Scientific Program
Day 1 – Thursday, October 8, 2026
13:00 – 13:15 Summit Welcome
13:15 – 14:15 1.1 Joint Preservation Updates
13:15-13:25 NITRO Program Updates | Ross Uhrich (US)
13:25-13:35 Moonshot Cartilage Repair / ARPA-H contract | Nadeen Chahine (US) & Clark Hung (US)
13:35-13:45 First Presentation of Data From the Richardson / Keele Trial | Martyn Snow (UK)
13:45-13:55 IMPACT Study | Daniel Saris (US)
13:55-14:05 What Can we Learn from Biotribology for Cartilage Research | Rosa Maria Nothnagel (AT)
14:05-14:15 Discussion / Q&A
14:15 – 14:30 1.2 Special Session
14:15-14:30 Orthobiologics – Regulatory Updates | Scott Bruder (US)
14:30 – 15:30 1.3 Meniscus Preservation Strategies: the Translational Frontier
14:30-14:40 Meniscal Tissue Engineering: From Present Reality to Future Opportunities | Fabio Sciarretta (IT)
14:40-14:50 The Degenerative Meniscus: A Challenging Environment | Christopher Nagelli (US)
14:50-15:00 When Meniscus Repair is Not an Option: Alternative Solutions from Meniscal Substitution to Compartment Unloading | David Flanigan (US)
15:00-15:30 Discussion / Q&A
15:30 – 16:30 1.4 From Bench to Business: Startup Spotlight
15:30-15:40 A Novel 3D Hydrogel Chitosan Matrix for Regeneration of Articular Cartilage Damage | Pacale Hazot (FR)
15:40-15:50 A Microfluidic Platform for 3D Microtissue Culturing of Next-gen Pre-clinical Models | Erika Ferrari (IT)
15:50-16:00 A Sustainable Coral Technology to Regenerate Hyaline-like Cartilage | Ohad Schwartz (IL)
16:00-16:10 A Hydrogel Implant for Enabling Cartilage Recovery | Leo Smit (NL)
16:10-16:20 A Novel Technology to Harvest Bone Marrow from the Iliac Crest | Christof Pabinger (AT)
16:20-16:30 Physics-driven Artificial Intelligence for Drug Discovery | Emil Sobol (CH)
16:30 – 17:15 Coffee Break in Exhibition
17:15 – 18:15 1.5 Meniscus Preservation Strategies: The Clinical Challenge
17:15-17:25 The Delphi Consensus | Aaron Krych (US)
17:25-17:35 Medial and lateral meniscus root repair – When? | Emmanuel Papacostas (QA)
17:35-17:45 Orthobiologic Injectables and Meniscus | Kristof Sas (BE)
17:45-17:55 Meniscus: The Challenging Management in Athletes | Francesco della Villa (IT)
17:55-18:05 Meniscus Discovery Channel | Giuseppe Anzillotti (IT)
18:05-18:15 Discussion / Q&A
18:15 – 19:15 1.6 Next Gen Session – Career Mentoring
Moderators: Francesca de Caro, TBC
Panel discussion: Daniel Grande (US), Christian Lattermann (US), Tom Minas (US), Susan Chubinskaya (US), Luis Tirico (BR), Keng Lin Francis Wong (HK)
19:30 – 20:30 Welcome Reception
Day 2 – Friday, October 9, 2026
08:00 – 09:00 2.1 Portugal Meets ICRS Joint Session
08:00-08:10 Osteochondral Tissue Engineering and Biofabricated in vitro 3D models | J. Miguel Oliveira (PT)
08:10-08:20 Mosaicplasty. Is this still an option in 2026? | João Espregueira-Mendes (PT)
08:20-08:30 Biomaterials / Tissue engineering | Rui Reis (PT)
08:30-08:40 Experimental Background on Minced Cartilage | Stefan Nehrer (AT)
08:40-08:50 Steering of the Collagen Network | Jos Malda (NL)
08:50-09:00 Discussion / Q&A
09:00 – 10:00 2.2 Novel Therapeutics for Joint Regeneration
09:00-09:10 Biomaterial Cell therapeutics | Marcel Karperien (NL)
09:10-09:20 Allogenic Therapy | Dennis Evseenko (US)
09:20-09:30 Skeletal Stem Cells | Ting Cong (US)
09:30-09:40 IPSC Cells | Ingrid Meulenbelt (NL)
09:40-09:50 Matching Technology to Patient in the 2026 Patient Landscape | David Shepard (US)
09:50-10:00 Discussion / Q&A
10:00 – 11:00 2.3 Poster Session with Coffee
Poster Walk: Lucienne Vonk (SE)
11:00 – 12:00 2.4 Orthobiologics – The Best Injectable
11:00-11:10 HA – Eurovisco | Yves Henrotin (BE)
11:10-11:20 Polynucleotides | Kristof Sas (BE)
11:20-11:30 PRP | Giuseppe Filardo (CH)
11:30-11:40 Point of Care: Bone Marrow vs Adipose Tissue | Elizaveta Kon (IT)
11:40-11:50 Relevance of EVs in OA | Andrea De Luna (AT)
11:50-12:00 What is the Consensus? The ESSKA-ICRS Consensus Results | Giuseppe Filardo (CH)
12:00 – 12:50 2.5 Orthotinder: Osteochondral Lesions
12:00-12:10 Osteochondral Scaffolds: Aragonite-based | Kenneth Zaslav (US)
12:10-12:20 Osteochondral Scaffolds: Collagen-based |Luca Andriolo (IT)
12:20-12:30 Allografts | William Bugbee (US)
12:30-12:40 Personalized Metal Implants | Francesca de Caro (IT)
12:40-12:50 Paste Grafting Update | Kevin Stone (US)
13:00 – 14. 10 Lunch
14:10 – 15:00 2.6 Orthotinder: Cartilage Regeneration
14:10-14:20 MACT | Mats Brittberg (SE)
14:20-14:30 Minced Cartilage | Leela Biant (UK)
14:30-14:40 Umbilical Cord Stem Cells | Wayne McIlwraith (US)
14:40-14:50 Hydrogels | Stephanie Bryant (US)
14:50-15:00 Harnessing Endogenous Bone Marrow Stem Cells to Augment Articular Cartilage Regeneration – Preclinical and in vivo Assessment | Mani Vessal (US)
15:00 – 16:00 2.7 NextGen Injectables: Should We Abandon Cells and Go with Vesicles or Mitochondria?
15:00-15:10 Rationale for Mitochondrial TTX | Daniel Grande (US)
15:10-15:20 Mitochondria TTX for OA | Ambika Bajpayee (US)
15:20-15:30 Mitochondria for Cartilage Repair | Michelle Delco (US)
15:30-15:40 EV’s for Joint Homeostasis | Lucienne Vonk (SE)
15:40-15:50 The Era of Exosomes | Lisa Fortier (US)
16:30 – 17:30 2.8 Cartilage Repair in Other Parts of the World
16:30-16:40 Asia | Keng Lin Francis Wong (SG)
16:40-16:50 Europe | Philipp Niemeyer (DE)
16:50-17:00 USA | Kenneth Zaslav (US)
17:00-17:10 South America | Camila Cohen Kaleka (BR)
17:10-17:20 India | Deepak Goyal (IN)
17:20-17:30 Discussion / Q&A
17:30 – 17:45 2.9 Updates from the ICRS Patient Registry Theodorakis Marin Fermin (VZ)
17:45 – 18:30 2.10 ICRS and Friends
17:45-17:55 AtiO meets ICRS – Clinically Relevant Biomechanical Parameters for Cartilage Repair | Tobias Winkler (DE)
17:55-18:05 BA meets ICRS – BARB Updates | Bert Mandelbaum (US)
18:05-18:15 ISAKOS meets ICRS – Joint Consensus Projects | Norimasa Nakamura (JP)
18:15-18:25 ON – Developing Connections for Research and Education in Joint Preservation | Daniel Saris (US)
18:25-18:30 MSc Regenerative Medicine| Stefan Nehrer (AT)
19:30-23:00 Faculty Dinner Casa Ferreirinha (Pre-booking required)
Day 3 – Saturday, October 10, 2026
08:00 – 09:00 3.1 Beyond the Knee: Cartilage Preservation in Other Joints
08:00-08:10 IVD | Nadeen Chahine (US)
08:10-08:20 Ankle Joint | Jari Dahmen (NL)
08:20-08:30 Shoulder | Nicholas Sgaglione (US)
08:30-08:40 Hip | Srino Bharam (US)
08:40-09:00 Discussion / Q&A
09:00 – 10:00 3.2 Gene Therapy: Bench to Bedside
09:00-09:10 Phase 3 Clinical Trial: TG-C for Knee OA | Christian Lattermann (US)
09:10-09:20 Gene Therapy for OA and Cartilage Repair | Henning Madry (DE)
09:20-09:30 Gene Therapy Clinical Trial | Christopher Evans (US)
09:30-09:40 Gene Therapy for OA: How the Horse is Leading us to Water….and Allowing us to Drink | Laurie Goodrich (US)
09:40-10:00 Discussion / Q&A
10:00 – 10:45 Coffee Break in Exhibition
10:45 – 12:00 3.3 Joint Preservation: Beyond Cartilage
10:45-10:55 How Much Can we Push Surgical Indications? My Most Complex Cases | Tom Minas (US)
10:55-11:00 Joint Regeneration and its Role in Overall Health and Related to Inflammation | Christian Lattermann (US)
11:00-11:10 Optimizing Outcomes: The Role of Concomitant Surgeries in Cartilage Repair | Philipp Niemeyer (DE)
11:10-11:20 Personalizing Cartilage Repair: Factors Beyond Defect Dimensions | Martyn Snow (UK)
11:20-11:30 COST NetwOArk | Sylvia Nürnberger (AT)
11:30-11:40 Joint Unloading | John Lane (US)
11:40-12:00 Discussion / Q&A
12:00 – 13:00 3.4 Selected Podium Presentations Awards
13:00 Congress Closing Remarks: Daniel Grande