We are pleased to announce that we have extended our registration & poster submission deadline to 16th April. Please note that spaces are subject to hotel availability, and the deadline may close earlier if rooms become fully booked. We therefore encourage you to register as soon as possible to secure your place.

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs) are cell-surface receptors that, upon ligand binding, regulate cell-to-cell communication during embryonic development and in adult life. Among RTKs, the twenty-two Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) and five FGF Receptors play crucial roles in proliferation, migration, differentiation, and metabolism. Aberrant FGF signalling underlies genetic and metabolic disorders, age-related diseases, and cancer. Advances in structural biology, omics technologies, and disease models as well as very promising clinical trials have greatly facilitated our understanding of FGF functions. However, many outstanding questions remain unanswered, including how FGFs interact with other signaling pathways to regulate the specificity of cellular responses in development, health, and disease.

Conference Goals:

1. Bring together leaders in academia, clinical medicine, and industry with an interest in FGF and other signalling pathways to foster synergistic collaborations.
2. Promote cross-fertilization of new ideas on how RTK signalling regulates pathophysiology.
3. Share innovations that are impacting basic and translational signalling research.

Key Sessions

• Frontiers in FGF Signalling Regulation
• New Technologies to Study Cell Signalling
• FGF Signalling in Development and Adult Homeostasis
• Signalling Underlying FGF-driven Genetic and Age-related Diseases
• FGF Signalling in Tissue Regeneration and Stem Cells
• FGF Signalling in Metabolic Diseases
• Molecular Mechanisms of FGF Signalling in Cancer and Inflammation
• Targeting the FGF-FGFR Axis in Translational Research 
• Past, Present and Future of Cell Signalling

Confirmed Invited Speakers

Saverio Bellusci (Justus Liebig University, Giessen)
INNOVATIVE STRATEGY TO IDENTIFY ANTIFIBROTIC AND PRO-REGENERATIVE DRUGS TO TREAT CHRONIC LUNG DISEASES
Pier Paolo Di Fiore (University of Milan)
A BOTTOM-UP DYNAMIC MODEL OF EGFR FUNCTION INTEGRATING RECEPTOR ACTIVATION, TRAFFICKING, SIGNALING, AND SIGNAL ATTENUATION
Sandra Goetze (ETH Zürich)
DECIPHERING CELL-SURFACE SIGNALLNG ARCHITECTURE
Mohammad K Hajihosseini (University of East Anglia)
ROLE OF FGFS IN ESTABLISHMENT OF BRAIN'S HUNGER CIRCUITS
Zhifeng Huang (Wenzhou Medical Institute)
Marja Hurley (University of Connecticut)
FGF RECEPTOR SIGNALING IN OSTEOARTHRITIS AND CHRONIC PAIN PHENOTYPES IN SICKLE CELL DISEASE MICE
Jos Jonkers (Netherlands Cancer Institute)
C-TERMINAL CONTROL OF FGFR2 AND FGFR3 ONCOGENICITY
John Ladbury (University of Leeds)
ROLE OF LIQUID-LIQUID PHASE SEPARATION IN FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTOR SIGNALLING
Laurence Legeai-Mallet (INSERM)
WHAT IS NEW IN FGFR-RELATED OSTEOCHONDRODYSPLASIA 
Amy Merril-Brugger (University of Southern California)
FGF SIGNALING DRIVES MISGUIDED NEURAL CREST MIGRATION IN CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS
Moosa Mohammadi (Wenzhou Medical Institute)
MOLECULAR INSIGHTS INTO FGF HORMONE TARGET ORGAN SELECTIVITY
David Ornitz (Washington University)
FGF18 COORDINATES MESENCHYMAL CELL-GROWTH AND DIFFERENTIATION IN THE NEONATAL LUNG. 
Olivier Pertz (University of Bern)
SPATIOTEMPORAL ANTAGONISM BETWEEN FGF2/ERK AND BMP/SMAD1 SIGNALLING DEFINES EMBRYONIC FATE PATTERNING IN HUMAN STEM CELL COLONIES
Sougata Roy (University of Maryland)
DIRECTED GROWTH FACTOR RELEASE: ENZYMATIC CONTROL OF CYTONEME-MEDIATED FGF COMMUNICATION
Jarrad Scarlett (Seattle Children’s Hospital/University of Washington)
ROLE OF BRAIN FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR 1 SIGNALING IN THE REGULATION OF ENERGY HOMEOSTASIS
Maria Sibilia (University of Vienna)
DISSECTING EGFR AND RAS SIGNALING PATHWAYS IN COLORECTAL CANCER
Jacqueline Starrett (Tyra Biosciences)
A SELECTIVE FGFR3 INHIBITOR IN DEVELOPMENT FOR FGFR3-DRIVEN CHONDRODYSPLASIA
Abigail Tucker (King’s College, London)
THE ROLE OF FGFS IN PATTERNING THE TEMPOROMANDIBULAR JOINT DURING DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
Elizabeth Wellberg (University of Oklahoma)
FGF SIGNALING ALTERS FIBROBLAST ECM SYNTHESIS TO PERMIT INVASIVE BREAST CANCER PROGRESSION
Sabine Werner (ETH Zürich)
CONTROL OF SKIN INFLAMMATION BY FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR SIGNALING IN EPITHELIAL CELLS: MECHANISMS AND THERAPEUTIC CONSEQUENCES
Jin-San Zhang (Wenzhou Medical University)
DUAL MECHANISMS OF FGF10–FGFR2B SIGNALING IN PULMONARY FIBROSIS DEVELOPMENT AND RESOLUTION

Target Audience

This meeting will unite established investigators, colleagues new to the field, and early career scientists to discuss game-changing mechanistic and translational advances in cell signalling with the goal of understanding its regulatory mechanisms and devising new therapeutic tools.

Please note the below programme is an initial draft and is subject to change - the latest version will always be uploaded here, so check in later for any updates.