Summary of the Neuro4D Conference, May 4 & 5, 2026:

The seventh Neuro4D Conference 2026 was attended by 54 participants from 8 countries and had 11 Academic Presentations, 10 Corporate Presentations, 8 Panel Discussions, and 12 Posters.

Chairpersons Roger Sher, Christian Haass, Wiebke Wemheuer & Oliver Peters introduced neuronal senescence, neuroinflammation, diagnostics for neurodegenerative diseases, and clinical drug experiences, respectively, during their 30 min introductions. 15 min presentations and Q&As slots of the speakers followed. The chair-directed panel Q&A and discussion at the end of each session is a highlight for many attendees. Short presentations and intense and friendly Q&A have proven most productive for the interaction of all participants. The poster session and two company exhibitions were well attended during all breaks.

Presentations on Monday covered different preclinical aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, focused on senescence and neuroinflammation this year. In addition, new modes of action for pharmaceutical intervention directed against post-translational modifications of amyloid proteins were presented by Sarah Schrempel and Stefan Schilling, and various PD models were discussed by Alyşe Ulusoy and Friederike Zunke. The audience was very interested to learn about the concept of senescent neurons and recent insights into in their ‘Zombie’ state. The potential effects of senolytics and senomorphics for neurodegenerative diseases were presented and discussed by chair Roger Sher. Christian Haass pointed out the different stages of microglia and their corresponding roles in neuroinflammation, which makes beneficial pharmacological intervention difficult. Agnes Cheong presented Sanofi’s TREM2 activation strategy and Lihong Zhan introduced Denali’s antibody engineering, employing the transferrin receptor for efficient antibody penetration through the blood brain barrier. Franziska Richter Assencio introduced prolyl endopeptidase as a potential target for overbearing neuroinflammation, and Neil Cashman focused on TDP-43 aggregate mediated disease induction and transmission.

At the end of Monday, we relaxed by a glass of craft beer from Mainz, or various wines from the area. This year we also offered one alcohol free wine and craft beer. With the glasses in our hands, we enjoyed the entertaining presentation from Laura Lindenfeld, about what is important in communication. Everybody was hungry and happy to proceed to the tasty and highly interactive BBQ dinner which concluded the first day.

Tuesday started with an exciting session on late preclinical and clinical pharmacological developments for the reduction of tau aggregates (Josephine Labus) and α-synuclein aggregates (Dieter Willbold) and antibody brain delivery by Fredrik Eriksson. In the following diagnostic session, we learned about the importance to circumvent matrix effects of biological samples, the utility of the brain nose interface, and the quantification of seeding prion-like particles in the SeedCycler for diagnosis and drug discovery.

The last clinical panel covered: a new immunization strategy to elicit antibodies against α-synuclein seeds and produce a vaccine against Parkinson’s Disease (Achim Schneeberger), BMS’ various therapeutic programs in the clinic (Dan Ridley), and the specific problems that approved AD antibodies Lecanemab and Donanemab have in Germany and other European countries to achieve reimbursement (Lutz Frölich). Including which clinical strategies would help to prevent such outcome in the future.

The final panel discussion covered current political problems for scientists and drug makers in major markets. Christian Haass stated clearly that the amyloid-cascade-theory for dementia, staring with Aβ aggregation and extending to tau aggregation and neuroinflammation is proven, which was fully supported by all experts present and the audience. It has been refined over the last years by more and more details explaining exact disease progression and symptoms. However, this theory is still fought by sensationalists, no data-driven beliefs, and by combining completely different treatment strategies as ‘anti-amyloid therapies’. This unjustified negative press complicates introduction of first effective and disease modifying treatments. The expert panel also questioned comparison of short term symptomatic and disease modifying therapies in AD, which was never done for e.g. infectious diseases, or anti-cancer therapies. As all experts agreed that earliest treatment is advised to prevent incurable neuronal damage, diagnostics have become of utmost importance. Currently approved diagnostics are unfortunately often expensive and detect disease when neuronal damage has already advanced. Novel strategies to quantify toxic soluble oligomers were seen as the next step towards very early intervention, eradicating toxic protein aggregates and was unanimously seen as the best and most successful way forward today. Attendees commented very favorably about the Podium Discussion and called it a highlight of the Neuro4D conference.

Major Sponsor:

Sponsors:

Poster Prize presented at the International Neuro4D Conference 2026:

The poster prize for the best presented approach in neurodegenerative disease drug discovery was again selected by all participants voting with their personal N€uro tokens. The Neuro4D Poster Prize 2026 was awarded to: Janine Kutzsche, from the Jülich Research Institute for: ‘The Role of the N-type Calcium Channel as Target for the Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis’. Janine has now won this precious award for the second time!.

The Role of the N-type Calcium Channel as Target for the Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (PDF)

Feedback Results:

Already during the conference many participants praised the Neuro4D conference for its frequent participant interactions and how many new scientific collaborators they have discovered! Also, the flawless organization and exact timekeeping was praised. Given the evaluation results below, Neuro4D 2026 was again a big success. Please share your experiences on LinkedIn and other suitable media and most importantly word-of-mouth recommendation!

Feedback Neuro4D Conference 2026:

Question*:	Average Score # (max 5, min1)
Did you enjoy the venue and atmosphere?	5,0
Was the venue easy to reach for you?	4,4
How did you like your hotel room and service?	4,7
Did you enjoy the meals?	4,7
Did you enjoy the reception and BBQ dinner?	4,9
Was the conference overall scientific content fulfilling your expectations?	4,6
How do you rate the quality of presentations, posters and speakers?	4,8
Did you enjoy the ‘Communication presentation’ during the reception?	4,5
Pre-conference information on website, mailings, LinkedIn?	4,6
Quality of on-site organization, program and team?	4,9
Did you enjoy the breaks and poster session?	4,8
Did you get to know interesting new contacts?	4,8

* Open questions and their answers are not shown.
# Absence of vote was not counted

Organizer:

Dr. Andreas Köpke (bioExpert)
Tel: +49 6136 957 3000
info@bioexpert.biz