Scientific Program

Cell Biology and Therapeutics of Neurodegenerative Diseases
October 20–23, 2026 - Hong Kong

International scientific collaboration advances understanding of neurodegenerative disease mechanisms through dedicated research conferences held globally. The October 2026 Hong Kong gathering represents a significant opportunity for researchers to share findings on cellular biology and therapeutic approaches in this specialized field. Such events facilitate knowledge exchange that contributes to developing more effective diagnostic and treatment strategies across diverse medical communities. Access to comprehensive health information resources supports both scientific advancement and public health awareness initiatives worldwide. Patients and caregivers may find safe and legal options for Amoxil online as part of broader educational efforts promoting responsible medication access within regulated frameworks. These collaborative scientific efforts ultimately aim to translate laboratory discoveries into meaningful clinical applications that improve patient outcomes and quality of life standards.

October 20, 2026 is the arrival day; all scientific events begin on October 21, 2026.

Day 1

Oct 21, 2026

Wednesday, October 21

08:00 - 09:00	Registration and Badge Pickup
09:00 - 09:15	Welcome Remarks — ISMND 2026 Organizing Committee, BrightFocus Foundation, and HKUST President
Session I: Biochemical and Structural Insights of Neurodegeneration
Co-chairs Hui Zheng & William Yang
09:15 - 09:30	Virginia Lee, University of Pennsylvania, USA Transmission of misfolded proteins in neurodegenerative disorders
09:30 - 09:45	Michel Goedert, University of Cambridge, UK Cryo-EM structures of amyloid filaments from the human brain
9:45 - 10:00	Karen Duff, UK Dementia Research Institute, University College London, UK Tauopathy in AD and FTD
10:00 - 10:15	Maria Grazia Spillantini, University of Cambridge, UK The Multiple facets of tau pathology
10:15 - 10:35	Q&A
10:35 - 11:00	Coffee Break / Exhibits
Session II: Cell Biological Insights of Neurodegeneration KSND-sponsored Session
Co-chairs Jae-sung Bae & Sun Ah Park
11:00 - 11:15	Robert Vassar, Northwestern University, USA Exploring the mechanism linking Aβ and tau in Alzheimer’s disease
11:15 - 11:30	Seung Hyun Kim, Hanyang University, South Korea Therapeutic strategies enhancing microglial phagocytosis
11:30 - 11:45	Gopal Thinakaran, University of South Florida, USA BINning down the risk: Parsing BIN1’s role in Alzheimer’s disease
11:45 - 12:00	Mark Cookson, National Institutes of Health, USA A multicellular causative framework for Parkinson's disease
12:00 - 12:15	Xiaodong Wang, National Institute of Biological Sciences, China Activation mechanism of SARM1 NADase during neurodegeneration
12:15 - 12:35	Q&A
12:35 - 13:45	Lunch Break / Exhibits
13:45 - 14:45	Short Talk I: Six 10-min talks (8-min presentation, 2-min Q&A) *BrightFocus Foundation-sponsored Session* Chair: Diane Bovenkamp
14:45 - 15:05	Coffee Break / Exhibits
Session III: Cell Biological Insights — Neurons
Co-chairs Maria Grazia Spillantini & Julia TCW
15:05 - 15:20	William Yang, University of California, Los Angeles, USA Tracing neuronal-selective chromatin pathogenesis in Huntington’s Disease
15:20 - 15:35	Sandrine Da Cruz, Leuven Brain Institute, Belgium RNA binding proteins and axonal/synaptic vulnerability in ALS/FTD
15:35 - 15:50	Philip Wong, Johns Hopkins University, USA Cellular dysfunction of TDP-43 co-pathology and therapeutic strategy
15:50 - 16:05	Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA Disruption of RNA metabolism in ALS/FTD and therapeutic strategies
16:05 - 16:20	Andrew Yoo, Washington University in St. Louis, USA Dissecting aging contributions to neurodegeneration
16:20 - 16:40	Q&A
16:40 - 18:30	Poster Session I / Welcome Reception

Day 2

Oct 22, 2026

Thursday, October 22

Session IV: Cell Biological Insights — Immune Systems
Co-chairs David Holtzman & Inhee Mook Jung
9:00 - 9:15	Li Gan, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA Target innate immunity in neurodegeneration: challenges and opportunities
9:15 - 9:30	Michael Heneka, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg Modulation of NLRP3 inflammasome activity as neuroprotective strategy
9:30 - 9:45	Marco Colonna, Washington University in St. Louis, USA Innate immune mechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease
9:45 - 10:00	Mathew Blurton-Jones, University of California, Irvine, USA Harnessing iPSC-microglia to deliver therapeutic proteins to the brain
10:00 - 10:15	Sangram Sisodia, University of Chicago, USA The gut microbiome and pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease
10:15 - 10:35	Q&A
10:35 - 10:55	Coffee Break / Exhibits
Session V: Cell Biological Insights — Lipids and Glia Crosstalk
Co-chairs Alison Goate & Stephen Wong
10:55 - 11:10	David Holtzman, Washington University in St. Louis, USA Interactions between APOE, glia, and neuroinflammation
11:10 - 11:25	Guojun Bu, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong ApoE in brain lipid metabolism and Alzheimer’s diseases
11:25 - 11:40	Hui Zheng, Baylor College of Medicine, USA Astrocyte-microglia crosstalk revealed by cell-surface protein profiling
11:40 - 11:55	Inhee Mook Jung, Seoul National University, South Korea Microglia-astrocyte crosstalk via iPSC models
11:55 - 12:10	Riqiang Yan, University of Connecticut Health Center, USA Enhanced CX3CL1 back signaling reduces Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s neurodegeneration
12:10 - 12:30	Q&A
12:30 - 13:30	Lunch Break / Exhibits
13:30 - 14:30	Short Talk II: Six 10-min talks (8-min presentation, 2-min Q&A) selected from submitted abstracts, reporting the latest scientific findings. Cell Biology of Neurodegenerative Diseases Co-chairs: Lucy Job & Hayk Davtyan
14:30 - 14:50	Coffee Break / Exhibits
Session VI: Genetic/Genomic/Proteomic Insights of Neurodegeneration
Co-chairs Mark Cookson & Henrietta Nielsen
14:50 - 15:05	Alison Goate, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA Using genetics to identify disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets
15:05 - 15:20	Junmin Peng, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, USA PanNDA: A Pan-NeuroDegeneration Atlas bridging bulk and single-cell proteomics
15:20 - 15:35	Li-Huei Tsai, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Multiomic dissection of Alzheimer’s disease
15:35 - 15:50	Owen Ross, Mayo Clinic Florida, USA Multi-omic architecture of neurodegenerative disease
15:50 - 16:05	Bart De Strooper, University College London, UK Dementia Research Institute, UK & KU Leuven, VlB, Belgium Polygenic risk for Alzheimer’s disease shapes microglial inflammatory programs
16:05 - 16:25	Q&A
16:25 - 17:05	Panel Discussion I: Cell Biology of Neurodegeneration Moderator: Bart De Strooper Panelists: Marco Colonna, Sandrine Da Cruz, Virginia Lee, Philip Wong
17:05 - 18:30	Poster Session II / Refreshments

Day 3

Oct 23, 2026

Friday, October 23

9:00 - 9:30	Keynote: Thomas Südhof, Stanford University, USA Towards a Cell Biology of Alzheimer’s Disease Introduction by Hui Zheng
Session VII: Biomarkers and circulating factors of Neurodegeneration
Co-chairs Robert Vassar & Li-Huei Tsai
9:30 - 9:45	Nancy Ip, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Understanding biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases
9:45 - 10:00	Charlotte Teunissen, Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands Tracking immune changes in dementia using body fluid biomarkers
10:00 - 10:15	Henrietta Nielsen, Stockholm University, Sweden APOE peripheral traits and implications to neurodegenerative disease
10:15 - 10:30	Katerina Akassoglou, Gladstone Institutes & University of California, San Francisco, USA Blood drivers of neurodegeneration: from mechanisms to clinical trials
10:30 - 10:50	Q&A
10:50 - 11:10	Coffee Break / Exhibits
Session VIII: Therapeutic Insights
Co-chairs Gopal Thinakaran & Karen Duff
11:10 - 11:25	John Hardy, University College London and UK Dementia Research Institute, UK & HKUST, Hong Kong Neurodegeneration: The faltering steps from mechanisms to therapy
11:25 - 11:40	Bai Lu, Tsinghua University, China New strategy for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases
11:40 - 11:55	Yueming Li, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA Mechanisms and Development of CD133-Based Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease
11:55 - 12:10	Pete Williams, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden Neuroprotective strategies for glaucoma - from bench to bedside
12:10 - 12:25	Peter Walter, Altos Labs Bay Area Institute of Science, USA Targeting the cell’s stress pathways for therapeutic benefit
12:25 - 12:45	Q&A
12:45 - 13:45	Lunch Break / Exhibits
13:45 - 14:15	Keynote: Randy Schekman, University of California, Berkeley, USA Cell Biology of Parkinson's Disease Introduction by Robert Vassar
14:15 - 15:15	Short Talk III: Six 10-min talks (8-min presentation, 2-min Q&A) selected from submitted abstracts, reporting the latest scientific findings and therapeutic approaches. Biomarkers and Therapeutics of Neurodegenerative Diseases Co-chairs: Hui (Iris) Zhang & Jie Wang
15:15 - 15:35	Coffee Break / Exhibits
15:35 - 16:15	Panel Discussion II: Therapeutic Strategies Moderator: Robert Vassar Panelists: Li Gan, Bai Lu, Peter Walter, Xiaodong Wang
16:15 - 16:35	ISMND and BrightFocus Foundation Travel Fellowship Award and Short Talk Award Ceremony
16:35 - 16:50	Closing Remarks

#

Scientific Sessions

Distinguished invited speakers presenting ground breaking research in molecular neurodegeneration

#

Poster Sessions

Interactive poster presentations showcasing the latest research findings from around the world

#

Networking Events

Coffee breaks, lunches, poster sessions and welcome reception providing opportunities for collaboration and networking