| 08 September 2026 I 10:30 hrs | The global view on Newborn screening – a matter of equity? Anette Grüters-Kieslich, Germany |
| 08 September 2026 I 16:30 hrs | Incretins Jens J. Holst, Denmark |
| 09 September 2026 I 09:00 hrs | What controls puberty? – learning from mice Allan Herbison, UK |
| 09 September 2026 I 12:15 hrs | Structural variance of Geno in disease Malte Spielmann, Germany |
| 09 September 2026 I 16:15 hrs | Novel therapeutic approaches to treat autoimmunity René Toes, The Netherlands |
| 10 September 2026 I 11:00 hrs | Female Mental Health Across the Lifespan: The Role of Sex Steroids in the Brain Liisa Galea, Canada |
| 10 September 2026 | An original approach for overgrowth Guillaume Canaud, France |
| 10 September 2026 I XX hrs | How to understand your child’s brain Sarah Jayne Blackmore, UK |
Our Plenary Speakers
Annette Grüters-Kieslich, Prof. Dr., studied medicine at the Ruhr University Bochum and the Free University Berlin. She spent a fellowship in perinatal medicine at UCLA from 1982-1984 and completed her subspeciality training in pediatrics at the children’s hospital of the Free University Berlin.
After reunification of Germany in 1998 she became a full university professor for pediatrics at the Medical Faculty of the Humboldt University Berlin and in 2004 the head of the department of pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology and human genetics at Charité University Medicine Berlin. She was elected as full-time dean of the Charité University Medicine from 2008 to 2025. She was a member of the Board of directors of the Berlin Institute for Health and was elected Chief Medical Director and Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the University Hospital Heidelberg in 2017. She was senator for pediatrics in the national academy Leopoldina and vice-president of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. Now, as professor emeritus she is a member of the Board of the Einstein Foundation Berlin, reelected as vice president of ALLEA (European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities), member of the senate of the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Chairwoman of the Eva Luise and Horst Köhler Foundation. Her major research interest is the molecular pathogenesis of endocrine diseases in children and she has been a pioneer in newborn screening for congenital hypothyroidism. She is a dedicated ESPE member, has served as convenor of the summer school and as corporate liaison chair and is recipient of the ESPE research and Andrea Prader award.
Jens Juul Holst, MD, DMSc, is Professor of Medical Physiology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. He is also Senior Group Leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen.
Professor Holst’s scientific work has focused on the regulatory peptides of the pancreas and the gut and their importance in the regulation of the functions of the GI-tract and metabolism, with particular focus on blood glucose and appetite regulation, obesity and diabetes. A particular emphasis has been on the role of the incretin hormones of the gut (GLP-1 and GIP). Professor Holst great Scientific achievements include the discovery of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) a gut hormone regulating insulin secretion and appetite and food intake and his subsequent both basic and translational research in this field.
With an H-index of 170 (WoS, February 2026), he is among the most cited European scientists in his field. He has authored more than 1900 publications (about 1832 listed in PubMed) that have received more than 123,777 citations in Web of Science as of February 2026. According to PubMed he has 74 new titles in 2025 and 2026.
Allan Herbison is currently the Professor of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Cambridge. After graduating with degrees in medicine and neuroscience from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and time in clinical practice, Allan received a Commonwealth Scholarship to undertake a PhD in neuroendocrinology at the University of Cambridge. Allan then spent a further 12 years as a Principal Investigator at The Babraham Institute and Fellow of Pembroke College before returning to the University of Otago, NZ where he founded the Center for Neuroendocrinology (CNE). In 2019, Allan moved back to Cambridge to the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience supported by the Wellcome Trust.
Allan has received multiple international fellowships and prizes including the Lister-Jenner Fellowship of the Lister Institute UK, Mortyn Jones Prize from the British Society for Neuroendocrinology, Benoit Prize from the French Society for Neuroendocrinology, Liley Medal from the NZ Health Research Council, Triennial Medal of the NZ Physiological Society, and the Distinguished Research Medal of the University of Otago. Allan was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2007.
Allan has always been interested in adapting the latest neuroscience approaches to study neuroendocrine circuits and has pioneered the use of genetically manipulated rodent models for molecular, cellular, and whole animal level investigations in this field. His studies have focused on the hypothalamic GnRH and kisspeptin neuron populations where he has elucidated the neural circuits and mechanisms underlying the episodic pulse and surge modes of GnRH secretion.
Malte Spielmann, Dr., is Director and Chair of Human Genetics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and a research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. His research aims to decipher the role of non-coding mutations and structural variants in human disease, with a particular focus on how these variants disrupt the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of the genome and alter gene regulation. By integrating genomics, epigenomics, and functional assays, his work bridges fundamental genome biology with clinical application.
He has extensive expertise in the clinical implementation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, large-scale genome data analysis, and the translation of genomic discoveries into routine diagnostics for patients with rare and undiagnosed diseases. In recent years, his laboratory has pioneered the development and application of high-throughput single-cell technologies to systematically study developmental disorders and model disease mechanisms at cellular resolution. Dr. Spielmann’s work has received multiple distinctions and has been supported by the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) and the German Research Foundation (DFG), including a Research Fellowship and the prestigious Heisenberg Programme. In 2025, he was named among the world’s “Highly Cited Researchers.” As spokesperson of the Network for Rare Diseases within the German Model Project for Genome Sequencing, he actively advocates for individuals living with rare diseases.
Rene Toes, Prof. Dr., received his MSc in 1989 from the Free University, Amsterdam, and in 1996 completed his PhD at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. He held postdoctoral positions at the Department of Cell Biology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany, and Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, Netherlands from 1996 to 2001, in which he specialized in antigen presentation, anti-tumor immunity and T cell activation.
Since 2001, Rene leads the Laboratory of Experimental Rheumatology and is an expert in the field of autoreactive B cell responses, especially in the context of rheumatic diseases. His group aims to understand why, how, when and where B cell tolerance underlying human B cell-mediated autoimmune disease is broken and how autoreactive B cells contribute to chronic inflammation and tissue destruction. In close collaboration with the clinic, the group aims to visualize, probe, target and modify autoreactive B cells and antibodies. The group made several contributions to understand the molecular mechanisms and structural constraints underlying the outgrowth of autoreactive B cells in human autoimmune diseases. They showed the continuous activation and proliferation of autoreactive B cells in several prominent human autoimmune diseases, supporting the concept of sustained immunological activity even under treatment-induced clinical remission and provided an explanation for the rapid reappearance of disease-activity after drug tapering. The group gained a recent interest into the mechanisms underlying “immune reset” after deep-depletion of B cells in autoimmune patients.
Liisa Galea, Dr., is the Treliving Family Chair in Women’s Mental Health at the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at
the University of Toronto. She leads the Women’s Health Research Cluster with >1000
members across 43 countries, a dedicated network to promote, expand and catalyse
impactful women’s health research. Dr. Galea is a world-renowned expert in sex and sex
hormone influences on the brain, with a focus on stress-related psychiatric disorders and
dementia. Although sex differences exist in many brain diseases, research targeting sex as
a factor in brain health has been scarce. Dr. Galea’s research is vital in filling this
knowledge gap, specifically in understanding how hormones influence neuroplasticity in
females as too often women’s health is ignored in research. The goal of her research is to
provide clues for devising new therapeutic treatments for diseases that involve neuronal
loss and show greater prevalence in women, such as Alzheimer’s disease and depression.
She developed the first rodent models for perinatal depression 25 years ago, and her
research continues to reveal novel insight into the mechanisms by which pregnancy and
motherhood impact risk for psychiatric disorders in the short term, and the trajectory of
cognitive ageing, in the long term.
Guillaume Canaud is an MD, PhD and Professor of Medicine at Hôpital Necker–Enfants Malades, Université Paris Cité (Paris, France). Trained in nephrology and kidney transplantation, he also completed a PhD in molecular and cellular biology and a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He became Full Professor in 2019. His early research on PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling in kidney disease, supported by multiple European Research Council grants (Starting, Proof-of-Concept, and Consolidator), laid the groundwork for his later breakthroughs in rare diseases.
In 2018, he made a paradigm-shifting discovery in PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS), a group of severe vascular disorders caused by somatic activating PIK3CA mutations. These conditions lead to disfiguring overgrowth, complex vascular malformations, chronic pain, thrombosis, bleeding, and reduced life expectancy, with previously only symptomatic treatment options. Guillaume and his team identified alpelisib (BYL719), a PI3Kα inhibitor developed for oncology, as a targeted therapy. They generated the first faithful mouse model of PROS, demonstrated reversal of disease manifestations, and conducted a proof-of-concept study in 19 patients showing significant clinical improvement. Published in Nature (2018), this work led to the international EPIK-P1 trial and to U.S. FDA approval of alpelisib in 2022—the first approved therapy for PROS.
He has since extended this precision-medicine approach to other vascular anomalies, including KRAS-mutant arteriovenous malformations treated with sotorasib (NEJM, 2024). Recognized internationally, he has received major scientific awards, secured over €28 million in funding, and delivered more than 150 invited lectures worldwide.
ESPE 2026 Informal Networking Evening (Ticketed event)
Thursday, 10 September 2026, from 19:45 CEST
Location: Palais de la Bourse, 9 La Canebière, 13001 Marseille, France
Look forward to a lovely evening in great company, enjoying food and drinks in one of Marseille’s historic buildings.
Price: € 70.00 (gross)* per person
Tickets can be booked during the registration process
Register today: ESPE 2026 Meeting registration
