CTGCT Days 2025

At Centre for the Technologies of Gene and Cell Therapies (CTGCT) we are organizing our CTGCT Days 2025. 3 days full of events which will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from the 15th to the 17th of September. These events offer the opportunity for the exchange of cutting-edge scientific findings and translation of novel cell and gene therapies (CGT) into the clinic.

We are bringing together world-renowned leaders in the field of cell and gene therapies, and providing opportunities for networking and establishing of new collaborations between experts in the EU with a focus on creating links with similar institutions in the southeastern region of Europe.

A few spots are reserved for early career researchers to present their work! We invite you to submit your research, methodology discussions, or preliminary results to be presented in a 15 minute talk or poster (only poster contributions will be accepted from 1st August on).

Confirmed speakers

Luis Pereira de Almeida

PI of the Gene and Stem Cell Therapies for the Brain group at CNC, University of Coimbra

Frank Buchholz

Dean of Research at the Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus, TU Dresden

Regina Demlová

Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Head of the CoE CREATIC at the Masaryk University

Jiri Eitler

Group Leader - NK Cell Immunotherapy at Technische Universität Dresden

Tina Fink

Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Synthetic Biology and Immunology, Kemijski Inštitut

Viktor Glasser

Doctoral Researcher at BeCAT, Charite Berlin

Tanja Jesenko

Senior Scientific Associate at Department of Experimental Onocology, Institut of Oncology Ljubljana

Jürgen Kuball

Professor and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at UMC Utrecht

Tina Lebar

Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Synthetic Biology and Immunology, Kemijski Inštitut

Nicola Maciocia

Clinical Senior Research Fellow in the Research Department of Haematology, UCL

Natalia Marek-Trzonkowska

Director of the International Centre for Cancer Vaccine Science, University of Gdansk

Emma Morris

Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Professor of Clinical Cell & Gene Therapy, UCL

Damjan Osredkar

Head of the Pediatric Neurology Department at University Medical Centre Ljubljana

Matjaž Sever

Medical Doctor at Department of Haematology, University Clinical Center Ljubljana

James Sleigh

Principal Research Fellow in the Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL

Vesna Spasovski

Research Professor at IMGGE, University of Belgrade

Robert Torrance

PhD Student in the Burns/Morris Group, UCL

Felix Wensveen

Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka

Oscar Wilkins

Research Fellow in RNA in the Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL biology

Robert Zorec

Member of the Science Academy, Professor at the Institute of Pathophysiology, University of Ljubljana

Events during the CTGCT 2025 conference

CTGCT conference – Cell therapy

(15th &16th of September)

Focused on developments related to CAR T, other T cell therapies and solid cancer tumors together with a session specifically focused on the translation aspect of gene and cell therapies.
See full program

Round Table I – Regulatory and Clinical Pathways for Gene and Cell Therapy

(16th of September)

It will explore the regulatory and clinical frameworks guiding the development and approval of gene and cell therapies with participations from expert from both Slovenia and abroad.

See speakers

Gene H Conference – Gene Therapy

(17th of September)

Renown experts in the Gene therapy field with a focus on rare diseases will present innovations on delivery systems and other advances beyond CRISPR.

See full program

Round Table II – Bridging Innovation and Commercialization in Gene and Cell Therapy

(17th of September)

It will focus on translating innovation into market-ready gene and cell therapies through effective commercialization strategies.

See speakers

Technologies for cell and gene therapies Workshops & Demonstrations

Accela will be the Gold Sponsor of the CTGCT Days 2025. They will attend the events and will also have a workshop available to all attendees. The workshop Technologies for cell and gene therapies Workshops & Demonstrations (check the program in this LINK) will focus on showing the most innovative technologies for biomedical research: Cytek Aurora Spectral Flowcytometers& Cell Sorters, Nanocellect Wolf and Verlo Gentle Cell Sorters, Formulatrix Automate Devices, RareCyte 3D tissue multiplexing, CelVivo 3D Cell Cultivation, IotaScience Single Cell Isoplation, FIDA protein analysis, Beacon Optofluidic & IsoSpark Multiomics Systems from Bruker Cellular Analysis and more.

See the program

The CTGCT days in numbers

28

Talks

3

Days

2

Conferences

2

Round tables

1

Satellite Workshops

Venue

Hotel Slon, will host all the events during the CTGCT Conference 2025

Best Western Premier Hotel Slon, Slovenska cesta 34, 1000 Ljubljana

Accommodation and Travel suggestions

accomodation

Hotel Slon
Exe Lev
Eurostars uHotel
Grand Hotel Union Eurostars
AS Boutique Hotel
Urban Hotel
ibis Styles Ljubljana Centre

Link to the map

AIRPORTS

Ljubljana Airport (LJU) 25 minutes drive from Ljubljana
Trieste Airport (TRS), 1 hour 20 minutes drive from Ljubljana
Zagreb Airport (ZAG), 1 hour 30 minutes drive from Ljubljana
Klagenfurt Airport (KLU) 1 hour 20 minutes drive from Ljubljana

shuttle, train and bus transport

Shuttle:

The easiest way to travel to Ljubljana from the airports above is to take a shuttle service like GoOpti transport. Reservation for transfer can be made directly to your hotel. Prices are lower if the shuttle is booked well in advance (1-2 months).

Bus or train:

Travel by bus to Ljubljana is possible. Once in Ljubljana, public transportation is available to move around the city. You can travel by train from most European countries via connection to Ljubljana (Slovenia).

CTGCT Conference - Cell Therapy

1st Day, 15th September

13:00	Registration
	Session 1	Titles
13:45	Professor Gregor Anderluh Professor Roman Jerala Dr. Mojca Benčina	Introduction
14:00	Felix Wensveen from Rijeka University	Why we get sick and how to get better; opportunities for targeting sickness metabolism in non-communicable disease.
14:30	Jürgen Kuball from UMC Utrecht	Uncovering the Spatial Regulation of γδ T Cells: Toward Receptor-Guided Immunotherapy
15:00	Nicola Maciocia from UCL	Development of CAR-T cells for T cell cancers
15:20	Robert Zorec from University of Ljubljana	From understanding astroglial lysosomal fusion to pleiotropic targeting of cancer antigens with immunohybridomas: The first innovative biological medicine for advanced cancer therapy in Slovenia
15:40	Tiago Santos from Brucker Cellular Analysis	Functional Single-Cell Analysis to Advance CAR-T and TCR-T Therapies through Beacon Discovery
16:00	Coffee Break	End of the first day Provided at Hotel Slon

2nd Day, 16th September

08:00	Registration
	Session 2	Titles
08:30	Natalia Marek-Trzonkowska from ICCVS, University of Gdansk	Optimal preclinical models and cancer heterogeneity- challenges for cancer immunotherapy
9:00	Tina Fink, Kemijski Inštitut	Optimizing CAR architecture for improved T cell performance
09:20	Ines Papak from ICCVS, University of Gdansk	From One Cell to a Tumor: The Story of CD45⁺ Cells in NSCLC
09:40	Jiri Eitler from Technische Universität Dresden	Dual-CAR NK cells targeting PD-L1 and ErbB2/HER2 eliminate solid tumor cells and prevent immune escape due to antigen loss
10:10	Sponsored talk by Thermo Fisher /Coffee Break	Provided at Hotel Slon
	Session 3	Titles
10:45	Kavitha Lakshmi & Anke Fuchs from Technische Universität Dresden	Automated GMP-Compatible Production of Universal CAR Tregs for Precision Immunomodulation
11:05	Ramesh Ganesh from UMC Utrecht	THE FUTURE OF VIRAL VECTORS: A survey among Centers Associated with CTIWP of EBMT, NXTGEN Hightech, DARE-NL, T2EVOLVE, and GoCART Coalition
11:25	Vesna Spasovski from IMGGE, University of Belgrade	Stem Cell-Based Therapy and Bioactive Hybrid Nanocarriers in Osteoarthritis Treatment: Distinct Pathways toward Tissue Repair
11:55	Regina Demlová, from CREATIC, Masaryk University	Bridging Research and Care: CREATIC CoE’s Academic Development of Cell-Based ATMPs for Paediatric and Rare Conditions
12:25	Lunch	Not provided at Hotel Slon
	Session 4	Titles
14:00	Tanja Jesenko from Onkološki inštitut Ljubljana	From bench to bedside in Slovenia: Phase I trial of phIL12 intratumoral gene electrotransfer in basal cell carcinoma
14:25	Damjan Osredkar from the Pediatric Neurology Department at University Medical Centre Ljubljana	Shaping the Future of Rare Disease Care: Connecting Patients and Innovation
14:50	Matjaz Sever from Deparment of Haematology at University Medical Centre Ljubljana	Academic CAR T-Cell Manufacturing: Implications for Clinical Implementation and Access
15:15	Viktor Glaser from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Repurposing base editors for targeted knock-in and simultaneous knockouts to generate multiplex-edited allogeneic CAR T cells with minimal translocations
15:35	Polona Sefaric / Seth Plancher	Hospital-embedded innovation: U.S. experience in advancing translational medicine across system
16:00	Poster Session / Coffee Break	Provided at Hotel Slon
16:30	ROUND TABLE I	Regulatory and Clinical Pathways for Gene and Cell Therapy
17:30	End of day 2

ROUND TABLE I - Regulatory and Clinical Pathways for Gene and Cell Therapy

16th September 2025 from 16:30 to 17:30

Organised in collaboration with Zveza Organizacij Pacientov Slovenije, the round table will be hosted by Gregor Cuzak, General Secretary at ZOPS

Speakers:

Leila Amini, Head of Regulatory Affairs & Deputy Head R&D at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies
Lenka Součková, ECRIN European correspondent for Czechia from Masarykova univerzita Brno
Jürgen Kuball chair of the Department of Hematology at the UMC Utrecht Cancer Centre
Tanja Jesenko, Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Oncology Ljubljana
Suzana Vidic, Regional Secretary at the Agency For Medicinal Products And Medical Devices Of The Republic Of Slovenia

Image of a conference at the CTGCT

Gene H Conference - Gene Therapy

08:00	Registration
	Session 1	Titles
08:30	Ajda Lenardič, from ETH Zurich	Interspecies Generation of iPSC-derived Functional Muscle Stem Cells as a potential Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Treatment
08:50	Robert Torrance from UCL	Functional restoration of immune defects in STAT1 gain-of-function immunodeficiency following gene editing
09:10	Tina Lebar from Kemijski Inštitut	Homology-guided engineering of tyrosine recombinase nucleotide specificities
09:30	Fank Buchholz from Technische Universität Dresden	Engineering Designer-Recombinases for therapeutic genome editing
10:00	Emma Morris from UCL	Gene Editing for Inborn Errors of Immunity
10:30	Break/Sponsored talk	Provided at Hotel Slon / Talk by Thermo Fisher Scientific
	Session 2	Titles
11:00	Ana Dolinar Cesarek from National Institute of Biology of Slovenia	Co-Delivery of Non-Encapsidated DNA by rAAV: Is This a Potential Biosafety Concern?
11:20	Oscar Wilkins from UCL	Precision therapeutics for ALS and FTD
11:40	James Sleigh from UCL	Targeting receptor tyrosine kinases to restore axonal transport in genetic peripheral neuropathy.
12:00	Luis Pereira de Almeida from GeneT at University of Coimbra	Gene Therapy Strategies for Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3: Preclinical Advances in Allele-Specific Silencing and Gene Inactivation
12:30	Poster Session / Break	Provided at Hotel Slon
13:00	ROUND TABLE II	Bridging Innovation and Commercialization in Gene and Cell Therapy
14:00	End of day 3

Round Table II - Bridging Innovation and Commercialization in Gene and Cell Therapy

17th of September from 13:00 to 14:00

Organized in collaboration with Slovenia Biotech Hills, the round table will be hosted by Nik Prebil, director of Slovenia Biotech Hills

Speakers:

Zora Čechová, Regulatory Researcher of Cell & Gene Therapies for Rare Diseases at CREATIC from Masarykova univerzita Brno
Luis Pereira de Almeida, Principal Investigator of Gene T at University of Coimbra
Boštjan Čeh, Labena’s Head of Business Development, President of Biotech Hills
Mojca Pečar, Member of the Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport
Miroslav Gregorič, Member of the Slovenian Parliament

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

Gold Sponsor

Accela will be the Gold Sponsor of the CTGCT Days 2025. They will attend the events and will also have a workshop available to all attendees. The workshop Technologies for cell and gene therapies Workshops & Demonstrations (check the program in this LINK)will focus on showing the most innovative technologies for biomedical research: Cytek Aurora Spectral Flowcytometers&Cell Sorters, Nanocellect Wolf and Verlo Gentle Cell Sorters, Formulatrix Automate Devices, RareCyte 3D tissue multiplexing, CelVivo 3D Cell Cultivation, IotaScience Single Cell Isoplation, FIDA protein analysis, Beacon Optofluidic & IsoSpark Multiomics Systems from Bruker Cellular Analysis and more.