The European Union’s new SoHO Regulation, which covers blood, tissues and cells, will enter into force in August 2027. This new scenario aims to improve patient and donor safety, foster innovation, harmonize standards across the EU, and will have an impact on all those entities and establishments that retrieve, test, process, preserve, store and distribute human donor tissue for therapeutic application. From this perspective, EEBA 2026 will explore key aspects relating to this new scenario and examine the safety and quality factors required to ensure the provision of safe and effective tissues to clinicians and their patients.

The EEBA 2026 Local Organising Committee encourages you to present your expertise and insight in the field of cornea banking and transplantation and to take advantage of the networking possibilities with international peers and experts in order to advance best practice and facilitate communication between all the different stakeholders involved in corneal transplantation, eye banking and the treatment of ocular surface diseases.

Thursday, 19 March

Main Auditorium

08:30 – 10:00 h.

Workshop: Ocular Tissue Biovigilance

Interactive cases

(limited numbers of participants)Moderators:
Jacinto Sánchez Ibáñez. Tissue Establishment, A Coruña University Hospital, Spain
Juan Álvarez de Toledo Elizalde. Department of Cornea and Anterior Segment Surgery, Oftalvist, Barcelona, Spain

10:00 h.
Coffee Break

10:15 – 11:45 h.
Workshop: Corneal Evaluation

Video & images
(limited numbers of participants)Moderators:
Davide Camposampiero. Veneto Eye Bank Foundation, Venice, Italy
Eva Martínez Conesa. Blood and Tissue Bank of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

09:30 – 11:30 h.
Workshop: Cornea Donation

Interactive cases
(limited numbers of participants)Moderators:
Patricia Dahl. Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, New York, USA
Antón Fernández García. Tissue Establishment, A Coruña University Hospital, Spain

Small Room

12:00 – 13:15 h.
Welcome lunch

13:15 – 13:45 h.
Opening Ceremony
Niels Ehlers Memorial Lecture
Diego Ponzin. Veneto Eye Bank Foundation, Venice, Italy

13:45 – 16:30 h.
Session 1 – SOHO regulation
Moderators: Diego Ponzin and Esteve Trias Adroher

13:45-14:15h.
The implementation of the new EU regulation on Substances of Human

14:15-15:15h.
ECDC SoHO technical Guidelines.

15:15:15:45h.
EDQN technical Guidelines.

15:45-16:15h.
New SoHO Regulation: The perspective of the Competent Authority
Dolores Hernández Maraver. National Transplant Organization, Madrid, Spain

16:15-16:30h.
Questions

16:30 – 18:30 h.

EEBA Committee Meeting
(Closed)

Friday, 20 March

Main Auditorium

09:00 – 11:00 h.
Session 2 – Assuring the quality of ocular grafts
Moderators: Victoria de Rojas Silva and Philip Maier

09:00-09:20h.
Changing trends in keratoplasty from penetrating to lamellar procedures
Victoria de Rojas Silva. Ophtalmology department, A Coruña University Hospital, SpainFree paper presentations

11:00 h.
Coffee break

11:30 – 13:30 h.
Session 3 – The value of eye bank technicians
Moderators: Wessel Vermeulen
11:30-11:50. Key value of eye bank techniciansFree paper presentations

13:30 – 15:00 h.
Lunch

13:45 – 14:30 h.
Symposium

15:00 – 17:00 h.
Session 4 – Strengthening International Collaboration

Moderators: Jesper Hjortdal and Juan Álvarez de Toledo Elizalde

15:00-15:20:
The European Cornea and Cell Transplantation Registry (ECCTR)
David Galarreta Mira. Ophtalmology department, University Hospital Valladolid, Spain

15:20-15:40:
Lessons for eye bankers from the VISICORT Prospective Multi-center Study
Jesper Hjortdal. The Danish Cornea Bank, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, DenmarkFree paper presentations

19:00 h.
Social programme and gala dinner

Saturday, 21 March

Main Auditorium
08:30 – 09:30 h.

EEBA Business Meeting
(Open)

09:30 – 10:45 h.
Session 5 – Amniotic Membrane
Moderators: Marisa Pérez Rodríguez

09:30-10:45:
Amniotic Membrane: A Valuable Resource in the Eye Bank’s Depository
Marisa Pérez Rodríguez. Barcelona Tissue Bank, Banc de Sang i Teixits, Barcelona, Spain

10:45 – 12:00 h.
Session  6 – Novel tissues, techniques, therapies and products
Moderators: Stefano Ferrari and Gilles Thuret

10:45-11:05:
The future of eye Banking
Stefano Ferrari. Veneto Eye Bank Foundation, Venice, ItalyFree paper presentations

12:00 – 12:30 h.
EEBA Closing Ceremony and Awards

12:30 – 14:00 h.
Farewell Lunch

The registration deadline is 10 January 2025 and it is not possible to register on site.

For further information please contact the organiser.