Program – Winter School 2026

Please consider time for discussion for your talk. Standard talks are scheduled for 15 min, i.e. 10 min presentation plus 5 min discussion.

Download the full program

 

Wednesday, March 11

18:00 DINNER

20:00 – 21:15   Wednesday evening session: DRUG DISCOVERY IN ALLERGY

  • 20:00 – 20:10 Welcome: Hans BRANDSTETTER, Klaudia BRIX and Thomas REINHECKEL
  • 20:10     MAUN Henry (Genentech, Inc., San Francisco) Mechanistic studies of therapeutic anti-tryptase antibodies for the treatment of asthma

21:15  Hands-on session on DRUG DISCOVERY IN PARADISE (Hotel Paradies)

Thursday, March 12

09:00 – 10:00   Thursday morning session I: CANCER

  • 09:00 – 09:10  Chairs: Julian FRÄDRICH and Christoph PETERS
  • 09:10     KUTSCHHEIT Kira (University of Freiburg) Cancer-associated neutrophils and their protease ASPRV1 in murine breast cancer
  • 09:25     GONZALEZ QUEVEDO Cassandra (University of Kiel) Cleavage of Golgi-Resident Substrates by Meprin β in Colorectal Cancer Cells
  • 09:40     KELLY Hannah (University of Oxford) ADAM10 is a key regulator of MT1-MMP-mediated cancer cell invasion
  • 09:55    MAGDOLEN Viktor (TU Munich) The Henner Graeff Foundation – Dedication to the next generation of biomedical scientists

10:00 – 10:30   GROUP PHOTO, COFFEE BREAK

10:30 – 11:55   Thursday morning session II: INHIBITORS

  • 10:30 – 10:40  Chairs: Henry MAUN and Dušan TURK
  • 10:40     HILLER Lukas (Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS)) Dipeptidic Phosphonates: Potent Inhibitors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Elastase B Showing Efficacy in an in vivo Murine Keratitis Model and an ex vivo Human Cornea Assay
  • 10:55     HÖLL Anna (University of Salzburg) Development of selective PC7-inhibitors
  • 11:10     LYTRA Elpida (Technical University of Denmark) De novo design and experimental validation of a selective MMP-8 inhibitor1
  • 11:25     ZARIC Miki (Jožef Stefan Institute) Structural and proteomic analysis of the mouse cathepsin B-DARPin 4m3 complex reveals species-specific binding determinants
  • 11:40     KSIAZEK Mirosław (Jagiellonian University) α2-macroglobulin (A2M) from Tannerella forsythia is the first bacterial A2M active as a dimer

12:00   LUNCH

14:30 – 17:00   Thursday afternoon session: SUBSTRATES, INTERACTOME

  • 14:30 – 14:40 Chairs: Pitter HUESGEN, Konstantinos KALOGEROPOULOS and Christopher OVERALL
  • 14:40     HUBER Hanna Mereth (University of Freiburg) Protease Substrate Discovery by Improved C-Terminome Analysis
  • 14:55     DUBANYCH Yurii (IOCB Prague) Library-based Approach for Profiling of Sequence Preferences of Rhomboid Proteases
  • 15:10     DEFANT Pauline (University of Salzburg) Functional characterization of cytosolic legumain
  • 15:25     KLAUSHOFER Rupert (University of Salzburg) New tools to study legumain activitiess
  • 15:40     SURIANO Alessia (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology) Evolutionary conservation of metacaspase type II activation following mechanical damage

15:55 – 16:15   COFFEE BREAK

16:15 – 17:15   Career session – Open discussion on strategies, complementary methods, hot research areas & more      
                         Chairs: Henry MAUN, Thomas REINHECKEL and Klaudia BRIX

18:00   DINNER

20:15 – 23:45  Acoustics and kinetics in enzymology: InhibiTIERS AllStar Band (City Hall)

InhibiTIERS 2025
© Viktor Magdolen

Friday, March 13

09:00 – 10:25   Friday morning session I: IMMUNITY, INFLAMMATION, METABOLISM

  • 09:00 – 09:10 Chairs: Klaus-Peter Knobeloch, Anna Moles Fernández, Paloma Ruiz Blázquez and Qun YANG
  • 09:10     YANG Qun (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) Protease-mediated plant immunity in response to damage
  • 09:25     GONCHARENKO Lina (University of Freiburg) Dipeptidyl peptidase 8 and its impact on bone marrow derived macrophage differentiation
  • 09:40     RUIZ-BLAZQUEZ Paloma (Spanish National Research Council) Cathepsin D-driven lysosomal activity contributes to macrophage mediated collagen remodeling during kidney fibrosis
  • 09:55     HENDEL Michel (Technical University of Munich) A TIMP-1-dominated Immunosuppressive Secretory Signature accompanies malignant Progression in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
  • 10:10     FRÄDRICH Julian (Technical University of Munich) Targeting TIMP-1-dependent Immunosuppression in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinom

10:25 – 11:00   COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – 12:15   Friday morning session II

  • 11:00     SOMMER Alexander (Technical University of Munich) Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis Reveals Distinct Transcriptional Profiles of TIMP-1-Associated Cancer Cell-Subtypes in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
  • 11:15     ELSAIFY Menna (Technical University of Munich) TIMP1 as a central regulator of stromal–immune interactions and ECM pathways in LUAD
  • 11:30     BRUNNER Vanessa (Technical University of Munich) Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma-derived TIMP-1 Reprograms Hepatic Metabolism Towards Lipid Loss
  • 11:45     MANEVSKI Damjan (Technical University of Munich) Cachexia-associated Impairment of Lipid Accumulation by TIMP-1-Triggered Suppression of mTOR Signalling in Adipocytes
  • 12:00     BERGER Heidrun (Technical University of Munich) ESCRT-III–linked Immediate Early Gene regulation modulates AP-1–dependent TIMP-1 expression in neurons

12:30   LUNCH

14:30 – 15:55   Friday afternoon session: PATHOGENS & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

  • 14:30 – 14:40 Chairs: David JURNECKA, Brice KORKMAZ, Jan POTEMPA and Silja WESSLER
  • 14:40     BRIX Klaudia (Constructor University Bremen) Epithelial cell interactions with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants
  • 14:55     URSIC Tadej (Jožef Stefan Institute) Processing of EBOV GP by cysteine Cathepsins
  • 15:10     MIKRUTA Katarzyna (Jagiellonian University) Structural basis of activation and multi-megadalton dodecahedron assembly in the metallopeptidase zuzalysin
  • 15:25     WOCKENFUSS Gina (University of Greifswald) Jep expression under physiological relevant conditions
  • 15:40     WADHWA Saruchi (University of Salzburg) Protease mediated CagA cleavage in Helicobacter pylori infected immune cells

16:00 – 16:30   COFFEE BREAK

16:30 – 18:00   Friday afternoon session: PATHOGENS & INFECTIOUS DISEASES II

  • 16:30     KADEN Chelsea (University of Greifswald) Functional expansion of the Staphylococcus aureus ClpX interactome using the TIE-UP-SIN workflow
  • 16:45     JURNECKA David (Czech Academy of Sciences) Extreme C-terminus of filamentous hemagglutinin precursor is essential for interaction of Bordetella pertussis with ciliated epithelial cells
  • 17:00 – 17:05     DRUG DISCOVERY IN RESPIRATORY DISEASES
  • 17:05     N.N. (Chiesi) First-in-class dual elastase/proteinase 3 inhibitor for inhaled treatment of neutrophil-driven lung disease
  • 17:20     CHAZEIRAT Thibault (INSERM) First-in-class dual elastase/proteinase 3 inhibitor for inhaled treatment of neutrophil-driven lung disease
  • 17:35     REINHECKEL Thomas (University of Freiburg) Survive or Die: An Intro to Tiers Extreme Hiking

18:00   DINNER

20:00 – 23:00 Solutions in proteolytic assays (Hotel Paradies)

Saturday, March 14

09:00 – 11:15   Saturday morning session: SHEDDASES

  • 09:00 – 09:10 Chairs: Kira BICKENBACH, Marcin DRAG and Walter STÖCKER
  • 09:10     BICKENBACH Kira (University of Kiel) Shedding of transferrin receptor I by meprin β regulates cellular iron uptake and iron homeostasis in vivo
  • 09:25     BÜLCK Cynthia (University of Kiel) N-terminomic analysis reveals proteolytic processing of Cadherin-17 by ADAM10
  • 09:40     BECKINGER Silje (University of Kiel) Targeting genetically inducible systemic inflammation through pharmacological intervention in a meprin α expressing mouse model
  • 09:55     HEßLER Emily Charlotte (University of Kiel) Meprin β influences blood brain barrier (BBB) integrity
  • 10:10     BASTARDO TORIO Mariana Sofia (University of Kiel) Regulated Ectodomain Shedding of the Polymeric Immunoglobulin Receptor (pIgR) by metalloproteases in the intestinal mucosa
  • 10:25     HELFRITZ Hannah-Louisa (University of Kiel) Posttranslational modifications of meprin β and their impact on its intestinal role

10:40 – 11:00   COFFEE BREAK

  • 11:00     TURK Dušan (Jožef Stefan Institute) Molecular civilization we call life
  • 11:25     Hans BRANDSTETTER (University of Salzburg) Closing remarks & end of scientific sessions

12:00   LUNCH

SATURDAY AFTERNOON: HIKING, EXCURSION, ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS

  • 13:00 – 17:00     “Extreme” hiking tour (lunch package will be provided)
  • 12:00 – 17:00     Locally organized skiing tours (lunch package will be provided; ski equipment can be rented at the  Frommer Alm)
  • 12:09 – 16:51     Public bus to Bozen (Tour of Bozen, Visit Ötzi the Iceman & more) – other times available – check bus timetable

19:00   GALA DINNER AT HOTEL PARADIES

Sunday, March 15

Departure with public bus

  • 08:09     Public bus zu Bozen Main Station
  • 09:09     Public bus zu Bozen Main Station
  • 10:09     Public bus zu Bozen Main Station
  • 11:09     Public bus zu Bozen Main Station
  • 12:09     Public bus zu Bozen Main Station
  • 13:09     Public bus zu Bozen Main Station

Abstracts for oral presentations are invited for research on proteases in their molecular, cellular and organismic context. Methodological advances for studying aspects of the complex protease web as well as their interaction with substrates, activators and inhibitors are similarly highly sought after. When preparing your abstract, please follow the guidelines given under “Registration & Abstract Submission”.