About EuroStemCell

Institute of Reconstrutive Neurobiology, University of Bonn Medical Center

Life & Brain

Oliver Brüstle is a neuropathologist and a renowned expert in stem cell research. Following research activities at the University of Zurich and the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, he now serves as Professor of Reconstructive Neurobiology at the University of Bonn Medical Center.

Professor Andrew Webster has been Professor in the Sociology of Science and Technology at York since 1999. He is also the Director of the Science and Technology Studies Unit at York which he established originally at Anglia Ruskin University in 1988. He has held a visiting fellowships at ANU, Sydney and Gothenburg universities.

He was Head of the Department of Sociology at York between 2004-9 and then Dean of Social Sciences and member of the University's Senior Management Group until 2013.He has directed national research programmes for the ESRC and MRC in the fields of emerging health technologies and stem cells, and held major grants from UK research councils and the European Commission.

He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Science in 2007.

Andrew serves on a number of editorial and scientific advisory boards as well as national policy committees including the UK Stem Cell Bank Steering Committee, the Regenerative Medicine Expert Group Sub-committee, and the Scientific Advisory Committee, Pharmacy Research UK, as well as member of various UK and international academic bodies including, the BSA, EASST, and the Dutch WTMC's International Scientific Board.

Giulio Cossu has a long lasting interest in the field of muscle cell and developmental biology. He discovered the myogenic potential of a bone-marrow derived, circulating progenitor cell (Ferrari et al., Science 1998). He also identified a novel population of vessel associated stem cell, the mesoangioblasts (Minasi et al. Development 2002; Dellavalle et al. Nature Cell Biol. 9, 255, 2007) that proved effective in the treatment of a mouse and dog models of muscular dystrophy (Sampaolesi et al. Science, 2003; Sampaolesi et al. Nature, 2006; Gargioli et al. Nature Medicine, 2008).

Andras is member of the Stem Cell Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Medical Research Council Committee on Human Reproduction and board member of the Hungarian Biotechnology Association. The Molecular Animal Biotechnology Laboratory of the Szent Istvan University, Hungary was established with his appointment as full professor. Furthermore, he is an invited professor at the Veterinary Faculty of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He has an MBA-level degree in management and years of international experience in project and team management, and creation of industrial spin-offs via his role as co-founder and director of BioTalentum Ltd (www.biotalentum.eu). Prof. Dinnyes is member and advisor in several professional associations and society, and works as editor for the World Journal of Stem Cells and as Senior Editorial Board for the American Journal of Stem Cells. He was rewarded with the Gábor Dennis Innovation Award, Hungary in 2013.

Born in Stockholm in 1957, Urban Lendahl studied biology at Stockholm University from 1978-1982, specializing in molecular biology. After earning his PhD at the Karolinska Institute in 1987 (with Professor Lars Wieslander as advisor), Lendahl was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT 1987-1989 with Professor Ron McKay as mentor. After returning to the Karolinska Institute, Lendahl became Professor of Genetics in 1997. Lendahl is a member of the Nobel Assembly for Physiology or Medicine since 2001, and was during 2012 Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine. Lendahl’s research is focused on developmental biology, stem cells and intracellular signaling pathways, notably the Notch signaling pathway.

Lendahl has served as head of the review committee at the Human Frontiers Science Foundation, and serves at evaluation committees at the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Cancer Society. Lendahl is currently director of three research centers in stem cell research and regenerative medicine: DBRM (www.dbrm.se), StratRegen and WIRM (the Wallenberg Institute for Regenerative Medicine). Lendahl holds since 2010 a Distinguished Professor Award at the Karolinska Institute, is Editor-in-Chief for the journal Experimental Cell Research and is a Member of the Board of Trustees for the Koerber European Science Award.

Gerald holds the position of Scientific Director of the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing. The general scope of studies in his Laboratory is to further improve the understanding of mechanisms that specify normal stem cell functioning. Studies focus on hematopoietic stem cells, largely because superior technical tools and invaluable functional assays exist to study stem cells in this particular tissue. Gerald’s group is interested in the unique genetic and epigenetic program that distinguishes stem cells from non-stem cells.

IMBA

Jürgen Knoblich is Deputy Director and a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA). In 2009 he was awarded the Wittgenstein Prize for his work on asymmetric cell division.

Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Pharmacology of Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Milan

Professor Elena Cattaneo is Director of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Pharmacology of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Department of Pharmacological Sciences, as well as a co-founder and first appointed Director of UniStem, the Centre for Stem Cell Research of the University of Milano. The main research theme of her lab is neural stem cells, and the molecular pathophysiology of Huntington’s Disease.

Funders of Prof Cattaneo's lab include the Huntington's Disease Society of America (H.D.S.A.), Hereditary Disease Foundation,High Q Foundation, the European Union (through EuroStemCell, NeuroStemcell, ESTOOLS, NeuroNE, STEM-HD and Stem-stroke projects), Fondazione Cariplo, and Telethon Italy.

Prof Cattaneo is a Coalition Investigator of the Huntington's Disease Society of America (H.D.S.A.), and a member of the Board of Directors of several European consortia (including EuroStemCell and NeuroNE). She acts as a reviewer for several journals (including Science, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Genetics, and Journal of Neuroscience) and international funding agencies, and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hereditary Disease Foundation and of the Euro-HD Network.

Prof Cattaneo's studies on neural stem cells and Huntington's disease saw her awarded the “Le Scienze” Price for Medicine and a Gold Medal from the President of the Italian Republic in 2001. In 2005 she was awarded the Marisa Bellisario and Chiara D’Onofrio prizes, in 2006 was nominated Cavaliere Ufficiale (Knight) of the Italian Republic, and in 2013 was appointed senator for life by Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano. She was also named Stem Cell Person of the Year in 2013 by Paul Knoepfler and the readers of his blog, and awarded the ISSCR Public Service Award in 2014, with Paolo Bianco and Michele De Luca, for "their recent involvement in public debate and policy-making in Italy, championing rigorous scientific and medical standards and stringent regulatory oversight in the introduction of new stem cell treatments into the clinic."

Prof Cattaneo has published 105 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has given more than 200 invited lectures, and is very active in organizing professional development and outreach events - for both the scientific community and lay public.

Paolo De Coppi is a Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), and Reader and Head of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at the UCL Institute of Child Health in London.

He has been an Honorary Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, since 2013, an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, since 2009 and an Honorary Assistant Professor in Paediatric Surgery at the University of Padua, Italy, since 2005. He co-ordinates the EU Horizon2020 funded stem cell research consortium - INTENS which aims to aims to make a functional reconstructed bowel for people with Short Bowel Syndrome.

Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics

Sarah Chan is a recently-appointed Chancellor’s Fellow at the Usher Institute for Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh. She was educated at the University of Melbourne, Australia, where she completed degrees in biological science and in law, and spent a number of years as a researcher in a molecular biology laboratory before moving to work in the area of science policy and stem cell ethics. In 2005 Sarah took up a Research Fellowship in Bioethics and Law at the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, University of Manchester, where she also completed a MA in Health Care Ethics and Law and a PhD in Bioethics. From 2009 to 2015 she was Deputy Director of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation, University of Manchester. Her research interests and publications cover areas including the ethics of gene therapy and genetic information, enhancement, research ethics, stem cells, animal ethics, transhumanism, and the ethics of science and innovation.

Stem Cells Australia

A/Prof Megan Munsie combines her extensive technical expertise with an interest and understanding of the complex ethical, social and regulatory issues associated with stem cell science. Megan heads the Education, Ethics, Law & Community Awareness Unit at the Australian Government funded Stem Cells Australia initiative. Megan is a member of an international research team that is exploring community expectation in relation to stem cell science, and in particular ‘stem cell tourism’. Over the last decade, Megan has contributed to the development of relevant policy in Australia and co-authored educational resources for the public and health professionals. In addition to having worked for over fifteen years in the Australian stem cell field, Megan also has more than ten years experience as an embryologist in IVF clinics around Australia.

Megan has a Bachelor of Applied Science from QUT, a Masters in Reproductive Sciences and a PhD from Monash University. It was during her PhD in 2000, in which she was the first person to demonstrate that stem cells could be made from ‘cloned' mouse embryos, that Megan saw the real need for scientists to engage with regulators and the public.

Wellcome - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute

Professor Austin Smith FRS has expertise in the field of pluripotency and has pioneered key advances in the field of embryonic stem cell research. In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine and in 2016 received the International Society for Stem Cell Research Award for Innovation. Austin was the Project Co-ordinator for the original EuroStemCell. You can view a short video describing Austin's research interests and motivations on the Louis-Jeantet Foundation website, and can visit his lab homepage at http://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/research/pis/smith

Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Sweden

Göran Hermerén has been Professor of Medical Ethics at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Sweden, since 1991. He has also held the position of Professor of Philosophy, Lund University, since 1975 and he was Professor of Philosophy of Science and Humanities, Umeå University from 1970-75. He is co-ordinator of the EU-funded research project Europriorities and is involved in several other EU-funded projects. He has published and edited books on research ethics as well as papers on ethical problems (mainly medical ethics) in international periodicals. Current research and teaching interests include ethical aspects of gene testing and stem cell research.