Programme

Programme

Programme ESAB-2026

Preliminary programme - subject to change

Plenary: 30 min (12 lectures)

Keynote 25 min (6 lectures)

Lecture 20 min (21 lectures)

 

Monday November 23

Session Chairs: Roland Wohlgemuth and Jennifer Littlechild 
09:00 - 09:10 Opening of the Conference - Words of welcome
09:10 - 09:40

Plenary lecture 1:

Prof. Dr. Anthony Green, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

Building Enzymes with New Function

09:40 - 10:05 Keynote lecture 1
10:05 - 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 - 10:50 Title lecture 1
10:50 - 11:10 Title lecture 2
11:10 - 11:30 Title lecture 3
11:30 - 11:50 Title lecture 4
11:50 - 12:10 Coffee break
12:10 - 12:30 Title lecture 5
12:30 - 13:00

Plenary lecture 2: 

Prof. Dr. Michael Jewett, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

Synthetic Biology for People and Planet Health

13:00 - 14:10 Lunch break
Session Chair:
14:10 - 14:40

Plenary lecture 3:

Dr. Michael Breuer, BASF, Germany

TBA

14:40 - 15:00 Title lecture 6
15:00 - 15:20 Lunch break
15:20 - 15:45

Keynote lecture 2:

Prof. Dr. Silvia Osuna, University of Girona, Girona, Spain

Coevolution and Correlation-mediated Allosteric Networks for Enzyme Design

15:45 - 16:05 Title lecture 7
16:05 - 16:35

Plenary lecture 4:

Prof. Dr. Huimin Zhao, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

Expanding the Boundary of Biocatalysis: From Directed Evolution to Autonomous Experimentation

16:35 - 17:35 Poster session
17:35 End of Day 1

 

 

Tuesday November 24

Session Chairs:
09:00 - 09:10 Welcome Day 2
09:10 - 09:40

Plenary lecture 5:

Prof. Dr. Tobias Erb, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany

Synthetic Biology meets AI: Engineering new Biocatalytic Strategies for CO2 Conversions

09:40 - 10:05 Keynote lecture 3
10:05 - 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 - 10:50 Title lecture 8
10:50 - 11:10 Title lecture 9
11:10 - 11:30 Title lecture 10
11:30 - 11:50 Title lecture 11
11:50 - 12:10 Coffee break
12:10 - 12:30 Title lecture 12
12:30 - 13:00

Plenary lecture 6:

Prof. Dr. Xiaoguang Lei, Peking University, Beijing, China

Transformative Amide Synthesis Enabled by Biocatalysis

13:00 - 14:10 Lunch break
Session Chair:
14:10 - 14:40

Plenary lecture 7:

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kroutil, University of Graz and Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib), Graz, Austria

Expanding the Toolbox for C-H Oxidation, Amine Formation and C-C Bond Formation

14:40 - 15:00 Title lecture 13
15:00 - 15:20 Coffee break
15:20 - 15:45 Keynote lecture 4
15:45 - 16:05 Title lecture 14
16:05 - 16:35

Plenary lecture 8:

Prof. Dr. Yang Yang, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

New Strategies for Stereoselective Radical Biocatalysis

16:35 - 17:35 Poster session
17:35 End of Day 2

 

 

Wednesday November 25

Session Chairs:
09:00 - 09:10 Welcome Day 3
09:10 - 09:40

Plenary lecture 9:

Prof. Dr. Pimchai Chayen, School of Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology (VISTEC), Rayong, Thailand

TBA

09:40 - 10:05

Keynote lecture 5:

Prof. Dr. Margit Winkler, ZHAW Scool of Life Sciences and Facility Management, Wädenswil, Switzerland

Featuring Aldehydes and Ketones in Chemoenzymatic Heterocycle Synthesis

10:05 - 10:30 Coffee break
10:30 - 10:50 Title lecture 15
10:50 - 11:10 Title lecture 16
11:10 - 11:30 Title lecture 17
11:30 - 11:50 Title lecture 18
11:50 - 12:10 Coffee break
12:10 - 12:30 Title lecture 19
12:30 - 13:00

Plenary lecture 10:

Prof. Dr. Sarah Lovelock, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

TBA

13:00 - 14:10 Lunch break
Session Chair:
14:10 - 14:40

Plenary lecture 11:

Prof. Dr. Martin Hayes, AstraZeneka, Gothenburg, Sweden

TBA

14:40 - 15:00 Title lecture 20
15:00 - 15:20 Coffee break
15:20 - 15:45 Keynote lecture 6
15:45 - 16:05 Title lecture 21
16:05 - 16:35

Plenary lecture 12:

Dr. Carlos Martinez, Pfizer Worldwide R&D, Groton, USA

TBA

16:35

End of Day 3:

Final Words, Closing of the 4th ESAB Digital Congress and Outlook into the Future