S4L Cafés
The S4L Cafés are an attractive meeting place for new and established scientists from our S4L community. Typically, a S4L Café hosts two presentations with speakers from different backgrounds, presenting and discussing their latest research on related scientific topics.
The goal is to promote community building among the more fundamental and technology-oriented researchers of Utrecht Life Sciences, and to inspire each other with examples of ongoing research and technologies. Participants come from the whole S4L community, ranging from the Faculties of Science and Veterinary Medicine, UMCU, Princess Maxima Centre and the Hubrecht Institute. The science part is followed by drinks & bites, so S4L Cafés are inspiring and fun to attend!
Upcoming S4L Cafés
Monday, September 28, 2026
Advances in Human-Relevant Animal-Free Biomedical Translational Research
Daniela Salvatori Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and OMBION Center for Animal-free Biomedical Translation
Sam van Beuningen AI and Automation for Cellular Disease Models, UMCU
Sacha Spelier Beekman Lab, Regenerative Medicine Utrecht, UMCU
16:00 to 17:30 hrs. (incl. drinks) David de Wiedgebouw, M2.01
Free entry by registration, please register here
Monday, November 9, 2026
Fungal Biodiversity: the good ones and the bad ones
Han Wösten Institute for Environmental Biology, Fdaculty of Science
Wieland Meyer Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute
16:00 to 17:30 hrs. (incl. drinks) David de Wiedgebouw, M2.01
Free entry by registration, please register here
Past events:
Remodeling after damage: plant cell walls and vertebrate limbs
Leo Otsuki Hubrecht Institute
Nora Gigli Biscegli Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science
Frontiers of neuroscience: from molecular signatures towards circuits and behaviour
Kimberly Siletti Department of Translational Neuroscience, UMCU
Emmanual Marquez Legorett Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Faculty of Science
Epigenetic regulation in plants and animals
Tuncay Baubec, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Faculty of Science
Jason Gardiner, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science
Beyond the canonical: microproteins and the spatial logic of translation
Joana Silva, Center for Molecular Medicine, UMCU
Sebastiaan van Heesch, Princess Máxima Center
Host defence against bacteria: molecular mechanisms of immunity and antibiotics
Suzan Rooijakkers Bacterial Infections & Immunity, University Medical Centre Utrecht
Markus Weingarth Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science
Ies Nijman: High performance computing for fundamental life sciences
Utrecht Sequencing Facility (USEQ), Bioinformatic Facility (UBEC) and High Performance Compute Facility, Center for Molecular Medicine, X-omics, University Medical Center Utrecht
Carlo Vermeulen: Intraoperative sequencing: classifying brain tumors in 90 minutes
Center for Molecular Medicine, De Ridder group, University Medical Center Utrecht
Monday, March 24, 2025
Theory and engineering of living systems
Joost de Graaf, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Science
Riccardo Levato, Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht and Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Monday, January 13, 2025
Lost in translation: from ribosomal structure to developmental importance
Suzan Ruijtenberg, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Faculty of Science
Friedrich Förster, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science
Monday September 23, 2024
Under attack: host-pathogen interactions in (zombie)ants and humans
Charissa de Bekker, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science
Karin Strijbis, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Monday, June 3, 2024
Pan-genomes to uncover host adaptation in plant and animal pathogens
Michael Seidl, Microbial Genome Evolution Team, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Faculty of Science
Aldert Zomer, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Monday, March 25, 2024
In vivo and in vitro models to study neurodegenerative diseases
Tessa Sinnige, Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research, Faculty of Science
Paula Perez Pardo, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science
Monday September 18, 2023
Cellular dynamics, quantitative imaging and organoids for cancer treatment
Anne Rios, Princess Máxima Centre for Pediatric Oncology
Saskia Suijkerbuijk, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Faculty of Science
June 19, 2023
Modeling and AI for the Life Sciences
Monica Garcia Gomez, Theoretical Biology, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Faculty of Science
Sanne Abeln, AI Technology for Life, Dept. of Information and Computing Sciences, Faculty of Science
April 17, 2023
Regulators and intruders of intercellular communication by Extracellular Vesicles
Frederik Verweij, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Fac. of Science
Esther Nolte-‘t Hoen, Dept. Biomolecular Health Sciences, Fac. of Veterinary Medicine
March 6, 2023
The sense(ing) of oxygen in plants and fabricated mammalian tissues
Daan Weits, Institute of Environmental Biology
Mylene de Ruijter, UMCU, Dept. of Orthopedics
June 13, 2022
Brain functioning: cellular dynamics and quantum consciousness
Corette Wierenga, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity
Cristiane de Morais Smith, Institute for Theoretical Physics
March 28, 2022
Mitosis
Geert Kops, Hubrecht Institute
Susanne Lens, UMCU
January 24, 2022 (online)
Wonders of the Microbiome
Aletta Kraneveld, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences
Ronnie de Jonge, Institute of Environmental Biology
September 20, 2021 (online)
Epithelial cell polarisation and specialization in C. elegans
Mike Boxem, Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity, Utrecht University
Signalling dynamics in the control of embryonic development and tissue homeostasis
Katharina Sonnen, Hubrecht Institute
May 31, 2021 (online)
Gene Expression Dynamics
Marvin Tanenbaum, Hubrecht Institute
Corona Viruses in Humans and Animals
Raoul de Groot, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
March 29, 2021 (online)
Unravelling metabolic dependencies in cancer and autoimmunity
Celia Berkers, Faculties of Science and Veterinary Medicine
Ribosomal profiling in single cells
Alexander van Oudenaarden, Hubrecht Institute