About EuroStemCell

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).

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.

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.

IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Professor Blanpain is a researcher of the Belgian FNRS and group leader at IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium, and is a PI in the current EuroStemCell (H2020) project. His lab is interested in understanding the role of epithelial stem cells during development, homeostasis, cancer initiation and growth.

Stem cells (SCs) have the unique capacity to self-renew and to differentiate into the cell lineages that constitute their tissue of origin. SCs are found in many adult tissues and are critical for maintaining tissue homeostasis and for regenerating damaged tissue after injuries. We are using genetic lineage tracing experiments in mice to determine how stratified epithelia are formed during embryonic development and are maintained thereafter during tissue homeostasis. We are studying how adult SCs sense and respond to DNA damage in their natural niche.

Two epithelial skin cancers are frequent in human populations: the squamous cell carcinoma and the basal cell carcinoma. The identification of the cells at the origin of these two frequent human cancers remains elusive. We are using mouse genetics to identify cells at the origin of these two frequent cancers and developed new approach to understand the molecular changes that occurred from the first oncogenic event to the development of invasive cancers.

Danish stem cell centre

HumEn stem cell research consortium

Henrik Semb is Managing Director of Danstem and Professor of Human Stem Cell Biology. He uses an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach to his research which focuses on pancreas development and disease using a combination of developmental biology and stem cell research. He is the project co-ordinator of the EU funded HumEn project, which aims to up-scale the generation of insulin producing beta cells for the treatment of diabetes.

Read an interview with Henrik Semb.

Hans Clevers is Principal Investigator at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research (KNAW) and the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology and also Professor of Molecular Genetics at the UMC Utrecht and Utrecht University, and Oncode Investigator.

Clevers discovered how the Wnt signaling pathway dictates cell fate decisions during animal embryogenesis by controlling gene expression. Looking beyond embryogenesis, he unveiled the role of Wnt signaling in colon cancer and in its physiological counterpart, the self-renewing gut epithelium. Combining these insights, he described the generic stem cell marker gene Lgr5, which has identified multiple novel adult stem cell types. Against prevailing views, these stem cells could be expanded indefinitely as organoids: mini-organs that recapitulate healthy or diseased human tissue in a dish. Organoids are rapidly gaining ground as research tools in a wide range of scientific disciplines including basic developmental and cell biology, infectiology, toxicology and research on hereditary diseases and cancer.

Freddy Radtke obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zürich in 1994. In 1995, he started his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Michel Aguet at Genentech, Inc. (San Francisco, USA). In 1997, he returned to Switzerland with Michel Aguet and finished his postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) in Lausanne. From 1999‑2005, he was a group leader and Associate Member at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Freddy Radtke then joined ISREC in January 2006 as a senior scientist and in July 2006, he was appointed Associate Professor at the EPFL School of Life Sciences.

Centre for Stem Cell Biology, University of Sheffield

Prof. Andrews is Co-Director of the Centre for Stem Cell Biology at the University of Sheffield and leader of its Stem Cells and Cancer research group. The appearance of genetically abnormal cells aising from pluripotent stem cells in culture offers a unique model to study the initiation and progression of cancer cells. These models will allow the identification of critical genes which are responsible for the cancer-like properties of cells and may lead to novel strategies and therapies for treatment.

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.

University of Warsaw, Faculty of Biology

Department of Cytology

Maria A. Ciemerych is a developmental and cell biologist focusing on mammalian development, stem cells, and regenerative medicine. She completed her MSc and PhD at the Department of Embryology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, studying the initial stages and cell cycle regulation during preimplantation mammalian development. She continued to analyse early mouse embryo during her pre- and postdoctoral trainings at Manchester University, Welcome/CRC - University of Cambridge and Jacques Monod Institute - University Paris 7. Finally she moved for 3 years to Dana Farber Cancer Institute – Harvard Medical School, where she was focusing on cell cycle regulation not only in mouse embryos but also in stem cells. After her return to Warsaw, she got involved in the studies on skeletal muscle regeneration and myogenic differentiation of various stem cells, including embryonic stem cells and mesenchymal stem cells. In 2006 she became a head of the Department of Cytology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw.  For the last 4 years she has served as a dean for research at the Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw. Being a scientist, she also actively popularises science during various outreach activities.

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.

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.