2025 - Ghent
Building on the success of the last five Genetics of Ocular Development (GoOD) Meetings, the 2025 meeting is to be held in the beautiful city of Ghent on 8th-9th September 2025 at Zebrastraat Conference Venue.
The Zebrastraat venue sits on the former site of the Ghent Zoo. Zebrastraat is an iconic building that formerly served as an industrial space and is now hallmarked by a creative and innovative atmosphere. With its blend of industrial charm and modern facilities, the venue offers an inspiring environment for events and gatherings. The blend of historical elements and contemporary architecture makes Zebrastraat a unique location for the GoOD meeting.
The GoOD Meeting 2025 presents a fantastic opportunity for scientists and clinicians involved in the genetic research into eye anomalies, therapeutics and patient care to hear about the developments in the field of ocular genetics, learn of the latest research findings, meet with collaborators, establish new research opportunities and collaborations.
Beyond the meeting, the city of Ghent offers a perfect blend of medieval heritage and vibrant modern culture. Known for its picturesque canals, stunning architecture, and lively atmosphere, the city is home to iconic landmarks such as Gravensteen Castle, St. Bavo’s Cathedral, and the famous Ghent Altarpiece.
Registration
Registration is now available through the Congrezzo Platform. We are continuing to experience issues with our payment provider, please register and you will be contacted regarding your payment. Early bird registration will be open until the 31st of August 2025.
registration fees:
general registration members €180 (€205 after 31/8)
general registration non-members €300 (non-members) (€350 after 31/8)
registration student members: €60 (€85 after 31/8)
registration student non-members €120 (€170 after 31/8)
Networking event: €80
Provisional Programme
Day 1 (Monday September 8th)
09:00 - 09:30 REGISTRATION
09:30 - 09:40 WELCOME prof. Nicky Ragge, prof. Elfride De Baere
09:40 - 11:00 SESSION 1 Frontiers in genetic diagnostics
Dorine Bax Understanding genes and pathways for human eye development: a research journey over 2 decades continues to reveal new genes and pathways
Mara Maftei Enhancing the molecular diagnosis of congenital eye globe defects: Improvements in whole genome screening, novel gene discovery, and zebrafish functional validation.
Bertrand Chesneau Unveiling Ocular Developmental Disorders Through Whole-Genome Sequencing
Anne Slavotinek Whole genome sequencing in patients with microphthalmia, anophthalmia and coloboma (MAC)
11:00 - 11:30 COFFEE BREAK
11:30 – 12:15 GUEST SPEAKER: prof. Elena Semina, Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, USA. Title: Transcription factors in developmental eye disorders: new players and mechanisms
12:15 - 12:45 SESSION 2 Transcription Factors
Solomon Merepa NR6A1 oculo-vertebral-renal syndrome: a multicentre study reveals a broader spectrum of features BioID reveals that NR2E3 mediates transcriptional repression through the AP-1 complex
Edith de Bruycker BioID reveals that NR2E3 mediates transcriptional repression through the AP-1 complex
12:45 – 14:15 LUNCH BREAK
14:15 - 15:30 SESSION 3 Finding nemo: Aquatic models for developmental eye diseases
Anne Slavotinek Single cell RNA-Seq dataset in a zebrafish model of crim1-/- loss of function shows dysregulation of genes involved in cell adhesion and apoptosis
Jesus Jose Ferre Fernandez Loss of gpatch3 function in zebrafish results in eye and facial abnormalities with incomplete penetrance
Rodrigo Young Addressing the function of congenital eye defect-related genes through a CRISPR screen in zebrafish
Munevver Burcu Cicekdal SF3B2-Related Spliceosomopathy: Gain and Loss of Function Variants Cause Divergent Phenotypes of Retinal Degeneration and Craniofacial Malformation
Thomas Naert title to be confirmed
15:30 - 16:00 COFFEE BREAK
16:00 – 16:45 GUEST SPEAKER: prof. Juan Ramón Martínez-Morales, Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, Seville, Spain. Title: Multiome approaches to characterize the architecture of gene specification networks in the developing zebrafish eye
16:45 - END OF SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS
17:30-18:30 – TOUR IN GHENT
19:00 – NETWORKING EVENT
Day 2 (Tuesday September 9th)
09:00 - 09:30 REGISTRATION
09:30 - 10:45 SESSION 1 Cracking the code: Novel genes, mechanisms and technologies
Paola Brandi Intracellular and extracellular microRNA mediated crosstalk in both healthy and diseased retina.
Stijn van de Sompele Single-molecule technologies advance the identification and interpretation of complex non-coding and mosaic structural variants in inherited eye diseases
Anneke Vulto- van Silfhout Bi-allelic loss-of-function variants in POC5 cause a syndromic retinal, endocrine and neuromuscular ciliopathy
Zoeline Mars An RNA Helicase gene associated with predisposition to malignancies is responsible for syndromic retinal dystrophy
Eline Geens, Eline Van Vooren Discovery, replication and characterization of a novel dominantRPE65-related retinopathy due to founder variant p.(E519K) expanding the therapeutic potential
10:45 - 11:15 COFFEE BREAK
11:15 - 12:30 SESSION 2 Back to the clinic: New genotype-phenotype associations
Jacques Michaud Study of the natural history of RARB-related disorders
Richard Holt Loss-of-function variants affecting zinc-finger homeobox 4 (ZFHX4): developmental eye features and zebrafish motor responses
Carolina Ruiz Sanchez Non-canonical splicing variants as genetic cause of Nance-Horan syndrome
Fabiola Ceroni New cases with pathogenic variants in the epigenetic regulatory gene KDM2B highlight its role in developmental eye anomalies
12:30 - 14:00 LUNCH BREAK
14:00 - 14:20 CORPORATE SPONSOR SESSION
14:20 - 14:40 GOOD NETWORK MEETING
14:40 - 15:40 SESSION 3 Solving the unsolved - GoODMatcher
Karthikah Jeganathan SpliceAI identifies and predicts effect of an intronic DOCK6 variant in an individual with structural eye anomalies
Nicolas Chassaing Congenital cataract in three unrelated Individuals explained by CRYBB2 gene conversion.
Sylvain Ernest A Chromosome 9 Tandem Duplication Leading to Gene Fusion Causes Autosomal-Dominant Stellate Maculopathy with Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Elfride de Baere and team title to be confirmed
Jean-Michel Rozet Is Aberrant Post-Translational Modification of eEF1A Involved in the Pathogenesis of Septo-Optic Dysplasia?
15:40 GUEST SPEAKER: prof. Alice Davidson, University College London, UK. Title: TCF4-driven triplet repeat expansion mediated disease: novel mechanistic insights, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches
16:25 END OF MEETING
Abstracts
We welcome abstracts for the 2025 GoOD Meeting, The topics of interest for this meeting include, but are not limited to:
1. New eye development genes - New phenotypes (including new syndromes and undiagnosed cases)
2. Diagnosis (clinical and molecular)
3. Disease models (animal and IPSC-derived optic cups)
4. Therapies.
You can use the form below to submit your abstract, abstracts should be no longer than 2500 characters including spaces. The deadline for abstract submission is July 16th, 2025