International Biodiscovery Forum: Unlocking the Medicine of the Future
European Biotechnology Congress 2026
09:00 – 09:30
Opening Remarks : Session 1- International Biodiscovery Forum: Unlocking the Medicine of the Future
Chair: Munis Dundar, Svetlana Georgieva
09:30 – 10:00
From Genomics to Precision Medicine: Translating Genetic Discoveries into Clinical Practice
Munis Dundar
10:00 – 10:30
Biomimetic Membrane Interfaces for Medical Devices
Donald Martin
10:30 – 11:00
Engineering the Gut Microbiome: A Novel Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging
Satya Prakash
11:00 – 11:30
Rare solutions to Rare genetic diseases in translational medicine
Sehime G. Temel
12:00 – 13:00
LUNCH
13:00 – 15:30
Session 2: International Biodiscovery Forum: Unlocking the Medicine of the Future
Chair: Nikolai Zhelev
13:00 – 13:30
How Next-Generation Technologies Are Reshaping Drug Discovery and Development
Nikolai Zhelev
13:30 – 14:00
OAmB for fungal and parasitic diseases
Christene Leiper
14:00 – 14:30
Application of AI to drug discovery and development
Edison Judge
14:30 – 15:00
AI in clinical trials
Stephen Leiper
15:00 – 15:30
AI ready data flows from Labs to Clinics: Building scalable R&D platforms
Sabya Dasgupta
08:30 – 09:00
Opening Remarks
09:00 – 11:30
Session 3 – International Biodiscovery Forum: Unlocking the Medicine of the Future
Chair: TBA
09:00 – 09:30
Comprehensive miRNA and metabolomic profiling of plasma, pleural, and pericardial fluids in ischemic heart disease and functional validation in AC16 cardiomyocyte cells
Michele Maffia
09:30 – 10:00
Portable and versatile Point-of-care diagnostics for global health: life in your hand
Ratnesh Lal
10:00 – 10:30
Artificial Intelligence in biomedical sciences
Matt Elcombe
10:30 – 11:00
Shaping the Future of Cancer Care: ctDNA-Based Genomic Profiling in solid Tumor Management
M. Cerkez Ergoren
11:00 – 11:30
O & A
11:30 – 13:00
LUNCH
13:00 – 15:30
Session 4- International Biodiscovery Forum: Unlocking the Medicine of the Future 4
Chair: TBA
13:00 – 13:30
Emerging Therapies for lysosomal storage diseases.
Tommaso Beccari
13:30 – 14:00
Metabolomics and Risk prediction driven Clinical Diagnostic
Hilal Khalil
14:00 – 14:30
Neoantigen peptide vaccines for personalized cancer treatment
Anargyros Moulas
14:30 – 15:00
Unraveing Amino Acids Alterations in Anorexia Nervosa: from Biochemical profiles to Therapeuitcs Targets
Maria Rachele Ceccarini
15:00 – 15:30
Use of NGS-based copy number variation (CNV) analysis in clinical practice.
Tahir Atik
15:30 – 16:00
Early-Life Genomic Diagnostics: NGS Applications in Neonatal and Pediatric Medicine
Ozgur Cogulu
09:00 – 09:45
Plenary Session 1 – Bulgarian Biotechnology Panel
Chair: TBA
09:00 – 09:15
TBA
09:15 – 09:30
TBA
09:30 – 09:45
TBA
09:00 – 09:45
TBA
09:45 – 10:15
Coffee Break
10: 15 – 11:30
Plenary Session 2
Chair: Donald Martin
10:15 – 10:30
Nanostructural characterisation of glycosylated protein interaction with lipid bilayer membranes
Beatrice Barletti
10:30 – 10:45
Nano-biomechanics for healthy living
Ratnesh Lal
10:45-11:00
Nano-siRNA Formulations for Head and Neck and Lung Cancer Therapeutics
Satya Prakash
11:00-11:15
Halophytes: new crops for adaptation to climate change
Oscar Vicente
11:15 – 13:00
LUNCH
13:00- 14:30
Plenary Session 3 -MAGI Session – Innovative Strategies in Genetic Medicine: Integrative Omics, Computational Biology, and Deep Learning
Chairs: Matteo Bertelli, Tommaso Beccari
13:00- 14:30
Parallel session 1
Chair: TBA
13:00- 13:15
Implementation of a GPU Accelerated and AI Integrated NGS Workflow
Jurgen Kaftalli
15:00 – 15:15
Engineering Climate-Resilient Livestock: Biotechnological Strategies for Sustainable Animal Breeding
Dana Tapaloaga
13:15- 13:30
MAGISNAT Microbiome Pipeline: Data Processing and Interpretation
Ekaterina Chueva
15:15 – 15:30
Non‑Conventional Yeasts as Next Generation Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Postbiotics
Ivana Marova
13:30- 13:45
MAGI Deep Learning Based Classification of Inherited Retinal Diseases Using Retinal Imaging
Sara Feizyab
15:30 – 15:45
RCA isoforms and Rubisco gene expression mode at wheat under FHB stress
Ariola Bacu
13:45- 14:00
Polygenic Risk Scores in Lymphedema and Lipedema: A Machine Learning Approach to Risk Stratification
Luca Ferrari
15:30 – 15:45
From Microhydrodynamics to Kinetic Identifiability: Characteristic Times in Model-Driven Micro(bio)Reactor Design
Igor Plazl
14:00 – 14:15
Machine Learning Models for Personalized Diet and Physical Activity Using Omics and Clinical Data
Alessandro Macchia
15:30 – 15:45
Engineering Biocatalytic Processes in Miniaturized Systems
Polona Žnidaršič Plazl
14:15- 14:30
Classification Model for Inherited Retinal Dystrophies Based on Omics and Clinical Data
Ahmad Abidin
14:30-15:00
Coffee Break
15:00
Oral Presentations
15:00
Oral Presentations
09:00 – 10:00
Paralle Session 2
Chair: TBA
09:00 – 10:00
Parallel Session 3
Chair: TBA
09:00 – 09:15
Tracking and control of spoilage bacteria in sub-high-temperature ham sausage
Qun Sun
09:00 – 09:15
Immunopathogenesis and Immunogenetic Variants underlying Tuberculosis-diabetes comorbid patients with implications for host-directed therapy via repurposing drugs
Jianping Xie
09:15 – 09:30
Marine dispatchable field operable water and sediment toxicity monitoring in real time
Robert Marks
09:15 – 09:30
Maternal vitamin D rescues the abnormal intestinal immune state of offspring induced by maternal immune activation
Jiang Xie
09:30 – 09:45
Alpha-mannosidosis: Therapeutic strategies
Michela Codini
09:30- 09:45
Anti-GPA33 ScFv engineered milk exosomes as a drug delivery system for targeted therapy of colorectal cancer
Lei Liu
09:45 – 10:00
Into lake water: molecular and microbiological insights from a One Health perspective
Martina Torricelli
09:45 – 10:00
Evidence for a novel non-canonical mechanism of exosome biogenesis
Federico Fiorani
10:00 -10:30
Coffee Break
10:30 – 11:30
Plenary Session 5
Chair: TBA
10:30 – 10:45
Bacterial cellulose: synthesis, properties, and applications
Iza Radecka
10:45 -11:00
Rethinking Psychiatric Risk Detection: AI Based Non-EEG Predictive and Preventive Framework
Osman Erogul
11:00 – 11:15
Development and evaluation of peptide vaccines for cancer
Anargyros Moulas
11:15 – 11:30
Deep Eutectic Solvents in Biocatalysis: Activation and Inhibition
Gary Henehan
12:00
Closing Ceromany and Awards