Program

Please click on the session title to see the details of the sessions and speakers. Some are still missing, but will follow as soon as possible.

Wednesday, 27.05.2026, Day 1

  • Welcome coffee

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  • Welcome note

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  • Microchimerism Across the Lifespan: Concepts, Mechanisms, and Clinical Frontiers

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    Diana Bianchi, USA
    Microchimerism: Past, Present and Future

    Lee Nelson USA
    Microchimerism in autoimmunity and alloimmunity over time

    Short talk: Kristine J Chua, USA
    What is Microchimerism? Defining and refining its characteristics

  • Coffee break & Industry exhibition

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  • Microchimerism, an infection-sensitive system influencing immune protection, tolerance, and long-term disease susceptibility across generations

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    Whitney Harrington, USA
    The intersection of maternal microchimerism and infectious disease

    Short talk: Samantha de Freitas Cavalcante, Brazil
    ZIKV exposure increases fetal microchimerism, including neural cells

    Short talk: Isabel Graf, Germany
    Placental extracellular vesicles indicate the vertical transfer of maternal microchimeric cells to the fetus in healthy and infection-affected pregnancies

    Short talk: Gitte L. Petersen, Denmark
    Maternal microchimerism at birth associates with reduced odds of non-malarial fever and respiratory tract infections in Tanzanian children

  • Lunch / Poster session and Industry exhibition

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  • (Micro)Chimerism & Treatment: Immune Tolerance, Transplantation, and Precision Therapeutics

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    Michael Eikmans, The Netherlands
    Consequences of pregnancy-derived microchimerism for outcome after transplantation

    Anne M. Stevens, USA
    Strategies to test the role of microchimerism in autoimmune disease through antigen-specific therapeutic development

    Short talk: Haynes Heaton, USA
    Cellector: A tool to detect foreign genotype cells in scRNAseq data with applications in leukemia and microchimerism

    Short talk: Blair Armistead, USA
    A novel approach to investigate breastmilk T cell antigen-specific responses

    Short talk: Yoan Ghaffar, France
    Is the skin the preferred target of twin microchimerism in mice in all cross combinations: allogeneic, congenic and semi-allogeneic?

    Short talk: Bernadette L. Bramreiter, Austria
    Characterization of human amniotic fluid stem cells and their potential role in maternal microchimerism

  • Coffee break & Industry exhibition

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  • Microchimerism and Kinship: Evolutionary Conflict, Tolerance, and Cellular Competition

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    David A. Haig, USA
    Microchimerism and kinship: evolutionary considerations.

    Amy M. Boddy, USA
    Consequences of being microchimeric. Im Abstract. Evolutionary perspectives on microchimerism

    Francisco Ubeda, UK
    Fetal Microchimeric Cells: Today’s Enemies, Tomorrow’s Friends

  • Meet the speaker - networking event

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    The Meet the speaker – networking event will not take place at the university. We kindly ask you to register separately for this event. Click here for more information and to register.

Thursday, 28.05.2026, Day 2

  • Welcome coffee

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  • Keynote  Lecture - Immunology, Transplantation & Diseases

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    Denis Lo, China
    Recent developments in cell-free DNA-based diagnostics

  • Industry-talk

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  • Coffee break & Industry exhibition

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  • Microchimerism and Autoimmunity: Genetic Risk, Immune Recognition, and Familial Context

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    Nathalie C. Lambert, France
    Could Cells from Our Mother, Children, and/or Siblings Participate in Immune Reactions Mistakenly Labeled as Autoimmunity?

    Gitte L. Petersen, Denmark
    Circulating male origin microchimerism in Danish girls with and without type 1 diabetes

    Tine Dreier Bille, Denmark
    Predictors of maternal and male-origin microchimerism in peripheral blood of Danish youths (ID01)

  • Lunch / Poster session and Industry exhibition

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  • Microchimerism in Reproductive Health: From Infertility and Placental Dysfunction to Cardiovascular Risk

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    Henriette S Nielsen, Denmark
    Microchimerism in infertility and pregnancy loss

    Annetine Staff, Norway
    Women’s risk of cardiovascular disease after pregnancy complications: does a dysfunctional placenta and fetal microchimerism play a role

    Short talk: Ina A. Stelzer, USA
    Fetal Microchimeric Cell Retention Following Preeclampsia

    Short talk: Bernadette L. Bramreiter, Austria
    An optimized flow cytometry-based method for the isolation of potential microchimeric maternal cells in human mesenchymal stem cells using monoclonal HLA class I specific antibodies

  • Coffee break & Industry exhibition

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  • Microchimerism in Immune Tolerance and Neurodevelopment: Context-Dependent Persistence and Pathophysiology

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    Sing Sing Way, USA
    Immune tolerance to mothers and maternal microchimeric cells

    Eitan Okun, Israel
    Microchimerism during Down Syndrome pregnancies causes maternal cognitive decline

    Short talk: Christopher Urbschat, Germany
    Influenza-induced alterations of maternal microchimeric cell composition and function in brains of fetal mice

    Short talk: Ashley McDonough, USA
    Detection and transcriptional profiling of microchimerism in the brain using snRNAseq data reveals prevalent microchimerism and diversity of maternal cell fates

  • Closing Remarks/Farewell/Awards

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