OMICs Methodology course

Date

Saturday, 19 September 2026 (08:30 – 16:30)

Venue

Sava Center congress venue MR 15 room (subject to change), Belgrade, Serbia

Registration

Number of applicants: limited to 25 participants

Registration fee: EUR 175.00 – include:

• Lunch on course day
• Coffee breaks

Registration for the course will be possible through the congress registration link.

Workshop: OMICs Methodology in Pediatric Rheumatology

FACULTY

Prof. Alexandre Belot - Hospices Civils de Lyon, France

Dr. Maud Tusseau - Hospices Civils de Lyon, France

Prof. Petter Brodin - Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Prof. Dusan Bogunovic – Columbia University, USA
 

Key Design Principles

• Interactivity: Each session includes discussion, Q&A, or hands-on elements to engage participants.

• Expertise Balance: Faculty lead sessions aligned with their specialties, ensuring depth and relevance.

• Practical Focus: Emphasis on real-world applications, case studies, and trainee-led discussions to reinforce learning.

Learning objectives 

• Understand and apply key OMICs approaches—including genomic, immunologic, and microbiota analyses—to investigate pediatric rheumatic diseases,

• Develop practical skills in data interpretation and functional validation, such as identifying pathogenic variants, designing functional assays, and analyzing immunological readouts relevant to translational research.

• Critically evaluate complex biological mechanisms—such as penetrance, expressivity, microbiota–immune interactions, and hormonal influences—and integrate these concepts into clinical or research problemsolving.

Preliminary Course Program (subject to change)

09:00 – 09:30: Welcome & Introduction

• Objective: Set the stage, introduce faculty and participants, outline workshop goals.

• Format: Brief presentations

09:30 – 10:30: Genetic Sequencing & Rare Variants

• Topics:

  • Overview of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in pediatric rheumatology, from targeted panels to exome/genome sequencing

  • Variant interpretation: how to identify disease-causing variants (ACMG/AMP, clinical, segregation, functional and population data)

• Format: Lecture A. BELOT/ M. TUSSEAU (30 min) + "Find the gene" workshop session in 3 groups - 30 min.

10:30 – 10:45: Coffee Break
 

10:45 – 12:00: Expressivity, Penetrance, and Inheritance

• Topics:

  • Genetic expressivity and penetrance in pediatric rheumatic diseases. - D BOGUNOVIC

  • Patterns of inheritance: monogenic vs. polygenic contributions.

  • Case examples from autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases

• Format: Interactive lecture with audience polling or Q&A.

12:00 - 13:00: Lunch Break
 

13:00 - 14:15: Functional Assays & Immunology Testing

• Topics:

  • Designing functional assays to validate genetic findings – A. BELOT & D. BOGUNOVIC

  • Immunological testing: flow cytometry, cytokine profiling, omics as a tool to understand diseases – P. BRODIN

• Format: Lecture (30 min) + Hands-on demo or data interpretation exercise (45 min).

14:15 – 15:15: Microbiota & Hormones in Immune Development

• Topics:

  • Role of microbiota in immune system maturation and disease.

  • Hormonal influences on immune responses in Human

  • OMICs approaches to study microbiota-immune interactions.

• Format: Lecture P. BRODIN (20 min) + group discussion on recent literature (40 min).

15:15 – 15:30: Coffee Break
 

15:30 – 16:15: Integrative OMICs & Future Directions

• Topics:

  • Combining genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.

  • Challenges and opportunities in translational OMICs research.

  • Open discussion: trainee research ideas and faculty feedback.

• Format: Panel discussion (ALL) with all faculty.

16:15 – 16:30: Wrap-up & Closing Remarks

• Objective: Summarize key takeaways, suggestions for future workshop.

• Format: Open floor for final questions, feedback forms.