliwonczyk, UA Antwerpen)
12:00 Parallel session 2: Diagnosing and understanding malignant disease
Chair persons: prof. Thierry Voet, PhD (KU Leuven), dr. Arvid Suls, PhD (UA Antwerpen; BeSHG)
Clonal heterogeneity and evolution during treatment in high hyperdiploid b-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Margo Aertgeerts, KU Leuven)
The Role of Hexokinase 3 in Familial Hodgkin Lymphoma (Hiba Maalouf, UCL Louvain)
IMPRESS: Improved methylation profiling using restriction enzymes and smMIP sequencing, combined with a new biomarker panel, creating a multi-cancer detection assay
(Thomas Vanpoucke, UA Antwerpen)
Importance of SPRED1 in cutaneous melanoma (Charlotte Carton, KU Leuven)
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch break + Meet your sponsor + Poster viewing
14:30 – 16:00 Selected Oral Presentations
14:30 Parallel session 3: Functional insights and genomics
Chair persons: prof. Joris Vermeesch, PhD (KU Leuven) & prof. Leila Zahed, PhD (UCL Brussels; BeSHG)
14:30 Parallel session 4: Clinical genetics and gene discovery
Chair persons: prof. Hilde Vanesch, PhD, MD (KU Leuven) & prof. Saskia Bulk, PhD, MD (CHU Liège; BeSHG)
14:30 Parallel session 5: Psychosocial aspects in genetics
Chair persons: mrs. Aude Lombard (IPG Gosselies), mrs. Ariane Van Tongerloo (UGent)
& dr. Kathelijn Keymolen, MD (UZ Brussels; BeSHG
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break + Meet your sponsor + Poster viewing
16:30 – 17:45 Plenary session 2
Chair persons: prof. Patrick Callaerts, PhD(KU Leuven) & prof. Bert Callewaert, PhD, MD (UZ Gent; BeSHG)
16:30 Single-cell analyses of the tumor microenvironment during checkpoint immunotherapy
prof. Diether Lambrechts, PhD (VIB - KU Leuven, BE)
17:05 A Decade of Molecular Cell Atlases
prof. Stephen Quake, PhD (Stanford University, USA)
17:45 – 18:00 Closing Remarks + Best Poster + Presentation Award
prof. Gert Matthijs, PhD (KU Leuven; BeSHG) & dr. Damien Lederer, MD (IPG Gosselies; BeSHG)
18:00 – 20:00 Reception
20:00 – 22:00 Party
Scientific & local organization committee:.
Prof. Patrick Callaerts, Prof. Gert Matthijs, Prof. Geert Mortier, Prof. Bernard Thienpont,
Prof. Hilde Van Esch, Prof. Joris Vermeesch, Prof. Thierry Voet
Local contact:
Liliane Geyskens, Annemie Puttemans, Lindsey Stevens