2019 CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

2019 CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Prof. Dr. Andrea Ablasser
EPFL, Global Health Institute

Andrea Ablasser obtained her PhD in 2010 from the LMU in Munich. Since 2014 she holds an assistant professorship at the EPFL. The goals of the Ablasser lab is to understand how the cells of our immune system detect the presence of pathogens and to dissect the fundamental mechanisms that provide host defense. The research focuses on the identification of factors involved in the intracellular recognition of pathogen-derived molecular patterns and on the elucidation of the consecutive signaling events. Prof. Ablasser is the recipient of the 2018 National Latsis prize in recognition of her excellent research work on immunity (Ablasser lab page).

 

Prof. Dr. Ernst Hafen
ETH Zurich, Institute for Molecular Systems Biology

Ernst Hafen obtained his PhD from the Biocenter at the University of Basel in 1983. From 1984 to 1986 he worked at the University of California in Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow before joining the University of Zurich as an assistant professor in 1987. He was promoted to full professor in 1997. From 2005 to 2006 he served as president of ETH Zurich. Since 2005 he holds a professorship at the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology at ETH Zurich. (source: www.imsb.ethz.ch).

 

 

 

Prof. Dr. Maria Yazdanbaksh
Leiden University, Department of Parasitology

Maria Yazdanbakhsh is professor in cellular immunology of parasitic infections and is the head of the department of Parasitology at LUMC. She holds visiting professorships at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and University of Hasanudding in Makassar, Indonesia. She is the president of Dutch Society for Parasitology. She is the scientific coordinator of the Leiden Controlled Human Infection Center and the chair of the internationalisation committee of LUMC.

 

 

Dr. Irene Knüsel
Section Head Neuroimmunology at Roche

Irene received her PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Following her postdoctoral training at Caltech (USA) with Mary B. Kennedy, she was junior group leader and principal investigator at the ETH Zurich and Uni. of Zurich, respectively. In 2010 she received the Venia Legendi (PD) from the Medical Faculty of the Uni. of Zurich and was appointed as Assistant Professor in Molecular Neuroscience in 2012. Irene joined Roche NORD DTA in 2013. Since 2016, Irene is heading the new Neuroimmunology section, now including the Neuroimmunology and Neurodegeneration section.

 

 

Dr. Yann Pierson
Founder of Limula Biotech

Yann Pierson was born in Switzerland, and studied biochemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the National University of Singapore. He has received a PhD in chemical biology from the EPFL. Later he developed Limula Biotech’s technology. (source: www.limula-biotech.com)

 

 

 

Dr. Jason Mellad
CEO of Cambridge Epigenetix

Jason is a scientist entrepreneur focused on translating epigenetics research into better patient outcomes. Before joining Cambridge Epigenetix, he served as Business Development Manager at Horizon Discovery and also has extensive experience in the fields of technology transfer, IP management and product innovation consultancy. Jason has a BSc in Molecular Biology and Chemistry from Tulane University and was a Marshall Scholar at the University of Cambridge where he completed a PhD in Medicine. (source: www.cambridge-epigenetix.com)

 

 

Dr. Michela Bertero
Head of International and Scientific Affairs at CRG

Michela Bertero is the Head of International and Scientific Affairs
at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona (Spain).
Prior to joining the CRG, she worked as postdoctoral researcher
in molecular and structural biology at the Gene Center of the
Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich (Germany), and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (Canada), where she focused on the functional and structural characterization of large macromolecular complexes. Michela holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Pavia (Italy), where she studied transcription regulation in bacterial motility. (source: www.vitae.ac.uk)