Detailed program
Program
Download the detailed program (.pdf)
Download the poster booklet (.pdf)
Download the poster numbering (.pdf)
The scientfic program will begin on the afternoon of April 8 and end at noon on April 10.
The symposium will be organized around four thematic sessions, each lasting half a day: photoswitches and beyond, optical engineering and novel applications, emerging targets and therapeutic potential and brain diseases and photopharmacology.
In addition to plenary lectures and keynote speeches, two poster sessions will be organized on April 9. Two abstracts from each thematic session have been selected for short oral presentations.
Wednesday, 8 April 2026
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11:00-12:30
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Welcome / Registrations
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12:30-14:00
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Lunch break
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14:00-14:20
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Olalla Vázquez & Cyril Goudet
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Introduction, presentation of the symposium
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14:20-15:00
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Prof. Amadeu Llebaria (IQAC-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain)
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Plenary lecture 1: “Demystifying photopharmacology: a personal view of a promising technology”
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Session 1 “Photoswitches and beyond” (Chairs: Olalla Vázquez & Amadeu Llebaria)
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15:00-15:20
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Prof. Andrea Hupfeld (University of Regensburg, Germany)
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“Photoxenase Engineering - Photocontrol of enzymes with unnatural amino acids”
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15:20-15:40
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Prof. Andrew Woolley (University of Toronto, Canada)
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“Adventures with acylhydrazone photoswitches”
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15:40-16:00
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Prof. Matthew J. Fuchter (University of Oxford, UK)
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“Design and discovery methodologies in photopharmacology”
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16:00-17:00
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Coffee break
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Collecting room keys and hanging posters (odd numbers)
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17:00-17:20
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Prof. Oliver Thorn-Seshold (U Dresden, Germany)
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“Azobenzenes for NIR switching, Chromocontrol, and Fluorescence Imaging”
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17:20-17:30
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Lucia Vina Lopez (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
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“Toward Predictive Photopharmacology: AI-Accelerated Excited-State Simulations for High-Throughput Photoswitch Screening”
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17:30-17:40
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Dr. Nikita Durandin (Tampere University, Finland)
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“Traceless Photopolymerization with Non‐Pulsed Red Light for Cell-Laden Bioscaffold Fabrication”
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17:40-18:20
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Prof. Dirk Trauner (U. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA)
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Plenary lecture 2: “Controlling Transcription, Translation, and Cellular Excitability with Photopharmacology”
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19:00
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Welcome drink
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20:00
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Dinner
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Thursday, 9 April 2026
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7:30-8:30
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Breakfast
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8:30-9:10
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Prof. Andrea Rentmeister (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany)
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Plenary lecture 3: “Light-Activated mRNA Translation: From Proof-of-Concept to Genome Editing and In Vivo Control”
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Session 2 “Optical engineering and novel applications” (Chairs: Guillaume Lebon & Laia Josa-culleré)
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9:10-9:30
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Dr. Pau Gorostiza (Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain)
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“Photopharmacology with infrared light”
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9:30-9:50
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Prof. Angela Casini (Technical University of Munich, Garching bei München, Germany)
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“Photo-cleavable Ruthenium-based mass tags for mass spectrometry imaging of proteins in tissue sections”
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9:50-10:10
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Prof. Jorg Standfuss (PSI, Switzerland)
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“Time-resolved GPCR photopharmacology at next-generation X-ray sources”
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10:10-10:15
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Kathrin Brenker (Opto biolabs)
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Sponsor talk: “Cell Equality: Because Every Cell Deserves Equal Light”
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10:15-10:20
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Artem Kondratskyi (Nanion Technologies)
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Sponsor talk: “Nanion Technologies”
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10:20-11:50
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Poster session 1 (odd numbers) + coffee break
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11:50-12:10
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Prof. Angel Marti (Rice University, USA)
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“Amphiphilic Ruthenium(II) Metallosurfactants for Lysosome-Targeted Photodynamic Therapy”
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12:10-12:20
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Eszter Kozma (Institute of Organic Chemistry, Budapest, Hungary)
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“Three-colour Photopharmacology: Chromatically Orthogonal Photocages for Precision Optical Control of G-protein Coupled Receptors”
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12:20-12:30
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Anastasiia Babych (Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium)
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“Soft self-written waveguides enable photorelease of a photocaged adenosine A1 receptor agonist for local suppression of neuronal excitability in the brain”
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12:30-14:00
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Lunch break + group picture
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14:00-15:30
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Poster session 2 (even numbers)
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15:30-16:10
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Dr. Céline Frochot (LRGP Univ Lorraine, Nancy, France)
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Plenary lecture 4: “Photodynamic therapy: Advancement in therapeutic application for targeted treatment”
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Session 3 “Emerging targets and therapeutic potential” (Chairs: Laurent Givalois & Laetitia Mony)
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16:10-16:30
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Dr. Laia Josa-Culleré (IQAC-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain)
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“Photoswitches for oncology: From target-driven design to phenotypic discovery”
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16:30-16:50
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Prof. Rob Leurs (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
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“Lights on…..time to play with pharmacology”
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16:50-17:10
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Dr. Xavier Rovira (IQAC-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain)
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“Optimal Light-Activated Photoswitches Targeting the Vitamin D Receptor for Therapeutic Applications in Psoriasis”
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17:10-17:30
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Dr. Michel De Waard (Institut du Thorax, Nantes, France)
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“Photopharmacological tuning of hERG channel block using diazirine-containing analogues of the toxin BeKm-1”
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17:30-17:50
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Coffee break
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17:50-18:00
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Kirrthana Makenthirathasan (Univ Lorraine, Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France)
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“Light-induced photothermal transport of ion and water channels mediated by a two-photon–responsive molecular transducer”
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18:00-18:10
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Albert Schulte (Univ Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands)
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“X-ray activated Photopharmacology”
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18:10-18:20
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Dr. Serena Notartomaso (IRCCS Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy)
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“Circuit-Specific Control of mGlu5 Receptors by Photopharmacology in Neuropathic Pain and Stroke Recovery”
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18:20-18:30
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Dr. Dimitri De Bundel (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium)
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“A photoswitchable cannabinoid enables precise, low‑side‑effect seizure control in a mouse model of drug‑resistant epilepsy”
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18:30-19:10
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Prof. Weiping Wang (Hong-Kong University, Hong-Kong)
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Plenary lecture 5: “Photocleavage-based photoresponsive drug delivery”
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19:10-19:30
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Best young researcher’s posters and oral communications awards
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20:00
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Dinner and music
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Friday, 10 April 2026
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8:00-9:00
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Breakfast
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9:00-9:40
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Prof. Wictor Szymanski (U. Groningen, The Netherlands)
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Plenary lecture 6: “New tools, applications and considerations for Photopharmacology”
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Session 4 “Brain, diseases and photopharmacology” (Chairs: Cyril Goudet & Andrea Rentmeister)
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9:40-10:00
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Dr. Charleine Zussy (Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, Montpellier, France)
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“Photopharmacology to dissect and correct brain pathology in Alzheimer’s disease”
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10:00-10:20
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Prof. Wan‐Chen Lin (Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
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“Developing photopharmacological and optogenetic tools for high-precision control of neurotransmission”
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10:20-10:40
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Dr. Julie Le Merrer (iBrain, Tours, France)
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“Photopharmacological modulation of mGlu4 to rescue autistic-like behaviors in mouse models”
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10:40-11:10
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Coffee break
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11:10-11:30
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Prof. Francisco Ciruela (University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain)
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“In vivo photopharmacology: advancing optical therapeutics”
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11:30-11:50
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Dr. Laetitia Mony (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France)
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“Interrogation of NMDA receptor diversity using photopharmacology”
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12:00-14:00
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Lunch break
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14:00
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End of the symposium
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