Registration

7th Central & Eastern European Congress on Free Nucleic Acids (CEECFNA)

10. - 11. 9. 2026
Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel, Bratislava

PROGRAMM

PROGRAMME BOOK download here

Day 1: Thursday – Sept 10, 2026
Scientific Programm: 09:00 – 17:30 | Networking Event: 19:00 – 21:00

  • 09:00 – 09:15 | Welcome & Opening Remarks
  • 09:15 – 09:45 | Opening Keynote Session
  • CHAIR: Peter Celec (Slovakia), Erik Sistermans (The Netherlands)
  • 09:15 – 09:45 | Opening Keynote Lecture
    Detection of Occult Malignancies in Pregnant Women Using Cell-Free DNA
    Diana W. Bianchi (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA)
 
  • 09:45 – 10:30 | Session 1: Biology of Cell-Free Nucleic Acids
  • CHAIR: Peter Celec (Slovakia), Erik Sistermans (The Netherlands)
  • 09:45 – 10:15 | Invited Lecture
    Leveraging the Biology of Cell-Free DNA for Enhancing the Performance of Liquid Biopsy Approaches
    Irena Hudecova (Astellas Pharma, Addlestone, UK)
  • 10:15 – 10:30 | Short Presentation - Young Scientist Session
    Absolute Quantification of Extracellular RNA from Plasma-Derived Extracellular Vesicles
    Anna Sekyrová (Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic)
 
  • 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break & Exhibition
 
  • 11:00 – 12:15 | Session 2: Emerging Topics in Cell-Free DNA Research
  • CHAIR: Bálint Nagy (Hungary), Peter Celec (Slovakia)
  • 11:00 – 11:30 | Invited Lecture
    Fragmentomics analysis of cell-free DNA as a new dimension for liquid biopsy
    Wai Kei Jacky Lam (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR)
  • 11:30 – 12:00 | Invited Lecture
    Unraveling the genetics of cell-free DNA using GWAS
    Jasper Linthorst (Amsterdam UMC, Department of Human Genetics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
  • 12:00 – 12:15 | Short Presentation
    Cyclic electro-hydrodynamic stacking enables fg/µL-level DNA sizing for ultra-sensitive cell-free nucleosome analysis after plasma fractionation in liquid biopsy
    Frederic Ginot (ADELIS SAS, Labège, France)
 
  • 12:15 – 12:35 | Panel Discussion
What are the major gaps in knowledge? 
Diana W. Bianchi (USA), Irena Hudecova (UK), Wai Kei Jacky Lam (Hong Kong SAR), Jasper Linthorst (The Netherlands)
 
  • 12:35 – 13:20 | Lunch Break
 
  • 13:20 – 14:00 | Poster Session & Discussions
Conference room  (Ground Floor, Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel) 

 
  • 14:00 – 15:30 | Session 3: Oncology and Liquid Biopsy Applications – Part I
  • CHAIR: Tomáš Szemes (Slovakia), Vince Kornél Grolmusz (Hungary)
  • 14:00 – 14:30 | Invited Lecture
    Advancing Early Cancer Detection: Translational Liquid Biopsy Studies at MMCI
    Roman Hrstka (Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic)
  • 14:30 – 15:00 | Invited Lecture
    Improving early detection of cancer in Lynch Syndrome through liquid biopsy innovations
    Mev Dominguez-Valentin (Department of Tumor Biology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway)
  • 15:00 – 15:15 | Short Presentation - Young Scientist Session
    From global instability metrics to regional genomic architecture: resolving CNV patterns in ovarian cancer cfDNA
    Zuzana Hanzlíková (Geneton Ltd., Bratislava, Slovakia)
  • 15:15 – 15:30 | Short Presentation
    Differentially expressed plasma miRNAs associated with invasion markers in brain tumors
    Beata Soltesz (Department of Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary)
 
  • 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break & Exhibition
 
  • 16:00 – 17:30 | Session 4: Oncology and Liquid Biopsy Applications – Part II
  • CHAIR: Jasenka Wagner Kostadinović (Croatia), Roman Hrstka (Czech Republic)
  • 16:00 – 16:30 | Invited Lecture
    Clinical utility of cfDNA and ctDNA in testicular germ cell tumors
    Michal Mego (Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University & National Cancer Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia)
  • 16:30 – 17:00 | Invited Lecture
    The role of whole genome sequencing in the diagnosis of hereditary colorectal cancer predisposition syndromes
    Vince Kornél Grolmusz (National Institute of Oncology / Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)
  • 17:00 – 17:30 | Invited Lecture
    Analysis of longitudinal cancer data in circulating DNA
    Simone Ciccolella (Department of Informatics, Systems and Communication, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy)
 
  • 19:00 – 21:00 | Networking Event
 

Day 2: Friday – Sept 11, 2026 (Sponsored by FORGENOM II project)
Scientific Programme: 09:00 – 13:10 | Farewell: 13:10 – 14:00

  • 09:00 – 10:45 | Session 5: Disease Pathogenesis, Clinical Implications, Immunology and Inflammation
  • CHAIR: Vladimír Beneš (Germany), Frederik Banch Clausen (Denmark)
  • 09:00 – 09:30 | Invited Lecture
    Translational Significance of microRNAs as Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer
    Jasenka Wagner Kostadinović (Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia)
  • 09:30 – 10:00 | Invited Lecture
    Plasma Exosomal microRNA Profiles in Preterm Children: Associations with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia History and Current Echocardiographic Findings
    Ilona Hromadníková (Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)
  • 10:00 – 10:15 | Short Presentation - Young Scientist Session
    Analysis of cell-free DNA in Alzheimer's disease
    Lýdia Lukyová (Comenius University Science Park, Bratislava, Slovakia)
  • 10:15 – 10:30 | Short Presentation - Young Scientist Session
    Extracellular DNA Dynamics in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients and Experimental Arthritis Models
    Kristína Macáková (Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia)
  • 10:30 – 10:45 | Short Presentation
    Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Post-Sepsis Complications
    Michal Pastorek (Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia)
 
  • 10:45 – 11:15 | Coffee Break & Exhibition
 
  • 11:15 – 12:30 | Session 6: Reproductive and Prenatal Medicine
  • CHAIR: Ilona Hromadníková (Czech Republic), Ishraq Dhaifalah (Czech Republic)
  • 11:15 – 11:45 | Invited Lecture
    Intra-amniotic inflammatory complication in pregnancy
    Marian Kacerovský (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University & University Hospital Olomouc, Czech Republic)
  • 11:45 – 12:15 | Invited Lecture
    Noninvasive fetal blood group genotyping
    Frederik Banch Clausen (Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • 12:15 – 12:30 | Short Presentation
    Quantification of Feto-Maternal ABO*A1 Chimerism by Digital PCR for HDFN Risk: A preliminary study
    Agnieszka Orzinska (Department of Immunohematology and Immunology of Transfusion Medicine, Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Warsaw, Poland)
 
  • 12:30 – 13:00 | Closing Keynote Session
  • CHAIR: Diana W. Bianchi (USA), Peter Celec (Slovakia)
  • 12:30 – 13:00 | Closing Keynote Lecture
    Future use of cfDNA in prenatal testing
    Erik Sistermans (Amsterdam UMC, Department of Human Genetics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
  • 13:00 – 13:10 | Closing Ceremony & Best Presentation Awards
  • 13:10 – 14:00 | Farewell Refreshment & Informal Networking