OCTOBER 9
8:00-9:00 | Registration, coffee and networking
9:00-10:00 | Ziedona Hall
Opening Plenary Session and Keynote Speaker – Day 1
Chair: Valts Abols CEO, Children’s University hospital, Latvia
Opening remarks: Aiga Balode Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Latvia
Opening remarks: Talis Juhna Rector of Riga Technical University, Latvia
Opening remarks: Natalija Cernecka Member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Artificial Intelligence (MIC), Latvia
Opening remarks: John Tully Chair of the Board, MikroTik President of AmCham Latvia, LCOF Founder, Latvia
MoU announcement
Opening remarks: Agrita Kiopa Vice-Rector for Research at Riga Stradins University, Latvia
Patient story
Keynote speech: Gilles Vassal Professor of Oncology, Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center, France
10:00-10:30 | Coffee break
SCIENTIFIC SESSION
10:30-12:00 | Ziedona Hall
Precision Medicine in Oncology and Cardiology
Chair: Inese Cakstina-Dzerve, Gustavs Latkovskis
Speaker: Kristina Ojamaa Tartu University Hospital/East Tallinn Central Hospital, Estonia
Speech: ESTOPRET study and PCM in Estonia
Speaker: Aigars Dzalbs Geneticist, Riga East Clinical University Hospital, Latvia
Speech: Implementation of new highly effective molecular pathology diagnostic methods and services for the development of precision medicine in oncology
Speaker: Gustavs Latkovskis Clinical and interventional cardiologist at Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital, Professor of Medicine at the University of Latvia
Speech: Personalized Approach to Hypercholesterolemia
Speaker: Laura Valtere Postdoctoral Fellow Centre for Advanced Studies in Bioscience Innovation Law (CeBIL) within the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Speech: Precision Medicine: Innovation Incentives and Access
STAKEHOLDER SESSION
10:30-12:00 | Room A
Engaging and empowering patient organisations (in Latvian)
Chair: Marta Augucevica
Panelist: Marita Gunn Sandnes Patient expert, Norway
Panelist: Anita Kavlie EATRIS, Norway
Panelist: Viktorija Ķēniņa Rīga Stradins University, Latvia
Panelist: Sanita Sinica Latvian Alliance of Rare Disease, Latvia
This session is organised within the framework of the EATRIS-CONNECT project
PEDIATRICS – PMPC SESSION
10:30-12:00 | Room B
Clinical trials in pediatrics
Chair: Anna Valaine, Gilles Vassal
Speaker: Gilles Vassal Professor of Oncology, Gustave Roussy Comprehensive Cancer Center, France
Speech: Inequalities in access to clincical trials and innovation for children and adolescents with cancer in Europe
Speaker: Franciso Batista Group leader in pediatric oncology drug development, Princess Maxima Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Speech: Drug development in pediatric oncology: Towards safer and more effective medicines for our children
Speaker: Karsten Nysom Senior consultant, MD PhD, Head of Clinical Trials Unit for Children and Adolescents with Cancer, Denmark
Speech: Clinical trials for newly diagnosed and relapsed childhood cancers in the Nordic and Baltic region – how to improve?
12:00-13:00 | Lunch
13:00-14:30 | Ziedona Hall
Personalised Cancer Screening
Chair: Mārcis Leja, Tony Hsiu-Hsi Chen
Speaker: Tony Hsiu-Hsi Chen Distinguished Professor Institute of Health Data Analytics and Statistics, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Speech: Digital Transformation of Cancer Screening
Speaker: Paolo Giorgi Rossi Epidemiology Unit, Local Health Authority and Research Hospital (AUSL – IRCCS) of Reggio Emilia, Italy
Speech: Risk stratification in cancer screening
Speaker: Ausvydas Patasius Senior Researcher at the National Cancer Institute, Associate Professor at the Vilnius University Institute of Health Sciences, Lithuania
Speech: PRAISE-U: Update on prostate cancer screening
Speaker: Audrey Coiffic Engagement Manager, IQVIA Genomic and Precision Medicine Paris, France
Speech: Scaling Genomic Programs in Europe: Building Biomarker-Driven Screening Tests Through Biobank Integration
STAKEHOLDER SESSION
13:00-14:30 | Room A
Precision Medicine Coalition meeting (in Latvian)
Moderator: Sintija Broka – Kovalevska
Panelists
Laura Štrovalde Direktora vietniece investīciju jautājumos, LIAA
Jānis Kloviņš Zinātniskās padomes priekšsēdētājs, BMC
Agrita Kiopa Zinātņu prorektore, RSU
Valts Ābols Valdes priekšsēdētājs, BKUS
Lauris Vidzis Valdes priekšsēdētājs, PSKUS
Vadims Beļuns RAKUS Valdes loceklis
Aija Geriņa-Bērziņa Valdes priekšsēdētaja, LOĶA
Sanita Siņica Latvijas Reto slimību alianses valdes locekle
Olga Valciņa Pacientu organizāciju apvienības “Onkoalianse” valdes locekle
Ēriks Mikelšteins Valdes loceklis, Vīriešu veselībai
Kaspars Losāns Precīzijas Medicīnas darba grupas vadītājs, AmCham
Roberts Melbārdis PM koalīcijas koordinators
Vladislava Marāne Direktore, SIFFA
Linda Gailīte Vadītāja, Latvijas cilvēka ģenētikas asociācija
Ieva Mičule Ģenētiķe, Latvijas medicīniskās ģenētikas asociācija
Juris Gaiķis Valdes loceklis, Latvijas digitālās veselības centrs
Osvalds Pugovičs Direktors, OSI
13:00-14:30 | Room B
Innovative cell and gene therapies for children
Chair: Una Riekstina, Skirmante Cernauskiene
Speaker: Skirmante Cernauskiene Hematologist, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Lithuania
Speech: Place-of-care CAR-T Therapy in Lithuania: From Bench to Bedside
Speaker: Marta Barisa Senior Fellow, Experimental Paediatric and Young Adult Oncology, Institute of Child Health, University College London; Great Ormond St Hospital for Children London, UK
Speech: CAR-T Design for Paediatric Solid Tumours
Speaker: Signe Setlere Paediatric Neurologist, Children’s Clinical University Hospital, Latvia
Speech: The First Gene Therapy in Latvia: A Milestone in Precision Medicine
Speaker: Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA
Speech: Platform gene editing therapies for rare metabolic disorders
14:30-15:00 | Coffee break and EXPO PITCHES
15:00-15:25 | Ziedona Hall
Sponsor Symposium
Speaker: Elif Dagdan MVZ for Diagnostics and Therapy Bochum, Germany
Speech: The Advantages of Actionable Exome Panels in Cardiology, with a Focus on Clonal Hematopoiesis as an Incidental Finding
STAKEHOLDER SESSION
15:00-15:25 | Room A
Project in spotlight BioPhoT (in Latvian)
Chair:Osvalds Pugovičs
BioPhoT – jauns inovāciju attīstības formāts. Pirmās mācības un nākotnes plāni
15:25-15:30 | Technical break
15:30-17:00 | Ziedona Hall
Functional precision medicine
Chair: Inese Cakstina-Dzerve and Caroline Heckman
Speaker: Alice Soragni Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Member, Molecular Biology Institute Member, Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, University of California, USA
Speech: Charting Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Rare Tumors with Patient-Derived Organoid Models
Speaker: John Crawford Co-Medical Director CHOC Neurosciences Institute, Division Chief Child Neurology CHOC PSF and UC Irvine; Professor of Clinical Pediatrics and Neurology UC Irvine, USA
Speech: Multi-omics and Functional Precision Medicine for Newly Diagnosed and Recurrent Pediatric Central Nervous System Tumors
Speaker: Tea Pemovska Senior postdoctoral researcher, Department of Medicine I, Division of Hematology and Hemostaseology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
Speech: Functional Precision Hematology: The Austrian Experience
STAKEHOLDER SESSION
15:30-17:00 | Room A
Panel discussion: The Role of Biobanks in Precision Medicine (in Latvian)
Moderator: Kaspars Losāns
Panelists
Aiga Balode Veselības ministrija
Ingrīda Circene Saeima
Madara Tirzīte RAKUS
Juris Beikmanis Latvijas Reto slimību alianse
Kaspars Grosu IQVIA
Vita Rovīte Biomedicīnas pētījumu un studiju centrs (iniciatīva “1+ miljons genomu”)
15:30-17:00 | Room B
Big data-big problems
Chair: Mirjam Blattner-Johnson, Monta Briviba
Speaker: Lu Wang Medical Director, Molecular Pathology Associate Member, Department of Pathology St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Memphis, USA
Speech: Genomic and Transcriptomic profiling: Clinical Implications, Research and Data Sharing
Speaker: Patrick Kemmeren Research group leader, Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, The Netherlands
Speech: Understanding the mutational landscape of pediatric cancer
Speaker: Robert Autry Group Leader, Clinical Bioinformatics / Translational Genomics, Hopp Children’s Cancer Center (KiTZ) & German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
Speech: From Silos to Sharing: Federated Harmonization of Pediatric Precision Oncology Data (ITCC PedCanPortal)
17:00-18:30 | Networking: The Match Lab by Startin.lv
OCTOBER 10
8:30-9:30 | Registration, coffee and networking
9:30-10:00 | Ziedona Hall
Opening Plenary Session – Day 2
Chair: Agrita Kiopa Vice-Rector for Research at Riga Stradins University, Latvia
Opening remarks: Daiga Mierina Speaker of the Saeima, Latvia
Opening remarks: Jurgis Miezainis Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia
Opening remarks: Lana Franceska Dreimane Deputy State Secretary on Human capital, research and innovation development, Latvia
Opening remarks: Ieva Jagere Director General, Investment and Development Agency of Latvia
Opening remarks: Lauma Muizniece Director of the Latvian Council of Science, Latvia
10:00-10:30 | Coffee break and EXPO PITCHES
SCIENTIFIC SESSION
10:30-12:00 | Ziedona Hall
Personalized Prevention
Chair: Janis Klovins, Andres Metspalu
Speaker: Stefania Boccia Director, University Department of Health Sciences and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
Speech: The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda in Personalized Prevention: a roadmap from the PROPHET project
Speaker: Andres Metspalu Professor of Genomics and Biobanking, Professor of Biotechnology, Academician; University of Tartu, Institute of Genomics, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Estonian Genome Centre, Estonia
Speech: From Biobanking to personalised medicine and prevention
Speaker: Marcus Perola Research Professor, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland
Speech: The FinnGen-project, update 2025 and future plans
Speaker: Janis Klovins Chairman of the Scientific Council, Latvian Biomedicine and Study Center, Latvia
Speech: From Genome Data Systems to Personalized Risk: Integrating Monogenic and Polygenic Insights to Improve Diagnostics and Prevention
STAKEHOLDER SESSION
10:30-12:00 | Room A
EIT Health Riga iDays Hackathon Pitch session
The jury:
Thomas Höfer Country Manager Roche Diagnostics Baltics
Natālija Siliņa Latvian Investment Development Agency, Head of the Innovation Services Department
Klāvs Indriksons Rīga Stradiņš university, Acting Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs
Kaspars Grosu IQVIA, Payers Provider’s & Goverment manager Baltics, Ukraine, Adriatic region
Sanita Siņica Latvian Alliance of Rare Diseases, Member of board
SCIENTIFIC SESSION
10:30-12:00 | Room B
Gut microbiome as a precision medicine tool
Chair: Ilze Elbere, John Penders
Speaker: Mathieu Almeida Academic researcher, Université Paris-Saclay, France
Speech: From microbiota to biomarkers: quantitative metagenomics in the service of colorectal cancer
Speaker: Marcus Claesson Associate Professor in Bioinformatics, School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Ireland
Speech: Predicting inflammatory bowel disease with machine learning across space & time
Speaker: John Penders Chair of Intestinal Microbiology and Metagenomic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Infection Prevention, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Speech: The gut microbiome as missing link in personalizing colorectal cancer treatment?
Speaker: Monta Briviba Head of the core facility Genome Center, Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Latvia
Speech: From Resource to Discoveries: Gut and Oral Microbiome in Pediatric Cancer
Speaker: Valerija Movcana Researcher, Cellbox Labs, Latvia
Speech: Industrial Gut-on-Chip platform for anaerobic microbiota host communication studies
12:00-13:00 | Lunch
13:00-14:30 | Ziedona Hall
From Samples to Solutions: The Role of Biobanks in Precision Medicine
Chair: Vita Rovite, Markus Perola
Speaker: Jens K. Habermann Director General, BBMRI-ERIC, Germany
Speech: BBMRI-ERIC’s 10-year Roadmap addressing the EU priorities and driving progress in Personalised Medicine
Speaker: Sergio Dias Principal Investigator at the Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine Foundation, Invited Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, Portugal
Speech: Biobanks and Personalized Medicine
Speaker: Daiva Dabkeviciene Chief Researcher leading the Biobank at the National Cancer Institute, Lithuania
Giedre Kvedaraviciene Director of Lithuanian population and rare disorders biobank, Vilnius University Faculty of Medicine, Lithuania
Speech: Enabling Personalised Medicine: Strategic Synergies and Potential Contributions of Lithuanian Biobanks
Speaker: Vita Rovite Leading researcher, Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Latvia
Speech: Personalized Medicine initiatives in Latvian Biobank Network
STAKEHOLDER SESSION
13:00-14:30 | Room A
AI/ML-Driven Health and Omics Data Analytics across Cloud and HPC Infrastructures
Chair: Baiba Vilne
Speaker: Nikolay Oskolkov Group Leader at LIOS, Riga, Latvia
Speech: AI-Driven Multi-Omics Integration for Precision Medicine: Methodology and Applications
Speaker: Michael Mueller Greater London, England, United Kingdom
Speech: AWS HealthOmics: Accelerating Scientific Breakthroughs with Fully Managed Biological Data Stores and Workflows
Speaker: Amit Batra & Ema Popova Chief AI & Health Transformation Officers, EMEA, Microsoft, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria
Speech: Intelligent Health: Leveraging AI and Genomic Insights for Precision Care
Panelists:
- Nikolay Oskolkov, LIOS
- Līna Marta Sarma, Acting Director, RTU HPC Centre
- Renate Strazdiņa, National Technology Officer, North Europe Multi-Country Cluster, Microsoft
13:00-14:30 | Room B
Empowering Radiopharmaceutical Innovation
Chair: Prof.Maija Radziņa, Tenured professor at Riga Stradins Univeristy, Lead researcher at RSU and Head of the Radiology Research Laboratory, Vice-President of Latvian Radiology Association, Latvia
Speaker: Edgars Mamis, PhD, Researcher at CERN and University of Latvia
Speech: The future promise of theranostics in nuclear medicine (in English)
Speaker: Prof.Donatas Vajauskas, MD, PhD, Head of the Nuclear Medicine Research Centre at Kaunas Clinics, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) and Radiology Clinic Professor at Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Lithuania
Speech: Nuclear Medicine infrastructure – Lessons learned from Lithuania (in English)
Speaker:Dr.Antra Bērziņa, Head of the Clinical Department of Nuclear Medicine, Therapeutic Radiology and Medical Physics Clinic at Riga East Univerity hospital, Latvia
Speech: Nuclear medicines Status Quo in Latvia (In Latvian)
Panel discussion moderated by Prof.Maija Radziņa (in Latvian):
Prof.Haralds Plaudis, MD, PhD – Chairman of the board (a.i.) and Board member of Riga East Clinical University hospital, Professor at Riga Stradins University, Board Member of Riga Stradins Univeristy Alumni Association
Assist.Prof.Elīna Sīviņa, MD, PhD – Associated professor at University of Latvia, Head of Solid Tumor Systemic Treatment Clinic at Riga East Clinical University Hospital
Assist.Prof.Egils Vjaters, MD, PhD – Head of Urology Center at Pauls Stradins Clinical university hospital, Leading Researcher, Institute of Oncology and Molecular Genetics, Laboratory of Tumour Clinical and Genetic Research
Edgars Āboliņš – Board member of patient organization Onkoalianse, Men’s Health Movement – “Movember Latvia” foundation
Anna Timofējeva – Senior Expert, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Latvia
14:30-15:00 | Coffee break
15:00-16:30 | Ziedona Hall
Liquid biopsy
Chair: Aija Line, Marie Bernhopf
Speaker: Martin Zoche Director Molecular Tumor Profiling, Department of Pathology and Molecular Pathology, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
Speech: Liquid Biopsy in Clinical Practice
Speaker: Kendra Korinna Maaß Junior Group Leader ‘Cancer Prevention and Liquid Biopsies’, Hopp Children’s Cancer Center and University Clinic, Heidelberg, Germany
Speech: Liquid Biopsies @KiTZ: Early Diagnosis, Therapy Monitoring and Surveillance
Speaker: Marie Bernhopf Head of Laboratory for Pediatric Solid Cancers and Staff Scientist St.Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, Austria
Speech: Update on MONALISA – a SIOPEN pragmatic clinical trial to monitor neuroblastoma relapse with liquid biopsy sensitive analysis
Speaker: Agnese Brokāne Research Assistant, Cancer Biomarkers Group, Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Latvia
Speech: Extracellular vesicles in liquid biopsies: biomarkers and functional readouts for cancer detection
15:00-16:30 | Room A
Young researchers
Chair: Una Riekstina, Zanda Daneberga
Speaker: Elza Elizabete Liepina Researcher, Riga Stradins University, Latvia
Speech: Correlation Between Baseline Gut Microbiome Composition and Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Outcomes in Early Breast Cancer
Speaker: Mara Delesa-Velina Researcher, University of Tartu, Estonia
Speech: Estimating biological age based on metabolomic data and common risk factors in Estonian Biobank
Speaker: Laura Ansone Researcher, Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, Latvia
Speech: Multi-omics study in Latvian COVID-19 patients identifies mitochondrial damage and immunothrombosis as contributors to post-acute complication risk
Speaker: Raimonda Kubiliute-Mikalauskiene Researcher, Vilnius University, Life Sciences Center and Lithuanian National Cancer Institute, Lithuania
Speech: How to detect renal cancer from the urine samples?
Speaker: Janis Stavusis Researcher, University of Latvia
Speech: Using patient-derived iPSC lines for calpainopathy research and therapy development
15:00-16:30 | Room B
ELIXIR
Chair: Baiba Vilne
Speaker: Andrew Smith ELIXIR Head of External Relations, UK
“ELIXIR Europe: Opportunities for the Latvian life science community”
Speaker: Munazah Andrabi Deputy Lead of the UK RDM Club, ELIXIR-UK
“FAIR by Design: Best Practices in Research Data Management (RDM) and the ELIXIR RDM Ecosystem”
Speaker: RSU Data Curator Unit
“Accelerating Open Science in Latvia: A Case Study from Rīga Stradiņš University’s Participation in a National Data Steward Network”
RSU Participation in the Horizon Europe Programme” (project No 1.1.1.5/3/25/I/014)
16:30-17:00 | Ziedona Hall
Closing plenary session
Closing remarks: Valts Abols, CEO, Children’s University hospital, Latvia
Closing remarks: Roberts Melbardis, PMNET Forum Executive director, Latvia
Satellite events
International EUCanScreen conference
Personalised cancer screening – lessons learned and the way forward
Date: October 8, 2025
Registration from 8:30
Scientific Program: 9:00 – 18:00
Venue: University of Latvia, Raiņa boulv. 19
Registration via: https://forms.office.com/e/1FSXdCCht2
PMPC Pizza and Science event
Date: October 8, 2025
Time: 17:00 – 18:00
Venue: Children’s Clinical University Hospital’s Children and Youth Mental Health Centre (3rd floor)
PMNET Forum EATRIS session agenda
Date: October 9, 2025
Time: 13:00-14:30
Venue: The National Library of Latvia, Room C
13:00-13:50 Emanuela Oldoni – EATRIS Scientific Lead Personalised Medicine:
- Intro to EATRIS – what it is and how it works
- What EATRIS does (services)
- Services for translational research – practical use cases
- International collaboration opportunities (finding partners, joining consortia, preparing proposals for funding, and implementation – EATRIS is a coordinator, as WP leader – active partner, share experience)
- COST Actions (mechanisms for networks and communities to be built in support for future large-scale proposals) and INFRASERV projects – (INFRASERV projects focus on providing tailored and advanced services from research infrastructures to support specific societal challenges including health research. They are a unique way for EATRIS members to become service providers to the wider European community, or utilize paid-for services from the top institutions. )
- Using EATRIS open access digital tools, (including intro to the new Digital hub)
- EATRIS’ offering career development opportunities for young researchers – open-access online learning + intensive 4-5 day workshops, and a lot of recorded webinars
- Actions and services for clinics-researchers
- Open discussion: researcher needs and EATRIS development in Latvia (~30 min)
- Directions for new project applications – Latvia (RIS3)
- Experience from Latvia
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Collaboration with other national research infrastructures/ ERICs present in the national landscape (i.e. BBMRI, EUOpenScreen etc)
- Note that a special topic – EATRIS provides a multitude of opportunities, however it is up to the researchers themselves to make the use of them to really benefit from the membership.
13:50-14:10 Anita Kavlie – National Coordinator of Norway
- Practical example experience sharing about engagement in EATRIS network and discussion about it
14:10-14:30 Widening Latvian Scientific Cooperation
- The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding
The Match Lab by Startin.lv
Date: October 9, 2025
Time: 17:00-18:30
Venue: The National Library of Latvia, Restaurant Klīversala
Research doesn’t create impact on its own – it needs partners, pilots, and sometimes a push from the startup world. That’s where our scientist–startup matchmaking session comes in.
As part of PMNET Forum 2025, we’re bringing researchers and founders together for an evening of networking that’s built for collisions: ideas meet business models, lab results meet market needs, and connections turn into collaborations.
Instead of formal panels or pitch decks, it’s scientists, entrepreneurs, and investors sitting together, swapping ideas on how to turn discoveries into real-world impact.
If you’re working at the edge of biomedicine or building the next generation of healthtech solutions, this is your chance to meet the people who can take your ideas further.
Participation in this side event is free, but access requires registration for the PMNET Forum (also free). Make sure you sign up here: https://pmnetforum.com/registration/
Support for data use in research: governance, curators, infrastructure
Empowering Radiopharmaceutical Innovation: Robust Infrastructure for Transformative Oncology Care
Date: October 10, 2025, 13:00, Room B
EIT Health i-Days hackathon
The annual EIT Health i-Days hackathon brings together student teams to develop innovative solutions for real-life healthcare challenges. This competition offers participants the opportunity to learn entrepreneurship basics, showcase their problem-solving skills and receive mentoring from industry experts. The top team will win valuable industry prizes and advance to the final i-Days round in Paris. The hackathon encourages collaboration between emerging talent and healthcare professionals to drive meaningful advancements in the healthcare field.