6th Symposium on Immunomodulation in Cancer & Regeneration
Immunotherapies: current practices and future challenges
22 June 2026 | i3S, Porto
RESEARCH IS LOOKING FOR A BALANCE - REGENERATION / CANCER AND SO RESEARCH IS THE ELEMENT CREATING THE BALANCE
It is with great enthusiasm that we announce the 6th Symposium on Immunomodulation in Cancer and Regeneration, which will be held on the 22nd of June 2026, at i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, in Porto.
We welcome you to this one-day symposium, where top scientists working in immunomodulation, cancer and regeneration come together to discuss the present and future challenges in translating novel immunotherapeutic strategies into more effective therapies.
Lectures will take place in a very informal environment, and participants are encouraged to bring questions that may contribute to the advancement of knowledge through integrative approaches.
The program includes three lectures by invited speakers, short oral presentations, speed talks and poster presentations, selected from the submitted abstracts. A round table session on “Immunotherapies: current practices and future challenges” will close the Symposium.
Oral, speed talk/poster presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts. Best oral and speed talk/poster presentation prizes will be awarded.
Poster >>
Venue
The meeting will be held at i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde.
Rua Alfredo Allen, 208; 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
Tel: +351 226 074 900 | Site: http://www.i3s.up.pt/ | E-mail: events@i3s.up.pt
GPS coordinates: 41º 10’ 30.008’’ N, 8º 36’ 12.488’’ W.
i3S Travel Information »
Organization
Organizing Committee
Maria José Oliveira
i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, INEB – Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto
Susana Santos
i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, INEB – Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto
Catarina Almeida
iBiMED – Institute for Biomedicine, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Aveiro
Scientific Committee
Luís Graça
GIMM-Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine, Lisbon
Manuel Sobrinho Simões
i3S- institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto
Margarida Saraiva
i3S- institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto
Mário A. Barbosa
i3S- institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto
Nuno Alves
i3S- institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto
Paula Videira
UCIBIO, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
Program
Preliminary program
08h30 | Registration
09h00 - 09h15 | Welcome
09h15 - 10h00 | Invited Talk
Nanobody-mediated targeting of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment
Jo van Ginderachter, Cellular and Molecular Immunology Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) and
Vlaams Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium
10h00 - 10h30 | 3 Selected Oral Presentations
10h30 - 11h00 | Speed Talks
11h00 - 11h30 | Coffee break & Poster Session
11h30 - 12h15 | Invited Talk
Cellular reprogramming for cancer therapy
Filipe Pereira, Cell Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis and Immunity, Lund University Cancer Center, Sweden
12h15 - 12h45 | 3 Selected Oral Presentations
12h45 - 13h15 | Speed Talks
13h15 - 14h30 | Lunch & Poster Session
14h30 - 15h15 | To be announced
15h15 - 15h45 | 3 Selected Oral Presentations
15h45 - 16h15 | Speed Talks
16h15 - 16h45 | Coffee break & Poster Session
16h45 - 17h45 | Round Table - Immunotherapies: Current Practices & Future Challenges
17h45 - 18h00 | Closing Session and Awards
Speakers
Filipe Pereira, Cell Reprogramming in Hematopoiesis and Immunity, Lund University Cancer Center, Sweden
Filipe Pereira is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at Lund University in Sweden, where his research explores the intersection of cellular reprogramming and immunology. His laboratory develops reprogramming-based immunotherapies with the potential to transform the treatment of cancer and immune-mediated diseases. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Cellular Reprogramming and is a Fellow of the Swedish Wallenberg Program in Molecular Medicine.
Over the past two decades, he has built an internationally recognized research program on immune cellular reprogramming and hematopoietic specification. He earned his Ph.D. at Imperial College London, where he investigated mechanisms of reprogramming toward pluripotency using cell fusion and heterokaryon models. During postdoctoral training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, he was among the first to apply cellular reprogramming principles to hematopoiesis.
Since establishing independent research groups at the University of Coimbra in 2015 and at Lund University in 2017, his team has uncovered mechanisms governing hematopoietic reprogramming and definitive hematopoiesis specification. The group also pioneered reprogramming fibroblasts and cancer cells into dendritic cells, introducing a framework that merges cellular reprogramming with cancer immunotherapy.
Beyond academia, he is a co-founder of Asgard Therapeutics, a biotechnology company translating in vivo dendritic-cell reprogramming into next-generation cancer therapies.
For his scientific and innovation contributions, he has received five fellowships and thirty-four awards, including three ERC grants, a Swedish Research Council Consolidator Grant, the Novo Nordisk Foundation Distinguished Innovator Grant, and honors such as the Swedish Fernström Prize, Pfizer-Portugal award and the Imperial College Emerging Alumni Leader Award.
Jo van Ginderachter, Cellular and Molecular Immunology Lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) and Vlaams Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium
Jo Van Ginderachter is Heading the Cellular and Molecular Immunology Lab and tenured Full Professor at VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussels) and Group Leader of the excellence-based research institute VIB (Vlaams Institute of Biotechnology). He has graduated as bio-engineer at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 1995 and obtained his PhD in the lab of Cellular and Molecular Immunology at the same university in 2002, studying the impact of the innate and adaptive immune system on the growth and metastasis of mouse lymphoma models. He continued his postdoctoral training in Brussels funded by a competitive Prospective Research for Brussels grant. He has a long-standing expertise in macrophage biology, tumour immunology and applications of nanobodies.
Jo Van Ginderachter became staff scientist in the Cellular and Molecular Immunology Lab in 2006, assistant professor at VUB in 2010, Group Leader of VIB in 2012 and Tenure Track Professor of Immunology at VUB in 2014. He is author of 161 scientific publications, with over 20.800 citations (h-index = 57), and 4 book chapters and is inventor on 12 patents. He is also Board member of the Belgian Immunological Society, the Belgian Association for Cancer Research and Flanders Vaccine.
The mission of his lab is to characterize the heterogeneity and function of immunoregulatory cells (monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, Treg) in the tumor microenvironment and inflamed organs and use these cells as an in vivo sensor to track (anti-tumor) immunity and as a target for therapeutic intervention. In this respect, his lab employs cutting-edge single-cell and mouse genetics technologies to uncover the intricacies of the (tumor) immune microenvironment and pioneered the use of Nanobodies as exquisite tools to target immune cells.
Joana Neves, GIMM Lisbon, Portugal
Joana Neves is a Group Leader at GIMM Lisbon, co-directing the Aging and Tissue Repair joint lab. She is interested in understanding how immune modulation can be harnessed to improve stem cell function and regenerative therapies in aging. Joana Neves received her PhD in 2009 from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. During her postdoctoral work, at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, she discovered the immune modulatory and anti-geronic properties of MANF and its use for retinal regenerative therapies. Joana Neves is now dedicated to the study of regenerative biology in aging, aiming to design interventions to improve regenerative therapies in older humans. She received several awards, including the 2019 Sartorius and Science Prize in Regenerative Medicine and Cell Therapy.
Abstract Submission
The call for abstracts will be open until the 22nd of April (notification of acceptance until the 6th of May 2026). The abstract will be evaluated and selected for oral communication or poster communication.
Participants with submitted abstracts should register by 8th of May.
Abstracts should be structured according to the following template:
Registration
Registration fees:
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Early bird until 8th May |
Late registration from 9th to 25th May |
| Students | 60€ | 80€ |
| Other | 80€ | 100€ |
Information
More information:
Events Management Unit | Rua Alfredo Allen 208 | 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
Email: events@i3s.up.pt | Tel: +351 226 074 900
