WELCOME MESSAGE

Dear Members of the ECA Community, Colleagues, and Friends,

Welcome to the official website for the 2025 European Cytogenomics Conference, which will take place at KU Leuven, 29 June to 1 July 2025. This is the most important event of the ECA, when we get together every two years. As President of the ECA, it is both my honor and privilege to invite you to join us in Leuven.

The conference aims to bridge the fundamental knowledge of classical cytogenetics with the most recent technical innovations, such as the massive, high-fidelity sequencing.

We are introducing an interesting addition to the conference format. On the morning of the first day, we are planning to hold two or three hands-on workshops, that will cover optical mapping and sequencing technologies. Participation in these workshops will be limited to allow for a more interactive and practical experience. Further details will appear on this website.

There will also be a workshop on the new version of the ISCN during the conference.

There are diverse sessions during the conference on the latest research, such as, on the relationship between disease and structural variation and disease and nuclear organisation. These are, of course, in addition to the regular features on the up-to-date developments in Clinical Cytogenomics, Cancer Genomics, Prenatal Diagnosis, Animal and Plant Cytogenomics etc. The details of the program and names of the invited speakers will soon appear on this website.

The conference aims to promote exchange of ideas and experiences; we invite all of you to submit abstracts of your research as posters. Some of these will be selected for oral presentations in the various conference sessions or for short, focused presentations in the Permanent Working Groups, providing a unique opportunity to discuss your research. The aim is to foster new collaborations and strengthen connections within our community.

We are are very pleased to host the congress at KU Leuven, an institution that has stood at the forefront of European academia for six centuries. Incidentally, KU Leuven will be celebrating its 600th anniversary in 2025; the celebrations will be taking place in various forms throughout the year. A good time to visit Leuven!

I look forward to welcoming you in Leuven,

Mariano Rocchi
President of the E.C.A.