9.00 – 9.45

Registration and coffee

Session 1

Welcome and Introduction
Chairs: Magdalena Grce and Drago Prgomet

9.45 – 10.00

Presentation of the EpiC-HNCC project funded by the Croatian Science Foundation
Magdalena Grce, PhD, Senior Scientist, Head, Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Bacteriology, Division of Molecular Medicine, Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI), Zagreb, Croatia

10.00 – 10.20

Clinical aspect of head and neck cancer
Drago Prgomet, Prof, PhD, MD, Head, Clinic for ear, nose and throat diseases and head and neck surgery, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Session 2

Plenary lectures on epigenetics in head and neck cancer
Chairs: Ruth Tachezy and Zdenko Herceg

10.25 – 11.25

Epigenome deregulation in head and neck cancer: the hypothesis of  a viral origin
Zdenko Herceg, PhD, Head, Epigenetics Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization, Lyon, France

11.30 – 12.30

Can miRNAs be used as a biomarkers for head and neck cancers?
Ruth Tachezy, RNDr, PhD, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

12.30 – 14.30

Lunch break, coffee and poster viewing

Session 3

Short lectures on epigenetic findings
Chairs: Nina Milutin Gašperov and Ivan Sabol

14.30 – 14.50

Next generation sequencing of small RNA in head and neck cancer.
Ivan Sabol, PhD, Research Associate, Laboratory of  Molecular Virology and Bacteriology, Division of Molecular Medicine, RBI, Zagreb, Croatia

14.55 – 15.15

DNA methylation profiling in head and neck cancer
Nina Milutin Gašperov, PhD, Research Associate, Laboratory of  Molecular Virology and Bacteriology, Division of Molecular Medicine, RBI, Zagreb, Croatia

15.15 – 15.40

Coffee break

Session 4

Short lectures on clinical implications of epigenetics
Chairs: Emil Dediol and Ksenija Božinović

15.40 – 16.00

Clinical implications of epigenetic findings in head and neck cancer diagnosis and patient follow-up
Emil Dediol, PhD, MD, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery, University Hospital Dubrava, Zagreb, Croatia

16.05 – 16.25

Immunology background and epigenetics of head and neck cancer
Ksenija Božinović, Mag Mol Biol, PhD Student, Laboratory of  Molecular Virology and Bacteriology,  Division of Molecular Medicine, RBI, Zagreb, Croatia

Session 5

Panel Discussion
Chairs: Zdenko Herceg, Ruth Tachezy, Drago Prgomet and Magdalena Grce

16.25 – 17.10

Final discussion and concluding remarks