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Instruct-ERIC Biennial Structural Biology Conference

Speaker List and Conference Programme

Brussels, Belgium | 28-29 May 2026

 

 

 

Conference Speakers

 

Harald Schwalbe
Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Eva Kowalinski
EMBL Grenoble, France

Savvas Savvides
Ghent University and VIB, Belgium

Joana Pereira
VIB.AI and KU Leuven, Belgium

Roman Jerala
Kemijski Institut, Slovenia

Michael Sattler
Helmholtz Munich, Germany

Albert Weixlbaumer
IGBMC Strasbourg, France

Anastassia Vorobieva
VIB-VUB Center, Belgium

Arnaud Vanden Broeck
University of Liège, Belgium


Han Remaut

VIB-VUB Center, Belgium


Michal Sharon

Weizmann Institute, Israel


Maya Topf

CSSB (LIV and UKE), Germany


Philip Gribbon

EU-OPENSCREEN

Promoted Abstract Speakers

 


Joseph Thrush

Rosalind Franklin Institute, UK



Jorge Cuellar

CNB-CSIC, Spain

Shourav Saha
Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland



Steven De Gieter

VIB-VUB, Belgium


Lucia Ilkovicova

Masaryk University, Czechia

Anastasia Tsagkarakou
University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Maria Carrasquero-Ordaz
University of Oxford, UK

 

 

Conference Programme

 

Wednesday 27 May

9:00 - 12:00 Instruct-ERIC Executive Committee [Closed]

13:00 - 17:00 Women in Science Workshop - Marriott Hotel Grand Place - find out more and register here.

 

 Thursday 28 May - IBSBC2026 Day 1

Session One - Macromolecular Design

Chairs: Thomas Schneider and Carlos Cordeiro

Time Speaker Institution Title
9:00 - 9:10     Opening Ceremony
9:10 - 9:40 Harald Schwalbe Instruct-ERIC Director TBC
9:40 - 9:55 Martin Blackledge IBS Grenoble Presentation of the Ivano Bertini Award
9:55 - 10:30 Bertini Award Winner   TBC
10:30 - 11:00 Break
11:00 - 11:30 Eva Kowalinski EMBL Grenoble TBC
11:30 - 12:00 Anastassia Vorobieva VIB-VUB

De novo design of β-barrels nanopores with defined size and function 

12:00 - 12:15 Lucia Ilkovicova Masaryk University

Deciphering the Tau/14-3-3 Interaction via Artificial Intelligence and Chemical Cross-Linking

12:15 - 12:30

Anastasia Tsagkarakou

University of Naples Federico II

The discovery of novel class of disaccharide-based ligands of Galectin-3

12:30 - 13:00 Roman Jerala Kemijski Institut

Modular protein design for novel folds and programmable cell regulation 

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch

Session Two - New Technologies

Chairs: Sarah Butcher

Time Speaker Institution Title
14:00 - 14:30 Michael Sattler Helmholtz Munich

NMR reveals dynamics and unfolded conformations in the regulation of protein-RNA interactions

14:30 - 14:45 Itziar Serna-Martin ThermoFisher

Bringing protein structure into cellular context through advances in cryo-electron tomography

14:45 - 15:15 Joana Pereira VIB.AI and KU Leuven

Charting the dark corners of the protein function space in the era of AI

15:15 - 16:30 Even-Number Poster Session and Tea/Coffee
16:30 - 16:45 Steven De Gieter VIB-VUB

MISO: Microfluidic protein isolation enables cryo-EM structure determination of single dish of cells

16:45 - 17:00 Shourav Saha Paul Scherrer Institute

Resolving anti-cancer drug binding to tubulin using 4th-generation synchrotron and XFEL sources

17:00 - 17:30 Maya Topf CSSB (LIV and UKE)

Integrative Modelling in the Era of AlphaFold

17:30 - 18:00 Philip Gribbon EU-OPENSCREEN

Generating high quality data sets to help decision making in AI-informed drug discovery

18:00 - 19:15 Odd-Number Poster Session and Drinks
19:30 Conference Walking Dinner at KVS

 

 

Friday 29 May - IBSBC2026 Day 2

Session Three - Molecular Motors and Dynamic Systems

Chairs: Harald Schwalbe and Arnaud Poterszman

Time Speaker Institution Title
9:00 - 9:05 Guest Presenter  

Presenting the Inaugural Instruct-ERIC ECR Award

9:05 - 9:30 Early Career Researcher Awardee  

TBC

9:30 - 10:00 Arnaud Vanden Broeck University of Liège

Principles of human pre-60S assembly

10:00 - 10:30 Break
10:30 - 10:45 Joseph Thrush Rosalind Franklin Institute

Investigating the viral-host membrane fusion events of Nipah Virus

10:45 - 11:00 Jorge Cuéllar CNB-CSIC

Structures of the 26S proteasome in complex with Bag1 reveal a mechanism for substrate transfer

11:00 - 11:30 Albert Weixlbaumer IGBMC Strasbourg Supramolecular assemblies in gene expression: Cooperation of RNA polymerase and the ribosome
11:30 - 11:45

Daniel Mathieu 

Bruker BioSpin

TBC

11:45 - 12:00 Group Photo
12:00 - 13:30 Lunch

Session Four - The Architecture of Life

Chair: Jan Steyaert and André Matagne

Time Speaker Institution Title
13:30 - 14:00 Han Remaut VIB-VUB

CryoID as a forward genetic tool in the study of bacterial cell surfaces

14:00 - 14:15 Maria Carrasquero-Ordaz University of Oxford

Nanobodies as Molecular Tools to Link Cell-Surface Architecture to Tissue Function

14:15 - 14:45 Michal Sharon Weizmann Institute of Science

From Intact Proteoforms to Biological Identity

14:45 - 15:15 Savvas Savvides Ghent University and VIB

Reversal of roles in a new era of structure-based discovery in immunology

15:15 - 16:30 Poster Prize Presentation and Closing