Speakers
We bring together academic and industry experts and thought leaders to share their knowledge and expertise. Our speakers are carefully selected to provide attendees with the most valuable and relevant information.
Professor Twan Lammers
Professor Twan Lammers, PhD, DSc, Department of Nanomedicine and Theranostics, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, Center for Biohybrid Medical Systems, RWTH Aachen University Clinic, Germany
Twan Lammers obtained a D.Sc. in Radiation Oncology from Heidelberg University in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from Utrecht University in 2009. In the same year, he started the Nanomedicine and Theranostics group at RWTH Aachen University. In 2014, he was promoted to full professor of medicine at RWTH Aachen University Clinic. His group aims to individualize and improve disease treatment by combining drug targeting with imaging. To this end, image-guided (theranostic) drug delivery systems are being developed, as well as materials and methods to monitor tumor growth, angiogenesis, inflammation, fibrosis and metastasis. He has received multiple scholarships and awards, including ERC starting, consolidator and proof-of-concept grants, the CRS Young Investigator Award, the Adritelf International Award, the Belgian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences International Award, and the JNB Trailblazer Award. He served as president of the Controlled Release Society (2023-2024) and has been a council member of the European Society for Molecular Imaging from 2014 onwards. He is a member of the editorial board of 10 journals, and acts as associate editor for JCR, DDTR and MIB. Since 2019, he is included in the Clarivate Analytics list of Highly Cited Researchers.
Professor Dan Peer
Professor Dan Peer, Director, Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicines, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Dan Peer is a Professor and the Director of the Laboratory of Precision NanoMedicine at Tel Aviv University (TAU). He is also the Vice President for Research and Development in Tel Aviv University, the biggest university in Israel. From 2017, he is the Founding and Managing Director of the SPARK program, Center for Translational Medicine at TAU.
Professor Peer’s work was among the first to demonstrate systemic delivery of RNA molecules using targeted nanocarriers to the immune system and he pioneered the use of RNA interference (RNAi) as drug discovery tools in immune cells. In addition, his lab was the first to show systemic, cell specific delivery of modified mRNA in animals. This strategy has enormous implications in cancer, inflammation, and infectious diseases. His lab developed one of the largest lipid library with unique properties and strategies to immobilized natural ligands and antibodies on the surface of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for cell specific delivery of RNA payloads.
His lab was also the first to show systemic, high efficiency, cell specific, therapeutic genome editing in cancer. Recently, his lab also showed the first bacterial mRNA vaccine that opened new potential field of increasing the arsenal of vaccines against antibiotic resistance strains.
Prof. Peer has more than 140 pending and granted patents. Some of them have been licensed to several pharmaceutical companies and his innovations have now been tested in more than 6 different clinical trials. In addition, based on his lab work, four spin-off companies were generated aiming to bring innovative personalized medicine into clinical practice. Prof. Peer was the President of the Israeli Chapter of the CRS from 2014-2016. He is a scientific advisory board member in more than 15 companies and on the scientific advisory board of more than 20 journals. In 2014, he was elected to the Israel Young Academy. In 2023, he was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering.
Professor Dame Molly Stevens
Professor Dame Molly Stevens DBE FRS FREng, John Black Professor of Bionanoscience, University of Oxford and a part-time Professor, Imperial College London and the Karolinska Institute, UK
Professor Dame Molly Stevens is the John Black Professor of Bionanoscience at the University of Oxford and a part-time professor at Imperial College London and the Karolinska Institute. Molly’s multidisciplinary research balances the investigation of fundamental science with the development of technology to address some of the major healthcare challenges. She is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of several companies in the diagnostics, advanced therapeutics, and regenerative medicine fields. Her work has been instrumental in elucidating bio-material interfaces. She has created a broad portfolio of designer biomaterials for applications in disease diagnostics and regenerative medicine. Her substantial body of work influences research groups around the world and she has been multiple times listed as Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher in Cross-Field research.
Molly holds numerous leadership positions, Deputy Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, Deputy Director of the UK Quantum Biomedical Sensing Research Hub, and Scientist Trustee of the National Gallery. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA), an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she was recognised with the 2023 Novo Nordisk Prize and the 2024 Royal Society Armourers and Brasiers Company Prize, amongst many other accolades.
Dr Faz Chowdhury
Dr Faz Chowdhury, CEO, Landmark Vaccines Limited
Dr Faz Chowdhury is a seasoned Scientist in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors, with over 20 years of experience in developing transdermal and microneedle-based systems for drug delivery and diagnostic applications. As the former CEO of Nemaura Medical Inc., he oversaw the development of cutting-edge non-invasive health monitoring technologies. Dr Chowdhury holds a Doctorate from the University of Oxford in nano-medicine and drug delivery and a Masters in Microsystems and Nanotechnology from Cranfield University, UK. With more than 100 patents granted or pending, and as a contributor to key publications in nano-biosciences, he has made significant contributions to advancing drug delivery and diagnostic technologies.
Arwyn T. Jones
Arwyn T Jones, Professor of Membrane Traffic and Drug Delivery, School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales
Arwyn obtained his PhD, under the supervision of Sir Tom Blundell, in protein crystallography at Birkbeck College, University of London. He then undertook postdoctoral research on endocytosis at the University of Liverpool, Harvard University and EMBL Heidelberg- as EMBO and Alexander von Humboldt fellow. Following a BBC Scholarship to gain a Diploma in Journalism at Bangor University he was appointed as lecturer at the Cardiff School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University. There, he is now Professor of Membrane Traffic and Drug Delivery and Director for Research Innovation and Engagement
His research falls under themes of cancer cell biology, endocytosis and drug delivery, all of which aim to enhance our capacity to deliver small molecule drugs and biopharmaceuticals to defined regions of cells. He has published >100 papers and throughout his career he has collaborated with a long list of national and international academic groups, SMEs and major companies. He currently sits as Editorial Board member of J. Controlled Release and Membranes. Arwyn is also extremely proactive in public engagement with science, organising small and large science exhibitions locally in Cardiff and across Wales- see home page for details.
Dr Olaf Kelber
Dr Olaf Kelber, Scientific Strategy Phytomedicines, Bayer Distinguished Science Fellow, Research and Development, Phytomedicines Supply and Development Center, Bayer Consumer Health, Germany
Olaf Kelber is research scientist and Bayer Distinguished Science Fellow at the Phytomedicines Supply and development Center of Bayer Consumer Health in Darmstadt, Germany. He is biologist with specialization in toxicology and has a mas-ter´s degree in pharmaceutical medicine.
He was leading the pharmacological laboratory of the site, before he took over the scientific project management for the re-registration of a broad portfolio of herbal medicinal products, building a broad spectrum of academic collaborations in the field.
He then was leader of the clinical research and medical information team of the site, before changing to his present functions. He was leading diverse projects in the fields of quality, toxicology, pharmacology, clinics, safety, real world evidence and sustainability of herbal medicinal products.
He is author or co-author of more than 70 publications in scientific journals and 700 contributions to scientific congresses. He is member of the Q3C working group of ICH, Geneva, the steering committee of the Botanical Safety Consortium (BSC), Washington DC, the scientific working group of Kooperation Phytopharmaka, Bonn and the board of the German Society for Phytotherapy, Bonn, and is secretary of the Society of Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (GA).
Dr Gaia Scalabrino
Dr Gaia A. Scalabrino, NatPro Executive Director, NatPro Trinity Centre for Natural Products Research, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Dr Gaia Scalabrino is a life science professional with strategic and operations experience in product development, management and sustainability practices across the private and public sectors.
Dr Scalabrino is the Executive Director of NatPro, Trinity Centre for Natural Products Research, at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Gaia is also on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research, with reach over 90 countries. In Ireland, she is a member of the Steering Group of the Irish Bioeconomy Forum, driven by Irish government, engaging in national bioeconomy policy implementation. She is an early adopter of sustainability practices in Ireland, including My Green Labs and B Corp (she is a B Leader).
Gaia is passionate of transforming innovation into sustainable commercial opportunities to benefit health and building business good practices. In her role of Operations and Pharmaceutical Management Consultant at HiTech Health Ltd, she advised SMEs based in EU and US to support their business growth and product development portfolio. As Vice President of Operations and Quality at Trino Therapeutics Ltd, Gaia led the biotech start-up from research to clinical development in the area of GI inflammation.
Gaia has a Ph.D. in Natural Products Organic Chemistry and postgraduate qualifications in business, project management and regulations. She is a globe trotter and a triathlete. She enjoys photography and writing. Gaia was raised in a multi-cultural environment, living in Italy and Kenya, she then moved to U.K. and currently lives in Ireland.
Raymond Schiffelers
Raymond Schiffelers, Professor of Nanomedicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands
Raymond Schiffelers studied Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University (1990-1995). After an industrial traineeship at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (UK) he did his PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam on liposomal targeting of antimicrobial agents (1996-2001). Subsequently he became post-doc at Utrecht University working on liposomes targeting tumor vasculature. In 2002-2003, at Intradigm Co (USA) he moved to delivery of RNA. After his return to Utrecht University he became assistant and then associate professor. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2010 to investigate extracellular vesicles as biological drug delivery systems for RNA. After he moved to University Medical Center Utrecht in 2011 he became professor of nanomedicine working on bio-inspired and synthetic drug delivery systems. He coordinates a H2020 project (EXPERT (15 M€), a Horizon Europe project, NANO-ENGINE (3 M€), and an NWA-ORC project NANOSPRESSO-NL (9 M€), all devoted to RNA delivery. He is editor for the International Journal of Pharmaceutics, Journal of Controlled Release and Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, and is founder of EXCYTEX-an extracellular vesicle-based company. Since 2021 he also works part-time for Nanocell Therapeutics as VP Preclinical R&D and has been elected president of the European Technology Platform Nanomedicine since 2021.
If you have any questions please send us an email to [email protected] and one of our team will come back to you.