Advances in Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy 2023

Dear colleagues,

It is our pleasure to welcome you to our Symposium “Advances in Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy 2023” in honor of Prof Jürgen Finke.

It was in 1989 that the first patients underwent allogeneic marrow transplants in Freiburg. The field of hematopoietic cell transplantation has developed remarkably since then, allowing for transplantation of elderly patients and achieving higher cure rates due to improvements in many areas, such as novel graft­versus-host disease prevention and treatment strategies, post allo-HCT maintenance therapy and approaches to enhance the graft-versus-leukemia effect.

In honor of Prof Jürgen Finke, who has developed allogeneic stem cell transplantation in the Department of Hematology and Oncology at Freiburg University Medical Center, we have invited experts for an international symposium covering the major topics raised by recent developments in the field. These will cover the role of the intestinal microbiome and the intestinal immune system in GVHD, tissue-regenerative approaches for acute GVHD, chronic GVHD biology and treatment, basic mechanisms of leukemia immune evasion, novel CAR T cell and engineered NK cell products. This event will give you the opportunity to debate the current concepts of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cell Therapy at the beautiful venue of the Historische Kaufhaus in Freiburg.

We invite you to share your knowledge in discussions covering science, exchanging thoughts and ideas, and seeing old friends and making new ones.

From the organizers

Robert Zeiser   Justus Duyster

Thursday June 29, 2023

Opening:   9:00

Welcome address

Frederik Wenz (Senior Medical Director, Medical Center Univ. of Freiburg)
Justus Duyster (Head Internal Medicine I, Freiburg)
Robert Zeiser (Head Div Tumor Immunology, Freiburg)

9:30 – 11:30 (each talk 20 min plus 5 min discussion)

Graft-versus-leukemia effect/AML immunotherapy
Chairs: Jakob Passweg (Basel), Fabio Ciceri (Milano)

Luca Vago (Milano) - HLA loss and epigenetic regulation of HLA

John DiPersio (Yale) - Immune evasion of relapsed AML cells after allo-HCT

Wolfgang Herr (Regensburg) - HLA directed DLI design for GVL

Katharina Fleischhauer (Essen) – HLA-DP matching to enhance GVL effects

Sergio Rutella (Nottingham) - Immune landscape of TP53-mutated AML

11:30 – 12:00 Satellite Symposium by Novartis:

Prof.Dr.Christian Könecke / MH Hannover - Positioning of CAR-T-Therapy in the treatment of Follicular Lymphoma

Lunch break

13:00 – 15:00

Cellular Immunotherapy – CAR T cells / CAR NK cells
Chairs: Hermann Einsele (Würzburg), Ralph Wäsch (Freiburg), Reinhard Marks (Freiburg)

Michael Hudececk (Würzburg) – CAR Tc against oncogenic mutations

Toni Cathomen (Freiburg) – Novel CAR Tc designs to combat solid tumors

Evelyn Ullrich (Frankfurt) - Engineered NK cells open up new concepts in immuno-oncology

Saar Gill (Pennsylvania) - CAR Tc for AML

Susana Minguet (Freiburg) - Binding of Lck to CD3ε to enhance CAR function

Coffee break

16:00 – 18:30

Post Transplant maintenance – cellular therapy and drug based
Chairs: Nelson Chao (Durham), Alexandros Spyridonidis (Patras)

Robert Soiffer (Boston) – Demethylating agents to reduce AML relapse risk

Peter Dreger (Heidelberg) – Relapse prevention after allo-HCT for lymphoma – what have we learned in the last 3 decades?

Charles Craddock (Birmingham) - Post-Transplant Strategies for Patients with AML

Wolfgang Bethge (Tübingen) - CAR T cells or allo-HCT - real world data analysis

Takanori Teshima (Sapporo)  -  T-cell tolerance and GVHD/GVL

Robert Zeiser (Freiburg) - Inhibition of MDM2 for relapse prevention

19:00 - Dinner Restaurant Greiffenegg Schlössle

Friday June 30, 2023

9:00 – 11:30

Acute Graft-versus-host disease I (Basic biology)
Chairs: Gerard Socié (Paris), Stephan Mielke (Stockholm)

Robert Negrin (Stanford) - Tolerance induction after allo-HCT

Pavan Reddy (Houston, Texas) - Tissue tolerance in aGVHD

Andreas Beilhack (Würzburg) – Intestinal myeloid cells and aGVHD

Ernst Holler (Regensburg) - The intestinal microbiome and aGVHD

Geoffrey Hill (Seattle) - The role of non-hematopoietic Ag presenting cells in GVHD

Kristina Maas-Bauer (Freiburg) - iNKT cells to prevent aGVHD

Natalie Köhler (Freiburg) - hBD2 for the treatment of acute GVHD

Coffee break

12:00 – 14:00

Acute Graft-versus-host disease II (Clinical)
Chairs: Arnon Nagler (Tel Aviv), Mohamad Mohty (Paris)

Jürgen Finke (Freiburg) – The expansion of allo-HCT to elderly patients  

Nicolaus Kröger (Hamburg) - ATG versus PTCy for chronic GVHD prophylaxis

Matthias Edinger (Regensburg) - Treg for aGVHD

Claudia Wehr (Freiburg) - GLP2 for aGVHD therapy

Francis Ayuk (Hamburg) - Risk-adapted first-line treatment of acute GVHD

Lunch break

15:00 – 17:00

Chronic Graft-versus-host disease I
Chairs: Daniel Wolff (Regensburg), Hermann Einsele (Würzburg)

Hildegard Greinix (Graz) - The role of ECP for cGVHD

Steven Pavletic (Bethesda) - JAK inhibition in cGVHD

Bruce Blazar (Minnesota) - ROCK2 inhibition for cGVHD

Marcel van den Brink (New York) – The role of the intestinal microbiome in cancer immunotherapy

17:00
Closing remarks in honor of Prof Jürgen Finke
Robert Zeiser (Freiburg)

Registration for the conference participation is free of charge. Online Registration is closed - on site registration is still possible.

Accomodation

Accommodations can be booked directly through Freiburg booking service

How to reach the Medical Center - University of Freiburg

... by Airplane: Freiburg is located in the middle of a dense network of international airports. The nearest international airport, EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg, is only 40 minutes away from Freiburg. Direct connection to Freiburg is provided by the Flixbus.

Frankfurt Airport, one of Europe's largest hubs is only a two hour train ride or car drive away. Trains leave from the airport's long distance train station  to Freiburg at least once every hour.

... by Car: Over the motorway A-5 Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Basel; exit "Freiburg Mitte".  Over the motorway A-5 Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Basel; exit "Freiburg Mitte". Follow B31 until the exit  “Stühlinger”. Turn left. Follow the street "Escholzstraße" and the signs "Universitätsklinikum Freiburg".

... by Train: Freiburg is located on the ICE/Intercity route Frankfurt-Karlsruhe-Freiburg-Basel. Twice an hour, trains from allover Germany or from Switzerland (Zurich/Basel) stop at Freiburg's main train station. From here, you can reach the Medical Center - University Freiburg with Freiburg's public transport (tram).

Special Train Ticket Arrangements with Deutsche Bahn

Good for our environment. Comfortable for you.
Travel to the conference from only € 49,50,-  

With the special arrangement from Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) you travel relaxed and safe from any German railway station to Freiburg. By using the train you help our environment and make a contribution to climate protection.

The fare for your one way ticket* to the conference is:

One way - specific train
1st Class - 80,90 €
2nd Class - 49,50 €

One way - fully flexible
1st Class - 98,90 €
1st Class - 67,50 €

* subject to availabiltiy

Book your ticket here:

Disclosure of Sponsorships

Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA - 4.000€**
CSL Behring GmbH - 500€*
Gilead Sciences GmbH - 7.500€***
Incyte Biosciences International Sàrl - 4.000€**
Janssen-Cilag GmbH - 8.000€***
Jazz Pharmaceuticals Germany GmbH - 4.000€**
medac GmbH - 4.000€**
Miltenyi Biotec B.V. & Co. KG - 7.500€***
MNK-Therakos (UK) - 7.500€**
MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH - 4.000€**
Neovii Biotech GmbH - 10.000€***
Novartis Pharma GmbH - 17.500€**
Sartorius CellGenix GmbH - 4.000€**
Takeda Pharma Vertrieb GmbH & Co. KG - 4.000€**

* for advertising purposes
** for a 4 sqm booth + advertising purposes
*** for a 8 sqm booth +  advertising purposes

Organization committee

Medical Center University of Freiburg
Department of Medicine I - Specialties: Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation

Claudia Wehr
Kristina Maas-Bauer
Natalie Köhler
Ralph Wäsch
Justus Duyster
Robert Zeiser

Congress Organizer

Medical Center University of Freiburg
Communication Department | Event Management
Elke Bührer

Breisacher Str. 153
79110 Freiburg

+49 761 270-19210

veranstaltung@uniklinik-freiburg.de