The European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) Spring School 2026 is being organised this year in partnership with GeneT.
We are very proud to welcome more than 100 students, mostly PhD students, from all over the world, who, over four days, will learn, develop their networking skills and have the opportunity to meet an extraordinary group of experts in the field of gene and cell therapy.
This school will take place in Coimbra between 14 and 17 April at the Hotel Vila Galé Coimbra.
The programme consists of classes that tell the current and future story of gene and cell therapy, not forgetting moments of socialising, opportunities to get to know the city, its history, its flavours, and its people.
The programme is now available here (currently being updated).
Registration and all information are available on the ESGCT website.
Registration
Workshops
Ana Santos Carvalho
Workshop 1 | Public Engagement
GeneT, University of Coimbra
Thomas Gallagher
Workshop 2 | How to write a scientific manuscript
Human Gene Therapy
Sheila Mikhail
Workshop 3 | Biotech Entrepreneur Saga
m34thx
Jorge Pimenta & José Ricardo Aguilar
Workshop 4: Intellectual Property: maximizing the protection of your R&D results
iPN
Mafalda Guimarães
Workshop 5 | How to deliver a convincing speech
Toastmasters International
Break the Ice Dinner
Welcome Address
Alberto Auricchio
President, ESGCT
Luis Pereira de Almeida
President, Spring School
Hildegard Büning
ESGCT Education & Training
Keynote 1
Jude Samulski
Climate Change, Pandemic Uncertainty, and the Emergence of Gene Therapy: Prioritizing Molecular Medicine in 2026
m34thx
Coffee Break
Session 1 | Gene therapy tools - what you should know about viral and non-viral vectors, part I
Axel Schambach
Insights and challenges on how to design retroviral and lentiviral vectors
Hannover Medical School
Els Verhoeyen
How to improve nature – the next generation of lentiviral vectors
EVIR, INSERM, C3M, INSERM
Hildegard Büning
Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector system – the unusual career of non-autonomous parvovirus
Hannover Medical School
Lunch Break (with Meet the Expert tables)
Guided Tour & Treasure Hunt
Dinner and social activity
ESGCT Spring School Morning Run - Between Mondego Bridges
Keynote 2
Alberto Auricchio
AAV gene therapy from Bench to Bedside
TIGEM, Naples
Session 2 | Gene therapy on the move
João Nuno Moreira
Non viral vectors
CNC-UC, CiBB, University of Coimbra
Virginia Haurigot
Safety and Efficacy by Design: Optimization of Vector Genomes
Ana Sofia Coroadinha,
AAV Vector Design Approaches: Overcoming Genome Size Limitations
IBET, Portugal
Luis Pereira de Almeida
GeneT: the Gene Therapy Center of Excellence (from the idea to the tools applied)
GeneT, CNC-UC, CiBB, FFUC, University of Coimbra
Coffee Break
Session 3 | Beyond conventional CRISPR-Cas strategies
Toni Cathomen
Safety first – how to detect and minimize off-target effects
University of Freiburg
Angelo Lombardo
Programming gene silencing by epigenome editing
SR-Tiget, Milan
Paula Rio
Gene Therapy for Fanconi
CIEMAT / CIBERER, Madrid
Lunch Break
Session 4 | Stem cells and disease models
Rui Nobre
Pre-clinical in Machado-Joseph Disease
GeneT, CNC-UC, CiBB, University of Coimbra
Liliana Bernardino
Modulation of Endogenous Neural Stem Cell Activity in Models of Neurodegenerative Diseases
University of Beira Interior, Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cellular Therapy
Pedro Perdigão
Engineering Isogenic iPSC Disease Models with Precision Genome Editing
GeneT, CNC-UC, CiBB, University of Coimbra
Coffee Break
Session 5 | Challenges in gene and cell therapy
Anne Galy
Immune system: friend or foe in gene therapy
ART-TG, INSERM
Gloria Gonzalez-Aseguinolaza
Potential mechanism involved in AAV toxicity
CIMA, University of Navarra, Pamplona
Sheila MIkail
TBD
m34thx
Nathalie Cartier-Lacave
TBD
INSERM
Social event and dinner
Session 6 | Novel approaches in fighting cancer
Bernhard Gentner
TBD
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne
Vincenzo Cerullo
TBD
University of Helsinki, Finland
João Gonçalves
New strategies for in vivo and ex-vivo development of CAR-T cells
iMed, University of Lisbon
Coffee Break
Session 7 | Pre-clinical & clinical gene therapy
Francisco Martin
From Bench to Bedside: How Expression Control Can Transform the Future of CAR‑T Therapy
Genyo, Granada
Juan Bueren
TBD
CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain
Fatima Bosch
TBD
UABarcelona
Špela Miroševič
TBD
CTNNB1 Foundation
Venue
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