International Cardiovascular Development, Anatomy and Regeneration Meeting
21-23 October 2026 | i3S, Porto
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, it is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2026 International Cardiovascular Development, Anatomy and Regeneration Meeting (ICDAR26), hosted in the historic and lively city of Porto. We are delighted to gather this exceptional community of researchers at i3S - Institute for Research and Innovation in Health.
ICDAR has always been more than a meeting; it is a space where ideas accelerate, collaborations take shape, and scientific curiosity thrives. We anticipate that ICDAR 26 will be particularly dynamic. Through keynote lectures, oral and poster presentations, and informal discussions, we will explore the latest advances in cardiac morphogenesis, cellular and extracellular mechanisms of cardiac development, iPSC derived-cardiomyocytes and cardiac models and emerging strategies for heart repair and regeneration.
This meeting is a forum designed to inspire, where scientific discussions unfold in an informal and genuinely welcoming atmosphere. We warmly encourage PhD students and young postdocs to submit their most recent and exciting results as a substantial number of submitted abstracts will be selected for oral presentations!
Porto, with its rich cultural heritage and strong commitment to research and innovation, provides an excellent setting for this meeting. Whether you are joining us for the first time or returning to a familiar community, we invite you to engage fully with the scientific program and take the time to appreciate the distinctive character of our host city.
We are honored by your presence and grateful for your contributions to this vibrant field. May ICDAR26 be a meeting that sparks new ideas, strengthens collaborations, and leaves you energized for the work ahead.
Welcome to ICDAR 26 and welcome to Porto.
Let us make this a meeting to remember!
Diana S Nascimento
Perpétua Pinto-do-Ó
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.
Organization
Organization:
Diana S Nascimento (Chair)
Elsa D Silva
Maria Cardona-Timoner
Perpétua Pinto-do-Ó (Chair)
International Scientific Committee:
Adrian Ruiz-Villalba - Malaga, Spain
Anke Smits - Leiden, The Netherlands
Antonio Baldini - Naples, Italy
Bill Chaudhry - Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Chris Derrick - Newcastle, UK
David Sedmera - Prague, Czech Republic
Joaquim Nunes Vieira - London, UK
Lucile Houyel - Paris, France
Lucile Miquerol - Marseille, France
Marc-Phillip Hitz - Oldenburg, Germany
Marina Campione - Padua, Italy
Melanie Philipp - Tubingen, Germany
Monique Jongbloed - Leiden, The Netherlands
Program
Preliminary Program
Day 1 | Wednesday, 21st October
09h00 - 09h30 Registration
09h30 - 12h30 Hands on session on normal and congenital malformed hearts: double outlet right ventricle
Dr. Lucile Houyel and Dr. Monique Jongbloed
- Development of the outflow tract (MJ)
- Classification and nomenclature of DORVs (LH)
- Video demonstration of specimens (MJ/LH)
- Hands-on session (MJ/LH)
To better decipher mechanisms of cardiac development, correlation between morphological variants of congenital heart disease found in humans and those in mouse mutants is essential. This hands-on session, with a selection of human specimens, will be dedicated to double outlet right ventricle, a type of ventriculo-arterial connection particularly frequent in genetically modified mice. This event is an extraordinary complement of the ESC Textbook of Cardiovascular Development (Eds Jose M Perez-Pomares, Robert Kelly)
12h30 - 14h00 Lunch in the canteen
13h00 - 14h15 General registration
14h15 - 14h30 Opening cerimony
14h30 - 15h50 Platform session I
15h50 - 16h20 Coffee Break
16h20 - 17h20 Keynote lecture I
17h20 - 19h30 Welcome Reception and Poster Session I (odd numbers will present)
Day 2 | Thursday, 22nd October
09h00 - 10h20 Platform session II
10h20 - 10h40 Coffee Break
10h40 - 11h40 Keynote lecture II
11h40 - 12h00 Group Photo
12h00 - 13h30 Lunch
13h00 - 13h30 Business meeting
13h30 - 14h50 Platform session III
14h50 - 15h50 Platform session IV
15h50 - 16h20 Coffee Break
16h20 - 17h20 Platform session V
17h20 - 19h30 Poster session with drinks
19h30 Dinner with your friends
Day 3 | Friday, 23rd October
09h00 - 10h20 Platform session VI
10h20 - 11h00 Coffee Break
11h00 - 12h00 Platform session VII
12h00 - 13h00 Keynote lecture III
13h00 - 14h00 Lunch
14h00 - 15h00 Platform session VIII
15h00 - 16h00 Platform session IX
16h00 - 16h20 Awards and closing cerimony
16h20 - 16h45 Coffee Break
16h45 Meet in front of the Institute for the Visit to the Port Wine Cellars
19h30 Farewell networking dinner
Speakers
Miguel Torres, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC)
Miguel Torres scientific career has focused on embryonic development, organogenesis and regeneration. Following Biology Studies and a PhD at the CIB-CSIC, Madrid, he specialized in mouse genetics at the MPI in Goettingen. In 1996 he established a research group in the National Center for Biotechnology, Madrid. He relocated to the National Center for Cardiovacular Research (CNIC, Madrid), where he was appointed founding director of the Department of Cardiovascular Development and Repair in 2007 and Associate Director in 2009. For the last 30 years his group has contributed important discoveries and established new concepts in Developmental and Regenerative Biology, publishing over 125 scientific articles. Dr Torres has been distinguished with the Pfizer prize in Basic Science (2013), EMBO membership (2019) and the Genetics National Award (2025), among others. He has coordinated 6 international consortia funded by EC, Human Frontiers Program, Leducq Foundation and COST. Currently, he is Senior Scientist and Coordinator of the Cardiovascular Regeneration Program in CNIC.
Rashimi Priya, Francis Crick Institute
Rashmi Priya is a Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute. Her lab’s overall goal is to understand how organ form and function emerge during embryonic development. By combining the excellent tractability of the developing zebrafish heart with cross-disciplinary approaches from cell biology, biophysics, and theoretical modelling, Rashmi’s lab has made significant conceptual progress in understanding how a functional heart is built. Her team has uncovered cellular and mechanical transitions driving functional maturation of the heart (PMID: 40774252) and recently reported how mechanical fracturing of the extracellular matrix patterns the developing myocardial tissue (bioRxiv 2025.03.07.641942). Additionally, her lab is currently exploring several other questions, including how nuclei and cells adapt their mechanical properties to cope with the dynamic forces of a beating heart, how macroscopic trabecular architecture is established and how the heart senses how much to grow and regrow.
Thomas Braun, Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research
Thomas Braun is director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Bad Nauheim, Germany and Professor of Medicine at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany. He studied medicine and philosophy at the Universities of Göttingen and Hamburg, where he obtained his MD and MD PhD. After postdoctoral training in Hamburg and in Boston in the lab of Rudolf Jaenisch at the Whitehead Institute, MIT, he held professorships at the Technical University of Braunschweig, the University of Würzburg and the University of Halle-Wittenberg. In 2004 he was recruited by the Max-Planck-Society as founding director of the newly established Max-Planck-Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim. Since 2004 he is also Professor of Medicine at the University of Giessen, Germany. So far, he has published more than 400 papers in leading journals including Nature, Science, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology Cell, Cell Stem Cell, Developmental Cell, Cell Metabolism, EMBO J, Circulation, Circ. Res. and others. His primary research currently focuses on the mechanisms driving skeletal and cardiac muscle development, regeneration and remodeling. He serves on various committees and advisory boards in Germany and abroad and is elected member of the German National Academy of Science, Leopoldina and the Academy of Europe. In 2025 Thomas Braun served as STEM Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was appointed as Advisory Professor at HUST, Wuhan, China.
Social Program
23rd of October
Dinner and Visit to the Port Wine Cellars (V.N. Gaia)
Abstract Submission
The call for abstracts will be open until May 30th (notification of acceptance until July 15th). The abstract will be evaluated and selected either for oral communication or poster communication.
Participants with submitted abstracts should register until June 15th.
Abstracts should be structured according to the following template:
Registration
Registration fee includes coffee breaks, lunches and social program. Accommodation is not included in the registration fee.
Registration fees:
|
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Early bird Registration and payment until June 15th |
Late registration Registration and payment until September 15th |
| Students* (MSc/PhD student and 1-2nd year Post-docs) | 350€ | 380€ |
| Other | 390€ | 430€ |
| Hand-on course (limited to the first 20 participants) | 40€ | - |
*Students/post-docs should enclose a letter confirming their status signed by their supervisors or other documents that prove their status.
Accommodation
Sponsors
Diamond Sponsors
Information
More information:
Events Management Unit | Rua Alfredo Allen 208 | 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
Email: events@i3s.up.pt | Tel: +351 226 074 900
