Conference on
Mechanisms of Chromosome Biology

Date and Time: June 18–19, 2026

• June 18: 09:00–17:40
• June 19: 09:00–17:00

Venue: Niels Jerne Auditorium, Panum Institute, Blegdamsvej 3b, 2200 Copenhagen
Registration Fee: Participation is free of charge
Practical Information: Please note that only lunch will be provided as part of the conference.

Organizer: Jesper Svejstrup, UCPH

The Francis Crick Institute (London), Europe’s leading biomedical research institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York) , one of world’s leading research institutions on the basic science of cancer, and researchers from University of Copenhagen and the Cancer Research Institute (Copenhagen) hold biannual meetings on chromosome Biology, highlighting research from DNA packaging and chromosome structure, over mechanisms that maintain genome stability during inheritance, to transcription and DNA replication and how these mechanisms work to maintain human health and longevity. The 2026 meeting will be held in Copenhagen.

This free, two-day conference offers a unique possibility for researchers at all levels, across Denmark, to become introduced to, or updated on, a number of exciting areas of chromosome biology. The event is made possible through funding from the Danish Cancer Society, the Carlsberg Foundation and UCPH.

30 outstanding researchers will present their work at the conference: they include numerous winners of major international science prizes (including 3 winners the Jeantet Prize, and also winners of the Shaw Prize, the Gairdner International award, Paul Marks Prize, and the Royal Society Medal, to name a few), and the European speakers have among them received more than 20 ERC grants.

 Speakers:

• Keynote speaker: KJ Patel, Oxford University – Endogenous DNA damage and its impact on vertebrate stem cells
• Simon Boulton, FCI – Telomere functions at a single molecule level
• Maria Jasin, MSKCC – Homologous DNA recombination
• Scott Keeney, MSKCC – Meiotic DNA recombination
• Andrew Blackford, UCPH - How cells deal with broken chromosomes in mitosis
• Kathleen Stewart-Morgan, UCPH – New Insights into Germ Cell Reprogramming
• John Diffley, FCI – Mechanisms of eukaryotic DNA replication
• John Maciejowski, MSKCC – Telomere dysfunction and genome instability
• Simon Powell, MSKCC - How the 9-1-1 complex maintains the viability of BRCA2-deficient cells
• John Petrini, MSKCC – DNA Double-strand break repair
• Ian Hickson, UCPH - Targeting aneuploidy in cancer
• Anja Groth, DCI – Chromatin Replication - How Cells Copy their Epigenome
• Alessandro Costa, FCI – Initiation of DNA replication. Step by step, atom by atom
• Fena Ochs, UCPH – 3D chromatin organization by cohesin
• Stephen C. West, FCI – Repairing broken chromosomes: Mechanistic insights from AlphaFold and cryo-EM
• Dirk Remus, MSKCC – DNA Replication stress
• Julien Duxin, UCPH - ZATT (ZNF451) Enables TOP2 Self-Mediated DNA Re-ligation and Release from Stalled Cleavage Complex
• Charlie Swanton, FCI – Deciphering Environmental and Ageing influences on Lung Cancer Initiation and Progression: Myeloid Mayhem
• Niels Mailand, DCI - DNA-protein crosslink repair in the chromatin environment
• Jesper Svejstrup, UCPH – Transcription and its interface with Replication and DNA repair
• Agnel Sfeir, MSKCC - Error-prone DNA repair
• Frank Uhlmann, FCI – Establishment of sister chromatid cohesion during DNA replication
• Tom Miller, UCPH - A novel approach for visualising the mechanisms of vertebrae DNA replication by cryo-EM
• Lea Gregersen, UCPH – Oxidative stress triggers a unique, transient and dynamic transcriptional response
• Iestyn Whitehouse, MSKCC – Impact of chromatin on DNA replication, transcription and epigenetics
• Xiaolan Zhao, MSKCC – the three Rs: the DNA Replication, Repair, and damage Response
• Hasan Yardimci, FCI – A molecular trigger for replication fork collapse
• Xiaodong Zhang, FCI – Structures and Molecular Mechanisms of Recombination Modulators

Contact: cbh@sund.ku.dk