Keynote Speakers 2022 – BSRT Symposium

Confirmed speakers

	Madalena Cipriano, Senior Scientist from Loskill lab \| University Tübingen, Germany Madalena Cipriano is a postdoctoral fellow in the Lab of Peter Loskill. During her Ph.D., Madalena developed stem cell derived long-term hepatic models using several 3D cell culture systems. Madalena’s current research covers the application of Organ-on-a-Chip to pharmaceutical research and the development using the Retina on Chip and the immunocompetent model of the choroid of the eye (Choroid on Chip). Madalena is also involved in activities within the ORCHID project on the training needs of the next generation of scientists and technicians in the Organ-on-a-chip field. She was awarded with a Marie Curie IF in 2018 and will soon start work on a 2-organs-on-a-chip to study the metabolic interaction between the liver and the white adipose tissue in the context of metabolic syndrome and NAFLD.
	Hans Clevers \| Head of pRED, Switzerland Hans Clevers has worked on the role of Wnt signaling in stem cells and cancer. His discoveries include TCF as the nuclear Wnt effector, the role of Wnt in adult stem cell biology and of Wnt pathway mutations in colon cancer, Lgr5 as a marker of multiple novel types of adult stem cells and as receptor for the Wnt-amplifying R-spondins, and –finally- a method to grow ever-expanding mini-organs (‘organoids’) from Lgr5 stem cells derived from a range of healthy or diseased human tissues. This has led to over 750 publications and >90,000 citations He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Dutch Spinoza Award in 2001, the Swiss Louis Jeantet Prize in 2004, the German Meyenburg Cancer Research Award in 2008, the German Ernst Jung-Preis für Medizin in 2011, the French Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (ARC) Léopold Griffuel Prize, the Heineken Prize (2012), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013), the 2015 ISSCR McEwen Award for Innovation and the Academy Professor Prize (2015), and the Körber European Science Prize (2016).
	Matthew Dalby \| University of Glasgow, UK Matthew Dalby is a Professor of Cell Engineering at the School of Molecular Biosciences, University of Glasgow. His research interests are focused on adult stem cell interactions with nanotopography, dynamic (cell responsive) surfaces, 3D hydrogels, and growth factors organizing interfaces. Furthermore, he is interested in stem cells mechanotransduction and metabolomics. He has published over 200 peer review papers in the field of tissue engineering and biomedical engineering.
	Silvia Farè \| Politecnico Milano, Italy Silvia Farè is a Full Professor in Industrial Bioengineering at the Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano. Her main research interests include the synthesis and characterization of synthetic and natural polymer-based scaffolds for tissue engineering (vascular tissue, adipose tissue, skeletal and cardiac muscle, cartilage) and drug release applications; development of polymer matrices for biomimetic composites (bone substitutes); design and characterization of shape memory polymer device and scaffolds for a mini-invasive surgical approach; elastomers for cardiovascular applications. Silvia Farè is the author of more than 100 international and national scientific publications related to biomaterials and regenerative medicine.
	Nikolaos Frangogiannis \| Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, USA Nikolaos Frangogiannis is a high-ranked scientist in the field of cardiovascular fibrosis investigating the role of myocardial inflammation and fibrosis in the context of myocardial infarction and heart failure as well as the functional role of macrophages, fibroblasts and pericytes and importance of extracellular matrix molecules, chemokine and TGF-β signaling. He is a Professor in the Department of Medicine (Cardiology) and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and holds the Edmund J. Safra/Republic National Bank of New York Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine.
	Peter Giannoudis \| University of Leeds, UK Peter Giannoudis is a Professor at the School of Medicine, at the University of Leeds and Honorary Consultant at Leeds General Infirmary. He is the section head of the department and responsible for the clinical trials at Leeds General Infirmary Hospital. His research interests include the immune-inflammatory response following accidental and surgical trauma, biology of mesenchymal stem cells, bone regeneration, bioengineering, and clinical outcomes following fracture fixation. He has published over 600 peer review papers and given more than 250 invited national and international guest lectures and Keynote lectures since 2004.
	Enrique Gómez-Barrena \| Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain Enrique Gómez-Barrena, professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, is a pioneer in regenerative cell therapies. His research group focuses on the application of autologous, expanded, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMMSCs) in osteonecrosis of the femoral head and long bone delayed unions and non-unions. His group has proven the safety and early efficacy of BMMSCs in bone regeneration, paving the way for clinical applications of advanced therapy medicinal products.
	Maria José Gómez Benito \| University of Zaragoza, Spain María José Gómez Benito is Professor at the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Zaragoza. She is part of the research group M2BE (multiscale in mechanical and biological engineering). Her research interests include mechanobiology of regeneration, computational evaluation of prostheses and implants, cell and tissue mechanics and computational modelling of infections.
	Damien Lacroix \| University of Sheffield, UK Damien Lacroix is Professor of Mechanobiology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield and Deputy Director of the INSIGNEO research institute. Damien Lacroix's research covers bone mechanobiology (bone tissue engineering, bone distraction, fracture healing) and spine biomechanics (mechanobiology of disc degeneration, disc angiogenesis, disc implant analysis). The focus of his research group is the study of the effect of mechanical stimuli on biological response. He’s also director and co-founder of “Success in Academia”, a coaching program to help academics to lead their career successfully while achieving a great work-life balance.
	Uwe Marx \| TissUse, Germany Uwe Marx is founder of Tissuse and honorary Professor for Medical Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin. During his successful scientific career, Uwe Marx specialized in the replication of human organ functions in vitro. His leadership of the "Multi-Organ-Chip" development program at the Technical University of Berlin laid the foundation for the subsequent founding of TissUse GmbH. He acted as CEO of TissUse from 2010 to 2020. Marx is also co-founder of two other successful German-based biotechnology companies: ProBioGen AG and VITA 34 AG.
	Søren Paludan Sheikh \| Odense University Hospital, Denmark Søren Paludan Sheikh, professor at University of Southern Denmark and head of the department of clinical microbiology and pharmacology in Odense University Hospital, is a pioneer in regenerative cell therapies. The research focus of his group is the regenerative properties and clinical applications of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), specifically in the area of erectile dysfunction. They standardized the isolation and application procedures of ADSCs and made it possible for future clinical translation of ADSCs.
	Filipe Pereira \| Lund University, Sweden Filipe Pereira is an Associate Professor and Group Leader at the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University in Sweden. During his PhD, he has made his first contributions to the cellular reprogramming field by establishing cell fusion and heterokaryons as a new method to study reprogramming mechanisms towards pluripotency. Then, during his postdoc, he brought cellular reprogramming concepts to hematopoiesis for the first time. His independent research group has already made important observations and pioneered cell fate reprogramming approaches in immunology with induced dendritic cells. This conceptual shift opens exciting opportunities towards merging cellular reprogramming and cancer immunotherapy. The therapeutic potential of these approaches led him to become the co-founder of the spin-off company Asgard Therapeutics AB with support of LU Innovation and LU Holding.
	Sigma Stricker \| Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Sigmar Stricker is a developmental biologist, Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Free University of Berlin. His research group focuses on the development and regeneration of the musculoskeletal system. They aim to decipher the mechanisms governing the specification of mesenchymal tissue types, especially muscle, connective tissue and cartilage during vertebrate limb development. Furthermore, they are interested in the interaction of the different mesenchymal lineages during development of the musculoskeletal system and its aberration in disease. As regenerative processes in many instances are recapitulations of developmental processes, their goal is to transfer the understanding of developmental mechanisms to regenerative situations in order to improve these processes (on the long run).
	Doris Taylor \| RegenMedix Consulting\| Organamet Bio Inc., USA Doris Taylor is a pioneer in cardiovascular regenerative medicine and published scientific breakthrough work in the field of cardiac tissue engineering and stem cell biology, where she and her team developed animal-derived beating hearts via whole-organ decellularization and stem cell injection. Besides being a high-ranked publishing scientist, Doris Taylor is founder of different companies developing cardiovascular repair technologies. Doris Taylor is a Chief Executive Officer at RegenMedix Consulting LLC and Organamet Bio Inc.. Her research is not only of importance in the cardiovascular field, but also paves the way for replacement of other organs such as the kidney or liver.
	Ludovic Vallier \| Berlin Health Institute at Charité, Germany Ludovic Vallier was Professor of Regenerative Medicine affiliated to the department of Surgery and director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre hiPSCs core facility. He recently joined the Berlin Health Institute as Professor for Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies. The main objective of the Vallier Group is to define the molecular mechanisms controlling the transition between pluripotency and the endoderm lineage generating hepatic tissue. For that, they use human pluripotent stem cells (hESCs and hiPSCs) and primary organoids as in vitro model of development to study the interplays between transcriptional networks, epigenetic modifications and cell cycle which ultimately orchestrate the organogenesis of the liver. The resulting knowledge allows the development of culture systems to produce not only hepatic cells in vitro but also pancreatic, hepatic, gut and lung cells. These cells are then used to model diseases or for cell-based therapy applications. The group has a specific focus on metabolic disorders affecting the liver including NAFLD/NASH. Their overall objective is to acquire the basic knowledge necessary for generating a diversity of cell types for clinical applications.
	Sabine Werner \| ETH Zurich, Switzerland Sabine Werner has been Professor of Cell Biology at the ETH Zurich since February 1999. She is currently the vice-chair of the Department of Biology. Her research group focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of cutaneous wound repair and the parallels to cancer, focusing on the roles of growth factors and their downstream signaling pathways in the repair process. For that purpose, they use state- of-the art approaches, including functional genomics and proteomics, 2D and 3D primary cell culture systems, and genetically modified mice. Since 2020, she is also chair of SKINTEGRITY.CH – a collaborative research program, which brings together experts in multiple disciplines with the aim to better understand, diagnose and treat acute and chronic skin defects, inflammatory and fibrotic skin diseases and skin cancer.
	Jamie Facer Childs\| Explorers Dr Jamie Facer-Childs and Justin Packshaw MBE set out to cross the wilderness of Antarctica. Facing the brutal conditions the White Desert throws at one and all, the pair used man-power and the polar winds to cover over 2,000km of frozen, barren, wind-swept terrain to reach the South Pole. In doing so they promote sustainability and the importance of maintaining the planet as they recorded changes in the Antarctic Ice from climate change for ESA. They worked with NASA to provide detailed scientific data on the adaptability of the human body with regular micro sampling of blood in the challenging conditions which will contribute to a growing data on genomics and multiomics. It proved to be a highly exciting and adventurous expedition and a test of fortitude and survival in some of the most hostile conditions found on our planet.

	Madalena Cipriano, Senior Scientist from Loskill lab \| University Tübingen, Germany Madalena Cipriano is a postdoctoral fellow in the Lab of Peter Loskill. During her Ph.D., Madalena developed stem cell derived long-term hepatic models using several 3D cell culture systems. Madalena’s current research covers the application of Organ-on-a-Chip to pharmaceutical research and the development using the Retina on Chip and the immunocompetent model of the choroid of the eye (Choroid on Chip). Madalena is also involved in activities within the ORCHID project on the training needs of the next generation of scientists and technicians in the Organ-on-a-chip field. She was awarded with a Marie Curie IF in 2018 and will soon start work on a 2-organs-on-a-chip to study the metabolic interaction between the liver and the white adipose tissue in the context of metabolic syndrome and NAFLD.
	Hans Clevers \| Head of pRED, Switzerland Hans Clevers has worked on the role of Wnt signaling in stem cells and cancer. His discoveries include TCF as the nuclear Wnt effector, the role of Wnt in adult stem cell biology and of Wnt pathway mutations in colon cancer, Lgr5 as a marker of multiple novel types of adult stem cells and as receptor for the Wnt-amplifying R-spondins, and –finally- a method to grow ever-expanding mini-organs (‘organoids’) from Lgr5 stem cells derived from a range of healthy or diseased human tissues. This has led to over 750 publications and >90,000 citations He is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Dutch Spinoza Award in 2001, the Swiss Louis Jeantet Prize in 2004, the German Meyenburg Cancer Research Award in 2008, the German Ernst Jung-Preis für Medizin in 2011, the French Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer (ARC) Léopold Griffuel Prize, the Heineken Prize (2012), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2013), the 2015 ISSCR McEwen Award for Innovation and the Academy Professor Prize (2015), and the Körber European Science Prize (2016).
	Matthew Dalby \| University of Glasgow, UK Matthew Dalby is a Professor of Cell Engineering at the School of Molecular Biosciences, University of Glasgow. His research interests are focused on adult stem cell interactions with nanotopography, dynamic (cell responsive) surfaces, 3D hydrogels, and growth factors organizing interfaces. Furthermore, he is interested in stem cells mechanotransduction and metabolomics. He has published over 200 peer review papers in the field of tissue engineering and biomedical engineering.
	Silvia Farè \| Politecnico Milano, Italy Silvia Farè is a Full Professor in Industrial Bioengineering at the Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano. Her main research interests include the synthesis and characterization of synthetic and natural polymer-based scaffolds for tissue engineering (vascular tissue, adipose tissue, skeletal and cardiac muscle, cartilage) and drug release applications; development of polymer matrices for biomimetic composites (bone substitutes); design and characterization of shape memory polymer device and scaffolds for a mini-invasive surgical approach; elastomers for cardiovascular applications. Silvia Farè is the author of more than 100 international and national scientific publications related to biomaterials and regenerative medicine.
	Nikolaos Frangogiannis \| Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY, USA Nikolaos Frangogiannis is a high-ranked scientist in the field of cardiovascular fibrosis investigating the role of myocardial inflammation and fibrosis in the context of myocardial infarction and heart failure as well as the functional role of macrophages, fibroblasts and pericytes and importance of extracellular matrix molecules, chemokine and TGF-β signaling. He is a Professor in the Department of Medicine (Cardiology) and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and holds the Edmund J. Safra/Republic National Bank of New York Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine.
	Peter Giannoudis \| University of Leeds, UK Peter Giannoudis is a Professor at the School of Medicine, at the University of Leeds and Honorary Consultant at Leeds General Infirmary. He is the section head of the department and responsible for the clinical trials at Leeds General Infirmary Hospital. His research interests include the immune-inflammatory response following accidental and surgical trauma, biology of mesenchymal stem cells, bone regeneration, bioengineering, and clinical outcomes following fracture fixation. He has published over 600 peer review papers and given more than 250 invited national and international guest lectures and Keynote lectures since 2004.
	Enrique Gómez-Barrena \| Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain Enrique Gómez-Barrena, professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, is a pioneer in regenerative cell therapies. His research group focuses on the application of autologous, expanded, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMMSCs) in osteonecrosis of the femoral head and long bone delayed unions and non-unions. His group has proven the safety and early efficacy of BMMSCs in bone regeneration, paving the way for clinical applications of advanced therapy medicinal products.
	Maria José Gómez Benito \| University of Zaragoza, Spain María José Gómez Benito is Professor at the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Zaragoza. She is part of the research group M2BE (multiscale in mechanical and biological engineering). Her research interests include mechanobiology of regeneration, computational evaluation of prostheses and implants, cell and tissue mechanics and computational modelling of infections.
	Damien Lacroix \| University of Sheffield, UK Damien Lacroix is Professor of Mechanobiology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sheffield and Deputy Director of the INSIGNEO research institute. Damien Lacroix's research covers bone mechanobiology (bone tissue engineering, bone distraction, fracture healing) and spine biomechanics (mechanobiology of disc degeneration, disc angiogenesis, disc implant analysis). The focus of his research group is the study of the effect of mechanical stimuli on biological response. He’s also director and co-founder of “Success in Academia”, a coaching program to help academics to lead their career successfully while achieving a great work-life balance.
	Uwe Marx \| TissUse, Germany Uwe Marx is founder of Tissuse and honorary Professor for Medical Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin. During his successful scientific career, Uwe Marx specialized in the replication of human organ functions in vitro. His leadership of the "Multi-Organ-Chip" development program at the Technical University of Berlin laid the foundation for the subsequent founding of TissUse GmbH. He acted as CEO of TissUse from 2010 to 2020. Marx is also co-founder of two other successful German-based biotechnology companies: ProBioGen AG and VITA 34 AG.
	Søren Paludan Sheikh \| Odense University Hospital, Denmark Søren Paludan Sheikh, professor at University of Southern Denmark and head of the department of clinical microbiology and pharmacology in Odense University Hospital, is a pioneer in regenerative cell therapies. The research focus of his group is the regenerative properties and clinical applications of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), specifically in the area of erectile dysfunction. They standardized the isolation and application procedures of ADSCs and made it possible for future clinical translation of ADSCs.
	Filipe Pereira \| Lund University, Sweden Filipe Pereira is an Associate Professor and Group Leader at the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University in Sweden. During his PhD, he has made his first contributions to the cellular reprogramming field by establishing cell fusion and heterokaryons as a new method to study reprogramming mechanisms towards pluripotency. Then, during his postdoc, he brought cellular reprogramming concepts to hematopoiesis for the first time. His independent research group has already made important observations and pioneered cell fate reprogramming approaches in immunology with induced dendritic cells. This conceptual shift opens exciting opportunities towards merging cellular reprogramming and cancer immunotherapy. The therapeutic potential of these approaches led him to become the co-founder of the spin-off company Asgard Therapeutics AB with support of LU Innovation and LU Holding.
	Sigma Stricker \| Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Sigmar Stricker is a developmental biologist, Professor of Biochemistry and Genetics at the Free University of Berlin. His research group focuses on the development and regeneration of the musculoskeletal system. They aim to decipher the mechanisms governing the specification of mesenchymal tissue types, especially muscle, connective tissue and cartilage during vertebrate limb development. Furthermore, they are interested in the interaction of the different mesenchymal lineages during development of the musculoskeletal system and its aberration in disease. As regenerative processes in many instances are recapitulations of developmental processes, their goal is to transfer the understanding of developmental mechanisms to regenerative situations in order to improve these processes (on the long run).
	Doris Taylor \| RegenMedix Consulting\| Organamet Bio Inc., USA Doris Taylor is a pioneer in cardiovascular regenerative medicine and published scientific breakthrough work in the field of cardiac tissue engineering and stem cell biology, where she and her team developed animal-derived beating hearts via whole-organ decellularization and stem cell injection. Besides being a high-ranked publishing scientist, Doris Taylor is founder of different companies developing cardiovascular repair technologies. Doris Taylor is a Chief Executive Officer at RegenMedix Consulting LLC and Organamet Bio Inc.. Her research is not only of importance in the cardiovascular field, but also paves the way for replacement of other organs such as the kidney or liver.
	Ludovic Vallier \| Berlin Health Institute at Charité, Germany Ludovic Vallier was Professor of Regenerative Medicine affiliated to the department of Surgery and director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre hiPSCs core facility. He recently joined the Berlin Health Institute as Professor for Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies. The main objective of the Vallier Group is to define the molecular mechanisms controlling the transition between pluripotency and the endoderm lineage generating hepatic tissue. For that, they use human pluripotent stem cells (hESCs and hiPSCs) and primary organoids as in vitro model of development to study the interplays between transcriptional networks, epigenetic modifications and cell cycle which ultimately orchestrate the organogenesis of the liver. The resulting knowledge allows the development of culture systems to produce not only hepatic cells in vitro but also pancreatic, hepatic, gut and lung cells. These cells are then used to model diseases or for cell-based therapy applications. The group has a specific focus on metabolic disorders affecting the liver including NAFLD/NASH. Their overall objective is to acquire the basic knowledge necessary for generating a diversity of cell types for clinical applications.
	Sabine Werner \| ETH Zurich, Switzerland Sabine Werner has been Professor of Cell Biology at the ETH Zurich since February 1999. She is currently the vice-chair of the Department of Biology. Her research group focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of cutaneous wound repair and the parallels to cancer, focusing on the roles of growth factors and their downstream signaling pathways in the repair process. For that purpose, they use state- of-the art approaches, including functional genomics and proteomics, 2D and 3D primary cell culture systems, and genetically modified mice. Since 2020, she is also chair of SKINTEGRITY.CH – a collaborative research program, which brings together experts in multiple disciplines with the aim to better understand, diagnose and treat acute and chronic skin defects, inflammatory and fibrotic skin diseases and skin cancer.
	Jamie Facer Childs\| Explorers Dr Jamie Facer-Childs and Justin Packshaw MBE set out to cross the wilderness of Antarctica. Facing the brutal conditions the White Desert throws at one and all, the pair used man-power and the polar winds to cover over 2,000km of frozen, barren, wind-swept terrain to reach the South Pole. In doing so they promote sustainability and the importance of maintaining the planet as they recorded changes in the Antarctic Ice from climate change for ESA. They worked with NASA to provide detailed scientific data on the adaptability of the human body with regular micro sampling of blood in the challenging conditions which will contribute to a growing data on genomics and multiomics. It proved to be a highly exciting and adventurous expedition and a test of fortitude and survival in some of the most hostile conditions found on our planet.