2026 Golden Helix Summer School, Rion, Patras, Greece

“Polypharmacy and Personalized Medicine”
21-23 May 2026

University of Patras, Department of Pharmacy, Rion, Patras, Greece

We are pleased to announce the 2026 Golden Helix Summer School that will be held University of Patras, Department of Pharmacy, Rion, Patras, Greece. The 2026 Golden Helix Summer School will be organized in May 2026 and the theme of the Summer School will be “Polypharmacy and Personalized Medicine” and will revolve around the impact of genomics on polypharmacy, and also Pharmacogenomics, Genome informatics, Public Health Pharmacogenomics and economic evaluation in genome-guided interventions.

Also, as with previous events, we have included in the scientific program of this 2026 Golden Helix Summer school a career development and interactive sessions and workshops, where members of the Faculty will engage into lively discussions with the summer school participants about issues related to career advancement and key topics related to the theme of this meeting, respectively.
We have made every effort to minimize the registration fees to encourage participation of researchers from lower-income countries.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Greece next May and to a very fruitful and stimulating conference.

The 2026 Golden Helix Summer School Organizing Committee

Organized by:

The Golden Helix Foundation, University of Patras, SafePolyMed

Under the auspices of:

More information about the venue comming soon…

Organizing Committee

George P. PATRINOS, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece

Christina MITROPOULOU, The Golden Helix Foundation, London, UK

Faculty and Moderators

Maria Georgiadou, University of Ioannina, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technology, Ioannina, Greece

Spyridon Papakostas, International University of Greece, Department of Science and Technology, Thessaloniki, Greece

Sonja Pavlovic, Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia

Alexandra Sarma, Orange Grove, Athens, Greece

Ron H. van Schaik, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Anna Tsironi, University of Patras, Depaartment of Pharmacy, Patras, Greece

Konstantinos Vasileiou, University of Patras, Depaartment of Pharmacy, Patras, Greece

George Vasilopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Thursday 21 May 2026

11:00 – 14:30 Arrival and Registration

14:30 – 17:00 SESSION 1 – Genome-guided therapeutics 

Moderator: George P. Patrinos

14:30 – 15:00 Welcome addresses

George P. Patrinos – Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, & University of Patras Department of Pharmacy, Patras, Greece

14:00 – 15:00 Introductions by faculty and participants: Introduce the participant next-to-you 

15:00 – 15:15 Overview of the 2026 Golden Helix Summer School: Objectives, course structure

15:15 – 16:00 Keynote Lecture 1 Ron H. van Schaik

Clinical implementation of PGx: The Erasmus MC paradigm

16:00 – 17:00 Workshop 1 – George P. Patrinos – Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, & University of Patras Department of Pharmacy, Patras, Greece, Editor-In-Chief, The Pharmacogenomics Journal (Nature Publishing Group)

Compiling a scientific article: Practical and ethical implications from an author’s, reviewer’s and Editor-in-Chief’s perspective

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Friday 22 May 2026 

10:00 – 12:30 SESSION 2 – Polypharmacy and innovative therapeutics 

Moderator: Spiros Papakostas

10:00 – 10:30 Βio ΙΤ

10:30 – 11:00 Bridging the gap between Bioinformatics and Genomic Medicine: How do we do this? Study design – basic science Maria Georgiadou 

11:00 – 11:30 Anna Tsironi, Researcher, University of Patras Department of Pharmacy, Patras, Greece

Study design: Clinical genomic science and the example of the EmPaSafe study on genomics and polypharmacy

11:30 – 12:30 Workshop 2 – Conference presentations (oral and poster) 

George P. Patrinos

12:30 – 14:00 Break

14:00 – 14:30 iGEM Patras

Chronic pain and Synthetic biology

14:30 – 15:30 Workshop 3 – Technology Transfer

14:30 – 15:00 Alexandra Sarma, Orange Grove, Patras, Greece

Lecture title TBC

15:30 – 16:30 Grant writing 

Build a career in science and industry

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Saturday 23 May 2026

10:00 – 12:00 SESSION 3 – Translational genomics and polypharmacy 

Moderator: Maria Georgiadou 

10:00 – 10:30: George P. Patrinos

Establishing collaboration and seeking training abroad

10:30 – 11:15 Workshop 4 Career development Building a career in genomic medicine

George P. Patrinos (Moderator), Sonja Pavlovic, George Vasilopoulos

11:15 – 12:00 Christina Mitropoulou – The Golden Helix Foundation, London, UK

Economic evaluation in genome-guided therapeutic interventions

12:00 – 12:15 Summer school conclusions

Meeting adjourns

We thank the following academic, charitable and corporate entities for generously supporting this event.

Grand sponsor

Gold sponsors

Sponsors

Communication sponsors