Asifa Akhtar
Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Germany
EMBL Conference
This conference will take place at EMBL Heidelberg, with the option to attend virtually.
The EMBL ‘Transcription and chromatin’ conference has a long-standing tradition in shaping the field of transcriptional regulation. The meeting brings together leading experts covering all aspects of transcription including cis-regulatory function, long range regulation, 3-dimensional looping, the basal transcriptional machinery, RNA polymerase regulation and function, nucleosome positioning, chromatin modifications, chromatin remodelling, and epigenetic inheritance of transcriptional silencing. The meeting contains many talks selected from the abstracts that are interspersed with invited speakers, discussing the latest breakthroughs in transcriptional regulation.
The conference is designed to promote interactive discussions at both the talks and poster sessions. Given the excellent lineup of speakers and the meeting’s outstanding reputation, this is a must-attend for anyone interested in cutting-edge research in transcription.
“An ‘absolutely must attend’ conference for scientists in gene expression regulation. The conference covers many topics besides transcription, epigenetics, and 3D genome and is a hub to network with other scientists developing cutting-edge techniques to study chromatin.” – Chaitali Chakraborty, Umeå University, Sweden
“Fantastic dynamic meeting in an amazing setting of EMBL conference center. Plenty of discussion opportunities during poster sessions and unpublished findings presented at talks.Great balance of junior and senior faculty.” – Ganna Panasyuk, Inserm-Institute Necker Enfants Malades, France
“Incredible lineup and fruitful scientific discussions. It was a genuine pleasure to be part of this great event and to share our recent work with such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic community. The diverse range of topics and the depth of the presentations made for an engaging experience, and the opportunity to network with other experts was invaluable. I look forward to applying the insights gained here to our ongoing research and future collaborations.” – Mathias Boulanger, EMBL Heidelberg, Germany
Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics
Germany
The University of Edinburgh
UK
Université de Montpellier
France
Delft University of Technology / Kavli Institute of NanoScience
The Netherlands
University of California San Diego
USA
Université libre de Bruxelles
Belgium
EMBL Rome
Italy
Salk Institute
USA
The Institute of Cancer Research
UK
Oxford University
UK
Princeton University
USA
Jerome L. Greene Science Center
USA
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Germany
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences
Germany
La Jolla Institute for Immunology
USA
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
USA
University of California San Diego
USA
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
Switzerland
Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics
Germany
Weizmann Institute of Science
Israel
Wellcome Sanger Institute, UK / Karolinska Institutet, Sweden / University of Helsinki, Finland
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
USA
University of Pennsylvania
USA
Johns Hopkins University
USA
Tsinghua University
China
University of Pennsylvania
USA
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
Switzerland
University of Oxford
UK
EMBL Heidelberg
Germany
Are you on social media? Post using #EMBLTranscript and don’t forget to tag @EMBLEvents.
The full programme will be announced ahead of the conference. Please find the planned timings for the programme below. The list of invited speakers is available on the speaker tab.
| Time (Europe/Berlin) | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 14:00-16:00 | Arrival and registration |
| 16:00-16:10 | Opening remarks from scientific organisers |
| 16:10-18:10 | Session 1 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 16:10-16:30 | Invited speaker #1 |
| 16:30-16:50 | Invited speaker #2 |
| 16:50-17:05 | Selected talk #1 |
| 17:05-17:20 | Selected talk #2 |
| 17:20-17:40 | Invited speaker #3 |
| 17:40-18:00 | Invited speaker #4 |
| 18:00-19:30 | Dinner in the EMBL Canteen |
| 19:30-21:30 | Pub Quiz and After dinner drinks |
| Time (Europe/Berlin) | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 12:25 | Session 2 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 09:00-09:20 | Invited speaker #5 |
| 09:20-09:35 | Selected talk #3 |
| 09:35-09:55 | Invited speaker #6 |
| 09:55-10:10 | Selected talk #4 |
| 10:10-10:30 | Invited speaker #7 |
| 10:30-11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00-11:20 | Invited speaker #8 |
| 11:20-11:35 | Selected talk #5 |
| 11:35-11:50 | Selected talk #6 |
| 11:50-12:05 | Selected talk #7 |
| 12:05-12:25 | Invited speaker #9 |
| 12:25-14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00-16:30 | Poster Session 1 (odd) with beer and snacks |
| 16:30-18:45 | Session 3 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 16:30-16:50 | Invited speaker #10 |
| 16:50-17:05 | Selected talk #8 |
| 17:05-17:20 | Selected talk #9 |
| 17:20-17:35 | Selected talk #10 |
| 17:35-17:55 | Invited speaker #11 |
| 18:00-20:00 | Dinner in the EMBL Canteen |
| 20:00-22:00 | After dinner drinks |
| 09:00-12:25 | Session 4 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 09:00-09:20 | Invited speaker #12 |
| 09:20-09:35 | Selected talk #11 |
| 09:35-09:55 | Invited speaker #13 |
| 09:55-10:10 | Selected talk #12 |
| 10:10-10:30 | Invited speaker #14 |
| 10:30-11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00-11:20 | Invited speaker #15 |
| 11:20-11:35 | Selected talk #13 |
| 11:35-11:50 | Selected talk #14 |
| 11:50-12:05 | Selected talk #15 |
| 12:05-12:25 | Invited speaker #16 |
| 12:25-14:00 | Lunch and Meet the Editors (from 13:00 – 14:00) |
| 14:00-16:30 | Poster Session 2 (even) with beer and snacks |
| 16:30-18:00 | Session 5 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 16:30-16:50 | Invited speaker #17 |
| 16:50-17:05 | Selected talk #16 |
| 17:05-17:20 | Selected talk #17 |
| 17:20-17:35 | Selected talk #18 |
| 17:35-17:55 | Invited speaker #18 |
| 18:00-20:00 | Dinner in the EMBL Canteen |
| 20:00-22:00 | After dinner drinks |
| Time (Europe/Berlin) | Speaker |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 12:25 | Session 6 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 09:00-09:20 | Invited speaker #19 |
| 09:20-09:35 | Selected talk #19 |
| 09:35-09:55 | Invited speaker #20 |
| 09:55-10:10 | Selected talk #20 |
| 10:10-10:30 | Invited speaker #21 |
| 10:30-11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00-11:20 | Invited speaker #22 |
| 11:20-11:35 | Selected talk #21 |
| 11:35-11:50 | Selected talk #22 |
| 11:50-12:05 | Selected talk #23 |
| 12:05-12:25 | Invited speaker #23 |
| 12:25-14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00-16:30 | Poster Session 3 (odd and even) with beer and snacks |
| 16:30-19:00 | Session 7 Chair: To be confirmed |
| 16:30-16:50 | Invited speaker #24 |
| 16:50-17:10 | Invited speaker #25 |
| 17:10-17:25 | Selected talk #24 |
| 17:25-17:45 | Invited speaker #26 |
| 17:45-18:00 | Closing remarks and poster prizes |
| 18:00-20:00 | Conference Dinner in the Canteen |
| 20:00-23:00 | Conference party |
Accommodation and travel are not included in the fees — participants are expected to book and pay their own expenses.
| On-site Academia | €825 |
| On-site PhD Student | €725 |
| On-site Industry | €1025 |
| On-site Journal Editors* | €300 |
*Editors from scientific journals are allowed to attend onsite at a reduced rate, but asked to contribute to the conference in return by taking part in ‘Meet the editors’ sessions or other planned activities within the programme. Please contact Name of CO to ask for the special registration link for editors.
| Virtual Academia | €240 |
| Virtual PhD Student | €190 |
| Virtual Industry | €290 |
Note: accredited journalists may be eligible to register for complimentary on-site or virtual press registration. Registrants may be required to provide accreditation or equivalent proof of press membership after registration. Please contact Name of CO for more information.
Registration will be on a first come, first served basis. You can register and submit your abstract without paying the conference fee in advance but your place can only be confirmed after payment of the registration fee.
If you are added to our waiting list, please consider taking advantage of our offerings to participate virtually.
On-site participants: types of payments accepted are international bank transfers and credit card payments.
Virtual participants: we are only able to accept card payments. In exceptional cases we can accept bank transfers. Please contact events@embl.de for details.
If you are no longer able to take part in the conference, please inform your conference contact responsible for this event. Your registration and the submitted abstract will be deleted.
Please also check our Terms and Conditions for the cancellation policy.
Only participants registering to attend the on-site event are eligible to submit an abstract and participate in the poster sessions. Unfortunately, abstracts will not be accepted from virtual participants.
After registration you can submit your abstract via a separate link that will be provided in the email confirmation. Alternatively, you can access the link on the confirmation page directly after registering. The same login credentials are used for both processes.
Abstract body: the limit of 2,000 characters refers to manually typed text and excludes spaces. If an error occurs try using a different web browser (preferably Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox).
If you copy-paste the text into the form, hidden formatting might still be included which may cause the text to exceed the 2,000 character limit resulting in an error message. We recommend you clear all formatting before pasting in the text.
If you have special symbols in your text, make sure you are using Unicode characters, otherwise these will not be recognised.
Title: the title should not exceed 20 words. Only the first word of the title should start with a capital letter and the rest should be lowercase.
Authors and affiliations: fill in the author’s details as requested in the online form. The compulsory fields are: First Name, Last Name, Organisation Name (Affiliation or Company), Country, and Email.
Kindly mark only one author in the role of First Author and please don’t forget to indicate who will be the Presenter.
Please enter your co-authors correctly via the system by adding accounts together with their organisation/institute. Do not copy-paste them into the body of the abstract text, as they will not be indexed in the abstract book.
Presentation types: when submitting your abstract, you can apply for an oral or poster presentation. A selection process will take place with the results announced 3 weeks after the abstract submission deadline (delays might occur).
For detailed instructions on how to submit a conference abstract, follow the instructions provided in this video.
Please check our FAQs pages for further information on how to submit an abstract.
Limited financial assistance is provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme in the form of registration fee waivers, travel grants, and childcare grants.
Your place in the meeting is only confirmed by paying the registration fee, which is mandatory even when receiving a fee waiver.
The fee waiver will cover the registration sum that you have paid to attend the conference.
The travel grant will cover the cost of travel to an on-site event (airfare, train, bus, taxi, accommodation, and visa) and is provided up to specified caps which are normally as follows:
The organisers may reduce the grant cap to accommodate more participants. Recipients will be notified of their travel cap amount when they are informed of the outcome of their application.
Receipts (and boarding passes for air travel) must be provided via email with your signature for all costs incurred within two months of completion of travel.
There is the possibility to apply for a childcare grant to offset child care costs incurred by participants, speakers, and organisers when attending a conference.
Eligible costs include (but are not limited to) fees for a babysitter or childcare facility, and travel costs for a caregiver. Please note that priority will be given to early stage researchers. You may apply for a childcare grant at the same time when submitting your abstract. There is a limited amount of funding available for the childcare grants and funds will be distributed amongst eligible applicants.
You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your abstract. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.
If you are attending virtually, you can apply for financial assistance in the submission portal by the abstract deadline. Read the instructions on how to apply for financial assistance. Only submissions for financial assistance will be accepted. Presentation abstracts cannot be submitted here and will be declined.
In your application you will be asked to summarise your current work, answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance, and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.
The scientific organisers will select the recipients of registration fee waivers and travel grants during the motivation letter or abstract selection process. Results will be announced approximately 6 – 8 weeks before the event start date, however for some events this may be delayed. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Selection for registration fee waivers and travel grants is based on scientific merit, your current work or study location, the reasons for needing financial support, and the impact this event will have on your career.
Childcare grants will be allocated in the same timeframe (6-8 weeks before the event start date). Please note that priority will be given to early-stage researchers.
Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts (from travel costs) have been received.
View our list of external funding opportunities or refer to the FAQ page.
At our conferences we also offer the option to become an event reporter. By attending the meeting, sharing your insights on social media, and writing a summary report, you can offset the conference fees. Please read the instructions on how to apply.
We can send you a registration confirmation to support your visa procedure (not an official invitation letter) after you have paid the registration fee. Please contact the Conference Officer responsible for your event. For more information, please see here.
If you are travelling to Heidelberg via aeroplane, train, car, or long-distance bus, you can find useful information here.
A list of our partner hotels with rooms blocked for this event will be published on the page soon.
Accommodation is not included in the conference registration fee.
As changes in our events are possible, it is recommended that you book flights, trains, and hotels with flexible options and favourable cancellation conditions.
Invited speakers please be wary of fraudulent ‘hotel services’ contacting you to ask for payments, see our Accommodation Scam Alert for more information.
Please note that as of 1 October 2025, Heidelberg City Council is introducing an overnight stay tax for tourists visiting Heidelberg (including work related trips). The cost will be 3.50 EUR per night for the first five nights of a consecutive stay and will be added to the hotel’s nightly rate. Please contact the individual hotel directly if you have any questions.
These buses are free of charge for participants and depart from designated bus stops near the hotels to EMBL and back, mornings and evenings.
The bus stops for this conference are:
View Conference shuttle bus stops and hotels in a larger map. Please note that some bus stops may not be used for this event.
In addition to the shuttle busses, there is also the public bus 28 that serves the EMBL campus and taxis can be easily booked at any time. For more information, see here.
Address: EMBL, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
For more information about travel and accommodation, please refer to the FAQ page.
Here you will find useful information for when you are onsite at the event.
All meals and coffee breaks as indicated in the programme are included in the registration fee. Our catering staff will prepare a variety of vegetarian meals, meat and fish dishes, soups, pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as a variety of desserts.
Please wear your badge at all times when serving yourself.
No food or drinks are allowed in the auditorium.
Wi-Fi is available on campus using the EMBL-Events network and the event specific password, which will be provided on site. The eduroam network (secure, worldwide roaming access service developed for the international research and education community) is also available.
During the conference, an EMBL Photographer may be taking photos. If you would not like to appear in these, please inform the photographer or at someone the registration desk.
There are lockers available next to the stairs leading down into the Auditorium. You will find some of those equipped with sockets to charge your electronic devices.
In most places the electricity is 220 volts AC (50 cycles). An adaptor and a plug that fits the German socket may be needed for your appliances. A USB charging station for electronic devices is available at the registration desk.
We can help to print your boarding pass/train ticket. Please send it to events@embl.de and collect your printouts at the registration desk.
There are lockers available on-site to store your luggage, which require a 2 EURO coin to operate. There is another luggage room on level E0, which is free to use but remains unlocked during the conference.
Lost and found items are kept at the registration desk until the end of the conference.
If you are interested in purchasing EMBL merchandise (products presented in the glass display in the registration area), please email the EMBL shop to place an order.
Kindly note the EMBL shop is only open upon request and all purchases must be made in cash (Euros only).
There is a nursing room available in the ATC Rooftop Lounge on level A29.
There is a room for prayer, yoga, and meditation, located on level E0 behind the Auditorium. Please be respectful of others using the room.

Please take a moment to read our health and safety policy.
The Heidelberg University Hospital or ‘Universitätsklinikum‘ has a 24 hour accident and emergency facility and is at ‘Im Neuenheimer Feld 672’. It is a 8 km or a 20 minute taxi ride away from EMBL. In a medical emergency, the ambulance service generally transports patients to this hospital.
Please remember to bring your own medication. Note that the next pharmacy is a 4 minute drive from the EMBL, but for many medications you need a prescription.
Ensure in advance that your medical insurance will cover you during your visit in the event that you do need to see a doctor while in Heidelberg.
The EMBL course and conference office team are able to advise you on where to turn for emergency or non-emergency medical treatment in Heidelberg and can assist you in making appointments and/or arranging transport to get to the pharmacy or a doctor of your choice if necessary. Please note, we are not however permitted to personally accompany you off-campus.
A variety of activities in Heidelberg can be found on the website of Heidelberg Marketing.
Access to the event platform is given to all on-site and virtual participants.
You can use the event platform to:
More information about the platform will be shared ahead of the conference.
Additional information can be found in our Code of Conduct.
The programme is planned based on the Europe/Berlin time zone, unless otherwise stated. Please take your time zone into consideration when planning your attendance.
Please find additional information including FAQs, terms and conditions, and travelling to EMBL on our Information for participants page.
Media partners
Genes and Development, a Cold Spring Harbor Journal
Genome Research, a Cold Spring Harbor Journal
International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Open Biology, a Royal Society journal
The EMBO Journal, an EMBO Press journal
Sponsorship opportunities
We offer a variety of event sponsoring possibilities, with the flexibility to select a set sponsorship package or combine individual sponsorship options to suit your event budget. Discounts are available for companies sponsoring multiple events at EMBL Heidelberg. View other conferences, or contact sponsorship@embl.org for further information on sponsoring possibilities.
If you are interested in becoming a media partner of this event, please visit our media partnerships webpage.
EMBL wishes to warn sponsors of EMBL conferences and courses of fraudulent schemes purporting to offer sponsorship opportunities on behalf of EMBL or affiliated with EMBL officials. One current scam campaign of which we are aware is conducted using the name ‘Judy Eastman’ (judy@gopcontact.a2hosted.com) and entails approaches to sponsors offering sponsorship opportunities on EMBL’s behalf. Please be kindly advised that all relevant communication regarding sponsorship of EMBL conferences, symposia and courses is handled by EMBL directly and is sent from an official EMBL account. EMBL does not work with any external providers on sponsorship acquisition.
Please also note that:
Suspicious communications purportedly from, for or on behalf of EMBL should be reported to EMBL at the following email address sponsorship@embl.de.
Date: 25 - 28 Aug 2026
Location: EMBL Heidelberg and Virtual
Venue: EMBL Advanced Training Centre
Deadline(s):
Abstract submission: 25 May 2026
Registration (On-site): 14 Jul 2026
Registration (Virtual): 18 Aug 2026
Organisers:
Contact: Nathalie Sneider