These are the biographies of some of our accepted speakers.  Not all our speakers are listed here

Chair Persons

Johanna Buschmann, University Hospital Zurich, Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, Switzerland

Johanna Buschmann studied chemistry from 1988-1992 at ETH Zurich. In 1998, she got her PhD also from ETH Zurich. After several post-doc projects, she got head of research laboratories at University Hospital Zurich in 2008. Since then, she has her main focus on developing implant materials and study the cell-material interactions.

Karen Coopman, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK

Dr. Karen Coopman is a Senior Lecturer in Biological Engineering at Loughborough University. Based at the Centre for Biological Engineering, her research team focus on the manufacture of cell-based therapies, tackling issues from scale-up through to cryopreservation. She is also the Director of the Loughborough led EPSRC/MRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Regenerative Medicine and a member of the BBSRC led Bioprocessing Research Industry Club Steering Group.

Martin Guimond, University of Montreal, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montreal QC, Canada

Martin Guimond is an assistant professor at the University of Montreal. He received his PhD from the University of Montreal on stem cell transplantion and graft-versus-host disease. Since summer 2009, Dr. Guimond has directed an independent research program working on the biology of T cell depletion and the physiopathology of graft-versus-host disease.

Daniel Peterson, Chicago Medical School, Chicago, United States

Hala Gali-Muhtasib, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

Aurore Saudemont, Anthony Nolan, London, United Kingdom

Dr Saudemont has more than 15 years experience in immunotherapy. During her PhD in France and her first postdoctoral position in New York at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre Aurore focused on different immunotherapeutic approaches to leukemia. She then moved to Cambridge University and worked on strategies to modulate the immune response after transplantation in patients with leukaemia. She finally became senior research scientist at the Anthony Nolan in 2009 where she is responsible of the immunotherapy group, which aims to optimise the use of umbilical cord blood to generate cell products to fight complications post-transplant.

Invited speakers

Ahmed Abdel-Latif, University of Kentucky, Lexington, United States

Helena Barreto Henriksson, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden

Helena Barreto Henriksson has been active in the regenerative medicine research field for 10 years with her main focus on molecular regenerative features of cartilage. Currently, Helena is working as a researcher at the Dept. of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska University hospital/Gothenburg University, Sweden in the translational medicine field; “from preclinical to new clinical approaches” e.g. stem cell therapy for degenerated intervertebral discs as well as studying local tissue specific stem cell populations in the disc. Helena Barreto Henriksson finished her PhD studies (Medical Science) at Gothenburg University, 2010 with the thesis “Intervertebral disc regeneration, Studies on stem cell niches and cell transplantation”, (http://hdl.handle.net/2077/22925).

Reinhard Henschler, Blood Center Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

John Maher, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Allergy and Immunology Service, London, United Kingdom

Dr John Maher is a clinical immunologist and immunopathologist who leads the “CAR Mechanics” research group within King’s College London. His research group is focused on the development of adoptive immunotherapy for cancer and other pathologies using CAR engineered and gamma delta T-cells. He is also a consultant immunologist within King’s Health Partners and Barnet & Chase Farm NHS Trust.

Kirsten McEwen, Imperial College London, London, UK

Dr Kirsten McEwen is a Fellow at Imperial College London working at the forefront of experimental and theoretical molecular biology. The team’s research encompasses large scale data analysis, modelling approaches and experimental stem cell systems to investigate molecular mechanisms of disease. Dr McEwen previously worked as a Career Development Fellow at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre in London and holds a PhD in stem cell epigenetics from the University of Cambridge.

Philip M. Murphy, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, United States

Dr. Murphy’s research focuses on G protein-coupled receptors of the immune system in health and disease.  His laboratory discovered many leukocyte chemotactic receptor family members including the HIV coreceptor CCR5 and has recently developed a clinical program to study patients with WHIM syndrome, a rare immunodeficiency disorder and the only Mendelian condition in man caused by mutations in the chemokine system.

Francesco Petrella, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milano, Italy

Dr. Petrella is a general thoracic surgeon presently working as Deputy Director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, Italy.

His main field of interest related to the regenerative medicine is the autologous and eterologous experimental and clinical mesenchymal stromal cell bronchoscopic transplantation for airway tissue defects following lung resection; moreover he is involved in MSC drug loading , in particular for neoplastic pulmonary and pleural diseases.

Glenn D. Prestwich, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States

Glenn D. Prestwich is Presidential Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Utah. He created and directs the Entrepreneurial Faculty Scholars program at Utah, and Chairs the Internal Commercialization Coordination Council.  He is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Visiting Professor at Washington State University. His research encompasses drug discovery in cell signaling, synthetic matrices for regenerative medicine, and glycosaminoglycan derivatives as anti-inflammatory agents. He co-founded nine companies, including Echelon Biosciences, Glycosan BioSystems, Sentrx Animal Care, GlycoMira Therapeutics, Metallosensors, and Deuteria Agrochemicals.

Daniela S. Krause, Georg-Speyer-Haus, Frankfurt, Germany

Prof. Dr. Daniela S. Krause graduated from the Free University Berlin, Germany, and did her internship in haematology/oncology at the Charité in Berlin (Humboldt University). She performed her postdoctoral work on cellular therapies of leukaemia in the laboratory of Prof. Richard Van Etten at Harvard Medical School in Boston and completed her residency in clinical pathology and her specialist training in transfusion medicine before working as a clinician scientist in the laboratory of Prof. David Scadden at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University. In July 2014 Dr. Krause established her own research group at the Georg-Speyer-Haus in Frankfurt.

Federico Simonetta, Geneva University Hospitals, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

After obtaining his MD from the University of Genoa, Italy, in 2006, Federico Simonetta trained as an immunologist in Paris, France, where he obtained a Master of Science from the Pasteur Institute/Paris Diderot University in 2007 and a PhD from Paris Sud University in 2011. After a residency in internal medicine, he is currently a clinical fellow at the Division of Hematology at the Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. In his research activity, he investigates mechanisms regulating immune-reconstitution during lymphopenia and currently focuses on quantitative and qualitative abnormalities of effector immune cells after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Oliver Pullig, Fraunhofer-Institute Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, IGB, Wuerzburg, Germany

Gigi Chiu Ngar Chee, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Dr. Gigi Chiu obtained her B.Sc.(Pharm) and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Canada.  She completed a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the British Columbia Cancer Research Center, and joined NUS Department of Pharmacy subsequently.  Her research is focused on the rational design and development of various nanoscaled materials and drug delivery platforms for cancer therapy, modulation of drug pharmacokinetics and culturing of stem cells.  Dr. Chiu has received research funding from various national agencies in Singapore, and has published >45 research articles in the field of drug delivery and nanomedicine.  Her research has been highlighted in local media as well as various websites.  Dr Chiu has received the NUS Faculty of Science Young Scientist Award in 2012.

Arnold Ganser, Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany

Pascale V Guillot, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Pascale V Guillot is a pluripotent stem cell biologist whose group at the UCL Institute for Women’s Health is focused on understanding the biology and therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iMSC), in particular amniocytes,  in models of inflammatory pathologies. After having established that fetal stem cells can be used as countermeasure to bone brittleness in a mouse model of osteogenesis imperfecta, her group is now studying the mechanisms underlying bone protection.

Yiling Hong, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, United States

Klaus Kühlcke, EUFETS GmbH, Idar-Oberstein, Germany

Sohel Talib, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Oakland, United States

Houria Bachtarzi, ERA Consulting (UK) Ltd., London, United Kingdom

Dr Houria Bachtarzi is a Regulatory Affairs Specialist Consultant and Project Manager in Advanced Biological Therapeutics at ERA Consulting (UK) Ltd. in London. Houria is also a Registered Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council, UK. She was previously a Lecturer in Biopharmaceutics and Biotechnology at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Brighton. Houria completed her PhD in cancer gene therapy/viral gene delivery at the University of Oxford, Department of Oncology, followed by Post-Doctoral research work in AAV-based gene therapy at the Centre for Biomedical Sciences, Royal Holloway-University of London. Houria has a strong experience working in the field of novel biological therapies including: gene therapy for cancer and degenerative disorders.

James Sherley, Asymmetrex, Boston, United States

James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is the founder and director of Massachusetts biotech start-up Asymmetrex, LLC.  Asymmetrex develops and markets technologies for advancing stem cell medicine.  Dr. Sherley is a graduate of Harvard College, with a B.A. degree in biology, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, earning joint M.D. and Ph.D. degrees.  Prior to founding Asymmetrex, he held academic research appointments at the Fox Chase Cancer Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston Biomedical Research Institute.  Dr. Sherley’s professional awards include Pew Biomedical Research Scholar, Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar in Aging Research, and NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.

Jo-Anna Reems, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, United States

Jo-Anna Reems, Ph.D. is a Professor (Research) in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies at the University Of Utah School of Medicine and is the Scientific Director of the Cell Therapy & Regenerative Medicine (CTRM) Program.  Dr. Reems earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and completed a Research Fellowship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where she developed a research focus on understanding the regulatory mechanisms involved in the growth and development of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells with an emphasis on the fascinating process of megakaryocytopoiesis. She has over 15 years of experience in using in vitro techniques to isolate somatic cells (e.g. pancreatic islets, CD34+ cells, T-regs) as well as in expanding and engineering stem/progenitors cells for clinical applications.  She has participated on national and international committees to advance cellular therapies that focus on process development and optimization strategies and for developing potency assays as predictors of the in vivo efficacy of cellular products for therapeutic applications.

Oral presenters

Maha Azzam, Urology and Nephrology center, Mansoura Egypt

Maha Azzam works as veterinarian in Stem cell research center at Urology and Nephrology center, Mansoura University, Egypt. She received her Bachelor in veterinary medicine from university of Mansoura at Egypt in 2012, having diploma of clinical biochemistry and continuing her master degree in physiology at Mansoura university.

Her responsibilities in work include:

-Cell culture (expansion &  differentiation of MSCs cells )
-Isolation of MSCs from Bone Marrow and Adipose tissue.
-Different application of stem cells in dogs, mice, rat.
-Anaesthia of dogs.