Collen-Francqui Chair 24-25 : Prof. dr. Pierre Coulie
Pierre Coulie is emeritus full professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université catholique de Louvain.
He obtained his medical degree in 1982 from the UCLouvain. He then joined the de Duve Institute under the mentorship of the immunologist Professor Jacques Van Snick, producing the first B cell hybridomas in Belgium. In 1989 he joined the group of Professor Thierry Boon.
Coulie is a pioneer in the discovery of cancer antigens. He found the first human tumor antigen encoded by a mutated gene, a class of antigens now referred to as neoepitopes. His group discovered melanoma-associated antigens, known as MAGE antigens, with Melan-A/MART-1 as the most immunogenic. Focusing then on the immunological analyses of melanoma patients vaccinated with MAGE antigens, he found that even in those patients who benefited clinically from peptide vaccines the antivaccine T cell responses were surprisingly weak. However they were accompanied by much stronger responses against tumor-specific antigens absent from the vaccine. This ‘antigen-spreading’ has since been observed in most clinical settings of tumor-specific active or passive immunizations. It became a key element of the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy but also a confounding factor for its immunological monitoring.
In 2019 Professor Pierre Coulie became the President of the Académie Royale de Médecine de Belgique. Since 2016 he chairs the Board of Directors at the Stichting tegen Kanker - Fondation contre le Cancer.
https://www.francquifoundation.be/
Inaugural lecture
The inaugural speech will take place on Wednesday 5 March 2025 at 4 p.m. in auditorium B - Andreas Vesalius on the Heymans site campus, block A (Fac. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ottergemsesteenweg 460, 9000 Ghent).
Cancer immunotherapy: from dreams to first clinical successes and more to come
Program
16:00 - 17:30: Inaugural lecture
→ Welcome speech by Prof. Dr. Jan Van Bocxlaer, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
→ Introduction by Prof. Dr. Stefaan De Smedt, Department of Pharmaceutics
→ Inaugural lecture by Prof. Dr. Pierre Coulie
→ Presentation of the UGent medal
17:30 - 19:00: Reception
A visual summary
Photography: Koenraad Van Heuverswyn
Planned lectures
Cancer vaccines and cancer immunotherapy are the themes of the series of lectures.
The lectures will be bundled into sessions that deal with 1. the potential of tumor antigens in cancer immunotherapy, 2. the causes of the sometimes failed immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer and 3. cell therapy for cancer treatment. A symposium on cancer vaccines will follow in the fall of 2025.
→ Inaugural lecture: Cancer immunotherapy: from dreams to first clinical successes and more to come.
March 5, 2025: 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. auditorium B - Andreas Vesalius - Block A - Fac. Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University
Presentation Inaugural Lecture
→ Session 1: On tumor antigens to be used for cancer immunotherapy.
March 26, 2025: 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. Room -1.11 - Pharmacy - Block B - Fac. Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University
Presentation Session 1
→ Session 2: Reasons for failures in cancer immunotherapy.
April 2, 2025: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Room -1.11 – Pharmacy – Block B – Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University
→Session 3: Cellular immunotherapy against cancer.
April 23, 2025: 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Room -1.11 – Pharmacy – Block B – Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University
October 20, 2025: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Room -1.11 – Pharmacy – Block B – Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University
Everyone is welcome. For more information, contact prof. dr. Stefaan De Smedt (email: Stefaan.Desmedt@ugent.be).
Program Symposium on Cancer Vaccines (20/10/2025)
Organizers: dr. Ine Lentacker, dr. Rein Verbeke, Prof. Dmitri Krysko, Prof. Stefaan De Smedt
Cancer vaccines : where do we come from?
Collen-Francqui Chair 2025 – Prof . Pierre Coulie
Antigen Discovery
9.15 a.m. - 10.30 a.m.
- T-cell epitope prediction and immunomonitoring using artificial intelligence
Pieter Meysman- UA - Immunopeptidomics for cancer antigen discovery
Francis Impens - VIB-UGent - Single-Cell Analysis During Checkpoint Immunotherapy to Reveal the Tumor Antigen Landscape Driving Treatment response and Advance Cancer Vaccine Development
Diether Lambrechts - KULeuven
|
Coffee break 10.30 a.m. - 11 a.m. |
Antigen Presentation
11 a.m. - 11.50 a.m.
- An mRNA as a toolbox for patient-tailored vaccine development
Karine Breckpot -VUB - Dendritic cells armed with ferroptotic tumor lysates
Dmitri Krysko -UGent
Role of myeloid cells in antitumor immunity
11.50 a.m. - 1.30 p.m.
- The different flavours of the tumor-associated macrophage
Jo Van Ginderachter -VIB-VUB
|
Lunch 12.15 p.m. - 1 p.m. |
- Navigating the Complexities of Cancer Cell Diversity and Adaptability
Chris Marine -KULeuven
mRNA cancer vaccines
1.30 p.m. - 2.45 p.m.
- Decoding the adjuvants activity of mRNA-based lipid nanoparticle vaccins, how do DCs recognise them?
Sophie Janssen - VIB-UGent - Galsomes-NEO cancer vaccine platform
(GRGN - UGent) - Ongoing mRNA vaccination projects at UA
Eva Lion - UA
|
Coffee break 2.45 p.m. - 3.30 p.m. |
Clinical trials with cancer vaccines
3.30 p.m. - 4.45 p.m.
- Mutant IDH-directed immunotherapies in Glioma
Lukas Bunse (German Cancer Research Center)
- mRNA-modified dendritic cell therapy program at UZ Gent: from bench to bedside and back.
Karim Vermaelen (UZGent)
- Forward outlook to cancer vaccination
Collen-Francqui Chair 2025 – Prof . Pierre Coulie
|
Reception from 5 p.m. |
