Max Delbrück Center Bioengineering Symposium

July 6, 2026, 9:00am - July 6, 2026, 6:00pm

The Max Delbrück Center Bioengineering Symposium will take place on July 6, 2026, at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin.

Co-organized with Springer Nature, this full-day symposium will bring together leading international researchers in bioengineering to integrate quantitative biology and artificial intelligence to design and engineer molecular, cellular, and tissue systems that can decode, predict, and ultimately control health and disease trajectories.

Agenda

Registration		8:15 – 9:00 a.m.
Morning welcome		9:00 a.m.
Maike Sander		9:00 - 9:20 a.m.

Matthias Lütolf (Institute of Human Biology (IHB) / Roche)		9:20 - 10:00 a.m.
Kelly R. Stevens (University of Washington)		10:05 – 10:40 a.m.

Coffee Break		10:40 – 11:00 a.m.

Morning Session Organoids and organ-on-chip Moderated by Aline Luckgen (Nature Communications) and Sadra Bakhshandeh (Nature Reviews Bioengineering)		11:00 a.m. – 12:40 p.m.

Aleksandr Ovsianikov (TU Wien)		11:00 – 11:20 a.m.
Peter Loskill (University of Tübingen)		11:20 – 11:40 a.m.
Ulrike Nuber (Darmstadt)		11:40 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Johanna Bolander (BIH at Charité)		12:00 – 12:20 p.m.
Sina Bartfield (TU Berlin)		12:20 – 12:40 p.m.

Group Picture		12:40 – 12:50 a.m.
Lunch		12:50 – 1:50 p.m.

Afternoon Session 1: Tissue and Cell Engineering Moderated by Christine Horejs (Nature Reviews Bioengineering) and Vesna Todorović (Nature Cardiovascular Research)		1:50 – 3:10 p.m.

Susan Thomas (Georgia Institute of Technology)		1:50 – 2:10 p.m.
Li Tang (EPFL)		2:10 – 2:30 p.m.
Yu Shrike Zhang (Harvard)		2:30 – 2:50 p.m.
Jakob Metzger (Max Delbrück Center)		2:50 – 3:10 p.m.

Coffee Break		3:10 – 3:30 p.m.

Afternoon Session 2: Programming and Reprogramming Living Systems Moderated by Alessandra Griffo (Nature Biomedical Engineering)		3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Francesca Ceroni (Imperial College London)		3:30 – 3:50 p.m.
Birgit Sawitzki (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité)		3:50 – 4:10 p.m.
Simon Haas (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité & Max Delbrück Center)		4:10 – 4:30 p.m.

Early Evening Poster Session with Drinks and Snacks		4:30 – 5:45 p.m.
Closing and announcing poster award winners Maike Sander		5:45– 6:00 p.m.

Reception		6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Please find further details below.

We hope you will mark your calendar and join us for what promises to be an exciting and stimulating day of science.

Registration and Abstract Submission

Registration is open!

Registration Fees
Participants: 50 €

Registration Deadline: July 3, 2026
Abstract Deadline: June 12, 2026

The Abstract Submission is already closed. If you missed the deadline but still want to submit please contact Bioengineering@mdc-berlin.de .

The registration fee includes coffee breaks, a lunch buffet, and a dinner buffet. The costs for accommodation and travel to the venue are not included and must be arranged independently.

Childcare: We also offer free childcare for participants. If you require this service, please indicate this during registration.

Speakers and Program

The program will feature invited talks and discussions on:

- Tissue engineering, organoids, and organ-on-chip systems
- Biofabrication and regenerative approaches
- Immune engineering
- Synthetic biology and AI-enabled design

A poster session for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers will take place in the early evening, providing an opportunity for trainees to present their work and engage with international experts in the field.

SPEAKERS

We are delighted to welcome as confirmed speakers of the symposium:

Sina Bartfeld (TU Berlin)
Johanna Bolander (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité)
Francesca Ceroni (Imperial College London)
Simon Haas (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité & Max Delbrück Center)
Peter Loskill (University of Tübingen)
Matthias Lütolf (Roche / EPFL /Institute of Human Biology (IHB))
Jakob Metzger (Max Delbrück Center)
Ulrike Nuber (Technical University of Darmstadt)
Aleksandr Ovsianikov (TU Wien)
Birgit Sawitzki (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité)
Kelly R. Stevens (University of Washington)
Li Tang (EPFL)
Susan Thomas (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Yu Shrike Zhang (Harvard Medical School)