The Lymphatic Forum 2025 (LF2025) is the sixth iteration of this biennial event that brings together researchers from around the world to present and discuss studies of lymphatics in health and disease.

The meeting has been organized by Tsutomu Kume, Northwestern University, Jan Kitajewski and Hyun Min Jung, University of Illinois at Chicago.

Abstracts are due March 17, 2025 – Click here to submit your abstract.

Registration Rates

Early Bird Discount ends April 14, 2025

NAVBO and LE&RN* Regular Members $550USD
NAVBO Trainees and LE&RN* Students and Postdocs $400USD
Non-Members $700USD
Faculty at Northwestern or University of Illinois, Chicago $450USD
Trainees* at Northwestern or University of Illinois, Chicago $350USD

*LE&RN members will need to enter a promocode in order to receive the member discounts. This promocode will be provided to you by LE&RN. Contact [email protected] to get your code.

Regular Rates apply from April 15 through June 10, 2025 (after June 10, onsite registration only)

NAVBO and LE&RN Regular Members $600USD
NAVBO Trainees and LE&RN Students and Postdocs $450USD
Non-Members $750USD
Faculty at Northwestern or University of Illinois, Chicago $500USD
Trainees* at Northwestern or University of Illinois, Chicago $400USD

Onsite registrations will be charged an additional $50 per person.

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations must be in writing. Cancellations received by May 15 will receive a refund less $100 processing fees. No refunds after May 15.

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Conference Hotel –

Please book your room at the conference’s hotel:
DoubleTree by Hilton Chicago – Magnificent Mile
300 E. Ohio St.
Chicago, IL 60611
Hotel Website

Rooms have been reserved for our attendees from June 11 to June 14 (three nights).The rate is $259 a night plus taxes and fees for single, double, triple and quadruple occupancy.  Rooms have two queen beds.

If you wish to extend your stay, you can add up to three nights at the conference rate if rooms are available.  Sorry, there are no rooms available prior to the meeting.

Make your reservations by May 11, 2025 – after this date, unreserved rooms will be released to the public and our group rate is no longer available.

The hotel’s cancellation policy: no penalty if cancelled more than 72 hours prior to arrival; within the 72 hours, there is a one night room and tax penalty fee.

Lymphatic Forum 2025 – Preliminary Program 

Day 1 – Thursday, June 12 
8:20-8:30am  Welcome Remarks: Tsutomu Kume, Northwestern University
8:30-12:00pm  Plenary Session 1 – Lymphatics Development and Differentiation Chair: Hyun-Min Jung, University of Illinois, Chicago
8:30-9:00am Novel insights into lymphatic-associated organs and cells from the zebrafish Brant Weinstein (NICHD/NIH)
9:00-9:30am Mechanisms of lymphatic vascular specialization Tatiana Petrova (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
9:30-10:00am Developmental evolution and plasticity of lymphatic endothelial cells Ben Hogan (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia)
10:00-10:30am Coffee Break
10:30-11:00am Mapping chromatin landscape and regulatory logic behind lymphatic endothelial cell differentiation Kaska Koltowska (Uppsala University, Sweden)
11:00-11:30am A novel neuro-lymphatic communication regulates lymphatic development and function Xiaolei Liu (Temple University)
11:30am-12:00pm Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
12:00-1:30pm Lunch (on your own) For Trainees: Career Development Round Table – Learning networking skills ($10 pre-registration required/includes lunch)
1:30-5:00pm  Plenary Session 2 – Lymphatic Fluid Regulation Chair: Tsutomu Kume, Northwestern University
1:30-2:00pm Unraveling the meningeal lymphatics and their connections for cerebrospinal fluid drainage Gou Young Koh (KAIST, South Korea)
2:00-2:30pm High resolution in vivo imaging of cerebrospinal fluid clearance to lymphatics Steven Proulx (University of Bern, Switzerland)
2:30-3:00pm Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
3:00-3:30pm Break
3:30-4:00pm Unique properties of lymphatic muscle cells enable spontaneous, phasic contractions Michael Davis (University of Missouri)
4:00-4:30pm The function of TSC protein in lymphatics Ying Yang (University of South Florida)
4:30-5:00pm Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
5:30-7:30pm Welcome Dinner
7:30-9:30pm Poster Presentation 1
Day 2 – Friday, June 13
8:30am-12:00pm  Plenary Session 3 – Lymphatic-Immune Crosstalk Chair: TBD
8:30-9:00am TBD Melody Swartz (University of Chicago)
9:00-9:30am T cell responses to lymph node metastasis Nathan E. Reticker-Flynn (Stanford University)
9:30-10:00am Navigating immunity: Leukocyte-lymphatic crosstalk Cornelia Halin Winter (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
10:00-10:30am Coffee Break
10:30-11:00am  Lymphatic drainage from the intestine Gwendalyn J. Randolph (Washington University)
11:00-11:30am Regulation of lymphatic function during acute lung injury Hasina Outtz Reed (Weill Cornell)
11:30am-12:00pm  Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
12:00-1:30pm Lunch (on your own) For Trainees: Career Development Round Table – Managing Your Career ($10 pre-registration required/includes lunch)
1:30-4:50pm  Plenary Session 4 – Lymphatics in Metabolism Chair: Guillermo Oliver, Northwestern University
1:30-2:00pm Ameliorating metabolic syndrome: Foxc2 as novel target Hong Chen (Harvard Medical School)
2:00-2:30pm Assessment of lymphatic function for early detection of cardiovascular disease risk in humans Catherine Martel (Montreal Heart Institute, Canada)
2:30-3:00pm Mechanisms of lymphatic growth and specialization Michael Potente (Berlin Institute of Health, Germany)
3:00-3:20pm Break
3:20-3:50pm Collecting lymphatic vessel dysfunction in obesity and dyslipidemia Jorge Castorena-Gonzalez (Tulane University)
3:50-4:20pm TBD Susan Quaggin (Northwestern University)
4:20-4:50pm Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
4:50-5:00pm Break
5:00-6:30pm  Plenary Session 5 – Unsolved Issues and Gaps in Lymphatic Disease Chair: Carrie Shawber, Columbia University
5:00-5:20pm TBD Stanley Rockson (Stanford University)
5:20-5:40pm Podoplanin hetero-insufficiency mice with inflammation in the jejunum demonstrates a good animal model of congenital protein-losing enteropathy with lymphangioectasia  Toshio Ohashi (Shinshu University, Japan)
5:40-6:00pm Management of lymphatic anomalies: development of novel therapies and challenges June Wu (Columbia University)
6:00-6:30pm Panel Discussion among above speakers
6:30-8:00pm Dinner (on your own)
8:00-10:00pm Poster Presentation 2
Day 3 – Saturday, June 14
8:15-9:15am Young Investigator Session Chairs: Two Postdocs will be chosen from applications Four short talks from selected trainee abstracts will be presented
9:15am-12:00pm Concurrent Session 1 (Disease-oriented)
Lymphatic Disease Detection, Therapeutic Innovations, Clinical Trials Chair: June Wu, Columbia University Lymphatic Malformation and Pathobiology and Clinical Trials Chair: Luisa Iruela-Arispe, Northwestern Univ
9:15-9:45am Gaps in the current diagnosis, treatment, and control of Lymphatic Filariasis, a human tropical parasite Ramaswamy Kalyanasundaram (UIC) Lymphatic anomalies: From genes and pathophysiology towards therapeutic trials Miikka Vikkula (UCLouvain, Belgium)
9:45-10:15am Surgical management of lymphedema David Chang (University of Chicago) Proteostasis defects downstream of PI3K hyperactivation in lymphatic anomalies; A novel therapeutic target Carrie Shawber (Columbia University)
10:15-10:45am Leveraging biomaterials to improve lymphatic formation and function in lymphedema J. Brandon Dixon (Georgia Tech) Medical management of lymphatic anomalies (Clinical trials and future trials) Denise Adams (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)
10:45-11:00am Coffee Break
11:00-11:30am Diagnosis of lymphatic disease with MR lymphangiography Andreas Loening (Stanford University) A single-cell atlas of normal and KRASG12D-malformed lymphatic vessels Michael Dellinger (UT Southwestern)
11:30am-12:00pm Intestinal lymph interactions in metabolic control Natalie Trevaskis (Monash University, Australia) Cerebral venous blood flow regulates brain clearance via meningeal lymphatics Stéphanie Lenck (Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital)
12:00-12:30pm Short Talks (from selected abstracts) Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
12:30-2:00pm Lunch (on your own)
2:00-4:45pm Concurrent Session 2 (Disease-oriented)
Lymphatics, Cancer, and Metastasis Chair: Jan Kitajewski, UIC Lymphatic Dysfunction in Human Diseases Chair: Stanley Rockson, Stanford University
2:00-2:30pm Aging-induced changes in lymphatic system function Timothy Padera (Harvard Medical School) TBD Natasza Kurpios (Cornell University)
2:30-3:00pm Cell migration in lymph node mimicking microenvironments Susan Thomas (Georgia Tech) New insight about the functional roles of lymphatics in cardiac growth and repair Guillermo Oliver (Northwestern University)
3:00-3:30pm Tumor microenvironmental dynamics driving local and systemic T cell responses Dennis Jones (Boston University) Phenotyping and genotyping of primary lymphatic anomalies Pia Ostergaard (St George’s University)
3:30-3:45pm Coffee Break
3:45-4:15pm Microphysiological systems for lymphatic and cancer research Esak Lee (Cornell University) Genomics informs precision medicine for individuals with lymphatic anomalies Sarah Sheppard (NIH)
4:15-4:45pm Short Talks (from selected abstracts) Short Talks (from selected abstracts)
4:45-5:00pm Poster Award Presentations Closing Remarks

Lymphatic Forum Sponsors

Funding for this conference was made possible (in part) by 1R13HL168860 from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention by trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.