2026 Keynote Speakers 

 Dr. Vivek Thacker  from Ruprecht-Karls-University in Heidelberg 

The Thacker Lab combines infectious disease research, immunology, bioengineering, and systems biology to study chronic infections. Using human organ-on-chip and organoid models, together with animal models, advanced microscopy, and spatial omics, the lab investigates how pathogens interact with host tissues and develops new therapeutic strategies.

A major research focus is tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The lab aims to understand how this slow-growing bacterium adapts to the lung microenvironment during the earliest stages of infection and how these interactions influence disease progression.

Their research integrates engineered human tissue models with animal studies in an iterative approach, allowing discoveries made in organoids to be validated in vivo while improving the models themselves. One key finding, published in 2023, showed that virulent M. tuberculosis forms highly organized supracellular cords whose mechanical properties help the bacteria resist deformation and exert forces on host cells and tissues, revealing an important link between tuberculosis pathogenesis and mechanobiology

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