DISEASE MODELING AND THERAPEUTICS

Theme: Stem Cell-Based Disease Models and Therapeutic Insights

Registration & Coffee (Welcome Gathering)

Opening Remarks & Welcome (Conference Chairs: CRO: Dr. Khalid Fakhro; Dr. Essam Abdelalim & Dr. Luis Saraiva)

MC: Dr. Simona Ghanem introduces the day

Session 1: Stem Cell-Based Therapies and Disease Modeling for Diabetes

Chairs: Dr. Khalid Fakhro (Sidra Medicine) & Dr. Cong-Yi Wang (QBRI, HBKU)

Opening Keynote: Dr. James Shapiro (University of Alberta, Canada) – Manufacturing Autologous (‘Self-Derived’) Stem Cell-Derived Islet Therapies Without Immune Suppression to Treat Diabetes

Dr. Sonja Schrepfer (Cedars Sinai Medical Center, USA) – Protecting Allogeneic Transplants from Immune Rejection is the Key to Bringing Cell-based Therapies to Patients

Dr. Hao Yin (Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, China) – Endoderm Stem Cell-Derived Islet Therapy for Diabetic Patients with Impaired Islet Function

Panel Discussion
Translating Stem Cell Research into Clinical Applications for Diabetes

Moderators: Dr. Essam Abdelalim & Dr. Camillo Ricordi
Panelists: Dr. Matthias Hebrok, Dr. James Shapiro, Dr. Sonja Schrepfer & Dr. Hao Yin

Coffee Break & Poster Viewing

Keynote Speaker 2: Matthias Hebrok (Technical University Munich, Germany) – Optimizing Stem Cell-Derived Beta Cells for Cell Therapy.   

Camillo Ricordi (University of Miami, USA) – 40 Years of the Ricordi Chamber and the Automated Method for Human Islet Isolation: From Transplantation to Disease Modeling Research

Dr. Essam Abdelalim (Sidra Medicine)– Modeling Monogenic Diabetes Using iPSC Technology

Dr. Chiara Cugno (Sidra Medicine)– Advancing Cell-Based Therapies: Clinical Applications and GMP Manufacturing of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells and Cord Blood Products

Lunch Break & Poster Viewing

Session 2: Modeling Neurological Disorders: From Mechanisms to Therapies

Chairs: Dr. Younes Mokrab (Sidra Medicine) & Dr. Rayaz Malik (WCMQ)

Dr. Amber Alhadeff (University of Pennsylvania, USA) – Hindbrain Mediation of GLP1-Based Weight Loss Drugs

Dr. Hilal Lashuel (QF & WMC-Q, Qatar)– Deconstructing and Reconstructing Parkinson’s Disease in a dish: From Neuronal Models to Disease Mechanisms and Novel Therapies

Dr. Mohammed Shaker (QBRI, HBKU)– Dissecting Molecular and Cellular Heterogeneity in HBSL Pathogenesis

Short talk: Dr. Sara Elfarrash (Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Saudi Arabia)– Slicing Through Complexity: Organotypic slice cultures for Neurodegenerative diseases modeling

Short talk: Dr. Fathia Ben Rached (KAUST, Saudi Arabia)–Modeling GLP1R-Linked Epileptic Encephalopathy Using Patient-Derived Brain Organoids.

Coffee Break & Poster Viewing

Short talk: Dr. Maged M. Harraz (University of Maryland, USA)– Molecular Mechanisms of Autophagy Regulation of Dopaminergic Neurotransmission: Uncovering a Novel Cocaine Receptor

Short talk: Dr. Yongsoo Park (QBRI, HBKU)– Modeling Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) using extracellular vesicles (EVs) with a focus on immune dysregulation: Identifying therapeutic treatment to reduce ASD EV-mediated inflammation

Short talk: Dr. Ines Elbini (Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunisia) – Targeting Kv1.3 potassium channels with venom-derived peptides to inhibit alpha-synuclein aggregation in Parkinson’s disease models

Closing Remarks by Conference Chairs (Dr. Essam Abdelalim & Dr. Luis Saraiva)

Theme: Organoids and Animal Models in Mechanistic Discovery and Therapeutics

Coffee & Networking

MC: Dr. Reem Hasnah introduces the day

Session 3: Keynote Addresses – Innovative Disease Models for Mechanistic and Drug Screening Insights

Chair: Dr. Wadha Al-Muftah (QPHI, Qatar)

Keynote Address 1: Dr. Erwan Bezard (University of Bordeaux, France) – Non-Human Primates in Synucleinopathy Research: A De-Risking Must Have

Keynote Address 2: Dr. Shuibing Chen (Weill Cornell Medicine, USA) – Human Pluripotent Stem Cell, Organoids, Disease Models and Drug Screen

Session 4: Organoid-Based Disease Models and Translational Insights

Chairs: Dr. Medhat Askar (QU, Qatar) &  Dr. Markus Wenk (HBKU, Qatar)

Dr. Joep Beumer (Institute of Human Biology, Switzerland)  – Modeling Intestinal Maturation and Function in Engineered Human Organoids 

Dr. M. Maya Kaelberer (University of Arizona, USA) – Decoding Our Gut Language to Shape the Future of Nutrition

Coffee Break & Poster Viewing

Dr. Yun Xia (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) – Reconstructing tissue microenvironment for studying kidney development and disease

Dr. Khaled Machaca (WCM-Q, Qatar) – Patient-specific cellular models to inform personalized clinical treatment for monogenic disorders

Dr. Bernice Lo (Sidra Medicine, Qatar)– Investigating the pathogenesis of immunologic disorders by dissecting their molecular and cellular defects in vitro

Lunch Break & Poster Viewing

Session 5: Animal Models and Mechanistic Insights into Rare and Complex Diseases

Chairs: Dr. Georges Nemer (HBKU) & Dr. Nayef Mazloum (WCM-Q)

Dr. Marcelo Dietrich (Yale University, USA)– Using Animal Models to Uncover the Neurobiology of Child Health and Disease

Dr. Mohammad Farhan (HBKU)– Genes, Atoms, and Bytes: Decoding Disease Through Drosophila Models

Dr. Luis Saraiva (Sidra Medicine) –  From Fins to Families: Zebrafish as Engines of Rare Disease Discovery at Sidra

Dr. Sahar Da’as (Sidra Medicine, Qatar)– Zebrafish Models: Advancing Diagnosis and Therapeutics at Sidra Medicine

Dr. Ehsan Pourkarimi (HBKU, Qatar)– Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase-1 (WARS-1) depletion and high tryptophan concentration lead to genomic instability and p53-dependent apoptosis in C. elegans

Coffee Break & Poster Viewing

Session 6: Genetics and Developmental Models

Chairs: Dr. Vladimir Katanaev (QBRI) & Dr. Souhaila Al Khodor (Sidra Medicine)

Dr. Margret Shirinian (AUB, Lebanon)– Drosophila Tet deregulation in Glia Disrupts ECM Integrity and Drives VNC Elongation in Larval Brains

Dr. Matteo Avella (Sidra Medicine, Qatar)– Uncovering the Molecular Basis of Human Infertility via Genomics and Transgeneic Animal Models

Short talk: Dr. Mohammad Hassan Alhashmi (King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia) – LRP1 role in skeletal homeostasis: investigating its regulatory functions employing a multimodal experimental approach

Short talk: Wajih Jawhar (McGill University, Canada)– Ectopic EZHIP expression stalls mesenchymal development and drives aggressive osteosarcoma tumorigenesis in an identified subset of epigenetically dysregulated tumors

Panel Discussion
Future of Disease Modeling and Therapeutics

Moderators: Dr. Luis Saraiva & Dr. Sonia Davila
Panelists: Dr. Hilal Lashuel, Dr. Erwan Bezard, Dr. Shuibing Chen, and Dr. Amber Alhadeff

Closing Remarks & Awards