BatProtect – 3 day event at CECAD, UKK at Cologne 1 – 3 December 2025
BatProtect holds its second consortium face-to-face meeting hosted by UKK at CECAD building in Cologne from 1st – 3rd December 2025.
This will be an exciting 3-day event with great keynote speakers, chalk talks from the researchers from across the consortium and group discussion sessions led by the lead researchers of BatProtect.
Day 1 – focuses on the Longitudinal Omics/Metadata, with chalk talks on Longitudinal sampling and DREAM & repair with keynote speakers:
Steven Austad: Methuselah’s Zoo: what nature can teach us about living longer, healthier lives
Gerald Wilkinson: Comparative studies of bat aging using DNA methylation
Sonja Vernes: Understanding bat adaptations by studying a captive bat colony
Day 2 – focuses on Functional & comparative genomics with keynote speakers:
Stefan Mundlos: Functional Genomics of Bat Limb Development
Thomas Zwaka: Bat iPSCs & bat adaptations
Aleksandra Trifunovic: Mitochondrial stress responses: gatekeepers of cellular health, disease & longevity
Day 3 – focuses on Immune/population with keynote speakers:
Sebastian Puechmaille & Eric Petit: Pedigree reconstruction & genomic analyses to advance our understanding of ageing
Joe Prescott: Egyptian rousette bat immune responses to Marburg virus
Meriadeg Le Gouil: Ten years of evolution of a Sarbecovirus in Rhinolophus ferrumequinum : dynamics, drivers & spillover rate in sympatric species
Programme is available here: https://batprotect.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/BatProtect-Programme-1st-December-2025-nd-1.pdf
