PLENARY SPEAKERS
Monica Driscoll, PhD
Rutgers University, USA
"Exophers in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Brain Aging"
Dr. Driscoll is a leading expert in the field of aging and her group studies the basic biology of aging with a focus on molecular mechanisms of healthspan extension via genetic, chemical, and exercise interventions. Neuronal proteostasis and anti-neurodegeneration mechanisms are also major research interests, and the understanding of large vesicle aggregate and organelle extrusions in membrane-bound exophers is a central facet of that effort.
Jacky Goetz, PhD
INSERM, France
"In-vivo Imaging of EVs in Cancer"
Dr. Goetz is a leading expert in tumor metastasis and his group is credited with the development of intravital correlative microscopy for tracking metastasis in zebrafish and mouse models. His team demonstrated that Ral1 controls biogenesis and secretion of tumor extracellular vesicles and that the zebrafish embryo can be used for tracking, at high spatio-temporal resolution, the fate and function of extracellular vesicles in vivo.
Ivan Poon, PhD
La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, Australia
"Apoptosis and EVs"Dr. Poon is a leading expert in apoptotic cell disassembly and clearance and his group studies how and why dying cells fragment into apoptotic bodies during apoptosis. Their research has defined key aspects in the molecular machinery that regulate this disassembly process during cell death, the importance of this process in disease settings, and identified novel drugs that target this process.
Eva Rohde, MD
University Hospital Salzburg, Austria
Dr. Rohde is a leading expert in stem cell- and extracellular vesicle-based therapeutics. Her research focuses on the application of stem cell-based therapies with a special emphasis on their extracellular vesicles. She actively contributes to a global network of academic and industrial partners who share the goal of the clinical development and assessment of extracellular vesicle-based therapies in diseases with a high unmet need.