Date: 09-10 October 2026
Venue: Megaron International Conference Center in Athens, Greece

Application deadline: Friday 31 July
Please note, space will be granted on a first come, first served basis.

The ESPE Science Symposium aims to promote the development of an interactive network among clinicians and researchers, helping to reduce the gap between research and patient care. It also provides the means to disseminate new scientific knowledge in the community of paediatric endocrinology.

The 6th ESPE Science Symposium is a continuation of the series, and aims to bring together clinical and basic science researchers to offer their expertise on the topic of Growth Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence.

Growth and development constitute the most unique and distinctive features of a child’s life. The phenomenal pace of progress in the past few decades in biological sciences and biology of growth at molecular, cellular and tissue levels, as well as the unravelling of the mechanisms which govern these physical and maturational processes, have contributed significantly to our understanding of the pathophysiology of growth disorders. Molecular genetic techniques have clarified the etiology of several growth disorders. Effective and regulated expression of the growth hormone (GH) pathway is essential for growth in terms of stature as well as metabolic homeostasis. The series of interdependent genes along the GH pathway, whose products are required for normal growth, their cellular receptors, GH related transcription factors and the functioning of the hypothalamic-GH-IGF-I-chondro-osseous axis have all been identified. Genetic abnormalities leading to skeletal dysplasias and metabolic disorders with short stature, have also been recognized. These advances in knowledge have been quickly translated into diagnostic tools, which have made the diagnosis of growth disorders more precise.

The 2026 ESPE Science Symposium aims to provide an overview of the pathophysiology, etiology and metabolic complications of GH insufficiency and insensitivity, as well as an up-to-date guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions.

Find out more about the ESPE Science Symposium.