Flagship Initiative Engineering Molecular Systems Life-Inspired Engineering Molecular Systems Conference 2026
29.09.2026 - 01.10.2026 at Audimax, Heidelberg University
More information to follow soon!
Engineering molecular systems is a relatively new field of research that has the potential to make groundbreaking innovations that can broadly benefit society. A special feature of this area of research is that interdisciplinarity is key, involving methodologies and expertise in synthetic biology and medicine, materials science, physics, chemistry, and new environmental technologies.
Combining living materials with synthetic molecular systems is one of the main keys to life-inspired molecular systems. The resulting hybrid systems will have new functionalities with a high transfer and translational potential. However, the engineering of mechanisms found in nature with synthetic components will lead to new molecular systems promising solutions for social challenges. The applications of such life-inspired hybrid or fully synthetic systems cover a broad range of applications such as cancer therapy, nanorobots, multi-organoid-systems or even “living” computers.
The Life-inspired Molecular Systems Conference at Heidelberg University will highlight recent advances in synthetic immunology, research on organoids, and molecular systems engineering, and encompasses invited talks, contributed talks, and posters.
Topics
- Synthetic Immunology
- Organoids
- Engineering Molecular Systems
Speakers
Iain Dunlop, Imperial College London, UK
https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/i.dunlop
Kurt Gothelf, Aarhus University, Denmark;
https://inano.au.dk/about/research-groups/gothelf-lab/
Stephan Grabbe, University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
https://www.unimedizin-mainz.de/hautklinik/grundlagenforschung/ag-prof-dr-grabbe-pd-dr-bros.html
Henry Hess, Columbia University, USA
https://www.bme.columbia.edu/faculty-staff/directory/henry-hess
Peter Loskill, University of Tübingen, Germany
https://www.organ-on-chip.uni-tuebingen.de/unser-team/peter-loskill/
Adrian Ranga, KU Leuven, Belgium
https://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00102955
Sai Reddy, Botnar Institute of Immune Engineering, Basel, Switzerland
https://immune.engineering/about/team/sai-reddy
Menachem Stern, AMOLF, The Netherlands
https://amolf.nl/research-groups/learning-machines
Saher Taif, University of Illinois, USA
https://bioengineering.illinois.edu/people/saif
Nicolas Voelcker, Monash University, Australia
https://www.monash.edu/pharm/research/themes/drug-delivery-disposition-and-dynamics/research-groups/voelcker-group/team
Marcy Zenobi-Wang, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
https://hest.ethz.ch/en/research/professorships/person-detail.zenobi-wong.html
Scientific Committee
Preliminary Program
Tuesday, September 29th, 2026
10:00 – 10:30: Welcome Coffee
10:30 – 12:30: Session 1: Synthetic Immunology
12:30 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:30: Session 2: Synthetic Immunology
15:30 – 16:00: Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:00: Poster Session 1
17:00 – 18:30: Session 3: Synthetic Immunology
Wednesday, September 30th, 2026
09:00 – 10:30: Session 4: Organoids
10:30 – 10:50: Coffee Break
10:50 – 12:50: Session 5: Organoids
12:50 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 14:50: Session 6: Organoids
14:50 – 15:50: Poster Session 2
15:50 – 16:10: Coffee break
16:10 – 17:00: Session 7: Organoids
18:30: Conference Dinner
Thursday, October 1st, 2026
09:00 – 10:30: Session 8: Molecular Systems Engineering
10:30 – 10:50: Coffee Break
10:50 – 12:50: Session 9: Molecular Systems Engineering
12:50 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 16:00: Session 10: Molecular Systems Engineering
16:00 – 16:10: Closing Remarks
16:10: Farewell Coffee