Plenary speakers

Michel is the co-founder and CEO of Medscopix, a company specializing in neuroimaging data analysis for preclinical and medical research. With a background in medicine, neuroscience, and engineering, Michel brings over 20 years of expertise in neuroimaging, data analysis, and machine learning. His career spans leadership roles in academia and industry, including postdoctoral research at King’s College London and systems engineering in aeronautics. Passionate about accelerating drug development, Michel is committed to providing cutting-edge data solutions to pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers.

Provesional talk title: Optimizing Neuroimaging Pipelines for Enhanced Translational Insights.

michel.mesquita@lmdatascience.com

Dave is a bioimage analyst with over 15 years’ experience of developing algorithms and open-source software in life science research. After completing his undergraduate studies in Electronic Engineering at University College Dublin (2004), Dave did his PhD at the Dublin Institute of Technology (now TU Dublin) with Dr Gwilym Williams, using image analysis to relate the morphology of filamentous microbes to their metabolite yield in fermentations (2010). He then spent six years as a post-doc in the lab of Dr Michael Way at the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute (which became part of the Francis Crick Institute in 2015), where he used live cell imaging and developed software to analyse cellular and sub-cellular processes. Since 2017, Dave has worked as a dedicated image analyst at the Francis Crick Institute and is now Deputy Head of the Crick Advanced Light Microscopy Science Technology Platform.

Provisional title: Reproducibility in Biomedical Research through Image Analysis

David.Barry@crick.ac.uk

Began her academic journey in Madrid, Spain, earning a Licenciatura in Psychology in 2013, followed by an MSc in Clinical Neuroscience in 2014. During this time, she honed her theoretical and technical neuroscience skills through internships in various preclinical laboratories across psychology, biology, and medicine.

In 2013, she pursued a PhD in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Liège (Belgium), specializing in positron emission tomography (PET). Throughout her PhD, she worked on the validation and translatability of different radiotracers, including the synaptic density marker [18F]UCB-H. After successfully defending her PhD in 2019, she joined King’s College London (KCL) as a Research Assistant and later progressed to Research Fellow at the BRAIN Centre (Preclinical Neuroimaging Department).

During these years, her research focused on the development and validation of various neuroimaging biomarkers for different neurological disorders, integrating techniques such as PET, MRI, and EEG. Currently, she teaches in multiple modules of the MSc in Neuroscience and Mental Health at King’s College London and serves as Module Coordinator for the BSc in Psychology at the University of London.

Title of talk: Current analysis methods in preclinical PET: an overview.

maria.serrano_navacerrada@kcl.ac.uk

My PhD and postdoctoral research involved multi-modal imaging of tumor vasculature in various mouse models of cancer, with a focus on contrast-enhanced MRI. I then switched tracks and joined the BRAIN Centre at King’s College London, where I develop acquisition protocols and analysis pipelines for preclinical neuroimaging data.

Title of talk: Imaging transcriptomics of genetically altered mouse models of brain disorders.

Józef Dulak, PhD, DSc,  professor and head of the Department of Medical Biotechnology at the Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University.

Prof. Dulak conducts research on molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases and genetic neuromuscular diseases, including Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy. He investigates the function of muscle stem – satellite cells, and applies induced pluripotent stem cells and CRISPR/Cas gene editing for disease modelling and therapy. He and his co-workers have been instrumental in discovery of the mechanisms of regulation of angiogenesis by nitric oxide; role of transcription factor Nrf2 and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in tissue injury, angiogenesis and other repair processes; role of HO-1 and microRNAs in differentiation of muscle satellite cells; role of HO-1 in development of rhabdomyosarcoma and recently in elucidation of  new mechanisms of muscle repair and modulation of the course of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Full member of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of Academia Europaea. Doctor honorius causa  of the University of Orléans, France (2012); Vice-chairman of the Committee of Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (from 2020-203 and 2024-2027). Post-doctoral fellow at Free University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1991), University in Muenster, Germany (1994) and Stanford University, USA (1996/7) and research fellow at the University of Innsbruck, Medical Faculty, Austria (1999-2001). In 2024 he was the laureate of the STEM Impact Award of the Fulbright Commission at the Senator Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Specialized Research Centre of the University of Washington in Seattle. Invited speaker at international conferences and at foreign and domestic scientific institutions, visiting professor of the University of Orleans (2009, 2013) and Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (2010). In 2013-2020, the coordinator of the International Associated Laboratory (LIA) of the Jagiellonian University and CBM CNRS in Orleans. President of the European Vascular Biology Organization (EVBO) – 2013-2017.

He is the co-author of more than 270 papers, the co-inventor of one patent,   his works have been cited > 13,000; among 2% of the most cited world scientists.

Email: jozef.dulak@uj.edu.pl
Web: https://zbm.wbbib.uj.edu.pl/en_GB/

Prof. Gabriela Kania, PhD, MD is a distinguished scientist specializing in connective tissue diseases, particularly systemic sclerosis and the cardiological aspects of rheumatic disorders. She leads a research group at the Center of Experimental Rheumatology, part of the Department of Rheumatology at the University Hospital Zurich and the University of Zurich.

She obtained her Master’s degree from Jagiellonian University and earned a PhD at the National Research Institute of Animal Production in Kraków. She continued her scientific career at the University of Zurich, where she completed her habilitation and was awarded a professorship in medicine, focusing on cardiology and rheumatology.

Prof. Kania manages research projects, leads a scientific team, collaborates with industry, secures funding, and oversees compliance with biosafety and animal research regulations. She organizes the Wagi Lunch Seminar, Day of Schlieren Research, and the BME683 PhD course. Additionally, she serves on the PhD Biomedicine Program Commission (UZH/ETH Zurich). She has supervised seven postdoctoral researchers, nine PhD students, seven MSc students, three medical doctoral students, and four technicians. She also represents the University Hospital Zurich in the Campus Council Schlieren within the Life-Science Campus Schlieren.

She is an active member of several prestigious scientific organizations, including ZIHP and the Swiss Stem Cell Network, and serves as a reviewer for leading journals such as Circulation and Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. Her scientific contributions include over 130 publications, cited more than 5,000 times. She has received numerous awards, including the HUMAIN Award and the Cardiovascular Biology Prize.

Her research focuses on inflammatory and fibrotic mechanisms in the cardiovascular system and skin, using both animal and human models. She leads scientific projects, secures research funding, ensures compliance with biosafety and research ethics regulations, and actively collaborates with the pharmaceutical industry.

Prof. Dr. Judith Sluimer earned her PhD from Maastricht University in 2008, investigating hypoxia in atherosclerosis under Prof. Mat Daemen’s guidance. She then joined Prof. Ira Tabas’s lab at Columbia University as a post-doc, delving into macrophage apoptosis and autophagy, funded by organizations like the Netherlands Scientific Organisation (NWO) and the International Atherosclerosis Society (IAS).

She establishing her independent research line in 2010, securing the NWO Veni grant and a tenure track at Maastricht UMC+.  Judith and her team aim to reverse vascular aging and atherosclerotic plaque destabilization by understanding inflammatory and fibrotic cellular mechanisms. Her group’s diverse collaborations have yielded significant insights into vascular cell heterogeneity, supported by grants and fellowships from organizations like a Dutch Heart foundation personal fellowship, NWO VIDI, Marie Curie and a Humboldt fellowship. She actively engages in global research collaborations, contributing to projects like the Leducq grant scheme and affiliations with University of Edinburgh and RWTH Aachen.

In addition to research, teaching and mentoring, Judith has organized major scientific events and holds key roles in academic societies, serving as treasurer for the European Vascular Biology Organization, and contributing to ESC’s basic research council, and editorial boards of Cardiovascular Research and Vascular Pharmacology.

Biosketch – Research Professor Jonathan Arias

Jonathan Arias is a leading researcher in genome editing and regenerative medicine, currently serving as a Principal Investigator and Group Leader at the VU LSC-EMBL Partnership Institute for Genome Editing Technologies, Vilnius University Life Science Center. He earned his MSc from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, in 2013, followed by a PhD in Biostudies from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2018.

His academic career includes research positions at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine and Karolinska Institutet. He later joined the University of Oslo as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Scientia Postdoctoral Fellow. His work has significantly contributed to gene editing, with three granted patents and multiple high-impact publications.

Dr. Jonathan Arias has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, with a strong focus on gene editing, regenerative medicine, and stem cell research. His work has been widely cited, reflecting its impact on the field. His research on CRISPR-based genome editing and human pluripotency has provided critical insights into the development of complex cell models.

Prof. Przemysław Blyszczuk, PhD, MD is a distinguished scientist specializing in molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, with a particular focus on the heart. He leads a research group at the Center of Experimental Rheumatology at the University Hospital Zurich and holds a professorship at the Department of Clinical Immunology, Jagiellonian University Medical College.

He earned his Master’s degree in Molecular Biology from Jagiellonian University and obtained his PhD from Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. He completed his habilitation at the University of Zurich and was awarded the title of Professor of Medical Sciences in 2023 by the President of Poland.

His research focuses on the pathogenesis of myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy, and immunofibrotic diseases of the lungs and skin. He leads scientific projects, supervises a research team consisting of two postdoctoral fellows, five PhD students, and two technicians, and collaborates with the pharmaceutical industry. He has received numerous research grants funded by the Swiss Heart Foundation, the National Science Centre Poland, and the Medical Research Agency.

Prof. Blyszczuk is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific publications and a recipient of the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award for outstanding habilitation. He serves as an expert for the National Science Centre Poland and as a grant reviewer for the Austrian Science Fund and the Dutch Arthritis Society. His research has been cited over 4,200 times, with an h-index of 32.

Tomasz Kamiński is a group leader at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw. His research focuses on the development of microfluidic technologies for ultrahigh-throughput screening and single-cell genomics. After earning his degree in biotechnology from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in 2010, Tomasz completed his Ph.D. in the research group of Prof. Piotr Garstecki at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. Between 2018 and 2020, he was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Florian Hollfelder’s group at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, UK. In 2020, he returned to Poland to establish his own research group.

He is the co-author of 36 research articles and 4 book chapters, as well as the co-inventor of 13 patents and 17 patent applications. Dr. Kamiński is a co-founder of Evoralis, a Cambridge-based spin-off, where he currently serves as a scientific advisor. Previously, he worked for several years as a consultant for Scope Fluidics and Curiosity Diagnostics. Tomasz has received numerous prestigious awards for his research and entrepreneurial achievements, including the START Fellowship from the Foundation for Polish Science, the ETIUDA Doctoral Scholarship from the National Science Centre, inclusion in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in the Science and Healthcare category, and the Scholarship for Outstanding Young Scientists awarded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland.

Philippe is a neuropharmacologist with a longstanding expertise in proteomics. He is the leader of the “Neuroproteomics and Signalling of Brain Disorders” team at the Institute of Functional Genomics (IGF) of Montpellier (France) since 2005. This team (around 20 people) investigates neuronal signalling mechanisms engaged by various serotonergic receptors and their role in the regulation of mood, cognition, pain and neuronal survival, using state-of-the-art proteomics approaches combined with cell biology, electrophysiology and behavioural studies. Since 2021, Philippe is the director of the IGF, a multidisciplinary institute devoted to studying cell communications, which hosts 23 research teams and around 350 people. He is the author of 146 publications and four patents (h index = 65).

Séverine, a specialist in neuroproteomics, works at the Institute of Functional Genomics in Montpellier. For the past 16 years, she has been an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montpellier. She completed her PhD in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Montpellier. Afterward, she trained as a postdoc in electrophysiology at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK. She then moved to the University of California, Los Angeles, before returning to France. Her current research focuses on the neurodevelopmental roles of the serotonin 5-HT6 receptor, particularly its function in the primary cilium of neurons and astrocytes.

Maciej is a pharmacologist in the Department of Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz. With over 10 years of experience in the field, he has gained expertise at institutions such as the Scripps Research Institute, FL, USA, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TN, USA and University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Maciej’s research interests are in the pathophysiology of intestinal tract disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases. He is also interested in the regulation of G protein signaling in the gut, including RGS proteins and their effect on opioid, cannabinoid as well as serotonin receptor cascades.

Maciej Salaga is the Chair of Young Academy of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Natalia is a behavioral neuroscientist in the Department of Behavioral Neurosciences and Drug Development at Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences. With over 10 years of experience in the field, she has gained expertise at institutions such as Philipps-Universität Marburg and the University of Catania. Natalia graduated from Jagiellonian University Medical College, where she completed her PhD on traumatic stress and classical conditioning in mouse models. Her current research focuses on cognition, rat operant learning models of decision-making and motivation.