EFIS Congress 2026
Sex Differences in Immunity

8–9 October 2026

Registration and abstract submission deadline: Midnight (CEST) June 15th, 2026.

For questions, contact: efisconference-hamburg@uke.de

About the Congress

The EFIS Congress: Sex Differences in Immunity will take place on 8-9 October 2026 at the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) located at the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld in Hamburg, Germany.

Co-organized by the Research Unit 5068 Sex differences in immunology and supported by European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS), the congress will bring together international experts to explore how sex and gender shape immune responses in health and disease.

Biological sex is a fundamental determinant of immune responses, influencing susceptibility to infections, autoimmune diseases, cancer, and responses to therapeutic interventions and vaccines. Despite substantial progress in the field, important mechanistic questions remain unresolved. This congress will provide a focused platform to advance understanding, foster rigorous discussion, and strengthen the integration of sex-informed approaches into immunological research and clinical practice.

The scientific program will address key themes including:

  • Gender and sex differences
  • Immunity across age and sex
  • Mucosal and tissue immunology
  • Evolutionary immunology
  • Translational immunology
  • Neuroimmunology

The meeting is proudly supported by DFG-funded Research Unit 5068 “Sex Differences in Immunology” and the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS).

Keynote Speakers

Sabra L. Klein is an internationally recognized expert in sex differences in immune responses and Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the biological mechanisms underlying sex differences in immunity, including the roles of sex hormones, genetics, and aging in shaping susceptibility to infectious diseases and responses to vaccines.

Lab website

Lars Forsberg is a molecular geneticist at Uppsala University whose research focuses on genetic mechanisms underlying sex differences in disease and immunity. His work has highlighted the importance of mosaic loss of the Y chromosome in blood cells, an age-related mutation associated with altered immune function and increased disease risk in men.

Lab website

  • Dr. Tal Pecht, University of Bonn and Systems Medicine Department at DZNE, Bonn, Germany

Tal Pecht, Ph.D. is a junior group leader at the University of Bonn and the Systems Medicine Department at DZNE, Bonn, Germany, where she leads the FemmunityX (Female Immunity Exploration) research group. Her research focuses on human immune variation, with an emphasis on how hormonal and metabolic changes shape female immune diversity. She combines systems immunology and human population studies to advance sex-specific approaches in human immunology.

Lab website

Darragh Duffy leads the Translational Immunology Unit at the Institut Pasteur. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying inter-individual differences in immune responses, combining systems immunology, population cohorts, and clinical studies in infection and autoimmunity. His work integrates genetic, environmental, and immunological data to improve patient management and precision approaches to immune-mediated diseases.

Lab website

Richard Saffery is a Principal Research Fellow and Group Leader at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on how early-life environmental factors, from pregnancy through childhood, influence long-term health and disease risk. His team apply state-of-the-art molecular and cellular profiling to population-based cohorts and clinical studies to investigate the developmental origins of disease, particularly in relation to immune-mediated conditions. More recently, they have investigated how feminizing gender-affirming hormone therapy in transgender women influences the plasma proteome and related biological pathways relevant to human health.

Lab website

Congress Program

DAY 1 – OCTOBER 8, 2026

DAY 1 – OCTOBER 8, 2026 conference schedule
Time Programme
08:30 – 09:00
Registration & Welcome Coffee
09:00 – 09:30
Opening Session
Welcome by Marcus Altfeld and Tal Pacht
Welcome Addresses by:
  • Senatorin Maryam Blumenthal, Präses der Behörde für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Gleichstellung, Hamburg
  • Prof. Dr. Petra Arck, Vice-Dean for Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf
9:30 – 11:00
Session 1: Sex Differences in Infections
Chairs: Barbara Honecker & Cliona O’Farrelly
  • Keynote Talk: Sabra Klein, Johns Hopkins University
  • Juliana Gonçalves (NOVA University, Portugal): Long-term sex differences in symptoms and immune profile in long COVID
  • Sabrina Leddy (Leibniz Institute of Virology, Germany): Sex-biased immune regulatory networks in CD4+ T cells are associated with HIV-1 control
  • Laura Ramirez Finn (Institute Pasteur, France): Understanding the early immune response between the sexes during urinary tract infection
  • Marta Araujo (University of Minho, Portugal): Sex-dependent lipid remodeling determines the response to cPLA2 inhibition during visceral leishmaniasis
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break & Networking with Refreshments
11:30 – 12:30
Session 2: Temperature- and cycle-dependent regulation of immunity
Chairs: Maria Pujantell & Helena Soares
  • Keynote Talk: Tal Pecht, University of Bonn
  • Niamh Kenny (Trinity College, Ireland): Immune dysregulation in endometriosis-associated infertility: insights from bioinformatic analysis and menstrual blood immune profiling
  • Elizabeth Maloney (Institute Pasteur, France): Differences in body temperature drive sex-specific immune responses
12:30 – 12:45
Group Picture
12:45 – 14:30
Lunch & Poster Session
14:30 – 16:00
Session 3: Impact of sex chromosome effects
Chairs: Lara Buer & Tal Shay
  • Keynote Talk: Lars Forsberg, Uppsala University
  • Amy L. Roberts (King’s College London, UK): Diminished sex hormone levels influence the risk of skewed X chromosome inactivation in ageing females
  • Miriam Bollmann (University of Gothenburg, Sweden): Untangling sex chromosome effects on human antiviral immunity through 46XX/46XY mosaicism
  • Nila H. Servaas (Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands): Examining exhaustion: X chromosome inactivation dynamics shape sex-biased T cell exhaustion
  • Alisier Malard (Charité Universitätsmedizin, Germany): Estrogen-independent Estrogen Receptor βsignaling maintains X chromosome inactivation and prevents lupus-associated escape from inactivation in Th17 polarized cells
16:00 – 16:30
Coffee Break & Networking
16:30 – 17:30
Session 4: Sex-specific regulation of immunity
Chairs: Michael Brehler & Camila Consiglio
  • Tal Shay (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel): Transcriptional sexual dimorphism in mouse T cells
  • Dhifaf Sarhan (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden): Host FPR2 limits immunotherapy response through sex dependent macrophage niches in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
  • Dakyung Lee (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany): Sex differences and the role of androgens in murine cholangiocytes
  • Joan Escrivà-Font (Lund University, Sweden): Androgen signaling drives the pro-reparative immune transition during COVID-19 recovery
17:30 – 18:00
Themis & Institut Pasteur present “Closing the Sex & Gender Gap in Biomedical Research: A European Framework for Scientific, Regulatory, and Institutional Change”
17:30 – 20:00
Poster Session & Finger Food Reception

DAY 2 – OCTOBER 9, 2026

DAY 2 – OCTOBER 9, 2026 conference schedule
Time Programme
08:30 – 09:00
Arrival & Morning Coffee
09:00 – 10:30
Session 5: Gender-affirming hormone therapy and transgender health
Chairs: Dorothee Schwinge & Marcus Altfeld
  • Keynote Talk: Richard Saffery, University of Melbourne
  • Barbara Honecker (Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany): Modulation of monocyte immune responses by sex hormones during gender-affirming hormone therapy
  • Mario A. Duque-Villegas (Leibniz Institute of Virology, Germany): Downregulation of complement proteome during feminizing gender-affirming hormone therapy
  • Anthony Willems (Ghent University, Belgium): Divergent innate and humoral immune responses to 4CMenB vaccination in transgender individuals receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy
10:15 – 11:00
Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:45
Session 6: Sex-Specific Immunity from Health to Healthy Aging and Disease
Chairs: Hanna Lotter & Molly Ingersoll
  • Chun-Chi Chang (Lund University, Sweden): From hormones to host defense: immune adaptation following Androgen deprivation therapy
  • Jamie Sugrue (Institut Pasteur, France): Pathway-specific sex differences in type I interferon responses in humans
  • Johannes U Mayer (University Medical Center Mainz. Germany): The SAGE-Immune clock: determining sex-specific patterns of immune cell aging in healthy individuals
  • Dimitrios Nikolaos Kapiris (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany): Interactions between lung microenvironment and immune responses in the sex-specific manifestation of asthma
  • Sneha Kanungo (University of Bonn, Germany): Sex shapes obesity-associated immune transcriptional signatures in a Tanzanian cohort
  • Keynote Talk: Darragh Duffy, Institute Pasteur
12:45 – 13:00
Closing Remarks & Feedback Session
13:00 – 14:00
Networking Lunch

Venue

CSSB Centre for Structural Systems Biology
Notkestraße 85, Building 15
22607 Hamburg

To Hamburg Altona station.
Continue by bus line 1 (direction Schenefelder Holt) directly to the main entrance of DESY (bus stop Zum Hünengrab/DESY), traveling time approx. 25 min.
Or continue by S-Bahn (local city train) line S1 or S11 (direction Blankenese/Wedel) to Othmarschen. Then go on with bus line 1 (direction Schenefelder Holt). On foot: leave the city train station at the Waitzstrasse exit, turn right at the bottom of the stairs, turn left onto Waitzstrasse, right onto Gross Flottbeker Strasse and follow that road directly to DESY, walking time approx. 25 min.

Optional: taxi, traveling time approx. 15-20 min.

From the Hamburg airport Fuhlsbüttel:
Continue with city train line S1 (direction Blankenese/Wedel) to Othmarschen station. Then go on with bus line 1 (direction Schenefelder Holt) to the main entrance of DESY (bus stop Zum Hünengrab/DESY).

Optional: taxi traveling time approx. 40-50 min.

Exit the Autobahn (A7) at HH-Bahrenfeld. Arriving in Hamburg from the South: turn left onto the main road (Osdorfer Weg). Arriving in Hamburg from the North: turn right onto the main road (Osdorfer Weg). After approx. 1.5 km, turn right onto Notkestraße. The main entrance of DESY is the second road on the left.

CSSB - Centre for Structural Systems Biology
Centre for Structural Systems Biology, Notkestraße 85, Building 15, 22607 Hamburg

Registration and Abstract Submission

Registration and abstract submission are open until midnight (CEST) on June 15, 2026.

Registration inquiries: efisconference-hamburg@uke.de

Congress Committee

Conference Chair
Marcus Altfeld, Leibniz Institute of Virology / University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

International Scientific Committee
Camila Consiglio, Lund University, Sweden
Darragh Duffy, Institut Pasteur, France
Molly Ingersoll, Institut Pasteur, France
Cliona O’Farrelly, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Tal Pacht, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Germany
Tal Shay, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Helena Soares, NOVA Medical School, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal

Local Organizing Committee
Michael Brehler, University of Hamburg, Germany
Lara Buer, Research Center Borstel (Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center), Germany
Silke Giesemann-Jansen, Leibniz Institute of Virology, Germany
Barbara Honecker, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany
Anja Lindemann, Leibniz Institute of Virology, Germany
Maria Pujantell Graell, Leibniz Institute of Virology, Germany
Bianca Schneider, Research Center Borstel (Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center), Germany
Kati Tillack, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany

Sponsors