Day 1 │Tuesday 31 January

12.00 – 13.00

Registration

OPENING

13.00 – 13.10

Welcome

Miikka Vikkula │ Chair of the scientific committee

13.10 – 13.25

Vascular anomalies: From genetic discoveries to therapeutic trials

Miikka Vikkula │ VA Cure - de Duve Institute, Brussels, Belgium

13.25 – 13.35

Patient’s perspective

Maria Barea │ VASCAPA

13.35 – 13.40

Patient story

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Sabine Bailly

13.45 – 14.25

Vascular remodeling in development and disease

Anne Eichmann │ Yale University, New Haven, USA / INSERM, Paris

SESSION VENOUS MALFORMATIONS AND TIE2-PI3K SIGNALING

Chairs: Elisa Boscolo and Laurence Boon

14.25 – 14.45

Angiopoietin-Tie signaling pathway in venous morphogenesis

Lauri Eklund │ VA Cure – Oulu University, Finland

14.45 – 15.00

A Transgenic Mouse Model of Mutant TIE2-Driven Venous Malformation

Lindsay Bischoff │ Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA

15.00 – 15.30

Coffee break

15.30 – 16.00

Insights into the onset and progression of PIK3CA-related vascular malformations

Mariona Graupera│ Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), Barcelona, Spain

16.00 – 16.15

Unraveling PIK3CA-driven pathophysiology of vascular malformations by single cell transcriptomics

Marle Kraft │ VA Cure – Uppsala University, Sweden

16.15 – 16.35

Overview of the current and future targeted treatments in venous malformations

Emmanuel Seront │ Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

16.35 – 16.50

A call for rigorous study of the role of statins in vascular malformations. Preliminary study

Miguel Amore │ Central Military Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina

SESSION DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS & MODELS

Chairs: Ryan Hicks and Martina de Bortoli

16.50 – 17.10

High-throughput microphysiological models transforming tissue modelling

Prateek Singh │ VA Cure – Finnadvance, Oulu, Finland

POSTER TEASERS

Chairs: Ryan Hicks and Martina de Bortoli

17.10 – 17.15

Semaphorin 3A and 3F in TIE2-mutated Venous Malformation

Sandra Schrenk │ Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, USA

17.15 – 17.20

Fibroblasts induce vascular lesion growth – a co-target for treatment?

Johanna Laakkonen │ University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

17.20 – 17.25

Sirolimus: friend or enemy of surgeons dealing with vascular anomalies?

Noureddine Hassayoune │ Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

17.25 – 17.30

Releasing an mTORC1 break causes lymphatic hyperplasia and malformation

Antonio Queiro Palou │ VA Cure – Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden 

17.30 – 17.35

EFNB2 orients ventricular endocardial cells against blood flow

Anusha Sathyanarayanan │ Potsdam University, Germany

Welcome reception in the Brussels City Hall

Day 2 │Wednesday 1 February

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Taija Mäkinen

8.30 – 9.10

In search of novel ways to modulate the PI3K pathway for therapeutic benefit

Bart Vanhaesebroeck │ UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK

9.10 – 9.15

Patient story

SESSION VENOUS/LYMPHATIC MALFORMATIONS AND PI3K SIGNALING

Chairs: Mariona Graupera and Emmanuel Seront

9.15 – 9.35

Metabolic decisions in vascular growth and differentiation

Michael Potente │VA Cure - Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), Berlin, Germany

9.35 – 9.50

Contribution of mechanical forces from blood flow in neurovascular arteriovenous malformations

Nicolas Baeyens │ ULB, Belgium

9.50 – 10.05

Loss of myogenic activity in smooth muscle cells as driver of arterio-venous and lymphatic malformations

Michael Orlich │ Uppsala University, Sweden

10.05 – 10.20

Pathogenic mechanisms of lymphatic malformations

Taija Mäkinen │ VA Cure – Uppsala University, Sweden

10.20 – 10.35

Clonal origin of Pik3ca-driven lymphatic malformations

Hans Schoofs │ VA Cure – Uppsala University, Sweden

10.35 – 11.05

Coffee break

11.05 – 11.20

Proteasome Inhibitors and Proteostasis Defects in Venous and Lymphatic Malformations Downstream of PI3K/mTOR Hyperactivation

Carrie Shawber │ Columbia University Medical Center, USA

11.20 – 11.50

Targeted therapies in PIK3CA-related vascular anomalies

Guillaume Canaud │ Hôpital Necker Enfants Malades and Université Paris Cité, Paris, France

11.50 – 12.05

ART-001, an orally-available PI3Kα inhibitor for slow-flow vascular malformations: a phase 2 randomized, double-blind trial

Akihiro Fujino │ National Center for Child Health and Development, Japan

POSTER TEASERS

Chairs: Mariona Graupera and Emmanuel Seront

12.05 – 12.10

New capillary lymphatic endothelial cell subtype as a driver of lymphatic malformation pathology

Milena Petkova │ Uppsala University, Sweden 

12.10 – 12.15

Immunothrombosis and vascular heterogeneity in cerebral cavernous malformation

Maria Globisch │ Uppsala University, Sweden

12.15 – 12.20

RASA1 and BRAF variants in a patient with capillary malformation-arteriovenous malformation 1 (CM-AVM1) and primary lymphedema, treated with a MEK inhibitor.

Isabelle Quere │ CHU - University of Montpellier

12.20 – 13.00

Lunch

POSTER SESSION

13.00 – 14.30

Poster session 1 (even numbers + teasers from Tuesday and Wednesday)

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Salim Seyfried

14.30 – 15.10

Deciphering the complex genomic architecture of moyamoya, an avenue towards the pathophysiology of this mysterious cerebral angiopathy

Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve │ Saint Louis Hospital, Paris - Paris Cité University

SESSION CEREBRAL CAVERNOUS MALFORMATIONS & MAP3K3 SIGNALING

Chairs: Joyce Bischoff and Bojana Lazovic

15.10 – 15.40

“Going under the skin” – intravital imaging of disturbed vascular flow and blood clot formation in CCM

Konstantin Gängel │ Uppsala University, Sweden

15.40 – 15.55

CCM2 loss induces a mechano-dependent endothelial mosaicism

Apeksha Shapeti │ KU Leuven, Belgium

15.55 – 16.15

Coffee break

16.15 – 16.30

Hypoxia-induced immunothrombosis and exacerbation of cerebral cavernous malformation disease

Miguel A. Lopez-Ramirez │ University of California, San Diego, USA

16.30 – 16.45

Targeting NETosis in cerebral cavernous malformation

Favour Onyeogaziri │ Uppsala University, Sweden

16.45 – 17.05

Studying the role of biomechanics in vascular disease models in zebrafish

Salim Seyfried │ VA Cure – Potsdam University, Germany

17.05 – 17.20

The Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 protein Cbx7a activates pathogenic Klf2 targets in a Zebrafish model of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations

Cuong Pham │ VA Cure – Potsdam University, Germany

17.20 – 17.50

How can preclinical research help CCM patients: focus on two cases, propranolol and atorvastatin

Roberto Latini │ Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research IRCCS, Milan, Italy

Dinner on your own

Day 3 │Thursday 2 February

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Michael Potente

8.30 – 9.10

The Dos and Don’ts of Shaping a Blood Vessel Network

Holger Gerhardt │ Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany

9.10 – 9.15

Patient story

SESSION ARTERIO-VENOUS MALFORMATIONS & RAS-MAPK SIGNALING

Chairs: Roberto Latini and Marle Kraft

9.15 – 9.45

Cell-cell communication during arteriovenous specification

Ralf Adams │ Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster, Germany

9.45 – 10.00

Novel insights on the mechanisms of formation and resolution of arteriovenous malformations

Claudio Franco │ University of Lisbon, Portugal

10.00– 10.30

Decoding the molecular mechanisms of mutant KRAS-driven brain arteriovenous malformations

Jason Fish │ University of Toronto, Canada

10.30 – 10.50

Coffee break

10.50 – 11.05

Functional Testing of Novel Mosaic RIT1 Mutations Identified in Patients with Arteriovenous Malformations Paves the Way for Targeted Therapy

Friedrich Kapp │ Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany

11.05 – 11.35

Mechanisms Underlying the Progression and Regression of Arteriovenous Malformation

Rong Wang │ University of California San Francisco, USA

11.35 – 11.50

Single-cell dissection of human brain arteriovenous malformations

Ethan Winkler │ University of California San Francisco, USA

11.50 – 12.10

Theranostic management of AVMs

Laurence Boon │ Centre for Vascular Malformations, Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

POSTER TEASERS

Chairs: Roberto Latini and Marle Kraft

12.10 – 12.15

Endoglin cell-autonomously restricts venous endothelial cell size to prevent arteriovenous malformations in zebrafish

Zeenat Diwan │University of Pennsylvania, USA

12.15 – 12.20

ALK1 is critical for maintenance of pulmonary and liver endothelium integrity

Nicolas Ricard │ Grenoble Alpes University, INSERM UMR1292, France

12.20 – 12.25

Dysfunctional BMP-9/ALK-1 contributes to angiogenic vessel remodeling in pulmonary hypertension

Nihel Berrebeh │ Université Paris-Saclay, France

12.25 – 13.05

Lunch

POSTER SESSION

13.05 – 14.25

Poster session 2 (odd numbers + teasers of Thursday)

14.25 – 14.30

Patient story

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Lars Jakobsson

14.30 – 15.10

Lymphatic vessel type-specific functions of BMP signaling

An Zwijsen │ KU Leuven, Belgium

SESSION HEREDITARY HAEMORRHAGIC TELANGIECTASIA (HHT) / BMP

Chairs: Mat François and Murat Alpaslan

15.10 – 15.30

Links between BMP9 & BMP10 and hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT)

15.30 – 15.45

Heterozygous ALK1-mutated endothelial cells display normal transcriptomic responses to BMP9 and BMP10 supporting the need of second hit for driving HHT pathogenesis

Tala Al Tabosh │ VA Cure – Grenoble Alpes University, INSERM UMR1292, CEA, France

15.45 – 16.00

Klf4 is a key determinant factor for AVM pathogenesis in HHT-JP mouse model

Roxana Ola │ Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Germany

16.00 – 16.15

Induced-cell cycle arrest prevents arterio-venous malformations in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

Gael Genet │ University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA

16.15 – 16.35

Coffee break

16.35 – 16.55

Regulation of vessel size – knowledge from the malforming vasculature in HHT1

Lars Jakobsson │ VA Cure – Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

16.55 – 17.10

Deciphering early phosphoproteome changes in response to BMP9 and BMP10 in endothelial cells

Mohammad Al Tarrass │ Grenoble Alpes University, INSERM UMR1292, CEA, France

17.10 – 17.40

Clinical trials in HHT

Sophie Dupuis-Girod │ HHT Reference center, Hospices Civils de Lyon, INSERM U1292, France

CAREER OPTIONS SESSION

Chair: Joseph Lim

17.40 – 18.30

Career options for scientists outside academia. Panel members:

Iiro EEROLA │ Policy Officer, European Commission, DG Research & Innovation, Brussels, Belgium

Jamila LOUAHED │ VP Head of Vaccines Global Research and Development, Belgium R&D center, GSK Vaccines

Bethan Phillips │Publisher Vascular Biology, Bioscientifica

Congress dinner at Hotel Le Plaza

Day 4 │Friday 3 February

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Lauri Eklund

9.00 – 9.40

Translational Insights into Vascular Growth Factors

Kari Alitalo │University of Helsinki, Finland

9.40 – 9.45

Patient story

SESSION COMPLEX LYMPHATIC ANOMALIES & SIGNALING

Chairs: Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve and Murat Alpaslan

9.45 – 10.15

Mechanisms of lymphatic vascular specialisation

Tatiana Petrova │ University of Lausanne, Switzerland

10.15 – 10.30

Pathogenic EPHB4 variants of lymphatic-related non-immune hydrops fetalis and CM-AVM2 have discernible functional effects

Pascal Brouillard │ de Duve Institute, Brussels, Belgium

10.30 – 11.00

Hyperactive KRAS signaling in complex lymphatic anomalies

Mike Dellinger │ UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA

11.00 – 11.20

coffee break

11.20 – 11.35

Mosaic activating variants in KRAS cause central conducting lymphatic anomaly which respond to MEK inhibition

Sarah Sheppard │ Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, USA

11.35 – 11.50

Kaposiform Lymphangiomatosis (KLA): Update on clinical features, treatment approach, and use of targeted medical therapy

Whitney Eng │ Boston Children's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

11.50 - 12.20

Complicated Lymphatic Anomalies: A Developmental Therapeutic Conundrum

Denise Adams │ Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA

12.20 – 13.00

lunch break

KEYNOTE LECTURE

Chair: Miikka Vikkula

13.00 – 13.40

Infantile hemangioma: a paradigm for human vasculogenesis

Joyce Bischoff │ Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

SESSION VASCULAR TUMOURS & CMS

Chairs: Konstantin Gängel and Hans Schoofs

13.40 – 14.10

Targeting transcription in vascular neoplasms

Mat François │ Centenary Institute, University of Sydney, Australia

14.10 – 14.25

Lymphatic endothelial precursor cells as a novel model for translational Kaposi's sarcoma studies

Krista Tuohinto │University of Helsinki, Finland

14.25 – 14.40

Sirolimus to treat infantile hemangioma: report of 2 cases

An Van Damme │ Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

14.40 – 14.55

Statins inhibit vasculogenesis in a xenograft model of infantile hemangioma

14.55 – 15.10

Management of late sequellae of Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma

Julien Coulie │ Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

15.10 – 15.40

GNAQ mutation in the endothelium causes aberrant vascular morphogenesis and coagulopathy that are rescued by MEK inhibition

Elisa Boscolo │ Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, USA

15.40 – 15.55

Somatic PIK3R1 and non-hotspot PIK3CA mutations associated with a newly identified clinical phenotype: Capillary Malformation with Dilated Veins (CMDV)

Martina de Bortoli │ VA Cure - de Duve Institute, Belgium

15.55 – 16.00

Awards and closing