Emerging Science & Technologies Workshop 2025
Program
August 25
Monday
09:30-09:40 (CET)
Opening
Max Unfried, National University of Singapore
Organizer
Session 1
Developmental Origins of Regeneration and Aging
09:40-10:00 (CET)
The axolotl, a new paradigm for probing the links between regeneration and ageing
Maximina Hee Yun, Chinese Institutes for Medical Research
10:00-10:20 (CET)
Reconstituting mouse embryogenesis in ex utero systems
Alejandro Aguilera-Castrejon, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus
10:20-10:40 (CET)
Human blastoids, implantation, and implantation failure
Jun Wu, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
10:40-11:00 (CET)
Coffee break
Session 2
Synthetic Control of Life: From Cellular Systems to Lifespan Interventions
11:00-11:20 (CET)
Building sensor/actuator systems in mammalian cells with synthetic receptors
Elise Cachat, University of Edinburgh
11:20-11:40 (CET)
Optogenetic engineering of cellular signaling for discovery and therapy
Max Wilson, University of California, Santa Barbara
11:40-12:00 (CET)
The third age of humanoid lifespan interventions - synthetic energy to challenge our current barrier
Shahaf Peleg, FBN Dummerstorf
12:00-13:00 (CET)
Lunch
Session 3
Foundation Models for Aging Biology
13:00-13:20 (CET)
Engineering Longevity Therapeutics with Foundation Models
Jonthan Gootenberg, Harvard Medical School
13:20-13:40 (CET)
Accessible Frameworks for Biomedical Context and Evaluation of Agents
Sebastian Lobentanzer, Helmholtz Center, Munich
13:40-14:00 (CET)
CpGPT: a Foundation Model for DNA Methylation
Lucas Paulo de Lima Camillo
14:00-14:30 (CET)
Coffee Break
Session 4
Virtual Cells: AI at the Helm of Biology
14:30-14:50 (CET)
Building a virtual cell using artificial intelligence
Yusuf Roohani, Stanford University
14:50-15:10 (CET)
Virtual models of biology for programmable regenerative therapeutics
Omar Abudayyeh, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
15:10-15:30 (CET)
Designing genomes using whole-cell models and AI
Lucia Marucci, University of Bristol
14:00-14:30 (CET)
Coffee Break
Session 5
16:00-16:45 (CET)
Panel Disucussion: The Path forward for Foundation Models and Virtual Cells
Sebastien Thuault, Nature Aging
Moderator
Yusuf Roohani, Stanford University
Sebastian Lobentanzer, Helmholtz Center, Munich
Lucia Marucci, University of Bristol
Omar Abudayyeh, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
16:45-17:10 (CET)
Coffee Break
Session 6
Engineering Aging: From Structure to Rejuvenation
17:10-17:30 (CET)
Aging in the tissue context
Sophia Liu, Ragon Institute of MGB, MIT, and Harvard
17:30-17:50 (CET)
Probing the Wrinkles of the Nucleus in Aging Cells
Wenting Zhao, Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore
17:50-18:10 (CET)
Engineering Longevity - Computationally-guided reprogramming of single-cell aging.
Nan Hao, University of California San Diego