The 16th International Symposium on DNA Damage Response & Human Disease (isDDRHD-2025)

The 16th International Symposium on DNA Damage Response & Human Disease (isDDRHD-2025) was held in Qingdao, China (October 17-20, 2025). The meeting assembled approximately 250 participants and featured 39 invited speakers from many countries. Scientific sessions covered the topics of mechanistic understanding and conceptual advances in the areas of the DNA damage response (DDR), genome stability, replication stress and chromatin organization, structural elucidation of repair machineries, as well as RNA-related genome maintenance. Presentations also addressed how dysregulation of DDR pathways drives human pathologies, including cancer, neuropathies and gonad development, and discussed how to target DDR pathways for therapeutic development. In addition to oral presentations, poster sessions and discussions at café-breaks and off-sessions provided further information exchanges in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, which promoted interactions between early-career and established scientists.