08:30
Registration of Participants 

Opening Session, Welcome Speeches 

9:00
Andrea Čalkovská
Dean of the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University Bratislava

Dalibor Murgaš
Deputy Director for Healthcare Services in Surgical Specialties, University Hospital Martin

Ján Danko
Mayor of the City of Martin

Ladislav Slobodník
State secretary, Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic

Ján Kočíšek
Senior State Counsellor, The Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth of the Slovak Republic

Petra Zappe
Senior Manager for Innovation and Healthcare Policy, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, VAIA

Peter Valkovič
Chair of the Scientific Board of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic

Zuzana Danková
National Director BBMRI.SK

Erika Halašová
National Director EATRIS-SK

Presentation Video of the Slovak ESFRI Research Infrastructures

Signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between BBMRI.sk, EATRIS-SK, ELIXIR NODE SK and SLOVACRIN

ESFRI Infrastructures & Patient Engagement

09:45
Jens K. Habermann
General Director, BBMRI-ERIC
„The role of BBMRI-ERIC in fostering One Health while structuring the European Research Area.”

10:10
Nektarios Liaskos
Data Strategy Manager, EATRIS-ERIC
„EATRIS-ERIC and the European Translational Medicine Ecosystem.”

10:25
Darina Sedláková
Board Member, Association for the Protection of Patients Rights
„From passive recipients to empowered partners.”

10:40
Coffee Break (20 min.)

Biobanking Achievements and Translational Impact 

Session Chairs: Zuzana Danková, Ján Strnádel

11:00
Helmuth Haslacher
Director of MedUni Wien Biobank (Liquid Collections)
BBMRI.at National Node Director, Medical University of Vienna
„Where Did This Aliquot Come From? Building Provenance Data Flows in an Academic Biobank.”

11:20
Roman Hrstka
Deputy director of BBM / PI, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute
„From Biobanking to Impact: The BBMRI.cz Experience.”

11:40
Giedrė Kvedaravičienė
Director, Lithuanian Population and Rare Diseases Biobank, Faculty of Medicine,Vilnius University, Lithuania
„Building a National Biobank Ecosystem: Connecting People, Patients and Research.”

12:00
Anett Dancs
Head of the biobank laboratory, University of Szeged, Biobank
Department of Dermatology and Allergology, BBMRI Hungary
„Building an ISO 20387-Compliant University Biobank: From Infrastructure Development to Sustainable Quality Management.”

12:20
Zora Kľocová Adamčáková
Director of the Regional Public Health Authority in Banská Bystrica
„Screening of Risk Factors for Noncommunicable Diseases and Biobanking: Experience from the Swiss–Slovak Health Programme.”

12:40
Peter Zvara
Director of the Centre for Experimental Surgery, University of Southern Denmark
„Collaborative Consortium of Slovak, Danish, and Norwegian Institutions Developing a Novel Therapy for Prostate Cancer.”

13:00
Lunch (70 min.)

Translation Science
KEYNOTE SPEECHES: Building Faster Bench-to-Bedside Ecosystems

Session Chairs: Peter Valkovič, Erika Halašová

14:10
Marián Hajdúch
National Director of EATRIS Czech Republic; Director of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine
„Academic Driven Drug development: From Molecules to Proof-of Concept clinical trials.”

14:30
Irena Mlinarič-Raščan
National Director of EATRIS Slovenia
„Drug Repurposing: New Opportunities for Personalized Medicine.”

14:50
Jiří Vondrášek
Head of Bioinformatics; Head of ELIXIR CZ,
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
„Infrastructures Don’t Work Alone: ELIXIR, EATRIS and BBMRI as a Case Study in Life Science Collaboration.”

15:10
Radovan Hudák
Head of Department, Technical University of Kosice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement
„EXPLICELL – The road to personalized implantology.”

15:30
Matej Škorvánek
Head, Institute of Clinical Neurosciences; Professor of Neurology, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice
„Translating Novel Diagnostic Pipelines in Rare Genetic Movement Disorders into Personalized Patient Management.”

15:50
Lukáš Plank
Professor, PI of the National programme “Digitalization of Pathology with Support of AI”, Department of Pathology, University Hospital of the Jessenius Medical Faculty, Martin
„Lukáš Plank and Martin Stach: Pathology in Slovakia goes digital supported by AI.”

16:10
Petra Záhradníková
Associate Professor of Pediatric Surgery and medical innovator at the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University and the National Institute of Children’s Diseases, Bratislava; Co-founder of InfantSim.
„Translating 3D Printing Technologies into Neonatal Surgical Training: Development of a Synthetic Simulator.”

16:30
Coffee Break I END OF DAY

17:00
Guided Tour of the Biobank 
(for registered participants)

Programme subject to change.

08:30
Registration of Participants 

Section I:  Biomarkers & Early Diagnostics

Session Chairs: Miroslav Chovanec, Martin Janičko

09:00
Martin Kopáni
Head of Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University
„Hierarchical Structure and Metal Content of Neuromelanin in the Human Substantia Nigra.”

09:15
Klaudia Kyselicová
Assistant Professor, Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Medicine
„Neuroprint: Fingerprints as Biomarkers for Neurodevelopment.”

09:35
Jan Roška
Researcher, Biomedical Research Center SAS, Cancer Research Institute
„Biomarkers Platform: Capabilities for Translational Research.”

09:45
Oliver Štrbák
Research Scientist, Biomedical Centre Martin, Slovakia
„When Iron Turns Magnetic: From Cellular Dysregulation to Biomarkers and Nanomedicine.”

10:00
Peter Celec
Researcher, Comenius University
„Beyond Liquid Biopsy: Extracellular DNA and Sterile Inflammation. What is so “extra” about extracellular DNA?”

10:15
Coffee Break (15 min.)

Section II:  Regenerative Medicine & Cell Therapy 

Session Chairs: Radovan Hudák, Peter Celec

10:30
Igor Lacík
Senior researcher, Head of Department for Biomaterials research, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
„Microcapsules for immunoprotection of transplanted pancreatic cells: the next generationof diabetes treatment.”

10:45
Zuzana Kroneková, Juraj Kronek 
Senior Research Scientists, Polymer Institute SAS, Bratislava
„Polymeric Delivery Systems for mRNA Therapeutics, Polymer-based nanocarriers for targeted delivery and controlled release.”

11:00
Abolfazl Heydari
Senior Researcher, Polymer Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
„Dynamic Hydrogels in Biomedical Applications: Cartilage tissue engineering.”

11:15
Marek Schnitzer
Research Consultant / Associated professor, Explicell / TUKE
„CUSTOMED Manufacturing Hospital Line: A Platform for Personalized Tissue Manufacturing.”

11:30
Matej Mičušík
Senior Research Scientist, Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences
„Bioimplants Based on Biodegradable Polymers and Modified Bioglass Composites.”

11:45
Jana Čajková
Scientific researcher, Technical University of Kosice, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement
„Evaluation of Biomaterials for Bone Tissue Engineering Using Stem Cells.”

12:00
Coffee Break (15 min.)

Section III:  Translational Oncology 

Session Chairs: Igor Lacík, Michal Mego

12:15
Michal Mego
Head of Department, Translational Research Unit, 2nd Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia
„Translational Research in Testicular Germ Cell Tumors: From Bench to Bedside and Back.”

12:30
Richard Imrich
Head of the institute, Institute of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava
„Regulatory T cell (CAR-Treg) therapy: an emerging treatment of autoimmune diseases.”

12:45
Luca Vannucci
Head of the Laboratory of immunotherapy
President of the Czech Immunological Society, Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
„Activated immunity and collagen remodeling condition tissue structure and pathological outcomes.”

13:00
Pavel Vodička
Biomedical center and Medical faculty in Pilsen, Charles University
„Colorectal Cancer Excellence: Risk, Prognosis, and Prediction in Modern Oncology.”

13:15
Miroslava Matúšková
Researcher, Cancer Research Institute, Biomedical Research Center
of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
„The role of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 in colorectal cancer.”

13:30
Lunch (60 min.)

Section IV: Bringing Brain Research and Clinical Practice

Session Chairs: Matej Škorvánek, Ľuboš Danišovič

14:30
Martin Kolísek
Research Scientist, Biomedical Center Martin, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University Bratislava
„Adjuvant Therapy of Parkinson’s Disease: Why Slovakia May Benefit from Its Balneology-Rich History.”

14:45
Jakub Gazda
Assoc. Prof., Pavol Jozef Safarik University
„Diagnostic potential of speech artificial intelligence analysis in minimal hepatic encephalopathy.”

15:00
Michal Pokusa
Researcher, Biomedical centre Martin, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius Universityin Bratislava
„Potassium as an intracellular signal in neurodegeneration.”

Section V: Digital Health, AI & Data Science

Session Chairs: Beáta Hubková, Lucia Knapík (INOVIA)

15:15
Jana Bugošová
Project Manager, BioTech s.r.o.
„Innovative Approaches for the Modern Laboratory.”

15:30
Ján Rapan
Vice President, International Climate Adaptation Research Institute (iCARI)
„Nobody Owns the Problem. So Everyone Failed.”

15:50
Peter Čičala, Eva Winter, Matej Mihalech 
Specialist in European AI Regulation Top Privacy s.r.o., Hronček and Partners, s.r.o., Founder Touch4IT
„The Triple Crown of Digital Trust: Turning GDPR, the AI Act and the EHDS into a Competitive Advantage. How to keep people, systems, and information from falling apart.”

16:10
Viktor Vaňo, Anna Urbanová
Software Developer, Hofitech, s.r.o., Novo s.r.o., Scientific researcher, Novo s.r.o.
„Neural Network Driven Cancer Detection From Urine Samples, Portable Sensor Technology for Non-Invasice Early Cancer Detection.”

16:25
Coffee Break

16:40
POSTER SESSION

17:40
Coffee Break I END OF DAY 2

Programme subject to change.

08:30
Registration of Participants 

Translational Therapeutics & Regenerative Medicine

Session Chairs: Ján Strnádel, Oliver Štrbák

09:00
Helena Gbelcová
Associate Professor, Institute of Medical Biology, Genetics and Clinical Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University Bratislava
„Repurposing Statins in Prostate Cancer: In Vitro Sensitization and Translational Study Design.”

09:15
Ľudovít Škultéty
Group Leader, Institute of Virology, Biomedical Research Center (BMC)„Experimental vaccines against Q fever.”

09:30
Henrieta Škovierová
Head of Laboratory of cell cultures and regenerative medicine, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius Univesity
„Dental Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells as a Model for Bone Biology and Regeneration.”

09:45
Ján Strnádel
Research scientist, Head of the Lab, Biomedical Centre Martin
„Technology of induced pluripotency for regenerative medicine and in vitro modeling.”

10:00
Nikolett Nemcová
Research Scientist, Biomedical Center Martin, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University Bratislava
„Rethinking Surfactant Therapy in ARDS: The Translational Potential of Next-Generation Synthetic Surfactants.”

10:15
Lenka Nosáková
Postdoctoral Researcher, University Hospital Martin
„Total Pancreatectomy with Islet Autotransplantation (TPIAT): From Islet Isolation to Preservation of Endocrine Function“

Young Scientists Section

10:30
YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD INOVIA & JFM CU
Representatives of the INOVIA Innovation Centre and the expert jury of the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine will present an award to the best young scientist presenting at the conference.

11:00
Partners Presentations and Networking

11:45
Networking and Coffee Break (45 min.)

12:30
END OF DAY

ALL DAY: European Researchers’ Night 2026

Accompanying Event of the European Researchers’ Night
Celebrating the 20th Edition of Slovakia’s Largest Science Festival
More information about the individual events is available here.

Programme subject to change.

Scientific Committee

Andrea Čalkovská
Zuzana Danková
Helena Gbelcová
Marián Hajdúch
Erika Halašová
Helmuth Haslacher
Roman Hrstka
Beáta Hubková
Radovan Hudák
Miroslav Chovanec
Martin Janičko
Igor Lacík
Irena Mlinarič-Raščan
Vanda Repiská
Štefan Sivák
Ján Strnádel
Peter Valkovič

Young Scientist Award Committee

Zuzana Danková
Helena Gbelcová
Erika Halašová
Beáta Hubková
Radovan Hudák
Miroslav Chovanec
Michal Janičko
Vlastimil Kocian
Igor Lacík
Vanda Repiská

Organizing Committee