Once again, Łukasiewicz – PORT will host scientists, clinicians, and entrepreneurs connected with the field of neurobiology. This year, however, the conference will be organized for the first time under the banner of P4Health, a strategic project for Łukasiewicz – PORT. Thanks to support from the Teaming for Excellence programme of Horizon Europe, the Institute is implementing activities aimed, among others, at optimizing the diagnosis of neurobiological diseases. These topics will be at the heart of discussions during the conference, which begins on 7 April.
During PORT for Health: Neuroscience 2025, speakers—world-class experts in neurobiology—will present the latest results of their research and discuss pathways for translating scientific discoveries into real-world applications. The opening session, “Empowering translational brain research through networking,” will be introduced by:
Lorenza Magno and Judith Schweimer (Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma, Germany)
Julie Neubauer (Fraunhofer Project Center for Stem Cell Process Engineering, Germany)
Joseph Hritz (CEITEC – Central European Institute of Technology, Czech Republic)
Luis Pereira de Almeida (University of Coimbra, GeneT – Center of Excellence in Gene Therapy, Portugal)
Cezary Mazurek (Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center)
Witold Konopka, Michał Ślęzak, Agnieszka Krzyżosiak (Łukasiewicz – PORT)
This session will focus on the importance of cooperation between research institutions and open access to data repositories for advancing brain research.
Session I: Neuroimmune dialogue with sensory systems and cancer neuroscience
Researchers Marcin Szczot (Linköping University, Sweden), Franziska Denk (King’s College London), Mateusz Kucharczyk (Łukasiewicz – PORT), and Anne-Marie Heegaard (University of Copenhagen) will present current discoveries in neurophysiological oncology. Research into interactions between tumor tissue, the nervous system, and the immune system is a rapidly developing field that enables the development of entirely new therapeutic approaches in the fight against cancer—diseases that increasingly affect patients as life expectancy rises.
Session II: Translational approaches to understand neurodegeneration
Speakers Selina Wray (University College London), Sara Carracedo (University of Bordeaux), Pranesh Padmanabahn (University of Queensland), and Dimitris Xirodimas (Montpellier Cell Biology Research Center) will discuss strategies for addressing age-dependent neuronal loss in diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Session III: Translational biomarkers of mental disorders
This session will focus on effective and clinically accessible diagnostic methods for cognitive and mental disorders. Presentations will be given by Mykhailo Batiuk (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland), Aleksandra Badura and Henk-Jan Boehle (Erasmus University MC, Netherlands), and Thomas Fenzl (Technical University of Munich).
Session IV: Translational neuropsychiatry across the lifespan
The central theme of this session will be psychiatric treatment methods. Agnes Nadjar (Université de Bordeaux), Weronika Potok (ETH Zurich), Nora Raschle (University of Zurich), and Ali Jawaid (Łukasiewicz – PORT) will present the mind and brain as systems whose components become dysregulated in cognitive disorders, as well as approaches to restoring their function.
Satellite session: PORT4Business – Digital therapeutics
This session continues the discussion on combating cognitive disorders such as chronic stress and affective disorders, inviting representatives from the business sector. Artificial intelligence will be the key focus. Applications of AI in psychiatry will be presented by Marta Marciniak (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Małgorzata Sochacka (MoodMon), Elżbieta Trypka (VividMind), and Ignacy Czajewski and Anna Chrzanowska (Paris Brain Institute).
A central highlight of the conference will be keynote lectures by renowned authorities in neurobiology: Paul Schultz (University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston) and Simona Lodato (Humanitas Research Center, Milan).
