From 2–6 February 2026, ORGESTRA fellows, partners and associate partners gathered at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon for School 2: Filling the Drug Development Pipeline.
The programme combined molecular disease mechanisms, high-throughput screening, RNA therapies, drug delivery, and viral vector design, alongside wet lab and computational training.
The scientific programme featured contributions from Margarida Amaral, Luka Clarke, André Maia, Hugo Botelho, Gimano Amatngalim, Roos Masereeuw, Catherine Bell, Filipa Ferreira, Mykaella Mestre, António Pombinho, Rik Gijsbers, Jenny van Asbeck-van der Wijst, Alessandra Bragonzi, and Tracey MacCauley. Sessions spanned cystic fibrosis molecular mechanisms and premature termination codon biology, high-content screening and statistical analysis of image-based drug discovery data, drug safety and delivery strategies, RNA therapeutics, viral vector design, and patient–researcher partnerships in rare diseases.
A central component of the school was hands-on high-throughput screening training. Fellows participated in wet lab sessions focused on sample handling and automated image acquisition, followed by IT labs using CellProfiler for segmentation and quantitative analysis of image-based drug screening data, led by Hugo Botelho.
The school also hosted work package meetings and the ORGESTRA Mid-Term Review, providing fellows the opportunity to present their research progress and receive structured feedback from partners and the REA Project Officer.
The week concluded with presentation awards recognising scientific communication and creativity:
🏆 Best Poster Award – Mark Leahy
🎥 Best Video Award – Aurora Licaj
