Speakers

Christof Aigner completed his medical studies in Vienna in 2016. In 2019 he joined the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the Department of Internal Medicine III at the Medical University of Vienna and completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Nephrology in 2023. His clinical and scientific interests lie in the field of rare kidney diseases and especially in complement-mediated kidney diseases on which his current research projects focus.

Prof. Miha Arnol, MD, PhD, is one of the leading experts in nephrology and kidney transplant medicine in Slovenia. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ljubljana in 2000. After completing his Master’s degree in 2002, he continued his clinical training as a resident in internal medicine and then as a fellow in nephrology. In 2007, the last year of his clinical training, he focused on transplant medicine and spent a year as a visiting fellow at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, USA. In 2008, he completed his fellowship and earned his doctorate in biomedical sciences. Today he is Head of the Department of Nephrology and Medical Director of the Centre for Kidney Trans­plant­ation at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana. His research interests include cardiovascular risk reduction in kidney patients, optimization of immunosuppression in transplant recipients and non-invasive clinical and molecular bio­markers of kidney allograft injury.

Georg Böhmig, MD, is an associate professor of medicine at the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Department of Medicine III at Medical University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria. Dr Böhmig is also the coordinator of the Vienna kidney transplant wait list and of ABO and HLA antibody-incompatible kidney transplantation programs, including the Austrian KPD program. He received his medical degree from the University of Vienna and trained at the Vienna Institute of Immunology. He obtained licenses for internal medicine, nephrology, and intensive care medicine at the Medical University of Vienna.

Dr Böhmig’s published works include more than 220 peer-reviewed journal articles with continuous focus on translational research in transplant immunology. Major research interests of his group (VIETAC; Vienna Transplant and Complement Lab) cover diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of antibody-mediated organ allograft rejection. His current projects focus on novel strategies for ex-vivo monitoring of humoral alloresponses and the evaluation of “anti-humoral” treatment strategies, including apheresis (crossmatch conversion, ABO antibody depletion, rejection treatment), proteasome inhibition, and antibodies targeting complement, Interleukin-6 and CD38.

Klemens Budde MD is Deputy Medical Director of the Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, where he holds an endowed professorship for pharmacodynamics on immunosuppression after kidney transplantation since 2006. After receiving his medical degree from Tübingen University, Germany, Dr. Budde completed training in Nephrology at FriedrichAlexander University, Erlangen-Nürnberg and subsequently at the Charité, Humboldt University. Dr. Budde also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Nephrology at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He possesses a board certification in Internal Medicine, in Nephrology and a Certification for Hypertensiology. He is a board member in several commissions of national and international societies.

Professor Budde had received the Hans-U.-Zollinger Research Prize of the German Association for Nephrology in 2004 for outstanding achievement in his field. In 2018 he became working group chair for Medicine and Care of the platform “Lernende Systeme”, Germany´s platform for artificial intelligence.

Prof. Budde’s main research interests include kidney transplantation, eHealth and genetic diseases of the kidney. He is the author or co-author of more than 450 journal articles, and has lectured nationally and internationally on numerous topics in transplantation.

Ivana Dedinska is a professor of internal medicine, and has been working as a nephrologist in University Hospital Martin for over 11 years. She worked as Head of Transplant center which was a part of surgical department for 9 years, and 2 years ago she established a complex nephrology department at University Hospital Martin, which is focused on all aspects of clinical nephrology and which is led by her.

She has been working as a leader in several multicentric analyses, especially in the kidney transplant program and she has participated in several national clinical guidelines. She is a member of the board of European renal association – DESCaRTES working group and she is the current president of the Slovak Transplant Society. In addition to this, she is also a member of the board of Slovak Nephrology Society.

Matthias studied medicine at the University of Zurich and trained in Internal Medicine and Nephrology at the Cantonal Hospital in Frauenfeld and the University Hospital Basel. After completing his clinical education, he had the opportunity to undertake a research fellowship in Vienna under the leadership of Georg Böhmig. Since 2023, he has been pursuing a Master's in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

He is currently working as a senior physician in Transplantation Immunology and Nephrology at the University Hospital Basel and also serves as a visiting scientist at the Medical University of Vienna. His research focuses on the role of natural killer cells in microvascular inflammation, where he collaborates with the VIETAC research group.

Michael Eder studied medicine in Vienna and graduated in 2016. After initial scientific projects at the department of Hepatology, he then joined the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the Medical University of Vienna. In 2023, he finished his clinical training and currently works as nephrologist. His research focus lies on infectious complications after renal transplantations. Within his ongoing PhD, he studies clinical and immunological risk factors for the development of BK Virus associated complications. Recent publications involved correlations between BKV and individual markers of immunosuppression such as Torque Teno Virus and non-invasive strategies to monitor BKV infections including donor-derived cell-free DNA. Currently he is working on a meta-analysis about modifiable risk factors for BKV and on establishing serological markers to further predict the individual risk for Polyomavirus Nephropathies.

M.D. since 2002 and further specialized in Internal Medicine and Nephrology. Currently working as Deputy Head of the Division of Nephrology at the Medical University of Graz. Deputy Dean for Doctoral Studies at the Medical University of Graz since 2020. Member of the Austrian Research Funds (FWF) Curatorium for Clinical Studies II since 2020.

The major research focus is a translational scientific approach in the field of immunologically driven kidney diseases such as glomerulonephritis, diabetes and transplantation. Author of more than 120 peer reviewed papers with a Journal impact factor of 599 from original articles with more than 4000 citations. Reviewer for Journals such as The Lancet, Nature Communications, Journal of Clinical Investi­ga­tion, Kidney International and others. Reviewer for Funding Organisations such as the DFG (Germany), ANR (France) and MRC (UK). Editorial board member (Basic Science) for Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation (NDT), Academic Editor for PLOS One and Frontiers in Immunology. Awards from the Austrian Society of Nephrology, Austrotransplant, German Society of Nephrology, Austrian Society of Allergology and Immunology, Medical University of Graz (Best Researcher 2013) and 2nd best Habilitation in Medicine (Otto-Kraupp-Preis 2012). Hans-U.-Zollinger Award of the German Society of Nephrology (2021).

Dr. Farsad-Alexander Eskandary obtained licences in internal medicine, nephrology and intensive care medicine and is based at the Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. After obtaining his PhD in the Programme for Organfailure, -replacement and Transplantation (PoET) at the Medical University of Vienna, he spent a research fellowship in the group of Prof. Philipp F. Halloran at the Alberta Transplant and Genomics Centre – ATAGC at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

As an active member of the “Vienna Transplant and Complement” – VIETAC group (PI Prof. Georg Böhmig) he is involved in numerous studies on the diagnosis and treatment of ABMR, HLA/ABO-incompatible kidney transplantation and Polyomavirus nephropathy. His research interest lies within the whole spectrum of clinical kidney transplantation.

Prof. Dr. Helmut E. Feucht was born on 28 July 1950 in Altenmarkt, Bavaria, near Passau. School years in Passau. Medical Student from 1970 to 1976 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich. Medical approbation in 1977. Doctoral thesis with experimental work at the Dept. of Nuclear Medicine, LMU in 1977. Post-Doc at the Institute of Immunology from 1978 to 1980. From 1981 to 1999 work at the Medical Clinic Innenstadt, LMU Munich (Assistant, Internist, Nephrologist). Habilitation in 1990, Hermann-und-Lilly-Schilling – Professor­ship 1992 to 1997. From 1982 to 1999 research in Clinical Immunology, leading a small research group at the Institute of Immunology, supported by the Deutsche Forschungs­gemein­schaft. From 2000 to 2015 Head of the Dept. of Organ Transplantation at the Fachklinik in Bad Heilbrunn, near Munich. Retired since 2016.

Manfred Hecking studied music and medicine in Berlin and initially worked as a classical double bass player (full member Munich, then Vienna Philharmonic). After doctorate completion, Hecking enrolled as PhD-student in Maria Sibilia's lab and trained in internal medicine and nephrology at MedUni Vienna. He completed his habilitation, became senior physician and associated professor before joining “Kuratorium for Dialysis and Transplantation” (KfH) as medical director of a large kidney center in Bavaria. In 2024, Manfred Hecking returned to his previous position at MedUni Vienna's nephrology department, however with a successful KfH-MedUni collaboration in the background.

Hecking's clinical research focuses on kidney replacement therapy, particularly fluid management in dialysis patients, post-transplant diabetes and gender differences in kidney disease. Hecking is a board member of the EUDIAL work group from the ERA-EDTA and leads a research group of wide content range and personnel: hd-research.net

1980–1986
Study of Medicine Ruhr-Universität Bochum

1986–1989
St. Johannisstift Paderborn

1989–1991
Zentrum für Innere Medizin der Universitätsklinik Essen

1991–1994
Transplantation Department, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Ma USA

1994–2002
Center of Internal Medicine, Universitätsklinik Essen

since 2002
Chairman Department of Nephrology, Technische Universität München, Klinikum rechts der Isar

Petra Hruba, graduated as PhD. at the Faculty of Sciences at Charles University (study program Plant Physiology) in 1999. Between 1998–2011 worked as a researcher at the Institute of Experimental Botany of The Academy of Sciences in Prague. Since 2011 she is employed at Transplant laboratory of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) in Prague. Her work primarily focuses on molecular and immunological characterization of transplanted kidneys. She has experience with molecular biology techniques, especially with real-time qPCR, whole transcriptome microarray or RNA sequencing analysis, laser captured microdissection, isolation of PBMC or splenocytes and ELISPOT techniques. She was involved in introducing the Molecular Microscope technology (MMDx) at IKEM, which enhances early detection of organ transplant rejection by analyzing thousands of mRNA molecules using microarray and machine learning algorithm. This breakthrough method significantly improves patient outcomes by allowing precise adjustments in immunosuppressive therapy.

Dr. Johannes Kläger is pathologist specialized in nephropathology and uro-pathology at the Medical University of Vienna. He is also member of The Vienna Transplant and Complement Lab (VIETAC Lab). His primary research focus is to integrate histological knowledge with high-plex analysis techniques such as spatial transcriptomics, primarily but not exclusively in the field of kidney transplantation. Currently, he is on a research sabbatical to pursue his Ph.D., focusing on kidney transplant rejection, particularly antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). His research employs the aforementioned techniques to investigate the molecular mechanisms of AMR, with the goal of enhancing the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of this condition.

Johannes Kläger received his MD in 2016, after which he started his residency in general pathology and nephropathology at the Department for Pathology at the Medical University of Vienna. In 2022, he became a consultant.

Katharina Mayer completed her medical studies at the Medical University of Vienna. She was trained in Immunology from 2016 to 2019 at the Institute of Immunology of the Medical University of Vienna. In 2019, Katharina Mayer joined the Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the Department of Internal Medicine III at the Medical University of Vienna. She became a member of the Vienna Transplant and Complement Lab (VIETAC Lab) and her current research projects focus on antibody-mediated kidney transplant rejection.

Milan Raska has completed his Ph.D. at the age of 35 years from Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. He spent his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA at the laboratories of prof. Mestecky and prof. Novak. Dr. Raska is currently a professor of immunology at Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc and University Hospital, Olomouc, Czech Republic. He has published more than 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals, H-index 26. His research is focused on pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy, novel approaches in design of recombinant protein-based and DNA vaccines and on liposome-based delivery systems.

Julie Refardt, MD PhD, is a clinical researcher, working at the department of Endocrinology at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

She studied medicine in Basel, Switzerland and did her MD in the year 2009 at the University of Basel. In 2015 she finished her specialization in internal medicine, followed by her specialization in endocrinology in 2017.

In 2013 she started her career as a clinical researcher in the research team of Prof. Mirjam Christ-Crain, conducting investigator-initiated clinical trials in the field of water sodium disturbances which resulted in several high impact publications in the field of AVP-deficiency and hyponatremia.

In 2019 she decided to broaden her research horizon and spent two years in one of the top European Centers for Neuroendocrine Tumors, the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

After a short stay back in Switzerland, she returned to the Netherlands in 2023, where she obtained her PhD in September 2023 at the Erasmus University and started her work as a staff member and clinical researcher in October 2023 at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam.

With her passion for neuroendocrinology, her research focuses on improving diagnostics and treatment options for patients with neuroendocrine disorders.

Thomas Schachtner received his MD from the Charité Berlin in 2011, and trained in internal medicine and nephrology. From 2011 to 2018 he worked as a clinician at the Charité Campus Virchow-Clinic and as an investigator at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) and Berlin Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT). He joined the University Hospital Zurich in 2018, serving as a consultant nephrologist since 2020 and head of the kidney transplant program since 2023. He completed his Executive MBA at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in 2022.

His research focuses on different areas of transplantation immunology and transplantation nephrology. This includes in particular the investigation of virus-specific and allo-specific T-cell immunity after kidney transplantation, the use of regulatory T-cells to prevent allograft rejection, and the use of modern biomarkers as gene expression profiling in kidney allografts, donor-derived cell-free DNA, and epitope-based HLA matching to characterize phenotypes of allograft rejection.

Vladimir Tesar, graduated from Charles University in Prague in 1982 where he also specialized in nephrology and obtained PhD degree (in 1991). Since 1999 he is a full professor of medicine in the same university. He is currently working as the head of Department of Nephrology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague. His long-term interest is glomerular disease (namely IgA nephropathy, ANCA-positive vasculitis, lupus nephritis, membranous nephropathy and FSGS), ADPKD and cardiovascular complications of renal failure and he co-authored many papers in high-impact journals, namely on these topics. He also served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of ERA-EDTA (2008-2014), member of the Council of ERA-EDTA (2011-2014), chair of the Immunonephrology Working Group of ERA-EDTA (2015-2021) and member of the Executive Committee of ISN. He was also member of the board of 2021 KDIGO Guidelines for Glomerulonephritis

Ondrej Viklicky, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at Charles University, Prague, Head of the Transplant Centre, Head of the Department of Nephrology and the Transplant Laboratory at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague. Medical director of high volume kidney transplant program since 2008. He received specialization in internal medicine and nephrology. He is currently a president of Czech Society for Organ Transplantation and president of Czech Society of Nephrology, former board member of ERA/EDTA Transplantation Working Group (DESCARTES) 2013–2018, board member of Scientific committee of The Transplantation Society 2015–2019, serves as associate editor of Transplant International and Frontiers in Medicine. He organized many international and local symposia on kidney transplantation and nephrology, main editor of 6 books on kidney transplantation/nephrology. His research interest is in molecular pathology and immunology in transplantation. He participates on EU research Frame Projects dealing with tolerance and biomarkers in transplantation (RISET, BIO-DrIM, EUROSTAM, MABSOT, Horizon 2020:TTV GUIDE TX). Published 281 manuscripts indexed in PubMed, SCI 8233, HI 35.

Ivan Zahradka, M.D., graduated in 2016 from the Third School of Medicine, Charles University in Prague. He is a board-certified transplant neph­rolo­gist working at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague, and a PhD student under the supervision of professor Ondřej Viklický. His doctoral research is focused on the impacts of infectious diseases on patients with chronic kidney disease and after kidney transplantation. He is the author of a number of publications related to aspects of the COVID-19 infection and vaccination in kidney transplant recipients, for which he had been awarded several prices in recent years. His main areas of interest are transplant immunology and clinical epidemiology.