RExPO24: Bringing together the leading voices in Systems Medicine, AI and Drug Repurposing
The 3rd edition of our international series of conferences dedicated to Systems Medicine, Artificial Intelligence and Drug Repurposing took place in Munich on 3-5 July 2024.
Hosted at Die Macherei, the design offices located at the heart of the Bavarian capital, this year’s edition welcomed 111 attendees from all over the world — from Spain and the UK, all the way to Australia and the US. Professors, researchers, clinicians, policy-makers, startup founders and patient representatives gathered in Munich for the 3-day conference to meet with some of the leading voices driving the current paradigm shifts in medicine.
Throughout 10 sessions, a total of 40 speakers stepped on the stage to introduce the latest research and innovation shaping the medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare landscapes. Moreover, attendees got the chance to enjoy an Honorary Lecture by David Cavalla, one of the pioneering figures in drug repurposing, and meet the next generation of drug researchers through the 10 poster presentations given by young investigators.
Unveiling the forces behind drug repurposing — from rare disease research to computational data science
For the first day of the conference, we paired up with the Bavarian Biotech Cluster Development (BioM) for a handover session, which marked the end of their BayOConnect Forum for Biotech & Life Science and the beginning of RExPO24. BioM’s Ralf Huss passed the mic to our conference co-chairs, Harald Schmidt (REPO4EU Project Coordinator & Professor at Maastricht University) and Jennifer Martin (Professor at University of Newcastle) to lead the way into the first session of the conference, dedicated to exploring the potential of AI & Drug Repurposing for Precision Medicine.
The second day of RExPO24 opened up with a full session and panel discussion focused on one of the biggest topics currently being discussed in medicine and healthcare globally: rare diseases. Following an introduction from Monica Ensini, Scientific Officer at European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA), the speakers shed light on the importance of involving rare diseases in all drug repurposing efforts; according to many attendees, it was particularly inspiring to hear directly from patient organizations on how they’re driving further action and awareness on behalf of the more than 300 million people who live with a rare disease worldwide.
The following sessions of Day 2 covered a wide spectrum of topics related to scientific innovation in medicine and healthcare, including: alternative therapies for cancer patients, the use of multi-omics data and Artificial Intelligence for personalized medicine, and so much more! As one of the official sponsors for this year’s conference, AstraZeneca led a session focused on the value of clinical data for the advancement of precision medicine, spotlighting how their Open Innovation programme is bridging the gap between academia and industry research. To close the day, our session on regulatory and reimbursement challenges for drug repurposing opened a window into some of the most crucial questions currently being tackled: How can we break the market-entry barriers for repurposed drugs to bring them to the patients?
RExPO24 finished on its third day with the last three sessions of the conference: the first one presented novel diagnosis and treatment strategies for neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases following a systems medicine approach; the last two explored how we can foster transdisciplinary collaborations to ensure we reach a sustainable and robust framework for mechanism-based drug repurposing, and the role of EU Research Infrastructures in bringing us closer to this ambitious goal.
All the conference abstracts are now available on Drug Repurposing Central, REPO4EU’s online open-access platform powered by ScienceOpen.
A new dawn for interdisciplinary collaborations: introducing the Drug Repurposing Journal
One of the key aspects of the RExPO conference series is networking, bringing people together from across the entire medical and healthcare ecosystem to exchange knowledge and inspire new collaborations that can bring along positive change to patients, clinicians and researchers.
In light of this philosophy, and taking advantage of having so many peers gathered in the same room, we were thrilled to launch the inaugural edition of our Drug Repurposing Journal. Created in collaboration with ScienceOpen, the aim is to provide an interdisciplinary and cross-sectional overview of the various fields of research and applied sciences that work together in drug repurposing projects – and hopefully empower many new ones!
Sounds interesting?
Learn more about this exciting milestone in this blog article by ScienceOpen
Co-chairs Harald Schmidt and Jennifer Martin on what we can expect from RExPO24
RExPO is back! Our annual conference on Systems Medicine, AI and Drug Repurposing will be celebrating its 3rd edition in Munich, on 3-5 July, co-chaired by: Harald Schmidt, Professor and Chair of Pharmacology at Maastricht University & REPO4EU Project Coordinator; and Jennifer Martin, Chair of Clinical Pharmacology at University of Newcastle in Australia.
With barely a month before the big event, we’ve decided to speak with this year’s co-chairs to hear directly from them what we can expect from RExPO24.
Hi Harald! Tell us, why have we chosen Munich to host RExPO24?
Harald: We’re going to Munich this year because it’s a major biotech hub in Europe, with many universities, hospitals and research organizations that are very translationally oriented. This third edition of our annual conference goes head to head with the BayOConnect Forum, an event organized by the Bavarian Biotech Cluster Development (BioM) which will attract a lot of SMEs that are currently translating their research work into patient application.
We’ve prepared a handover session with them, so when BayOConnect finishes on the 3rd of July they will pass the baton to us to officially kick off RExPO24 on that same afternoon, with a joint session fully dedicated to AI for drug repurposing and precision medicine.
What are some of the main themes we’ll be covering this year?
Harald: Our 3-day conference will be mostly dedicated to highlighting the latest research on bioinformatics applied to rare diseases, cancer and neurological diseases, and this year we also have a strong focus on regulatory and reimbursement processes and policies within the field of pharma innovation. I highly recommend people to check the conference agenda and the list of confirmed speakers, because we have many top-notch voices from all over the world!
Everything we’ll be discussing during RExPO24 ties in with a common thread: the application of AI tools to build a mechanistic approach to drug repurposing for the advancement of systems medicine globally. From our side, as a European consortium, we’re also very excited to introduce the first clinical results from REPO4EU, which we will be presenting alongside the features we’ve developed so far for our drug repurposing platform.
Jennifer, you attended RExPO23 in Stockholm as a speaker and now you’re coming back as Co-chair! What caught your attention from last year’s experience that made you excited about co-chairing the conference this year?
Jennifer: What was really exhilarating for me last year was getting to meet so many people from around the globe who were working in different aspects of drug repurposing. I was also very intrigued by the developments and applications of Artificial Intelligence applied to this field, as it’s not an area I’ve had a lot of experience in, so attending RExPO helped me understand the opportunities that AI might bring to this whole platform. And I can see that this year’s program got heaps more of AI, so I’m looking forward to catching up on all the latest developments that have happened since last October.
Also, like Harald mentioned, the reimbursement and regulation aspects are very important too, especially for clinical researchers who really want to get a drug through the repurposing process to be used in the clinical practice. So I’m very happy we’ll be spending some time this year focusing on this too. I’m genuinely super excited about the conference coming up in Munich and co-chairing it with Harald, and I hope to see many known and new faces there!
So, Harald, what can people expect from attending RExPO24? Can you give us a quick summary of what we can look forward to in Munich?
Harald: Be ready for 3 days packed with talks! But this is not like your usual medical conference, all our sessions will be very focused and dynamic. We know professors can talk about anything for hours, myself included, but for our conference we’ve asked all our speakers to compress their insights and knowledge into 15-minute presentations. Each session will be followed up by extensive discussion rounds, where the audience will be able to ask questions to the panelists. Apart from the main talks, we will also have brief poster presentations and we’ll be giving out a Young Investigator Award to one of the brilliant young scientists joining us for the conference.
We will of course have the usual coffee and tea breaks, but this time we will make it more fun! Because the EURO2024 championship is being held at the same time in Germany, we’ve planned a little football competition (soccer for our American and Australian friends) – I don’t want to give out too many details yet, as it will be a nice surprise, but all I’ll say is that you may be able to win the official ball of the European championship…
Overall, you can expect to meet many researchers, professors, scientists, patient advocates and entrepreneurs working at the forefront of global innovations to redefine the way we do medicine, once and for all. So, if you’re working or are interested in novel applications of drug repurposing, this conference is for you!
About RExPO24
RExPO24, the 3rd edition of our international series of conferences dedicated to Systems Medicine, Artificial Intelligence and Drug Repurposing, took place in Munich on 3-5 July 2024
A recap of the RExPO23 conference: Bridging Systems Medicine, AI and Drug Repurposing
The REPO4EU project spearheads the development of a European/Global Platform and Infrastructure for Mechanism-based Drug Repurposing. As part of this ambitious initiative, our RExPO annual conference series provides a fantastic forum for sharing cutting-edge research and fostering collaboration, blending high-impact scientific research with innovative business approaches. This year, our RExPO23 conference was held in Stockholm, Sweden, from October 25-26, bringing together over 115 attendees and featuring 8 poster presentations and 51 publications overall.
It was also an honour to welcome and host a stellar roster of 45 speakers from around the globe. Throughout the two-day conference, participants dived deep into topics like the potential of network and systems medicine in reshaping the way we understand diseases, the role of Artificial Intelligence in precision medicine and how regulation on drug repurposing shifts from a worldwide perspective. These discussions encouraged the search for innovative research directions, the establishment of brand new collaborations and the exploration of disruptive approaches in the field. The program also included sessions on supportive and neural networks, rethinking pharma and the latest developments in diagnostics & assays.
The event also showcased poster presentations and gave away a Young Investigator Award to celebrate fresh contributions from emerging researchers and young minds in the field. All selected abstracts, full presentations, and posters from RExPO23 are available under unique DOIs in our online collection on ScienceOpen.
We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our sponsors and collaborators for their generous support, which was instrumental in making RExPO23 a resounding success. This year’s RExPO was not just an event but a catalyst for future collaborations and innovations in systems medicine, AI, and drug repurposing. We eagerly anticipate the innovative partnerships that will surely emerge from this gathering of brilliant minds and look forward to seeing how these discussions will shape the future of healthcare and beyond.
See you next year!
About RExPO23
RExPO23, the 2nd edition of our international series of conferences dedicated to Systems Medicine, Artificial Intelligence and Drug Repurposing, took place in Stockholm on 25-26 October 2023
Revisit the conference
Curious to learn more? Watch our video compilation for RExPO23
Our newsletter is back for its second issue
REPO4EU has just reached its one-year milestone and what better way to celebrate than with a new installment of our official newsletter? Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll find inside:
- The latest news on RExPO23 – the international conference on Systems Medicine, AI and Drug Repurposing coming to Stockholm this October 25-26.
- How to join our thriving drug repurposing community to get access to expert insights and matchmaking opportunities.
- An overview of our brand new one-stop publishing platform: Drug Repurposing Central
- Our collection of Knowledge Pills: a series of short explainer videos covering the core concepts behind REPO4EU
- Recap highlights from our recent meetings with the EMA Innovation Task Force and our Project Officer.
Click here to navigate to our second issue and don’t forget to subscribe!
Photo by Rinck Content Studio on Unsplash
REPO4EU celebrates its first anniversary after reaching key milestones in a year
One year has passed since the official launch of REPO4EU back on the 1st of September 2022, where all 28 partners met in Maastricht to kick-off the project and lay out the foundations for the upcoming 7 years.
To celebrate the occasion and mark the achievements of our first year working together, we spoke with our Project Coordinator, Prof. Harald Schmidt, to get some first-hand insights into the developments of the past 12 months.
What have we achieved in this first year of REPO4EU?
It’s an honor, and also a big responsibility, to be leading this giant project supported by the European Union, where we’re bringing together scientists and stakeholders from all fields, including bioinformatics, biomedicine, clinicians, patent attorneys and many more; and also, very importantly, to be actively engaging patients in our conversations.
One of the biggest achievements of this year is the development of our online, open access and totally free platform called Drug Repurposing Central — a publishing and communication platform developed in collaboration with ScienceOpen for the whole drug repurposing community.
Drug repurposing is a giant movement spanning medicine worldwide, which is why building a global-reaching community is one of the main objectives for REPO4EU. This year alone, we’ve expanded across Europe but we’re also reaching into Australia, Asia and the Americas, collaborating hand-in-hand with peers and organisations whose work also focuses on advancing patient-centric and precise drug repurposing. Check out who has joined our community so far!
What's next for REPO4EU?
With our project being centered around exploring the latest technologies for mechanism-based drug repurposing, our research and conversations revolve around using drugs that are already on the market for new indications, always having patients’ needs at the forefront. For this, we’re using the most modern methods of bioinformatics to not only redefine diseases, but to also make sure we’re curing patients — instead of simply treating their symptoms.
After the hard work of this first year, we’re now in the process of preparing the first clinical trials, which will set the path for our upcoming and continuous research into drug repurposing using Machine Learning and other AI-powered tools. Thanks to our recently completed deliverables, we will now also be able to start developing new methods and tools that will become available for colleagues and researchers working within the context of drug repurposing.
Our most exciting plan coming up soon is RExPO23, the second installment in our series of international conferences dedicated to Systems Medicine, AI and Drug Repurposing. This year, we’re going bigger, better and bolder! Those interested in joining us in Stockholm on 25-26 October 2023, can book their tickets now. I hope to see you there!
Big thanks to all 28 partners in the REPO4EU consortium for their work so far. Here’s to continuing our mission to move from imprecise drug therapy to precision medicine!
Our community
Learn more our partner projects: from research groups and universities, to private companies
and sister initiatives in the EU playground
About Drug Repurposing Central
Drug Repurposing Central is funded and managed by REPO4EU and open to all researchers in the field of drug repurposing
Introducing our official newsletter
At REPO4EU we are starting the new year in style – and what better way to do that than with the launch of our official quarterly newsletter?
Ever since REPO4EU kicked-off, we have been setting the stage for what we believe will be the future – mechanism-based drug repurposing. Read on to discover the main highlights from our work these past 5 months as presented by our coordinator, Prof. Harald Schmidt. In this first issue you’ll find insights from our experts on ethics and AI, the project’s ongoing clinical trials and our contributions to the regulatory and legal landscape surrounding drug repurposing.
We’re also delighted to share a sneak peek on upcoming dissemination activities with the community – stay tuned for updates on REPO4EU’s open publishing portal and our national events to showcase the project in Spain, Germany, Austria and Sweden!
Sounds interesting? Click here to check out the full newsletter and make sure to subscribe!
Photo by Luca Onniboni on Unsplash
Check out our video compilation for RExPO22
Welcome to the revolution!
120+ attendees, 40+ speakers, 11 posters in show and 42 publications…
RExPO22 wrapped up in September and we’re already looking forward to the next one. In the meantime, check out the official video compilation below to revisit the first international conference on drug repurposing!
About RExPO22
RExPO22, the 1st edition of our international series of conferences dedicated to Systems Medicine, Artificial Intelligence and Drug Repurposing, took place in Munich on 2-3 September 2022
Revisit the conference
Curious to learn more? Watch our video compilation for RExPO23
REPO4EU begins its journey to push the boundaries of drug repurposing
It's official - REPO4EU has launched!
This September 1st, all 28 partners met in Maastricht for the very first time to kick-off this flagship Horizon Europe initiative. And we did it in style, celebrating the birth of RExPO22 - the initial installment in the RExPO international conference series on drug repurposing.
Here’s to the next 7 years!
Our first press release is out!
Many exciting things are on the horizon for this September that we would like to share with everyone in the drug repurposing community!
REPO4EU - the Euro-Global platform for Mechanism-based Drug Repurposing is officially kicking off next month and with it also comes to life RExPO22 - the first international conference on drug repurposing.
You can read all about it in our first joint press release!