NanoTME 2025 · 3rd edition

Program

5 — 8 May
Van der Valk Hotel, Enschede

The third edition brought the community together in Enschede for four days of lectures, short talks and posters — and marked the formal launch of the NanoTME Society.

Scientific programme

22 invited speakers and 14 short talks from leading groups across nanomedicine, cancer immunotherapy, metastasis biology and drug delivery.

Posters

Around 35 posters were presented before approximately 75 participants from more than fifteen countries, with prizes awarded to the best presentations.

Best poster awards

Mr. Bar Manobla (Technion); Ms. Alvja Mali (Wageningen University & Research); Ms. Tamar Gross Lev and Ms. Si Naftaly (Technion).

The Society

During the conference, Yuval Shaked and Jai Prakash formally launched the NanoTME Society, ensuring the continuity and growth of the conference series and fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration to drive forward innovative therapeutic strategies for cancer.

Sponsors

The organisers thank the sponsors whose financial support made the symposium possible: Miltenyi Biotec BV, Helix Biotech, Inc., and the Twente University Fund.

Organizing committee

Prof. dr. Jai Prakash, Co-chair (University of Twente); Prof. dr. Yuval Shaked, Co-chair (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology); Karin Hendriks, secretary (University of Twente); Dr. Bas van Bochove (University of Twente).

Monday 5 May

9:00–10:00 — Registration and coffee/tea. 10:00–10:15 — Opening by Jai Prakash and Yuval Shaked.

Immune Cell-Based Therapies

Chair: Yuval Shaked

• 10:15–11:00 — Michele de Palma (Keynote): Antigen agnostic dendritic cell therapy
• 11:00–11:30 — Leila Akkari: Refining macrophage targeting in the brain tumor microenvironment
• 11:30–11:45 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Tamar Gross Lev: Resected tumor biomimetic nanoparticles for personalized immunotherapy
• 11:45–12:00 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Kati Turkowski: Exploring the heterogeneity and plasticity of tumor-associated macrophages in lung cancer: toward targeted immunotherapies
• 12:00–13:30 — Lunch

ECM and Stromal Dynamics

Chair: Jai Prakash

• 13:30–14:00 — Neta Erez: Stromal and immune plasticity shape the metastatic microenvironment
• 14:00–14:30 — Alejandro Mayorca Guiliani: Mapping the ECM using machine learning tools
• 14:30–15:00 — João Mano: In vitro tumor microenvironment models
• 15:00–15:15 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Bar Manobla: Induction of BMP1 by activated cytotoxic T cells supports immunotherapy-induced tumor ECM remodeling
• 15:15–15:30 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Ana Baião: CD44v6-driven nanoparticles combined with immune therapy for colorectal cancer
• 15:30–16:00 — Tea/Coffee Break

Nanoparticle-based Therapy and Genome Editing

Chair: Bas van Bochove

• 16:00–16:30 — Dan Peer: Therapeutic genome editing in cancer using cell specific delivery of RNAs via targeted lipid nanoparticles
• 16:30–17:00 — Assaf Zinger: Disease driven therapeutics
• 17:00–17:35 — Short Pitches (2 min, 13 pitches): Rotem Menachem, Elian Far, Kunal Pednekar, Alvja Mali, Saret Ortega-Galindo, Yael Hershkovitz-Pollak, Chen Chen, Kayal Yasmin, Robbin De Kruijf, Samvidha Das, Alena Kaltenbrunner, Siavash Mansouri, Poonam Sarode
• 18:30–22:00 — Dinner and poster visits

Tuesday 6 May

Modeling and Modulation of the Tumor Microenvironment. Chair: Assaf Zinger

• 09:00–09:30 — Twan Lammers: Imaging and modulating the tumor microenvironment to improve nanomedicine-based drug delivery
• 09:30–10:00 — Bruno Sarmento: Multicomponent 3D immunospheroid models for therapeutic screening
• 10:00–10:30 — Derk Jan de Groot: PET imaging to improve immune modulatory cancer drug development
• 10:30–10:45 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Elisabetta Palamà: An innovative immune-on-chip platform for studying tumor-immune interactions and evaluating novel immunomodulatory therapies
• 10:45–11:15 — Group photo and Tea/Coffee Break

Spatial and Functional Profiling in the TME

Chair: Twan Lammers

• 11:15–11:45 — Arne Östman: Identification and spatial profiling of novel outcome-associated subsets of cancer-associated fibroblasts
• 11:45–12:15 — Peter Friedl: Improving multi-hit mechanisms of tumor cell killing by CTL in the perturbed tumor microenvironment
• 12:15–12:30 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Dor Breier: CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing using lipid nanoparticles for hepatocellular carcinoma therapy
• 12:30–12:45 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Rajinder Nandigama: Spatial immune mapping of lung tumors: shaping the immune terrain by KRAS and EGFR mutations
• 12:45–13:00 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Rand Shibel: Encapsulation of exosomal volatile molecules for modulating immune pathways
• 13:00–14:15 — Lunch

Nanomedicine for Targeted Therapy

Chair: Roy van der Meel

• 14:15–14:45 — Natalie Artzi: Supercharging immunotherapy through nanotechnology: chemical structure matters
• 14:45–15:15 — Alberto Gabizon: A formulation of liposome co-encapsulated doxorubicin and alendronate modulates the tumor microenvironment and improves nanomedicine-based chemo-immunotherapy
• 15:15–16:00 — Short Pitches (2 min, 15 pitches): Elisa Raboni, Elisabetta Palamà, Annika Karger, Kiyan Musaie, Ahmed G. Hemden, Ana Arminan de Benito, Antoni Serrano Martí, Paul Manoukian, Remya Valoor, Ioanna Mitrentsi, Nikolas Mersinis, Ajinkya Manelkar, Diogo Coelho, Mirre M. Trines, Ekaterina Petrenko
• 16:00–16:30 — Tea/Coffee Break

Structural Nanomedicine

Chair: Alberto Gabizon

• 16:30–17:00 — Maria J. Vicent: Polypeptide-based nanomedicines: enhancing tropism and overcoming biological barriers
• 17:00–17:30 — Jai Prakash: Designing targeted nanomedicine to reprogram the tumor microenvironment

Industrial Talks

Tuesday 6 May, 17:30–18:00

• 17:30–17:45 — Miltenyi Biotec B.V. — Cillian Ross, Instrument Sales Specialist Imaging
• 17:45–18:00 — Helix Biotech, Inc. — Graham Taylor, President
• 18:30–20:30 — Dinner
• 20:30–22:00 — Poster Presentation

Wednesday 7 May

Tumor Evolution, Immunity and ECM. Chair: Annamaria Gal

• 09:00–09:30 — Erik Sahai: How the tumour microenvironment evolves and how it shapes tumour evolution
• 09:30–10:00 — Oliver Pearce: Untangling extracellular matrix interactions that control tumour immunity
• 10:00–10:30 — Thomas Cox: Tumor biomechanics alters metastatic dissemination of triple negative breast cancer via rewiring fatty acid metabolism
• 10:30–10:45 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Deni van Schie: Microenvironmental contributions to therapy resistance and stemness in esophagogastric adenocarcinoma
• 10:45–11:00 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Chiara Bastiancich: Optimizing glioblastoma treatment through longitudinal profiling of the post-surgical tumor microenvironment
• 11:00–11:30 — Tea/Coffee Break

Tumor Progression and Metastasis

Chair: Dvir Aran

• 11:30–12:00 — Rajkumar Savai: Chatter of the lung tumor microenvironment: how cellular crosstalk contributes to cancer progression
• 12:00–12:30 — Gertraud Orend: Tenascin-C modulating tumor immunity
• 12:30–12:45 — Short talk selected from abstracts — Andrea Vallés-Martí: The closer, the better: intratumoral delivery of a thermoresponsive gemcitabine-loaded hydrogel in preclinical PDAC models
• 12:45–14:00 — Lunch

Metastasis, Immunity, and Therapeutic Strategies

Chair: Thomas Cox

• 14:00–14:30 — Jonathan Sleeman: The ID1/ID3 inhibitor X6632 suppresses cancer initiation, growth and metastasis by targeting both tumor cells and the tumor-associated vasculature
• 14:30–15:00 — Yuval Shaked: Brain metastasis in the era of immunotherapy
• 15:00–15:30 — Dvir Aran: Framework for analyzing cellular dynamics in the tumor microenvironment reveals targetable patterns for immunomodulation
• 15:30–16:00 — Annamaria Gal: Plasticity of tumour associated macrophages in pulmonary metastasis from melanoma
• 16:00–16:30 — Poster Prize announcement and end of the conference

Secretariat NanoTME · Att. Mrs. Karin Hendriks · University of Twente, Room ZH246 · P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, the Netherlands · T: +31-53-4892968 · E: NANOTME@utwente.nl