• 17.00-19.00

OPENING CEREMONY & OPENING LECTURE

Global Impact of Tuberculosis with a Particular Emphasis on Diagnostic Tools

Soumya Swaminathan, India

• 09.00-11.00

IFCC SYMPOSIUM 1 

Advancing Lab Medicine through Ethics: Safeguarding Scientific Integrity, Big Data, and Patient-Centered Care

Chairs: Tomris Ozben (Turkiye), Joe Wiencek (USA)

Ethical Foundations and Scientific Integrity in Laboratory Medicine – J. Wiencek, USA

Ensuring Data Privacy is the Era of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence – S. Datta, India

Direct-to-Consumer Testing: Benefits and Concerns of Commercially Accessed Laboratory Tests – M. Orth, Germany

Advancing Patient Blood Management: Ethical Issues and Innovations – A. Amayo, Kenya

 

• 09.00-11.00

IFCC SYMPOSIUM 2

Method Evaluation in Clinical Laboratories: Challenges and Opportunities

Chairs: Rosita Zakaria (Australia), TBD

Method Evaluation: A Practical Overview – Rosita Zakaria, Australia

Is Statistical Significance Sufficient? A Critical Perspective on Method Evaluation in Clinical Laboratories – Hamit Hakan, Turkiye

Total Error versus Measurement Uncertainty in Method Evaluation – Mai Tran, Vietnam

Practical Method Evaluation; Method Validation for LC-MS/MS Techniques – Mark De Hora, New Zealand

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 1 

Mass Spectrometry and Automation: The Next Frontier in Clinical Laboratories

Chairs: Barnali Das (India), Marie Lenski (France)

Automation and Mass Spectrometry: The Next Revolution in Clinical Laboratories – Pieter Vermeersh, Belgium

Mass Spectrometry Assay Development in Advanced Diagnostics – Pandey Akhilesh, USA

High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Metabolomics: From Bench to Bedside – Marie Lenski, France

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 2

Thyroid Diagnostics Redefined: The State-of-the-Art in Function Testing

Chairs: Petra Petranović Ovčariček (Croatia), Damien Gruson (Belgium)

From Clinical Needs to Guidelines – Petra Petranović Ovčariček, Croatia

How to Deal with Discordant Thyroid Function Tests – Krishna Chatterjee, UK

Emerging Technologies to Close Diagnostic Gaps in Thyroid Function Testing – Damien Gruson, Belgium

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 3

Reproductive Laboratory Medicine

Chairs: Giuseppe Novelli (Italy), Zhen Zhao (USA)

Reproductive genetics: from cytogenetics to cytogenomics – Giuseppe Novelli, Italy

Advances in NIPT – from trisomies to monogenic diseases – Madhuri Hegde, USA

Preimplantation genetic testing – Valerio Pisaturo, Italy

Preclampsia – Zhen Zhao, USA

 

• 09.00-11.00

COLABIOCLI SYMPOSIUM 

Clinical Laboratory and Primary Health Care in Infectious Diseases: Experiences and Prevention Strategies in Latin America

Chairs: Gloria Y. Saucedo (Panama), Ana Sofía Duarte (Guatemala)

The role of the public clinical laboratory in surveillance of infectious diseases. – Gloria Y. Saucedo, Panama

Community-based prevention of zoonoses: Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis – Cristian Rivilla, Ecuador

Pediatric respiratory infections and malnutrition: an interdisciplinary approach. – Ana Sofía Duarte, Guatemala

University clinical laboratory responses during COVID-19 – Jorge Hernandez Bello, Mexico

 

• 09.00-11.00

APFCB SYMPOSIUM 1 

Why newborn screening isn’t just a lab test

Chairs: Dianne Webster (New Zealand), Natasha Heather (New Zealand)

Newborn screening system and pathway (including but also beyond the laboratory) – Dianne Webster, New Zealand

Preanalytical factors influencing result quality – Chloe Mak, Hong Kong

Measurements in hours: newborn biochemistry is not typical biochemistry or retitle Importance of neonatal physiology in reference ranges/cutoffs for newborn babies – Natasha Heather, New Zealand

Considerations for starting screening and adding new disorders – Santosh Pradhan, Nepal

 

• 11.30-12.30

PLENARY LECTURE 1

Utility of cell free DNA in cancer diagnosis

Allen Chan, Hong Kong

• 09.00-11.00

IFCC SYMPOSIUM 3

Laboratory Management Training: Global Insights, Future Directions, and Innovative Strategies

Chairs: Praveen Sharma (India), Chuanxin Wang (China)

Global Lab Management Training Survey: Current State and Future Directions – Annalise Zemlin, South Africa

Leadership Development in Laboratory Management: From Trainee to Lab Manager – Prasenjit Mitra, India

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Lab Management Training: Opportunities and Challenges – Mahesheema Ali

Enhancing Lab Management Training: Strategies for Improvement – Praveen Sharma, India

 

• 09.00-11.00

ACBI SYMPOSIUM 1

Cancer Biology from Laboratory to the Clinic

Chairs: Subrata Sinha (India), Shyam S. Chauhan (India)

Unravelling a novel oncogene in glioma – Subrata Sinha, India

Cysteine Cathepsins as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets in Leukemia – Shyam S. Chauhan, India

Liquid biopsy in Oral Cancer: A future for precision medicine and personalized management – Arnab Pal, India

Multiomics in Cancer Clinics: The way forward – Anurag Mehta, India

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 4

Advancing Mental Health and Neurological Care through Neurochemical Insights

Chairs: Pradeep K. Dabla (India), Sylvain Lehmann (France)

The Synaptic Code: Decoding Neurochemical Imbalance in Mental Illness – Sylvain Lehmann, France

Neurochemical Precision Medicine: Tailoring Diagnostics for Epileptic Disorders – Pradeep K. Dabla, India

From Fly Brains to Human Minds: Translating Neurochemical Discoveries into Precision Mental Health Therapies – Mohammad Farhan , UAE

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 5

The Changing Landscape for Acute Kidney Injury & Chronic Kidney Disease

Chairs: Joris Delanghe (Belgium), Graham Jones (Australia)

Kidney Function Testing for Drug Dosing Decisions – Graham Jones, Australia

The Harmonization Hurdle: Uncovering Analytical and Reporting Variances in Kidney Disease Testing – Rajeevan Selvaratnam, Canada

Urinary flow cytometric data as an easily accessible biomarker for diagnosing AKI – Joris Delanghe, Belgium

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 6

Liquid Biopsy: Early Detection of Cancer and Minimal Residual Disease

Chairs: Catherine Alix-Panabières (France), Klaus Pantel (Germany)

Liquid Biopsy: From Discovery to Clinical Application – Catherine Alix-Panabières, France

Liquid Biopsy in Cancer Prevention and Early Detection: A Public Health Perspective – Sudhir Srivastava, USA

European consortia on early detection of cancer and minimal residual disease – Klaus Pantel, Germany

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

NAFCC SYMPOSIUM 

Contemporary Topics in Clinical Testing for Women and Children

Chairs: Shannon Haymond (USA), Paul Yip (Canada)

How a Randomized Controlled Trial on Optimizing the Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction/Injury in Women (CODE-MI) has also Optimized Troponin Analytics – Peter Kavsak, Canada

Improving the Diagnostic Accuracy for Preeclampsia with Novel Biomarkers – Paul Yip, Canada

An Update on the Status of Neonatal Bilirubin Measurement – Stanley Lo, USA

Deploying AI Approaches to Automate Critical Steps in Genomic Testing Workflows – Shannon Haymond, USA

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 7

Antimicrobial Resistance: Innovations and Integrated Approaches

Chairs: Swarup Shah (India), Jan Verbakel (Belgium)

One Health and Antimicrobial Resistance: A Clinical Microbiology Perspective – Benoit Pilmis, France

CRISPR Technologies: A New Frontier Against Antimicrobial Resistance? – Swarup Shah, India

Point-of-Care Testing and New Biomarkers: What Can We Expect in AMR Diagnostics? – Jan Verbakel, Belgium

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 11.30-12.30

 PLENARY LECTURE 2

Developing Communities that Eliminate Heart Disease in Our Lifetimes

Jagat Narula, USA

• 09.00-11.00

IFCC SYMPOSIUM 4

IFCC’s innovative communication strategies

Chairs: Harjit Pal Bhattoa (Hungary), Maurizio Ferrari (Italy)

Advancing scientific research via the IFCC Electronic Journal (eJIFCC) – Kannan Vaidyanathan, India

Unique role of the internet and digital communication in Laboratory Medicine – Deniz Topcu, Turkyie

Global Med Lab Week and its importance in Laboratory Medicine – Maria del Carmen Pasquel Moxley, Ecuador

Communication as a beacon to disseminate knowledge in Laboratory Medicine – Qing Meng, USA

 

• 09.00-11.00

ACBI SYMPOSIUM 2

Common clinical scenarios in India – A Biochemist’s perspective

Chairs: Seema Bhargava (India), Rajiv Sinha (India)

Indian perspective of Acute Kidney Injury: KIDGO 2012 or AACC 2020? Implementation of E alerts & in search of newer Biomarkers – Barnali Das, India

Drug Induced Liver Injury due to Anti Tubercular therapy – DILI-ATT: Demographic and Lab correlates – Mithu Banerjee, India

Navigating through the International Consensus on ANA (ICAP): AC 2,4,5&29 patterns in a subset of Indian population – Mala Mahto, India

Immune mediated allergies: from the bedside back to the Lab – Seema Bhargava, India

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 8

Prevalence and management of Diabetes

Chairs: Sergio Bernardini, TBD

Prevalence, aetiology, and management of diabetes – Nikhil Tandon, India

New biochemical parameters, continuous glucose monitoring the role of AI in diabete management – Leslie Lai, Malaysia

Biotechnology perspectives in Diabetes Diagnosis and monitoring – Luo Yang, China

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 9

Biomarkers of neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease

Chairs: Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich (USA), Henrik Zetterberg (Sweden)

Alzheimer’s disease CSF biomarkers – Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich, USA

Alzheimer’s disease blood biomarkers – Henrik Zettenberg, Sweden

Influence of comorbidities and copathologies on Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers interpretation – Alessandro Martorana, Italy

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 10

Protein electrophoresis reporting – current status and possible improvements

Chairs: Nilika Wijeratne (Australia), TBD

Clinical Guidelines and Reporting Practices: What Clinicians Need from Protein Electrophoresis – Nilika Wijeratne, Australia

Protein electrophoresis reporting: laboratory guidelines and Lessons from regional audit – Pavai Sthaneswar, Malaysia

Establishing Reliable Reference Intervals in Protein Electrophoresis: Implications for Detecting Monoclonal Gammopathy – Chao Chao Ma (China)

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

AFCB SYMPOSIUM 

Lipid Disorders and Cardiovascular Risk

Chairs: Christian Haddad (Lebanon), Anwar Borai (Saudi Arabia)

The molecular basis of familial hypercholesterolemia – Marianne Abifadel, Lebanon

Personalized Secondary Prevention in Acute Coronary Syndromes: From Genetics to Clinical Practice – Asma Omezzine, Tunisia

Impact of SLCO1B1 c.521T>C Polymorphism and Non-Genetic Factors on Statin-Associated Myopathy Risk in Middle Eastern Patient – Lama Youssef, Syria

Lipoprotein(a): The Latest on Testing and Guideline Recommendations – Shereen Atef, UAE

 

• 09.00-11.00

APFCB SYMPOSIUM 2

Heavy Metals in Modern Medicine: Diagnostics for a Toxic World

Chairs: Vivek Pant (Nepal), Thupil Venkatesh (India)

Optimizing Laboratory Diagnosis of Lead Poisoning: From Detection to Monitoring – Vivek Pant, Nepal

Application of GFAAS for Blood Lead Quantification: Method Development and Public Health Insights from Vietnam – Mai Thi Chi Tran, Vietnam

Molecular aspect of heavy metal toxicity – Rajat Sandhir, India

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

PLENARY LECTURE 3

The rise of Metrology for Bioanalysis in Healthcare

Jim Huggett, UK

• 09.00-11.00

IFCC SYMPOSIUM 5

The role of Bone status indices in investigation and management of metabolic bone diseases

Chairs: Samuel Vasikaran (Australia), Aylin Sepici Dinçel (Turkiye)

Why and how should we test biochemical markers of bone turnover in 2026 – Harjit Bhattoa, Hungary

Measurement and reporting of bone specific alkaline phosphatase in CKD associated osteoporosis, integrating Sclerostin – Aylin Sepici Dinçel, Turkiye

From D Deficiency to Resilience: Bone Health Strategies in the Asian Context – Aysha Habib, Pakistan

Molecular markers of bone metabolism; the role of micro RNA in bone metabolism and its investigation – Giovanni Lombardi, Italy

 

• 09.00-11.00

AFCC SYMPOSIUM 

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Challenges and Prospects

Chairs: Adekunle Bashiru Okesina (Nigeria), Vanessa Steenkamp (South Africa)

Barriers to the provision of TDM services – Adekunle Bashiru Okesina, Nigeria

Benefits and justification of TDM – Hilary Lumano, Zambia

Stepwise implementation of TDM – Vanessa Steenkamp, South Africa

Sustainability of TDM – Gizachew Taddesse Akalu, Ethiopia

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 11

Transformational Leadership in Clinical Laboratories: Strategies for Success

Chairs: Sedef Yenice (Turkyie), TBD

Leading with Vision: Strategic Laboratory Leadership for a Rapidly Changing Healthcare Landscape – Edward Randell, Canada

Digital Transformation as a Catalyst for Laboratory Leadership: From Connectivity to Intelligence – Sedef Yenice, Turkyie

Quality, Compliance, and Innovation: Harmonizing Standards and Strategy through Leadership – Matthias Orth, Germany

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 12

The Future-Ready Lab: Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain Security and System Resilience

Chairs: Prasenjit Mitra (India), Ian Godber (UK)

The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Laboratory Medicine – Hikmet Can Cubucku, Turkey

Securing the Chain: The role of Blockchain in Laboratory Data Management – Shruti Gupta, India

Resilient laboratory digital system design: preparing for the unexpected – Ian Godber, UK

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 13

Cybersecurity

Chairs: Christian Haddad (Lebanon), Anwar Borai (Saudi Arabia)

Healthcare and Laboratory Cybersecurity – James Donnelly, USA

Operational Resilience in Clinical Laboratories: Lessons learned from a Cyberattack at a University Medical Center – Peter Finianos, Lebanon

Open Source as a Catalyst for Next-Generation Medical AI – Bernard Gouget, France

Fortifying Our Digital Defenses: Cybersecurity Challenges in Laboratory Information Systems (LIS) – Omar Saleh El- Hazza, Saudi Arabia

 

• 09.00-11.00

EFLM  SYMPOSIUM 

Personalized laboratory medicine: the time is now

PROGRAM TBD

 

• 09.00-11.00

SYMPOSIUM 14

Traceability and Patient risk

Chairs: Tony Badrick (Australia), Qinde Liu (Singapore)

Chemical Metrology in Diabetes Care: Ensuring Patient Safety Through Measurement Excellence – Qinde Liu, Singapore

Perspective from accreditation body – importance of metrological traceability for accreditation of medical testing laboratories in India – Venkatesh Thuppil, India

Chemical Metrology in Cardiovascular Care: on the way to Precision Diagnostics and more Effective Treatments – Christa Cobbaert, the Netherlands

2 oral communications selected from abstracts

 

• 11.30-12.30

PLENARY LECTURE 4 

Total Lab Automation and Application of AI are the future for Rational, Integrated and Economic Patient Care

Ivan Brandslund, Denmark