European Placenta Group Meeting 2026 – Life at the Interface

13:30 – 14:00 Registration

14:00 Welcoming remarks

14:00 – 14:05 Herbert Kiss – Head of the Department Obstetrics and Gynaecology

14:05 – 14:15 EPG Organizing Committee, Isabella Ellinger, Claudia Gundacker, Sandra Haider

14:15 – 15:10 Trophoblast Biology – Chairs: Martin Knöfler and Christian Wadsack

14:15 – 14:24 Terezia Vcelkova: “Deciphering the Role of Morc4 in Human Trophoblast Identity and Differentiation”

14:24 – 14:33 Kristina Helml: “LIF-STAT3 Signaling as a Multifaceted Regulator of EVT Differentiation”

14:33 – 14:42 Jasmin Wächter: “Decidual LIF Shapes Extravillous Trophoblast Maturation Through STAT3 Signaling”

14:42 – 14:51 Anna-Maria Prandstetter: “Direct Placental Contact Shapes the Decidua – Single-Cell Insights into EVT–Gland Interactions”

14:51 – 15:00 Désirée Forstner: “Priming of maternal platelets during pregnancy”

15:00 – 15:09 Emilie Derisoud: “Immunomodulation of Extravillous Trophoblast Derived from Non-Conventional Trophoblastic Organoids: Promising Results from in Vitro Assays”

15:10 – 15:50 Placental vessels – Chairs: Udo Markert and Nadia Alfaidy

15:10– 15:19 Theresa Maxian: “Stage-Specific Cellular Interactions Drive Vascular Morphogenesis in the First-Trimester Placenta”

15:19 – 15:28 Sarah Jones: “The Birth of a New Ex-Vivo Haemostasis Model Using Placental Vessels for Cardiovascular and Pregnancy Related Research”

15:28– 15:37 Monika Horvat Mercnik: “From cobblestone to spindle: distinguishing phenotypic changes from contamination in primary fetoplacental endothelial cultures”

15:37 – 15:46 Tanja Lotteritsch: “The Role of Succinate as a Signalling Molecule in Human Fetoplacental Endothelial Cells”

15:50 – 16:20 Coffee Break

16:20 – 16:50 Reproductive Immunology – Chairs: Jürgen Pollheimer and Sarah Jones

16:20– 16:29 Barbara Öhler: “Distinct Macrophage States Shape the Microenvironment of the Human Decidua Basalis” 

16:29 – 16:38 Xinyue Li: “Dendritic cells sustain maternal-fetal tolerance through coordinated regulation of Treg and NK cell responses”

16:38– 16:47 Wenting Cao: “Allogeneic T-Cell Interaction and Tissue Entry Across Complementary Human Placental Ex Vivo Models”

16:50 – 17:40 Technical Improvements and novel systems in Term Placenta – Chairs: Jürgen Pollheimer and Sarah Jones

16:50 – 16:59 Franziska Fazekas: “An integrated workflow for the isolation and culture of multiple primary human cell populations from a single delivery”

16:59 – 17:08 Hazel Hassan: “Preserving Placental Mitochondrial Function: An Optimised Workflow for Isolation, Purification and Cryopreservation”

17:08 – 17:17 Kylie Belchamber: “Precision Cut Tissue Slicing as a Novel Ex Vivo Model of the Human Placenta and Decidua”

17:17 – 17:26 Irene Stevenson: “Human Placental Explants as a Model for Investigating Placental Handling of Igg: A Pilot Study”

17:26 – 17:35 Lois Brewer: “Combining Computational Modelling and Experimental Uptake Assays to Investigate Mechanisms of Igg Transfer Across the Term Human Placenta”

17:40 – 19:30 Get together – Drinks & Snacks

9:00 – 10:00 Placental Model Systems – Chairs: Hanna Allerkamp and Paul Brownbill

9:00 – 9:15 Markus Hengstschläger – Head of the Center for Pathobiochemistry and Genetics

9:15 – 9:24 Marie-Theres Löschner: “Long-Term Study on the Effect of Docetaxel Treatment on Tumor Metastases in a Placental Tissue Co-Culture

9:24 – 9:33 Defne Cobanoglu: “Engineering A Vascularized Placenta-On-Chip to Investigate Hormone-Dependent Regulation of Placental Microvascular and Barrier Function””

9:33 – 9:42 Sahar Ghorbanpour: “A placenta-derived extracellular matrix supports long-term growth, differentiation and vascular organisation of a multicellular human placental model”

9:42 – 9:51 Melike Ucak-Demir: “A Multicellular Human Trophoblast Organoid Model Incorporating Endothelial and Immune Components”

9:51 – 10:00 Marei Sammar: “A 3-D Multicellular Assembloid Model of Trophoblast, Decidual Stromal Cells, and Monocytes to Study the Placental Immune Microenvironment”

10:00 – 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 – 11:35 Placental Barrier and Transport – Chairs: Diana Morales-Prieto and Tina Bürki

10:30 – 10:39 Beatrice Brugger: “Beyond Model Development: Towards Regulatory Readiness of a Human Placental Model (PlacentaFIT)”

10:39 – 10:48 Sina Ruhstaller: “Assessing Placental Responses to Environmentally Relevant Micro-Nanoplastics”

10:48 – 10:57 Cheryl Koh: “Investigating Direct Effects of Air Pollution Particles on Placental Barrier Function in Vitro”

10:57 – 11:06 Katherine Bethell: “Spatial mass spectrometry reveals airborne pollutant nanoparticle translocation across the human placental barrier”

11:06 – 11:15 Vivien Michaelis: “Interactions Between the Essential Trace Element Copper and Toxic Methylmercury at the Placental Barrier”

11:15 – 11:24 Benedetta Caniglia: “Human Stem Cell-Based Models Reveal Bleomycin-Induced Placental and Fetal Developmental Toxicity”

11:24 – 11:33 Anandita Umapathy: “Spatial organisation of transport and endocytic proteins within the human syncytiotrophoblast microvillous membrane”

11:35 – 12:20 Gestational Disease - 1 – Chairs: Federica Piani and Katrien De Clercq

11:35 – 11:44 Sarah Hutchinson: “Assessment of Maternal-To-Fetal Placental Transfer of Incretin Based Therapies in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus”

11:44 – 11:53 Maja Perić: “Coordinated Expression of Placental Steroid, Kynurenine, and Serotonin Pathway Genes in Normal and Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Pregnancies”

11:53 – 12:02 Mar Chic Campos: “Placental Sphingosine-1-Phosphate (S1p) Dysregulation and Metabolic Alterations in Maternal Obesity”

12:02 – 12:11 Tanja Groten: “CGM use in Pregnancy mitigates Placental Fibrosis and Glycation after Pregnancies with Type 1 Diabetes”

12:11 – 12:20 Anne Sørensen: “Weighted Fetal MRI as a Marker of Fetal Oxygenation in Pregnancies Complicated by Type 1 Diabetes”

12:20 – 13:40 Lunch

13:40 – 15:05 Gestational Disease - 2 – Chairs: Tanja Groten and Olivia Nonn

13:40 – 13:49 Ella Turner: “Investigating the Placental Regulation of Haemostasis and Thrombosis in Pre-Eclampsia”

13:49 – 13:58 Navya Sree Boga: “Placental MFSD2A And FADS2 Expression and Cord Blood Phospholipid ARA and DHA Status Are Associated with Head Circumference in Preterm Neonates”

13:58 – 14:07 Rui Zhou: “Multiscale mapping of the human placenta reveals regional biomechanical alterations and extracellular matrix remodeling in pre-eclampsia”

14:07 – 14:16 Leonie Stiegler: “Role of Activin A Signalling During Early Trophoblast Differentiation and in Preeclampsia”

14:16 – 14:25 Lisa-Sophia Haase: “Effects of Metformin Exposure on Preeclampsia-Related Gene Expression in Human Placental Explants”

14:25 – 14:34 Ella Kirsty Vincent: “Decidua-trophoblast co-culture and in silico models identify functionally linked decidual gland secreted proteins deficient in early-onset pre-eclampsia”

14:34 – 14:43 Ana Costa Braga: “Compartment-Resolved Placental Proteomics in Pre-Eclampsia Spectrum Disorders”

14:43 – 14:52 Milica Gajić Bojić: "Diazepam- and Sodium Nitroprusside-Induced Relaxation of Human Umbilical Arteries from Pregnancies with Hypertensive Disorders: A Pilot Study”

14:52 – 15:01 Shannon Wolf: “MicroRNA Expression In Placental Tissue Of Growth Restricted Newborns”

15:05 – 15:40 Gestational Disease - 3 – Chairs: Rona Karahoda and Luboš Molčan

15:05 – 15:14 Margareta Mayer: “Vaginal and Meconium Microbiomes Associate with Clinical Subtypes of Preterm Birth”

15:14 – 15:23 Ainslie Hancock: “Characterising Placental Morphology and Immune Cell Composition in a Population of Women with a Family History of Autism”

15:23 – 15:32 Fiona Kumnova: “Placental Inflammatory Profile Across Gestation and Inflammatory and Lipid Responses to Metabolic and Pharmacological Challenges”

15:32 – 15:41 Patricia Okiro: “A Decade of Placental Pathology in Kenya: Vascular and Inflammatory Lesions Across Adverse Pregnancy Phenotypes”

15:45 – 16:10 Coffee Break

16:10 – 17:25 Exposure studies – Chairs: Pascale Chavatte-Palmer and Rohan Lewis

16:10 – 16:19 Anne-Geneviève Tremblay: “The Sleeping Hormone’s Sleeping Weapon; Melatonin’s Effects on Oxidative Stress Markers in placental Choriocarcinoma Cells”

16:19 – 16:28 Mohammad Rida Ghaddar: “Characterization of Endocannabinoid System Expression Across Human Trophoblast Models and Differentiation States”

16:28 – 16:37 Mia Salma Alsouki: “Comparative Analysis of HHC And THC Effects on Villous and Extravillous Trophoblast Cell Lines: Implications for Redox Signaling and Placental Functions”

16:37 – 16:48 Tetiana Synova: “Major and Minor Cannabinoids Attenuate LPS-Induced Inflammatory Responses in The Human Placenta”

16:48 – 16:57 Carine El Hajjar: “Impact of PFAS Exposure on Placental Development and Pregnancy Outcomes”

16:57 – 17:06 Magdalena Novotna: “Caffeine Affects Placental Nucleos(T)Ide Metabolism and Associated Gene Expression, Protein, Metabolomic and Epigenetic Changes”

17:06 – 17:15 Neva Kandzija: “Placental Extracellular Vesicles Transfer Insulin Receptor to Receptor-Deficient Recipient Cells”

17:15 – 17:24 Signe Schmidt Kjølner Hansen: “PLACENTA VOICES: Resonant dialogues between science and publics”

17:25 – 17:50 EPG Meeting – Rohan Lewis

Evening - Discover Vienna´s Christmas Markets https://www.wien.info/en/nowon/christmas/christmas-markets-342664

9:00 – 9:30 Uterine Environment – Chairs: Günter Wagner and Martin Knöfler

9:00 – 9:09 Jane Cleal: “Dynamic regulation of endometrial motile cilia: structural, functional, and hormonal responses in tissue and organoid models”

9:09 – 9:18 Lingshan Yang: “Extracellular Vesicle-Mediated Regulation of Endometrial Angiogenesis by miR-141”

9:18 – 9:27 Stefan Pavloski: “The Open Wound: Co-Option of Fibroblast Activation During the Evolution of Endometrial Decidualization”

9:30 – 10:15 Comparative Placentation - 1 – Chair: Günter Wagner and Martin Knöfler

9:30 – 9:39 Sophie Pohlert: “Metabolomics of Murine Uterine Decidualization”

9:39 – 9:48 Marianna Onori: “Metformin Reduces Pregnancy Loss and Remodels Placental and Fetal-Membrane Inflammatory Programs in a Murine Model of LPS-Induced Pregnancy Inflammation”

9:48 – 9:57 Alejandro A. Candia: ”Obesogenic Diet and Placental Endocrine Disruption Interact to Influence Maternal Metabolism During Mouse Pregnancy”

9:57 – 10:06 Seppe Gevaert: “Analysis of Mouse Placenta Spatial Transcriptomics Data”

10:06 – 10:15 Luboš Molčan: “Mitochondrial Transcriptional Responses in Rat Placentas Following Light- and Dark-Phase Maternal Hypoxia”

10:15 – 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 – 12:10 Comparative Placentation - 2 – Chair: Paulina Latos and Mohamed Benharouga

10:45– 10:54 Benoît Gendrot: “Lack of Peripheral Serotonin Leads to Alterations in Placental Structure”

10:54 – 11:03 Fariz Kahhaleh: “Maternal Antibiotic Exposure Alters Placental Vascularization, Fetal Hematopoiesis, and Bile Acid Homeostasis”

11:03 – 11:12 Vahide Zeynep Ünal: “Maternal THC Exposure Alters Tryptophan and Endocannabinoid Pathways Along the Placenta–Fetal Brain Axis in Wistar Rats”

11:12 –11:21 Annika Wieneke: “Contact Between the Bovine Trophectoderm and the Maternal Epithelium on Day 102 of Pregnancy”

11:21 – 11:30 Julia Przeborowska: “Feto-Maternal Interface – Ultrastructure Observations of Equine Placenta at Birth”

11:30 – 11:39 Leticia Casarotto Trevisan: “Late Gestation Heat Stress Alters Placental Mitochondrial, Cellular Stress, and Vascular Pathways in Ewes”

11:39 – 11:48 Pilar Van Mechelen: “Elucidating the Structural Organization of the Syrian Hamster Placenta”

11:48 – 11:57 Julia Rodewald-Tölle: „The Effect of Interferon-Tau and Steroid Hormones on the Expression of Epithelial Cell Markers in Bovine Caruncular Epithelial Cells in vitro“ 

11:57 – 12:06 Vimal Veeriah: “Antigestagen Treatment Disrupts Extracellular Vesicle Signaling in a 3D Decidualized Canine Uterine Stromal Model”

12:10 – 12:30 Coffee Break - Award Decision Meeting

12:30 – 12:50 Closing session: Awards, Sponsor Prize Draw & Closing Remarks