SLAS Europe 2026 Draws Record 1,500+ Delegates as Lab Automation and AI-Driven Drug Discovery Take Center Stage
核心洞察
The seventh SLAS (搜索) Europe conference in Vienna exceeded 1,500 delegates from over 30 countries, featuring 137 exhibitors and 12 start-ups on Innovation AveNEW.
Keynote speaker Willem Mulder highlighted nanotechnology-based treatments using apolipoprotein scaffolds to target immune cells, with applications in cancer and immune-mediated diseases.
New Product Award winners included Bionomous (搜索)' Sortivo for NAMs workflows, Cube Biotech (搜索)'s PlateX MP for membrane protein purification, and nNano AG (搜索)'s CERTUS RIVO liquid handling platform.
The seventh SLAS (搜索) Europe Conference and Exhibition, held this May at the Vienna Congress & Convention Center in Austria, surpassed all previous attendance records by drawing more than 1,500 registrants from over 30 countries. The three-day event, organized by the Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening, featured 137 exhibitors and delivered on its "limitless" theme through a packed program of scientific sessions, product launches, and industry collaborations.
The opening keynote by Willem Mulder, Ph.D., Professor of Precision Medicine at Eindhoven University of Technology and Radboud University Medical Center, drew standing-room-only crowds. Mulder discussed the potential of nanotechnology-based treatments to complement existing immunotherapies, outlining how apolipoproteins — proteins involved in lipid transport — can be used as scaffolds for engineering nanomedicines capable of targeting specific immune cell populations and delivering sustained therapeutic effects, with applications across cancer and immune-mediated diseases.
Product Launches and New Product Awards
The exhibition floor served as a launchpad for multiple new technologies. Omega Bio-tek (搜索) introduced two kits: the PS6399 Mag-Bind Blood & Saliva DNA LSP Kit for high-throughput DNA extraction, and the Mag-Bind Total RNA Xpress Kit for rapid RNA purification. Bionomous (搜索) launched Sortivo, an automated platform for screening, sorting, and plating complex biological entities such as zebrafish embryos and organoids, supporting broader adoption of New Approach Methodologies through routine and reproducible workflows. Cenevo introduced Mosaic AI Inventory Search, a natural language interface enabling users to search inventory data using plain-language descriptions. Lutèce Dynamics completed the first commercial installation of its VertX label-free live microscopy module at William Morey General Hospital in Chalon-sur-Saône, France.
The SLAS (搜索) Europe 2026 New Product Award recognized three standout innovations. Bionomous (搜索) won for Sortivo, an automated large-particle sorter integrating an entire workflow into a single benchtop system. Cube Biotech (搜索) was honored for its PlateX MP Strep-Tactin XT MagBeads, an automated platform delivering analytical-grade membrane protein samples in approximately two hours. nNano AG (搜索) received recognition for its CERTUS RIVO system, a contactless multi-channel liquid handling platform for nanoliter-to-microliter volumes designed to improve accuracy, speed, and reagent handling.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Several strategic partnerships were announced during the conference. Cerillo Bio (搜索) and Hamilton Company (搜索) revealed a collaboration combining Hamilton's liquid handling and automation systems with Cerillo's Rayo series microplate readers, Canopy wireless data transfer platform, and Co-Culture Duet system. Collaborative Drug Discovery (搜索) announced a partnership with Lilly TuneLab (搜索) to make Lilly AI/ML models available within CDD Vault, expanding access to predictive modeling tools for drug discovery. PulpFixin, the conference's official Sustainability Sponsor, detailed its partnership with Micronic to advance sustainable sample storage solutions, integrating PulpFixin's AutoRack sustainable rack system with Micronic's storage technologies.
Innovation AveNEW and Ignite Award
The Innovation AveNEW initiative showcased 12 emerging companies, including 8-BOT Robotics, Chemetrian, Culturon, DaltonTx, Ensynble, Linkdlab, Lutèce Dynamics, PartitionBio, Scalables, Sync Biosystems, Syntopia, and Trince (搜索). The SLAS (搜索) Ignite Award, judged on marketing plan, market presence, funding prospects, and growth strategy, was awarded to Trince for LumiPor, a photoporation platform that provides an alternative intracellular delivery technology for research and clinical applications.
Scientific Program Highlights
The conference program centered on three tracks: Advances in Drug Discovery, Advances in Laboratory Automation, and Screening Applications and Diagnostics. Emre Guney, Chief Technology Officer at STALICA (搜索), presented on drug repurposing and systems pharmacology, exploring computational approaches to identify new uses for existing compounds and reduce development timelines. A session on building infrastructure for translational research highlighted the importance of high-quality biological samples and robust sample management systems, including biobanking, traceability, and scalable storage. Fernando Ramon-Olayo, Director of In Vitro Pharmacology at the Servier Institute for Therapeutic Innovation (搜索), focused on improving physiological relevance through advances in 3D cultures, organoids, and integrated assay platforms.
From these sessions, three key themes emerged: repurposing as a more efficient route to accelerate development timelines, reproducibility supported by automation ensuring consistency at scale, and increasing regulatory emphasis on relevance to ensure models better reflect real therapeutic contexts.
Sustainability Recognition
SLAS (搜索) Europe 2026 was awarded the City of Vienna Green Meeting Certificate, recognizing events that are environmentally friendly and sustainably organized. The conference also featured PulpFixin as its official Sustainability Sponsor.
Looking Ahead
SLAS (搜索) will host European Regional Meet-Ups in Leiden, Netherlands on 10 September and in Tübingen, Germany on 20 October. The flagship SLAS2027 International Conference & Exhibition will take place in San Diego, California, from 30 January to 3 February 2027, with abstract submissions and Innovation AveNEW applications now being accepted. SLAS Europe 2027 will return to Hamburg, Germany, from 25–27 May 2027.