The 5th International Symposium on Photopharmacology (ISPP2026) took place from April 8 to 10, 2026, at the Domaine du Lazaret in Sète.
The symposium was chaired and organized by Prof. Olalla Vazquez (University of Marburg, Germany) and Dr. Cyril Goudet (IGF, Montpellier, France), with the support of the local organizing committee composed of IGF members: Fanny Malhaire, Anne Pontier, Laura Tournois, Laurent Givalois, and Guillaume Lebon.
On this occasion, more than 180 scientists from 17 countries gathered to present and discuss photopharmacology, an emerging scientific discipline aimed at controlling endogenous biological mechanisms with high precision using photo-controllable ligands. Topics ranging from chemistry to neurobiology, including cancer biology and cardiology, were addressed during the 30 oral presentations, including 6 plenary lectures delivered by Professors Amadeu Llebaria (Spain), Dirk Trauner (USA), Andrea Rentmeister (Germany), Céline Frochot (France), Weiping Wang (Hong Kong), and Wiktor Szymanski (Netherlands), as well as more than 110 posters.
View the program and all abstracts
The IGF was represented by Dr. Charleine Zussy in the team Neuroproteomics and signalling of brain disorders, who presented her groundbreaking work on the application of photopharmacology to Alzheimer’s disease, and by Laura Tournois, a second-year PhD student in the team Molecular and Structural Mechanisms of Neuromodulation , who received the poster award in the “Brain, diseases, and photopharmacology” category, as voted by the speakers, for her work exploring the role of the mGlu5 receptor in inflammatory pain.
The scientific discussions were extremely enriching throughout the three days of the symposium, taking place in a friendly and constructive atmosphere, from which many new ideas for projects and collaborations will emerge, making this event a success!
The next symposium will take place in Dresden, Germany, in 2028.
