Editorial Advisors and Editorial Board Members

Editorial Board Members

Bioengineering
 

Jackson Champer, PhD, Peking University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-3814-3774
 Webpage
Research interests: gene drive, mosquitoes, computational modeling, evolution, synthetic biology, genetic engineering

Jackson Champer is a faculty member at Peking University School of Life Sciences in the Center for Bioinformatics, which he joined in 2021 after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University. He specializes in gene drives. These are engineered alleles that can bias inheritance in their favor to quickly spread throughout populations. They can be used to modify or suppress populations of disease vectors or invasive species, potentially providing great benefit to human health and the natural environment. Jackson studies gene drive in mosquitoes, fruit flies, and in computational simulations. He focuses on creating improved drives that can avoid resistance alleles and optionally be confined to target populations.

 

Cancer Biology
 

Manjusha Dixit, PhD, National Institute of Science Education and Research, India

Webpage
Research interests: Cancer Biology, Angiogenesis, tumorigenesis, cell and molecular biology techniques

Dr. Manjusha Dixit is an Associate Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, NISER, Bhubaneswar, India. Her research focuses on identifying novel tumorigenic and angiogenic regulators that play a crucial role in controlling cancer hallmarks. Dr. Dixit's group has made significant contributions by identifying FRG1 as a tumor suppressor and demonstrating the anti-angiogenic role of IQGAP2 in breast cancer. Additionally, her team has established the dual role of FRG1 and EEF1A2 in regulating multiple cancer hallmarks. Dr. Dixit has been a member of the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports since 2019 and BMC Cancer since 2020.

Fabrizio Fontana, PhD, University of Milan, Italy
orcid.org/0000-0002-9148-0884
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer metabolism, Cancer stem cells, Extracellular vesicles, Tumor microenvironment

Dr. Fabrizio Fontana is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the University of Milan, Italy. His research has always been focused on the study of cancer development and progression. During his PhD and subsequent post-doctoral experiences, he has developed a strong scientific background in cancer biology, with an emphasis on the study of tumor proliferation, invasion and survival. In particular, he has acquired competences related to the characterization of cancer stem-like traits and metabolism. More recently, he has started investigating the role of extracellular vesicles in tumor microenvironment.

Tianyu Han, Dr. Sci. (Biol.), First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-1471-611X
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer metabolism, Post-translational modification, Lung cancer, Autophagy, Cell cycle

Dr. Tianyu Han received his PhD in Biology from Nanchang University in 2018. He is currently an associate professor at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. His research interest lies in the regulatory mechanisms of cancer metabolic reprogramming, particularly the regulation of protein post-translational modifications on cancer metabolism and the impact on the fate of cancer cells. Another research area of Dr. Han is exploring metabolic changes and regulatory mechanisms during the cell cycle process.

 

Jianhai Jiang, PhD, Fudan University, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-9195-9302
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer stem cell, Glycobiology, Cancer stem cell, CD133, Self-renewal, Tumorigenesis

Dr. Jiang Jianhai received his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Fudan University in 2007, and Received the title of professor from Fudan University in 2013. Dr. Jiang has long been engaged in the study on the glycobiology of cancer stem cell. His group systematically explored the function and mechanism of N-glycan and cancer stem cell marker CD133 in cancer development. Till now, Dr. Jiang has published more than 10 papers as a corresponding author in PNAS, J. Biol. Chem. J Hepatol, Cell reports, and Advanced Science. We were invited to write the chapter on the international classical enzymology technical book Methods in Enzymology. 

Ji Min Lee, PhD, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea
Webpage
Research interests: Epigenetics, Cancer metabolism, Tumor microenvironment, Therapeutics, Synthetic biology, Targeted protein degradation

Ji Min Lee is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Medical Science and Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Her research group uses interdisciplinary approaches in synthetic biology, engineering, and epigenetics to study innate biological systems and to develop new tools for basic science and biomedical applications. Dr. Lee’s translational interests span nucleotide or protein-based drug discovery and development for applications in oncology and regenerative medicine, and the development of new technologies for overcoming current drug resistance in cancer. Dr. Lee obtained her PhD in Biological Sciences from the Seoul National University, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in epigenetics. Dr. Lee was previously the Principal Scientist of Business Development team, Samsung Bioepis, and Research Staff of Therapeutic Antibody Group, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT).


Wen Liu, PhD, Xiamen University, China
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer, Epigenetics, Gene transcriptional regulation, Small molecule inhibitor

Dr. Wen Liu graduated from the Department of Biology at Xiamen University in 2001, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. From 2002 to 2005, he worked at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in the United States. In 2011, he completed his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Liu worked at the UCSD School of Medicine from 2011 to 2013.
Currently, Dr. Wen Liu serves as a "Nanqiang Distinguished Professor" at Xiamen University, where he is also a Ph.D. advisor and the Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of epigenetic regulators—such as histone modifiers, demodifiers, and modification readers, as well as non-coding RNAs—in the regulation of gene transcription and splicing. He is also dedicated to the application of this research in the understanding and treatment of major diseases like cancer.
Dr. Liu has made significant contributions to this field, particularly in discovering active small molecules targeting epigenetic regulators. He holds multiple international and domestic patents and has published numerous high-impact research papers in prestigious journals, including Nature, Cell, Cancer Cell, Molecular Cell, Developmental Cell, Cell Reports, Science Advances, Nature Communications, PNAS, and EMBO Journal.

Zhijie Jason Liu, PhD, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, United States
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6956-7839
Webpage
Research interests: transcription, epigenetics, chromatin biology, enhancer, phase separation, phase separated-condensation, ncRNA, ncRNA modification, cancer biology, breast cancer, prostate cancer, hormone, hormone receptor, developmental biology, aging biology

Dr. Jason Liu is an Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine and a CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). He received his PhD in Genetics from the University of Georgia and completed postdoctoral training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
Currently, the Liu lab combines biochemical, cellular, and animal model studies with various next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays to investigate gene regulation mechanisms in development and diseases, and their connections to clinical applications. Dr. Liu has applied high-throughput technologies to understand signaling-dependent transcriptional regulation in breast and prostate cancer, as well as other diseases, with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms of enhancer assembly and reprogramming. Dr. Liu and his team utilize various omics, proteomics, high-resolution imaging, and other methods to decipher the mechanisms of enhancer assembly and reprogramming that drive cancer and other disease progression.
Additionally, Dr. Liu’s research interests include studying chromatin-associated non-coding RNA modification, as well as the phase-separated condensation behavior and function of transcriptional proteins in cancer and other diseases.

Xianjue Ma, PhD, Westlake University, China

Webpage
Research interests: Genetics, Drosophila, tumor, signal transduction, cell competition, grwoth control, genetic screen

Xianjue Ma is an Assistant Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Westlake University. His primary research focus has been on elucidating the mechanisms of intercellular and intracellular communications in tumorigenesis, utilizing models including Drosophila, cultured cells, and mice. His laboratory has made significant discoveries in several areas, including the unraveling of novel intracellular communications between different organelles or signaling pathways in tumorigenesis, identifying previously unrecognized mechanisms of organ size control, and revealing undiscovered intercellular mechanisms governing tumor suppressive cell competition and tumor-tumor communications.

Soulafa Mamlouk, PhD, Charité – University Hospital Berlin, Germany
orcid.org/0000-0001-7285-1320
Webpage
Research interests: Colorectal cancer, cancer evolution, cancer treatment

Soulafa Mamlouk received her PhD in Molecular Cancer Biology from the Technical University of Dresden (TUD) in Germany. She then moved to Berlin for a postdoctoral position at the Charité University Hospital (Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin) where she worked on DNA heterogeneity of colorectal cancer progression and treatment. Dr. Mamlouk then received an independent research position (German Research foundation, DFG) to work on the evolution of resistance in colorectal cancer metastases using 3D organoid models. Tumor samples from patients at the hospital are grown into 3D cultures which better represent their natural environment, providing a model to follow patient progression and response to treatment. Dr. Mamlouk’s research focuses on using such models to investigate the evolution or resistance to common treatments, and interfere with their evolutionary trajectories on multiple genomic levels. Recently she has started a junior research group (Cancer Evolution working group, CanEvo AG) at the department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Charité University Hospital. 

Ethan Morgan, PhD, University of Sussex, United Kingdom
Webpage
Research interests: Human Papillomaviruses (HPV), cancer biology, virology, DNA damage, therapeutic resistance

Dr Morgan joined the University of Sussex to start his own group as a lecture in Biochemistry in January 2023. His lab will focus on the role of protein ubiquitination in HPV-associated cancers and how this contributes to oncogenesis and therapeutic response. He previously studied for a BSc (Hons) in Biochemistry at the University of Leeds and remained at Leeds for his PhD project in the lab of Professor Andrew Macdonald, where he studied the role of STAT3 signalling during the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) life cycle and during HPV-associated cervical cancer. Following this, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust ISSF fellowship to study deubiquitinating enzymes in cervical cancer. After completion of the fellowship in January 2020, he joined the lab of Dr Carter Van Waes in the Tumor Biology Section of NIDCD, NIH, where he studied the role of DNA damage and protein ubiquitination in the regulation of NFκB signalling in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Urszula Oleksiewicz, PhD, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poland
orcid.org/0000-0003-0357-9284
Webpage
Research interests: cancer biology, epigenetics, stem cells, tumor microenvironment, cancer immunotherapy

Dr. Urszula Oleksiewicz obtained her PhD in Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine at the University of Liverpool, UK, where she studied the role of globins in lung cancer. Then, she started her research work within the Chair of Medical Biotechnology at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland, where she works as an Assistant Professor. Dr  Oleksiewicz specializes in molecular oncology, cell biology, stem cells, and epigenetics. She is especially interested in the regulatory mechanisms behind the molecular and phenotyping events occurring during oncogenesis, aiming to uncover new insights into how these processes can be targeted for treatment. Her research is mainly focused on the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms implicated in cancer biology and cell stemness, and the family of KRAB-ZNF epigenetic repressors were the main objects of her recent research.

Chaoyun Pan, PhD, Sun Yat-sen University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-4255-9318
Webpage
Research interests: cancer metabolism, DNA replication stress, DNA damage, DNA repair, chemoresistance, chemotherapy

Dr. Pan was awarded his PhD by Nanjing University in China in 2016. He then undertook a four-year postdoctoral training at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, after which he was appointed as an Associate Professor at Sun Yat-sen university, Zhongshan School of Medicine in 2020. Dr. Pan's research interests lie in the metabolic control of cell signalling networks in gynecological and pediatric oncology. He has been the recipient of several prestigious grants, including the National Key R&D Program of China and the AACR Anna D. Barker Basic Cancer Research Fellowship. His work has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including Cell Metabolism, Nature Microbiology, JCI, Molecular Cell, Nature Communications, and others.

Amit Pandey, PhD, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Ahmedabad, India
Webpage
Research interests: Non coding RNA, Cancer, Molecular Biology, 3D Models

Dr. Amit Kumar Pandey is an Associate Professor working in the Department of Biotechnology at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Dr. Pandey obtained his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New-Delhi, India. Following this, he completed postdoctoral research from Cancer Science Institute Singapore.
Dr. Pandey's research group at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Ahmedabad focuses on addressing questions concerning the role of non-coding RNAs in cancer malignancies, particularly using epigenetic and molecular biology approaches. The group is also dedicated to identifying novel therapeutic targets in triple-negative breast cancers through the interaction between the Wnt Pathway and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). More recently, the group has expanded their research to profile metabolomics and lipidomics signatures in breast and ovarian cancers using 3D spheroids. 

Chenji Wang, PhD, Fudan University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-5752-6439
Research interests: Cancer biology, Post-translational modification, Signal transduction, Gene mutations, Neurodegenerative disease, Ubiquitin, Autophagy

Dr. Chenji Wang earned his B.S. in Life Science from Sichuan University and completed his Ph.D. at Fudan University. Currently, he is an Associate Professor in the School of Life Science at Fudan University. Utilizing a combination of biochemistry, genetics, cell biology, and animal model approaches, Dr. Wang's lab focuses on delineating the roles of abnormal post-translational modification (PTM) events in cancer initiation, progression, and therapy resistance.

 

Donglai Wang, PhD, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, China

orcid.org/0000-0002-2247-1765

Research Interests: Posttranslational modifications, Epigenetics, Tumorigenesis, Metastasis, Antitumor immunity, Metabolic reprogramming

Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. degree from Peking University in 2012. Dr. Wang has been a principal investigator (PI) and a professor at CAMS&PUMC since the completion of his postdoctoral training at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center and Columbia University in 2018. Dr. Wang’s research has focused primarily on posttranslational modifications (PTMs) and tumorigenesis. By using multidisciplinary strategies and techniques, including biochemistry, genetics, immunology, bioinformatics and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs), Dr. Wang identified the roles and mechanisms of a series of critical oncoproteins/tumor suppressors, as well as their PTMs, in regulating tumorigenesis and metastasis. More recently, Dr. Wang has paid much attention to the crosstalk between tumor cells and different types of tumor-infiltrating cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) in response to the scenarios of immunosurveillance alterations and/or cancer metabolic reprogramming.

Fu Wang, PhD, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-9222-0833
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer theranostics, biomedical imaging, synthetic gene circuits, gene regulation, RNA biology, molecular probe

Dr. Fu Wang is a Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University School of Basic Medical Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Wuhan University. He was previously a Visiting scholar at National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Emory University. His current research interests are mainly engaged in biomedical imaging and cancer theranostics. In recent years, Dr. Wang has published more than 50 papers including PNAS, Nature Protocols, Nucleic Acids Research, Molecular Therapy and Cancer Letters among them. He is also an Editorial Board Member of BMC Cancer.

Yang Wang, PhD, Dalian Medical University, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-9385-7393
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer Biology; RNA binding proteins; RNA alternative splicing; RNA processing

Yang Wang is currently a full professor in Institute of Cancer Stem Cell, Dalian Medical University, China. He obtained his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in China. His research is mainly focusing on deciphering the functions and molecular mechanisms of RNA alternative splicing in the regulation of cancer progression.

Dieter Wolf, Dr. med., Westlake University, China

Research interests: mRNA translation, protein synthesis, protein homeostasi, stress response, eergy metabolism, cancer metabolism, neurodevelopment, brain organoids, Proteomics

Dr. Wolf obtained an M.D. degree from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich in 1995. After postdoctoral studies at Harvard and Stanford, he held junior and senior faculty positions at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Burnham Institute, and Xiamen University. From 2019 - 2022, Dr. Wolf joined the MGZ Medical Genetics Center in Munich as resident in human genetics and medical head of biomarkers. Since 2021, he has held an adjunct group leader position at the Technical University of Munich. Dr. Wolf joined Westlake University as Full Professor in 2023. Webpage

 

 

Shourong Wu, PhD, Chongqing University, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-9650-5465 
Webpage  
Research interests: cancer biology, tumor microenvironment, tumor metabolic reprogramming, tumor drug resistance, cell cycle, transcriptional regulation, signaling pathway

Dr. Shourong Wu is currently a professor/principal investigator at College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University. He received his PhD from Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, The University of Tokyo. He then did his post-doctoral training in Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo. His research encompasses a broad field of oncology, including tumor metabolic reprogramming, tumor microenvironment, tumor initiation, tumor metastasis, and tumor drug resistance, as well as discovery of novel tumor biomarkers and development of novel anti-tumor therapeutic strategy. Dr. Wu has published his scientific works in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including Science Translational Medicine, Science Advances, Cancer Research, Advanced Science, Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, Molecular Therapy, Oncogene, and others.

 

Daqian Xu, PhD, Zhejiang University, China
orcid.org/0000-0003-0478-2997
Webpage
Research interests: Cancer metabolism, post translational modification, cancer biology, signal transduction, metabolic reprogramming, tumorigenesis

Daqian Xu is a professor in Institute of Translational Medicine, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University. His research focuses on i) dissecting the molecular network in the metabolic reprogramming; ii) studying the spatial regulation and post-translational modification in cancer metabolism; iii) uncovering the non-metabolic function of metabolic enzyme in tumorigenesis. His lab uses cutting-edge techniques to investigate key scientific questions in tumor metabolism, synthesis and catabolism of biological macromolecules, redox homeostasis, spatial network for metabolic enzymes, tumor microenvironment and metabolite sensing, et al.

Shengtao Zhou, MD, Sichuan University, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-8322-5536
Webpage
Research interests: Tumor Immunology; Tumor microenvironment; Tumor metabolism; Nuclear receptors

Shengtao Zhou is a professor in cancer biology, who uses systems biology approaches to tackle layers of complexity of tumor immunology heterogeneity during the evolution of cancer development and progression. These complexities include signaling and metabolic reprogramming, immune co-evolution and the master regulators of such cancer phenotypic plasticity.

Xiang Zhou, PhD, Fudan University, China
Webpage

Research interests: Cancer metabolism, Cellular stress, Noncoding RNA, p53, therapeutic resistance

Dr. Xiang Zhou is currently a professor/principal investigator at Shanghai Cancer Center and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences of Fudan University. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Wuhan University in China and completed postdoctoral training in Indiana University and Tulane University in the United States. Dr. Zhou specializes in basic and translational cancer research, with a particular emphasis on understanding p53's role in cancer metabolism and programmed cell death, the impact of p53-related noncoding RNAs in oncogenesis, the underlying mechanisms of nucleolar stress in cancer progression and treatment, and the possible therapeutic implications of extracellular vesicles.

Computational and Systems Biology
 

Kumar Selvarajoo, PhD, Bioinformatics Institute, ASTAR, Singapore
orcid.org/0000-0002-0314-9666
 Webpage
Research interests: Systems biology, computational biology, multiomics, transcriptomics, dynamic modeling
Kumar Selvarajoo is a Senior Principal Investigator of the Computational Biology & Omics laboratory at A*STAR’s Bioinformatics Institute. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, and the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Prior, he was an Associate Professor in Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Japan. Kumar obtained his PhD in NTU and MEng from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. He also serves on the editorial board of Genomics, Frontiers in Immunology, and Biotechnology Notes and has lead research teams in computational biology, systems biology, bioinformatics, data analytics and statistical genetics. In particular, Selvarajoo has used original ideas, utilising fundamental physical and statistical laws, to investigate multi-dimensional datasets, deterministic and stochastic modelling of complex signaling and metabolic networks. He has authored over 80 scientific articles, written and edited books.

 

Qianqian Song, PhD, University of Florida, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-4455-5302
Webpage
Research interests: Bioinformatics, graph-based artificial intelligence, multi-omics data modeling

Dr. Qianqian Song is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida. Dr. Song’s research focuses on developing innovative computational methods and graph-based artificial intelligence algorithms to decipher disease mechanisms and identify therapeutic biomarkers. Her primary research interests are to advance precision medicine and personalized therapy through the data-driven informatics approach and the integration of multi-modality biomedical data. With specialized expertise in the large-scale biomedical data, spanning from the molecular level including genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics data, to the cell-level with the cutting-edge single-cell and high-plex spatial imaging data, and to the population-level EHR data, Dr. Song has developed a series of tailored deep learning, machine learning, and statistical methods for data analysis, representation, and interpretation, to facilitate the understanding of human diseases such as cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.

 

Kun Sun, PhD, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, China

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9883-1616
Webpage
Research interests: Cell-free DNA, Cancer liquid biopsy, Epigenomics, Multi-omics, long noncoding RNA

Dr. Kun Sun received his PhD in Chemical Pathology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2014, trained in bioinformatics and cancer genomics. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, China. Dr. Sun mainly works on cell-free DNA mediated cancer liquid biopsy, such as early diagnosis and precision oncology. He has developed several original biomarkers in cancer diagnosis, including those in emerging cfDNA fragmentomics field. He is also highly interested in the molecular mechanisms leading to cancer metastasis as well as potential drug targets. Dr. Sun serves as the co-inventors of more than 10 patents, some of which have been successfully translated into commercialized products.

 

Developmental Biology

Michalis Barkoulas, PhD, Imperial College London, UK
orcid.org/0000-0003-1974-7668
Webpage
Research interests: C. elegans biology in general, developmental genetics and innate immunity, robustness, gene expression, epidermal stem cells, oomycetes
Dr. Michalis Barkoulas is an Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at Imperial College London. Dr. Barkoulas completed his PhD at the University of Oxford working on plant developmental genetics in the Tsiantis lab. He was then introduced to C. elegans research while being a post-doc in the Félix lab at the École Normale Supérieure of Paris. His group at the Life Sciences Department of Imperial College focuses on addressing questions concerning the relationship between genotype and developmental phenotypes and biological robustness using an invertebrate model of epidermal stem cell patterning. More recently, the group has also been tackling questions in the field of host-pathogen interactions focusing on how nematodes recognise and respond to infection by natural pathogens.

 

Kristen Kroll, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-5450-6694
 Webpage
Research interests: transcription, epigenetic regulation, human embryonic stem cells, neural cell specification, neuronal differentiation

Our research focuses on defining gene regulatory networks (GRNs) that control neural cell specification, neurogenesis, and the generation of specific neuronal cell types. We are particularly interested in understanding how epigenetic regulation modulates these networks and how their dysregulation contributes to neurodevelopmental disorders and birth defects, including epilepsy, autism spectrum disorder, and neural tube defects. This work uses directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells), mouse models, and a wide range of cellular, molecular, and genomic approaches, to define roles for transcriptional and epigenetic regulation in shaping developmental transitions.

Brigitte Malgrange, PharmD, PhD, University of Liège, Belgium
orcid.org/0000-0002-8957-2528
Webpage.
Research interests: nervous system development, inner ear, stem cells, neurons, cell death, proliferation, iPS cells

Dr. Malgrange is research director at the University of Liege (Belgium) and vice-director of the GIGA research center (regrouping more than 600 persons working on life sciences porjects). Dr. Malgrange received a Pharm. D. diploma from the university of Paris XI (France) and a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Liege (Belgium).
Her research aimed at studying the molecular mechanisms regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, neuritic outgrowth and apoptosis during the development and regeneration of the inner ear and brain. Her team combines the use of transgenic mouse model and human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells as model systems.

Margherita Perillo, PhD, Marine Biological Laboratory, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-0845-507X
Webpage
Research interests: Epithelial tube morphogenesis, tubulogenesis, gene regulatory networks, developmental signaling, echinoderms, sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers

My research focuses on organ development and evolution. Specifically, I am investigating the mechanism that guide elongation, orientation and maintenance of the epithelial tubes that make complex organs by using the sea star Patiria miniata larva as a system. I got a PhD with the Open University of London working on the evolution of pancreatic cell types at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italy). I then moved to Boston College (USA) for a short postdoc where I investigated contribution of nuclear movements to muscle development using Drosophila. Next, I did a postdoc at Brown University (USA) where I focused on cell migration using the immune cells of the sea urchin larva as a model. At the same time, I established the hydro-vascular organ of the sea star larva as a new system to investigate tubulogenesis and I also developed genetic tools for these animals. In 2023 I joined the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL, USA) as a Research Scientist.

Marc Yeste, PhD, University of Girona, Spain
orcid.org/0000-0002-2209-340X
Webpage
Research interests: Reproductive Biology, Infertility, Animal Reproduction, Human Reproduction, Cryobiology, Sperm, Oocyte, Embryo, Assisted Reproductive Technology

Marc graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Biology) from Girona University, an MSc in Biotechnology, and earned a European PhD in Reproductive Biology. He also graduated with a Bachelor of Political and Social Sciences from UNED and read additional BA (Phil) courses. He was previously a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London; “Juan de la Cierva” Fellow at the Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Autonomous University of Barcelona; “Marie Curie” Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health; “Ramón y Cajal” Fellow at the Department of Biology, University of Girona; and is currently an ICREA Academia Researcher. His research has tackled different angles of Reproductive Biology in mammals (encompassing humans, pigs, cattle, horses, donkeys, sheep, mice, cats and dogs): sperm physiology (including sperm capacitation), interactions of sperm with epithelial cells from different reproductive tissues (epididymis and fallopian tube/oviduct), presence and growth of microbes in semen and implications for its preservation, sperm cryopreservation, cryopreservation of oocytes and embryos, genetics of infertility, oocyte activation deficiency, in vitro maturation of oocytes and fertility preservation.

Shuiqiao Yuan, PhD, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
orcid.org/0000-0003-1460-7682
Webpage
Research interests: Spermatogenesis, Oogenesis, Reproduction, Fertility, Embryo, Fertilization, Sperm, Oocyte, Genetic regulation, Epigenetic regulation, miRNAs, piRNAs

Dr. Shuiqiao Yuan is a Professor of Tongji Medical School at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Principal Investigator at Institute of Reproductive Health at HUST. Dr. Yuan received his Ph.D. degree from China Medical University in 2013. He was an exchange Ph.D. candidate student at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) from 2010 to 2013 and completed his post-doc training at UNR in 2016. His research field lies in aspects of reproductive biology with a keen focus on investigating the genetic and epigenetic control of fertility and the function of RNA-binding proteins in male germ cell development. Dr. Yuan has so far published >60 peer-reviewed research articles. Dr. Yuan received the First Prize of Natural Science Award for Maternal and Child Health in China in 2021. Dr. Yuan is current Director of the Laboratory Animal Center at Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

 

Evolutionary Biology

John Brookfield, PhD, University of Nottingham, UK
orcid.org/0000-0002-0509-0274
Webpage
Research interests: Evolutionary genetics; population genetics; ecological genetics; mathematical evolutionary modelling; mobile genetic elements

John Brookfield is a Professor Emeritus in Evolutionary Genetics at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nottingham, following his retirement in 2020. His interests are in population and evolutionary genetics, with a particular focus on the evolution of the genome, and, in particular, mobile genetic elements. He has a long-standing interest in population genetics theory and mathematical genetics. He has interests in the use of DNA technology in forensic science and the interface between genetics and ecology. He has extensive experience on numerous editorial boards, and was the Managing Editor of Heredity from 2000-2003. His other work in assessment includes grant reviewing for numerous funding bodies, in the UK and internationally, and membership of grant review panels for the BBSRC and the NERC in the UK. He was also a member of the Biological Sciences subpanels in the 2001 and 2008 Research Assessment Exercises in the UK.

Cristian Capelli, PhD, University of Parma, Italy
orcid.org/0000-0001-9348-9084
Webpage.
Research interests: Molecular Anthropology; human and non-human primate evolutionary genetics

Cristian Capelli is a molecular anthropologist and population geneticists with an interest in the genetic history of primates, human and non-human. His work focuses on the characterization of the population structure and admixture of human populations in Europe and Africa, modern and ancient. More recently he extended his research in the investigation of the genomic variation present in the genus Papio, also exploring its relevance in understanding the evolutionary history of the genus Homo. He is currently Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Parma. 

Joel Dacks, PhD, University of Alberta, Canada
orcid.org/0000-0003-4520-5694
Webpage
Research interests: evolutionary cell biology, protistology, protist, eukaryogenesis, membrane-trafficking, endosomes, Golgi

Dr. Joel B. Dacks received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from Dalhousie University (Canada), followed by postdoctoral research fellowships at the Natural History Museum (London) and the University of Cambridge. He joined the University of Alberta in 2008 where he is now a Full Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases. Dr. Dacks also holds a Research Scientist position at the Czech Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Professorship at the Centre for Life’s Origins and Evolution at University College London. His work examines the evolution of the eukaryotic membrane-trafficking system across various time scales from eukaryogenesis to modification and specialization in eukaryotic lineages. Partnering frequently with molecular cell biologists in diverse model systems, the Dacks Lab uses ‘omics level data and molecular evolutionary techniques to address questions of understanding the natural diversity and processes that gave rise to, and contribute to shape, the eukaryotic cell and its organelles. 

Eugene Koonin, PhD, National Center for Biotechnology Information, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-3943-8299
Webpage
Research interests: Evolution of viruses; origin of life; origin of eukaryotes; evolutionary theory; computational genomics

Eugene V. Koonin is the leader of the Evolutionary Genomics Group at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NIH). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Microbiology and The European Molecular Biology Organization, and a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 1983 from Moscow State University, joined the NIH in 1991 and became a Senior Investigator in 1996. His research interests focus on evolutionary genomics of prokaryotes, eukaryotes and viruses, host-parasite coevolution and general theory of the evolution of life. He is the author of about 1000 research papers and the book “The Logic of Chance: On the Nature and Origin of Biological Evolution”.

Raquel López-Antoñanzas, PhD, Institute of Evolutionary Sciences of Montpellier, France
orcid.org/0000-0003-3025-0476
Webpage
Research interests: Vertebrate palaeontology, systematics, phylogeny, parsimony, Bayesian tip-dating, morphological clock, macroevolution, palaeobiogeography

Understanding the patterns and causes of biodiversity variation is the main objective of evolutionary biology. The faunal diversification rates fluctuate under the influence of intrinsic (evolutionary novelties) and intrinsic (due to biogeography or climates) factors. I analyze the oscillations in vertebrate biodiversity in the Neogene and attempt to infer their underlying causes. With this end in view, I study the systematics and evolution of a variety of rodent clades since their origin until today and correlate the environmental and tectonic processes with the evolution of the lineages. Particularly, I study extinct and extant micromammals with a special focus on Subsaharan Africa, the Middle East, and Asia and the Cenozoic. This is an epoch that is characterized by tectonic collisions and orogeneses that have been critical to the evolution of animal life. I conduct taxonomic researches, biodiversity analyses and phylogenetic palaeobiogeography applying cladistic and Bayesian methods always within a time-calibrated framework. This way, I investigate how the fluctuations in biodiversity within fossil communities are related to tectonic and climatic events. These studies focus on the ecosystem evolution of the old world, the connections Africa Europe, and the faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasi.

Ferdinand Marlétaz, PhD, University College London, UK
orcid.org/0000-0001-8124-4266
Webpage.
Research interests: Whole genome duplication, macrosynteny, regulatory landscape, spiralians, phylogenomics, animals, body plans, genomics

My main research question focuses on the relationship between the diversity of genome organisations, the evolution of gene regulation during development and the establishment of animal body plans. After graduating from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, I enrolled for a Phd at the University of Marseille focused on the phylogeny of spiralians and the enigmatic phylum of chaetognaths. During my postdoctoral work, in Oxford, I worked on whole genome duplications and their impact on gene regulation and organismal novelties, particularly using amphioxus as chordate sister group. I pursed on this topic during a stay at the Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology, in Japan, particularly focusing on the evolution of chromosomal architecture among animals. In 2019, I joined the Genetics, Evolution & Environment department at UCL.

Rajendhran Rajakumar, PhD, University of Ottawa, Canada
orcid.org/0000-0001-7054-8619
Webpage
Research interests: Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Evolution, Developmental Genetics, Eco-Evo-Devo, Plasticity, Epigenetics, and Sociobiology

Rajendhran Rajakumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, and cross-appointed in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa). Dr. Rajakumar received his PhD at McGill University working with ants with Dr. Ehab Abouheif in the areas of developmental genetics & epigenetics within the emerging field of Ecological Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Eco-Evo-Devo). He next did a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology at the University of Florida with Dr. Martin Cohn, expanding his expertise to include vertebrate developmental genetics and Evo-Devo. Finally he did postdoctoral fellowships in the Department of Genetics of the Blavatnik institute at Harvard Medical School (HMS) with Dr. Norbert Perrimon where he trained with the classic genetics model Drosophila melanogaster. The main theme of his uOttawa lab is: how do environmental factors act on developmental processes, and how does the variation generated by this interaction lead to the evolution of biodiversity observed in nature.

Arun Sethuraman, PhD, San Diego State University, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-8201-8292
Webpage
Research interests: Genomics, bioinformatics, population genetics, molecular evolution

Dr. Sethuraman is an evolutionary computational biologist who develops new statistical methods and computational tools and pipelines for the estimation of evolutionary history from large population genomic data. Applications of his work in his lab at SDSU include the fields of conservation, agriculture, biological control, forensics, genetic genealogy estimation, and studies of early human migrations. Learn more about his work at www.sethuramanlab.com.

Josefin Stiller, PhD, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
orcid.org/0000-0001-6009-9581
Webpage
Research interests: evolutionary genomics, phylogenomics, phylogeography, conservation genomics, geogenetics

Josefin Stiller investigates questions surrounding the evolutionary origins of animal biodiversity. After receiving a BSc from Free University Berlin and a MSc from Humboldt University Berlin, she obtained a PhD in Marine Biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego. She carried out postdoctoral studies at the University of Copenhagen in biodiversity genomics of birds as part of the Bird 10,000 Genome Project (B10K). With support from a Villum Young Investigator grant, she is now building a research group at University of Copenhagen with projects on phylogenomics, comparative genomics, and phylogeography, with a current focus on the evolution of seahorses, seadragons and pipefishes and their relatives.

Gene Expression and Regulation
 

Erin Green, PhD, University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-3923-6726
Webpage
Research interests: chromatin biology, regulation by post-translational modification, mechanisms of gene expression, genome architecture, cellular stress responses

Dr. Erin Green is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Dr. Green received her PhD in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley working with Dr. Paul Kaufman and Dr. Karsten Weis in the areas of chromatin biology and genome regulation. She completed postdoctoral work at Stanford University with Dr. Or Gozani in chromatin regulation by histone post-translational modifications. Current research in the Green Lab at UMBC investigates the role for protein post-translational modifications in chromatin and cellular signaling pathways particularly in pathways that support cell survival and adaptation to stress. 

Marco Mangone, PhD, Arizona State University, USA
orcid.org/0000-0001-7551-8793
Webpage
Research interests: gene regulation, 3'Untranslated Regions, miRNAs, Genomics, C. elegans, Alternative Polyadenylation, ncRNAs, RNAs

Dr. Mangone is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the School of Life Sciences and the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. His research centers on how eukaryotic RNA transcription is terminated and how messenger RNA is regulated on its way to expression into proteins, using the roundworm C. elegans as a model system. Dr. Mangone's approach combines high-throughput genomics, bioinformatics, genetics, biochemistry, and systems biology. Dr. Mangone received his Ph.D. from the Watson School of Biological Sciences (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) in 2006. He was then a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University. He joined Arizona State University as faculty in 2011. Dr. Mangone is a member of the Genetics Society of America and the RNA Society, as well as the Director of the Biology Ph.D. program in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University.

Peter Sarkies, PhD, University of Oxford, UK
orcid.org/0000-0003-0279-6199
Webpage
Research interests: Epigenetics, small non-coding RNAs, DNA methylation, evolution, piRNAs

My lab is based at the University of Oxford in the Biochemistry Department. We're interested in the connections between epigenetics and evolution, using nematodes (including both laboratory models and parasitic nematodes) to investigate whether epigenetic changes can ever drive evolutionary processes such as natural selection and drift. We're also working on how epigenetic mechanisms evolve across species and in cancer. I also teach undergraduates in Biochemistry at Oxford in epigenetics and molecular evolution. Away from the lab I'm keen on running, reading and growing orchids! 

 

Genetics and Genomics

Gertraud Burger, PhD, University of Montreal, Canada
Webpage
Research interests: Micro-eukaryotes, genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, microbe-plant interactions, eukaryotic evolution, bioinformatics

Dr. Gertraud BURGER is a full professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada, and a founding member of the Robert-Cedergren Centre for Bioinformatics and Genomics. Burger's research examines how the various eukaryotic life forms have evolved and explores the diverse molecular mechanisms that cells use to carry out shared biological functions.
More specifically, the laboratory employs genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics to study under-researched unicellular eukaryotes. These approaches, combined with bioinformatics analyses, are used for comparative studies on topics such as RNA processing mechanisms, genome structure and content, and the symbiotic relationships between microbes and plant.
 

Filipe Castro, PhD, University of Porto, Portugal
orcid.org/0000-0001-7697-386X
Webpage
Research interests: Comparative Genomics, Gene Evolution, Physiology, Gene Loss, Whole genome duplication, Metazoa, Endocrine System, Genomics

My main research question focuses on the evolution and dynamics of gene repertoire and the diversity of physiology and endocrine systems in Metazoa. After graduating in Biology from the University of Porto, I enrolled for a Phd, at the University of Porto, Reading and Oxford (UK), focused on the evolution of homeobox genes and genome duplications in Chordates. During my postdoctoral work, I worked on endocrine disruption in marine snails, addressing the molecular pathways exploited by xenobiotics. I pursed further this topic at CIIMAR-UP as a PI, addressing the evolution of complex traits and gene networks in Metazoans and their impact on animal physiology, particularly in the context of the Anthropocene. In 2019, I joined the Biology department at the University of Porto.

Ying Wai Chan, BSc; MPhil; PhD, The University of Hong Kong, China

Webpage
Research interests: DNA repair, DNA replication, Chromosome segregation, Genome instability, Homologous recombination

Ying Wai Chan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. His research delves into the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair, chromosome segregation, and genome stability, with a strong focus on their implications for cancer. His work has illuminated the processes involved in anaphase bridge resolution and its impact on genome integrity. Dr. Chan’s team employs an interdisciplinary approach, combining cell biology, genetics, genomics, and biochemistry to investigate how various proteins cleave and process anaphase bridges and mediate DNA repair in response to replication stress and PARP inhibition.

Ningbo Chen, PhD, Northwest A&F University, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-6624-5885
Webpage
Research interests: Cattle population omics, bovine genetics, molecular evolution, bioinformatics, ancient DNA, introgression, structure variants, and genome assembly

My research provides fundamental insight into the origin of cattle, genome organization and plasticity of farm animals, thereby improving our understanding of the molecular-genetic underpinnings of complex traits and diseases. Focus on to dissect genetic architecture of bovine populations, including cattle, yak, and other wild bovine species, quantitatively characterize their admixture features, and reveal their migration history and adaptive divergence. Using next generation sequencing, mitochondrial and the nuclear genome of both ancient and modern bovine species to reveal the population evolution and adaptive introgression. The four main research foci include (1) genome assembly and pangenome integration of Chinese cattle, (2) the origin and formation of East Asian bovine species, including cattle, yak, aurochs, using ancient and modern DNA technology, (3) the genetic characterization of cattle adaptation to extremely environments, and (4) population-scale complex trait genomics using omics data.

Guanglin He, PhD, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-6614-5267
Webpage
Research interests: Population genomics, evolutionary medicine, forensic genomics, ancient DNA and molecular anthropology

Guanglin He is an associate professor at West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Sichuan University. He has broad interests in population genomics, evolutionary medicine, forensic genomics, ancient DNA and molecular anthropology. He pursues a general interest in exploring population origin, migration and admixture history and biological adaptation of ethno-linguistically diverse worldwide populations via modern and ancient DNA. He has extensive experience illuminating the genetic basis of complex trait and diseases and developing new systems for forensic and medicine translation applications based on large-scale genomic resources.

Ruslan Kalendar, PhD, University of Helsinki, Finland
orcid.org/0000-0003-3986-2460
Webpage 
Research interests: Mobile genetic elements; Nucleic Acid; Oligonucleotides; PCR; Copy Number Variation; Comparative Genomic Hybridization; Genome Walking

Ruslan Kalendar is a Professor in Biology. His interests are in molecular genetics, with a particular focus on the evolution of the genome, and, in particular, mobile genetic elements. He pursues a general interest in the evolutionary processes underlying the spread and diversification of mobile genetic elements and their inactive descendants in eucaryotic genomes. The application of gene- and retrotransposon-based variation in mapping, diversity analysis, and development of breeding tools. He has interests in the use of DNA technology in diagnostic research and software development and genomics and comparative bioinformatics (a search of repeats, DNA alignment and assembly, PCR primer design). He has extensive experience on numerous editorial boards (Frontiers in Plant Science, Frontiers in Genetics, BMC Plant Biology, BMC Genomic Data, Plos One, PeerJ). His other work in assessment includes grant reviewing for numerous funding bodies, in the EU and internationally.

Seungill Kim, PhD, University of Seoul, South Korea

Webpage
Research interests: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, plant genomics, Population Genomics, genome evolution, Plant Transposable Element

Dr. Seungill Kim, Ph.D., is a distinguished researcher specializing in plant genomics and bioinformatics. He earned his Ph.D. in Plant Genomics from Seoul National University (SNU) in 2015, followed by four years of postdoctoral training at SNU. In 2019, he joined the Department of Environmental Horticulture at the University of Seoul. His research focuses on uncovering hidden genetic variation and key evolutionary mechanisms in plant genomes, utilizing cutting-edge computational and functional genomic approaches.

 

 

Xiangtao Li, PhD, Jilin University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-8716-9823
Webpage
Research interests: Bioinformatics, computational biology; artificial intelligence, single-cell RNA-seq, protein-RNA binding

Dr. Xiangtao Li serves as a Professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence, Jilin University, Jilin, China. His expertise spans the realms of Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Artificial Intelligence, Single-cell RNA-seq and Protein-RNA binding. Under his leadership, our group, grounded in computational methodologies, focuses on employing advanced deep learning techniques to decode complex biological and biomedical datasets. Our contributions include: (1). Single-Cell RNA-seq, Multi-omics, and Spatial Transcriptomics: By harnessing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms, our group has pioneered methods to cluster cells of single-cell RNA sequencing data. Venturing further into multi-omics and spatial transcriptomics, we strive to uncover the intricate molecular layers within cells, shedding light on the spatial intricacies of transcriptional processes. (2). Protein-RNA Binding Predictions: An integral part of our research involves predicting Protein-RNA interactions. Utilizing deep learning methodologies, we have developed precise models that accurately predict these molecular dialogues, opening avenues for the discovery of innovative diagnostic markers and potential therapeutic strategies. Throughout our academic pursuits, our group remains steadfast in intertwining computational models with the complexities of biological systems, always aiming to produce impactful insights in the field.

Yafei Mao, PhD, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-9648-4278
Webpage
Research interests: evolutionary genomics, structural variation, primates, coral, gene duplication, phylogeny, speciation

Yafei Mao is an associate professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He has broad interests in ecological and evolutionary genomics. His research focuses on two main topics: structural variation (SV) and gene tree discordance (GTD). He combines experimental and computational approaches to investigate genome architectures of SV and GTD in corals and primates. His lab aims to understand how those architectures are associated with the origins of human genetic diseases and the adaptive evolution of corals and primates.

Ben Pascoe, DPhil, University of Oxford, UK
orcid.org/0000-0001-6376-5121
Webpage
Research interests: Pathogen genomics, bacterial GWAS, bacterial evolution, pathogen surveillance, antimicrobial resistance, gastrointestinal pathogens

With over a decade of experience in pathogen genomics, Dr. Pascoe is a Senior Research Fellow in the Global Genomics of Diarrhoeal Disease at the University of Oxford and part of the Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research. Dr. Pascoe manages an active research portfolio, including research into Global Pathogen Genomics and Evolution, Global differences in Campylobacter epidemiology, and the emergence of multi-drug resistant Campylobacter coli. 

Fei Shen, Dr. Sci. (Biol.), Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, China
orcid.org/0000-0003-4035-2169
Webpage
Research interests: Plant genomics, Comparative genomics, Genetics, Polyploid genomes and evolution, Population genetics and domestication

Dr. Fei Shen is currently a tenured assistant professor at the Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (BAAFS). He completed his doctoral work on horticulture genomics at China Agricultural University (CAU) and Edmund Mach Foundation (FEM, Italy). He has a great deal of experience with plant genomes and genome evolution. He has done a lot of genome projects, including apple, jasmine, plum, horseradish, etc. The genomic project covered the subjects of genome evolution, genome assembly, and genome resequencing (e.g. 3,000 rice genome sequencing). Besides, he also works to develop analytical tools that address complex genetic processes. More recently, his group Interests in 1) Comparative and evolutionary genomics: Employing a combination of comparative, computational, and experimental genomics approaches to address the mechanistic basis that underlies structural and functional genomic changes in flowering plants, with an emphasis on duplication-driven and transposon-mediated gene and genome evolution. 2) Genetic dissection of complex traits: Employing a combination of genomics, proteomics, molecular biology and genetics approaches to dissect complex traits of agronomic importance.

Maojun Wang, Dr. Sci. (Biol.), Huazhong Agricultural University, China
orcid.org/0000-0002-4791-3742
Webpage
Research interests: polyploid genomics and evolution, population genetics and domestication, epigenetics and 3D genomics, gene expression and regulation, cotton fiber.

Dr. Maojun Wang is a professor in Huazhong Agricultural University and a principal investigator in National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement. His group uses the cotton genus as a research model to investigate the regulatory mechanism of single-cell differentiation and development in plants, committed to improving fiber quality in cotton. He also has interests in the intertwining relationship between genome size evolution and reorganization of higher-order chromatin structure in plants. He extends his research to address some fundamental scientific questions in polyploid plants, such as the underlying mechanism of polyploid advantage in changing environments, using multidisciplinary approaches such as genomics, bioinformatics, molecular biology, genome editing and artificial intelligence.

Daoquan Xiang, PhD, National Research Council Canada, Canada
orcid.org/0000-0001-7144-1274
Webpage
Research interests: Plant developmental biology, Plant embryogenesis and seed biology, Single cell genomics, Genetic and Genomics, Gene Expression and regulation, Gene editing–CRISPR, Crop performance and seed/grain yields, Metabolomics, Epigenetics and gene expression, Evolutionary biology

Dr. Daoquan Xiang is a Research Officer at the National Research Council Canada, specializing in developmental biology, genetics, and functional genomics. His research explores the fundamental aspects of seed biology and the intricate regulation of plant stem cells and meristems. Through state-of-the-art genomic approaches ranging from single-cell analysis to high-throughput DNA sequencing, Dr. Xiang investigates plant architecture, nutrient metabolism, defense mechanisms, and stress resistance. His innovative work integrates advanced techniques such as RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, metabolomics, and genome editing to unravel how plants develop and adapt to their environment. Currently, Dr. Xiang focuses on identifying and characterizing key regulatory genes in important crops including canola, pea, and wheat. His research into how these genes govern seed development and agricultural traits advances our understanding of crop biology and contributes to agricultural innovation.

Liandong Yang, PhD, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-7570-0296
Webpage
Research interests: Phylogenomics, speciation, evolution, adaptation, evo-devo, comparative genomics, bioinformatics, population genomics

Liandong Yang is a young investigator at the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with a broad interest in evolutionary genomics and adaptive evolution. His research primarily focuses on several key areas: (1) Phylogenomics of major clades of ray-finned fishes; (2) Factors that drive the generation of biodiversity; (3) The origins of new species, a fundamental question in evolutionary biology; and (4) The genetic mechanisms underlying adaptation to extreme environments.

Zhongying Zhao, PhD, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
orcid.org/0000-0003-2743-9008
Webpage
Research interests: Speciation genetics, genomics, gene regulatory network, cell lineage analysis, RNA modification

Zhongying Zhao is a professor in genome biology in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Hong Kong Baptist University. He uses genetics, genomic and systems biology approaches to dissect the mechanisms of hybrid incompatibilities. Empower by various types of sequencing technology, especially Nanopore DNA/RNA sequencing technologies, his lab focuses on developing genetics, genomic and computational tools and resources to make C. briggsae and its newly isolated sister species, C. nigoni, as an attractive model system for research into molecular mechanisms of hybrid incompatibility between the two nematode species. Leveraged on the automatic lineaging technique, his lab has also been establishing the gene regulatory network underlying the tissue/organ formation with single-cell resolution at one-minute interval during embryogenesis.

 

Immunology
 

Melissa Joy Call, BSc; MSc; PhD, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia

Research interests: Protein Structure, chimeric antigen receptor T cells, Immunology, X-ray Crystallography, SARS-CoV-2, receptors, Deep Mutational Scanning, High-throughput screening

Melissa Call is a Laboratory Head in the Structural Biology Division at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia. Her work bridges immunology and structural biology, with a particular focus on receptor architecture and immune signaling. She earned her PhD from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, where she investigated how superantigens interact with MHC class II molecules. She then pursued postdoctoral research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA, focusing on high-throughput drug discovery to identify small molecules that influence peptide presentation in adaptive immunity. At WEHI, her research explores the role of transmembrane domains in both native receptor signaling and the engineering of chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for T-cell immunotherapies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she pivoted part of her research to study how SARS-CoV-2 might adapt to therapeutics targeting viral proteases, using deep mutational scanning to prospectively identify escape variants. Throughout her career, she has focused on understanding how molecular interactions shape immune responses, with applications in drug discovery, cancer immunotherapy, and infectious disease research. Webpage

 

Joseph Larkin, PhD, University of Florida, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-2066-6814

Research interests: Jak/stat, lupus, rodent models, cytokine, interferon, t lymphocyte, regulatory T cell, autoimmune

Joseph Larkin III, PhD is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Florida in the department of Microbiology and Cell Science. Dr. Larkin received his BS in Microbiology and PhD in Immunology from the University of Florida. After completion of his postdoctoral training in a joint appointment with the University of Pennsylvania and the Wistar Institute, Dr. Larkin was invited back to the University of Florida as faculty. Dr. Larkin research focuses on the interplay jak/stat signal regulation in driving an autoimmune lymphocyte repertoir. Webpage

Jérémie Rossy, PhD, Biotechnology Institute Thurgau at the University of Konstanz, Switzerland
orcid.org/0000-0002-5128-5283
Webpage
Research interests: Immunological synapse, T cell activation,T cells, dendritic cells, T cell activation, cell migration, endocytic trafficking, mechanobiology of immune cells

After a PhD focused on the role of the membrane-cytoskeleton connection in ameboid migrating cells at the University of Bern (Switzerland), Dr Rossy moved to the University of New South Wales. There he developed single molecule localisation microscopy approaches to investigate T cell activation. This led to major outbreaks in our understanding of the organisation of signalling protein at the plasma membrane of the immunological synapse. After he became independent in 2014, Dr. Rossy led research project using a novel fluorescence microscopy approach to understand how endocytic recycling regulates T cell activation. Based on the use of photoactivatable fluorescent protein he and his group were able to reconstitute the whole journey of the T cell receptor during T cell activation, from its internalisation to its return to the plasma membrane at the synapse. Back in Switzerland in 2017 at Biotechnology Institute Thurgau at the University of Konstanz, Dr Rossy obtained project grant funding to investigate how cell tension regulates T cell activation and the dendritic cell side of the immunological synapse.


Meta-Analysis 

Alistair Senior, PhD, University of Sydney, Australia
orcid/org/0000-0001-9805-7280
Webpage
Research interests: nutrition, appetite, life-history, aging, biostatistics, meta-analysis

I am a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, Australia, and affiliated with the multidisciplinary Charles Perkins Centre. My technical skills are primarily in biostatistics, computational biology, and modelling. Originally from the UK, I completed my PhD at the University of Otago, New Zealand in 2013. Since moving to Australia, I have been working on questions related diet and organismal life-history. Initially my interest in these questions came from an eco-evolutionary perspective (the field of ‘nutritional ecology’). However, more recently I have also become interested in the biomedical facets, in particular, applications in appetite and healthy aging.

 

Microbiology
 

Sascha Brunke, PhD, Leibniz-Institut für Naturstoff-Forschung und Infektionsbiologie e. V. - Hans-Knöll-Institut (HKI), Germany
Webpage
Research interests: Fungal Pathogenicity, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Molecular Mycology, Transcriptomics, Laboratory Evolution, Antifungals

Dr. Brunke obtained his PhD in Biology at the Robert Koch Institute and the Free University Berlin in 2010 for his work on the fungal pathogen Malassezia furfur. He continued to work on pathogenic yeasts, mainly Candida albicans and Candida glabrata at the Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) and the University Hospital in Jena. Currently the deputy head of the Department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanism at Leibniz-HKI, his research now focuses on the adaptations of fungal pathogens to the host, especially their nutrient acquisition and immune escape. Using experimental evolution approaches, transcriptomics and in vitro infection models, he aims to understand how these mechanisms can be exploited as future targets for antifungal and antivirulence treatments.

Eric Cascales, PhD, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Aix-Marseille University, France
orcid.org/0000-0003-0611-9179
Webpage
Research interests: Microbiology, bacteria, microbial pathogenesis, bacterial competition, cell envelope, cell surface, membrane biogenesis, peptidoglycan, cell wall, protein translocation, bacterial conjugation, protein secretion, protein export, protein targeting, protein transport, bacteriophage, bacterial toxin, toxins, motility, flagellum

Eric Cascales completed his PhD studies at the Aix-Marseille University on the assembly and mechanism of action of the Tol-Pal system, a proton-driven molecular motor involved in cell envelope biogenesis, cell division and toxin uptake. After his PhD, he moves for his post-doctoral work at the Houston Medical School (University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA) in the Peter Christie's laboratory, where he worked on the Agrobacterium Type IV secretion system (T4SS), which is required for DNA transport via a conjugative mechanism. There, he defined the translocation pathway of the DNA across the cell envelope and provides information on the energetics controling DNA transport through the apparatus. He then obtained a CNRS position and started his laboratory in Marseille (France), developing new lines of studies regarding the architecture, assembly, mechanism of action and toxin tansport by the Type VI secretion system (T6SS), which uses a contractile mechanism to propel toxins into target cells. More recently, his lab started a new topic of research on the Type IX secretion system (T9SS), which is involved in pathogenesis and gliding motility. He was awarded the Bronze medal of the CNRS, and the prestigious Coup d'Elan pour la Recherche Scientifique of the Fondation Bettencourt-Schueller.

Igor Iatsenko, Dr. rer. nat. Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
orcid.org/0000-0002-9249-8998
Webpage
Research interests: Drosophila, c. elegans, Bacillus thuringiensis, microbiota, invertebrate immunity, host defense, insect immunity, Lactobacillus, intestinal homeostasis, mechanism of infection, pathogen virulence, innate immunity; host-pathogen interactions, entomopathogens, insect endosymbionts, nutritional immunity, microbial interactions
Dr. Iatsenko is currently a Group Leader at Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany. He completed his PhD studies at Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology and the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen in 2014 on the molecular mechanisms of Caenorhabditis elegans – Bacillus interactions. His post-doctoral work was performed at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) in the lab of Bruno Lemaitre, where Dr. Iatsenko studied the mechanisms of insect defense mechanisms using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model. In his lab, Dr. Iatsenko continues to use Drosophila as a model organism and genetic approaches to investigate 1) the conserved mechanisms of innate immune responses, 2) the virulence strategies used by pathogens to overcome host defenses, 3) how the influence of resident microbial communities (microbiota) on host physiology and pathogen virulence affects the infection outcome. 

Jerónimo RodrÌguez-Beltr·n, PhD, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal - IRYCIS, Spain

Webpage
Research Interests: microbiology, Horizontal gene transfer, Antibiotic resistance, bacterial evolution, bacterial genetics
Jerónimo Rodríguez Beltrán’s research centres on understanding the evolution of antibiotic resistance. During his PhD at CNB-CSIC and IBiS (Spain), he discovered that certain antibiotics activate genetic responses in bacteria that boost their survival and identified compounds capable of slowing resistance development. As a postdoctoral researcher at IRYCIS (Madrid, Spain), he investigated the evolutionary mechanisms behind the emergence and transfer of resistance mediated by mobile genetic elements. In 2021, he founded the Evolutionary Dynamics of Antibiotic Resistance Lab at IRYCIS. His team focuses on understanding resistance evolution to design new therapeutic strategies targeting multi-resistant pathogens. His contributions to the field have earned him several prestigious awards, including the Karin Ippen-Ihler Memorial Prize (2018), the Jaime Ferrán Award (2023), and the Spanish National Research Award (2024).

Molecular and Cell Biology
 

Senthil Arumugam, PhD, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Australia
orcid.org/0000-0001-6733-4679
Webpage
Research interests: Endosomal trafficking, Mechano-biology, Signalling, Self-Organization, developmental biology, Microscopy, Light-Sheet fluorescence microscopy, data analysis

Dr Senthil Arumugam obtained his PhD training in the lab of Prof Petra Schwille at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany, focusing on self-organisation of proteins involved in bacterial cell division. His post-doctoral work in the labs of Prof Patricia Bassereau and Prof Ludger Johannes at the Curie Institute, Paris, France, focused on protein-membrane interactions and cellular trafficking. Dr Arumugam joined Single Molecule Science at the University of New South Wales as an independent group leader in September 2016 and established the Lattice Light-Sheet Imaging infrastructure with his research focused on endosomal trafficking.
At EMBL Australia at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Senthil spearheads an interdisciplinary group focussed on cellular physiology. 

Sekyu Choi, PhD, Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea
Webpage

Dr. Choi obtained his PhD in Biological Sciences from KAIST in 2014. Afterwards, he completed a five-year postdoctoral training at the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. Subsequently, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in Life Science at POSTECH in 2021. Dr. Choi's laboratory employs a combination of genetics, cell biology, and animal model techniques to investigate the mechanisms that control stem cells and their niches to understand tissue regeneration.

 

Jiajie Diao, PhD, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-4288-3203
Webpage
Research interests: membrane fusion, single-molecule biophysics, sub-cellular dynamics, super-resolution imaging, nanoparticle assembly

Dr. Jiajie Diao received his PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under Dr. Taekjip Ha in 2010. From 2011-2015, Dr. Diao was a postdoctoral associate and research specialist in Dr. Axel Brunger’s lab at Stanford University. At the end of 2015, Dr. Diao started his own lab at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Dr. Diao has developed a series of biophysical/biochemical methods to study membrane fusion at the single particle level, and led the development of multiple new molecular probes and super-resolution assays for quantitative analysis of sub-cellular dynamics. Furthermore, by using single molecule biophysical tools and molecular dynamics simulation, Dr. Diao has been systematically studying the functional and conformational dynamics of alpha-synuclein, a protein closely related to Parkinson's disease. Dr. Diao also has applied the single molecule FRET technique to imaging DNA modifications and the interaction between DNA and proteins. Finally, Dr. Diao also invented new physical/chemical techniques for the self-assembly of nanoparticles.

Feng Yue, PhD, University of Florida, USA
Webpage
Research interests: metabolism, mitochondria, epigenetics, mammalian stem cell, muscle degenerative disease, obesity, ageing

Dr. Feng Yue is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida, USA. His research aims to address the fundamental question of how cellular metabolism governs tissue growth and homeostasis. Utilizing versatile transgenic mouse models, primary cells, and isolated organelles (mitochondria), combining advanced single-cell omics, high resolution imaging, and biochemical and biophysical approaches, Dr. Yue’s research focuses on skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biology centering on the metabolic and epigenetic regulation of stem cell fate and tissue function in physiological and pathological conditions, including obesity, muscular dystrophy, and aging. The overarching goal of Dr. Yue’s research is to extend the knowledge in metabolic biology and provide new potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases.


Yang Zhang, PhD, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen), China
orcid.org/0000-0002-3503-5161
Webpage
Research interests: Bioinformatics, Artificial intelligence, Microbiology, Chemical biology, Nuclei acids folding/structure, Aptamer, Biosensing

Dr. Yang Zhang is an Associate Professor at the College of Science at the Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen). Dr. Zhang received his PhD from the University of Cambridge, and a M.Phil from the University of Hong Kong. His research interest combines computational and experimental approaches for pathogen and cancer research. On the computational side, his group is both developing and applying the latest deep learning technologies to analyze a wide range of biological and biochemical data, including (i) developing Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered smart microscopic imaging to accelerate disease diagnostic and drug discovery. (ii) enabling deep learning techniques to be applied to omics data, (e.g. modeling of proteins, DNAs, miRNAs, LncRNAs, and mRNAs and their interactions, structures and/or dynamics in molecular, cellular and tissue level), for the discovery of novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. (iii) the use of deep learning in cheminformatics and chemical biology in guiding drug discovery to target those therapeutic targets and fight against disease. On the experimental side, his group combines imaging, high-throughput sequencing, mass spectrometry, and chemical biology to mechanistically understand diseases at the molecular level by addressing the fundamental question of how those molecules shape the disease systematically. 

Neurobiology
 

Brian Ackley, PhD, University of Kansas, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-1257-2407
Webpage
Research interests: neurobiology, cell adhesion molecules, synaptogenesis, neurodegeneration, host/pathogen interactions, genomics

Brian Ackley is a molecular geneticist and neurobiologist at The University of Kansas, Lawrence. His research group uses C. elegans as a model system. Brian started his fascination with C. elegans during his PhD at Northwestern University with Jim Kramer. It was there he found that the conserved collagen XIII protein was an axon guidance protein. During his postdoctoral training he went on to show that both collagen XVIII and nidogen separately are critical for the development of neuromuscular junctions. Since starting his independent position at KU, he has continued to study the molecular mechanisms that contribute to synapse formation, maintenance, and degeneration. Recently, his work has expanded to include host-pathogen interactions, specifically as a function of host physiology and genetic variation.

Daniel da Silva, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-0033-3270
Webpage
Research interests: Genomics, transcriptomics, bioinformatics, pharmacology, electrophysiology, basal ganglia, addiction, alcohol, cocaine, opioid

Daniel da Silva, PhD. is an Assistant Professor of the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience. His research is primarily focused on integrative and translational approaches to investigate the molecular, cellular, and synaptic mechanisms contributing to individual vulnerability to Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). He completed his postdoctoral work at the NIH/NIAAA in Dr. Alvarez's laboratory, where he focused on the neurobiology of compulsive behaviors. In this capacity, he conducted groundbreaking research that identified distinct molecules and circuits involved in the transition from hedonic alcohol consumption to compulsive use. Notably, he was the first to establish a connection between the Parkinson-related gene Lrrk2, the modulation of dopamine D1 receptors, and the regulation of alcohol consumption in both mice and humans. More recently, he employed cutting-edge techniques such as single-cell RNA-sequencing and multiomic approaches to identify candidate cellular and molecular changes driving compulsive alcohol drinking in mice.

Ho Ko, PhD, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
orcid.org/0000-0002-0254-3274
Webpage
Research interests: Neural circuits; neurodegeneration; therapeutics development; imaging tools

Dr Ko holds Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMedSci, 1st class) and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from CUHK. He pursued PhD in neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Thomas Mrsic-Flogel at University College London in the UK and won the runner-up award of the 2014 Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology based on his PhD works.Dr Ko serves as a principal investigator at the Gerald Choa Neuroscience Center and the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Leading a team with expertise in biology, chemistry and engineering, his current research works focus on (i) gliovascular and neural circuit dysfunction in aging and neurodegeneration, and (ii) the development of neuroimaging tools.

Jean-Pierre Mothet, PhD, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) - University of Paris-Saclay, France
orcid.org/0000-0003-4991-0614
Webpage
Research interests: Neuroscience, Cellular Neurophysiology, Neuropharmacology, Biophotonics

Jean-Pierre Mothet is Director of Research at CNRS (France). He graduated from the University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, in 1996 working with Dr. Ladislav Tauc. Then, he pursued postdoctoral research with Pr Solomon H. Snyder at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (USA). There he elucidated the functions and the synthesis pathway for a right-handed amino acid D-serine in the Mammalian brain. In 1999, he moved to the laboratory of Pr Jacopo Meldolesi (Italy) to study exocytosis of neurotransmitters. His team investigates the regulation of NMDA receptors by their co-agonists at synapses and circuits underlying memory formation in the context of healthy and pathological neuron-glia interactions. He also explores the mechanisms underlying gliotransmission, and its functional relevance for neuronal network dynamics. His research lies at the interface of Synapse Physiology, Neuropharmacology and Cell Biology with a strong connection with chemistry and physics for developing new optical tools. His research contributes to expand the importance of non-canonical right-handed amino acids in health and disease. He is a senior fellow of the University of Oxford (2018), a member of Academia Europaea (2020) and since 2021 a council member of the International Society for Neurochemistry.

Louis-Jan (LJ) Pilaz, PhD, Sanford Research, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-9035-1327
Webpage
Research interests: brain development, rna localization, neural stem cells, neurodegeneration

Dr. Pilaz received a BA in Cognitive Sciences from University Lumiere and a PhD in Molecular Biology from University Claude Bernard in Lyon, France. After postdoctoral fellowships at Johns Hopkins University and Duke University, he started his own lab in the Pediatrics and Rare Diseases Group at Sanford Research in Sioux Falls, SD. The Pilaz lab uses the mouse model to study the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders caused by defects in embryonic cortical development. Current projects focus on (i) the regulation of neural stem cell proliferation (ii) neuronal migration and (iii) the maintenance and survival of neurons.

Sridhar Ravi, PhD, University of New South Wales, Australia
orcid.org/0000-0001-7397-9713
Webpage
Research interests: animal locomotion, animal behaviour, cognition, animal-plant interactions and applied ecology

Dr. Sridhar Ravi is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Canberra and leader of the Bio-Engineering Group. His interests are in biomechanics and neuroethology of aerial and aquatic locomotion in animals. Dr. Sridhar Ravi completed PhD from RMIT University in 2011. Between 2012 and 2014 he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology in Harvard University where he studied the flight of insects and birds in unsteady winds. From 2015 to 2018 Dr. Ravi worked in Chiba University and University of Bielefeld on JSPS Fellowship and Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship respectively. Here he conducted research on bio-inspired miniature flapping wing crafts and on neuroethology of flight and aerial navigation in bees. Dr Ravi returned to Australia in 2018 to join RMIT University as a Lecturer and in 2019 joined UNSW-Canberra as a Senior Lecturer. Dr Ravi's research overlaps engineering and biological sciences with an emphasis on using robotics as tools to seek insights into the sensorimotor systems of animals.

Estuardo Robles, PhD, Purdue University, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-1202-2050
Webpage
Research interests: Zebrafish, Sensory Systems, Neural Development, Synaptogenesis, Axon, Dendrite

Since my days of undergraduate research I have been fascinated by how neurons can self-assemble into circuits with highly specialized forms and functions. My current research interests are focused on using modern neuroanatomical techniques to guide hypothesis-driven studies into the function of specific visual circuits. Zebrafish is the ideal model system in which to perform these studies due to 1) a simple larval nervous system, 2) availability of transgenics to target specific neuron types, and 3) optical transparency that enables non-invasive imaging and optogenetic stimulation. Current projects are aimed at defining the morphology and physiology of genetically identified neurons in the zebrafish midbrain. 

 

Physiology
 

Feng He, PhD, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China
orcid.org/0000-0003-0276-3303
Webpage
Research interests: Cell death, liver cancer, fatty liver disease, stress response, UPR

Dr. He’s lab studies Obesity, Fatty Liver Disease (FLD), Liver injury, and their progression into steatohepatitis and liver cancer as well as Tumor Immunotherapy. Currently, his research focuses on stress response signaling in the regulation of inflammation and metabolism, and their roles in the pathogenesis of cancer, as well as exploring new methods for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. He’s lab uses a variety of modern biological tools to understand the molecular mechanism of diseases, explores new drug targets and identify small molecules and new generations of therapies, and strives to limit the gap from basic medical research to clinical application for the benefit of human health.

Erica Heinrich, PhD, University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-6861-6165
 Webpage
Research interests: integrative and comparative physiology, respiratory physiology, oxygen transport, hypoxia, physiological ecology

Dr. Heinrich is an Assistant Professor in the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine. She received her PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine working with Dr. Timothy Bradley in the fields of comparative physiology and respiratory gas exchange in insects. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine with Dr. Frank Powell and Dr. Tatum Simonson where she studied human responses to hypoxia and environmental stress. Dr. Heinrich’s current research uses integrative physiological and genomic approaches to understand plasticity and adaptation to chronic hypoxia in environmental and clinical contexts. Her group uses a high-altitude exposure model to investigate the impact of chronic hypoxia on the control of breathing, immune function, and cardiovascular function.

Arpita Mukhopadhyay, PhD, St. John's Research Institute, India
orcid.org/0000-0001-8260-5385
Webpage
Research interests: Molecular physiology, molecular biology, human genetics and genomics, metabolism, gene expression, DNA methylation

Dr. Arpita Mukhopadhyay is a molecular physiologist and developmental biologist. She has been selected for the Janaki Ammal – National Women Bioscientists Award - 2021-22. She was awarded the prestigious DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Clinical and Public Health Intermediate fellowship in 2020. She was selected as a Young Investigator to attend the 9th Young Investigator Meeting in 2017. Her current research interests include human metabolism, and its pathophysiological manifestations in obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, human placental biology, in appropriate and adverse birth outcomes, childhood stunting, metabolomic and gut microbiota correlates and mechanisms.

Kevin Murach, PhD, University of Arkansas, USA
orcid.org/0000-0003-2783-7137
Webpage
Research interests: skeletal muscle biology, muscle stem cells, muscle epigenetics, muscle microRNAs, muscle aging, myonuclei

Dr. Murach received a PhD in Human Bioenergetics from Ball State University and post-doctoral training in muscle stem cell biology at the University of Kentucky Center for Muscle Biology. He is currently in Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas and leads the Molecular Muscle Mass Regulation Laboratory. His research broadly pertains to adult skeletal muscle mass regulation in the context of exercise, aging, and disease. Dr. Murach uses human muscle samples, conditional and inducible genetic mouse models, cell culture approaches, and single cell/nucleus techniques to address his research questions.

Gaetano Santulli, MD, PhD, FAHA, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA
orcid.org/0000-0001-7231-375X
Webpage
Research interests: Hypertension; aging; diabetes; angiogenesis; myocardial infarction; heart failure; atrial fibrillation; cardiac hypertrophy; vascular disease; calcium handling; microRNA; adrenergic receptors; vascular reactivity; thrombosis; excitation-contraction coupling; animal models; ischemia-reperfusion; arrhythmias; metabolic syndrome; endothelium; endothelial function; angiopoietin-like proteins; mitochondria; cardiac energetics; integrins; insulin resistance.
My lab studies the functional role of intracellular calcium fluxes and non-coding RNAs in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. During my training at Columbia University, I have elucidated the fundamental mechanisms underlying the key role of intracellular calcium release channels in heart failure and diabetes, both in patients and in preclinical models of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

William Ka Fai Tse, PhD, Kyushu University, Japan
orcid.org/0000-0002-3738-0460
Webpage
Research interests: Disease model and mechanism, rare diseases, zebrafish, environmental pollutants, developmental toxicity, craniofacial development, fish physiology, deubiquitinase, omics

William Tse is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Japan. He received his Ph.D from Hong Kong Baptist University, and did his postdoctoral trainings in IMCB, Singapore; University of Tokyo, Japan; and Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts General Hospital to experience various research fields and experimental models. His group currently applies zebrafish as: i) Human disease model to understand the disease pathogenesis; ii) Toxicology model to understand the developmental toxicities of environmental pollutants; iii) Developmental biology model to understand the embryogenesis. Besides, his group uses medaka to study the fish osmoregulatory mechanism. In the past decade, integrated omics approach has provided new direction for his research works. To be specific, his research focuses on understanding the craniofacial malformation, and persistent organic pollutants' (POPs) toxicities.

 

Plant Biology
 

Synan AbuQamar, PhD, United Arab Emirates University, UAE
orcid.org/0000-0002-2129-7689
Webpage
Research interests: Biocontrol agents, plant growth promotion, PGPR, endophytic microbiome

Synan AbuQamar is a Professor in the Department of Biology at United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). Prof. AbuQamar received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Botany & Plant Pathology at Purdue University in 2007. He also completed his post-doc training at Purdue University in 2008. Synan’s research interests lie with Molecular Genetics in Plant Immunity, particularly with respect to the molecular and cellular factors that determine plant defense mechanisms against necrotrophic pathogens using Arabidopsis, tomato, mango and date palm as host plants. Recently, his interests have diversified to also include potential applications of biocontrol agents and environmental remediation. Prof. AbuQamar has, so far, published >90 peer-reviewed research articles. Prof. AbuQamar received the prestigious Khalifa Award for Education in 2020, Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Technology, and King Hamad Prize for Agricultural Development in 2023. Synan also serves as an Editorial Board member for many prestigious journals; and a member in Scientific Boards of Plant Biotechnology Centers.

Xianqing Jia, PhD, Northwest University, China
orcid.org/0000-0003-2033-2048
Webpage
Research interests: Plant-environment interactions, plant evolution and development,plant nutrition, gene regulatory network, plant hormones, plant stress, bioinformatics, multi-omics

Dr. Xianqing Jia is a Professor in the College of Life Sciences at Northwest University, China. Xianqing obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Nanjing University in 2020. He then completed his post-doc training at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, working in soil-plant interactions. After that, Xianqing moved to Northwest University as a principal investigator. The research interests of his group lie in molecular basis and evolutionary insights in plant-environment interactions, particularly focusing on the evolution of plant nutrient signaling, the evolution of the crosstalk between plant nutrition and defense, and plant-microbe interaction.

Sambasivam Periyannan, PhD, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
orcid.org/0000-0002-5421-2872
 Webpage
Research interests: Molecular Genetics, Plant-Pathogen Interaction and Crop Breeding

Sambasivam (Sam) Periyannan is an Associate Professor (Crop Molecular Genetics) at the University of Southern Queensland and Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia. After completing PhD at the University of Sydney in 2011, Sam started his scientific career as a postdoctoral fellow (2011 – 2016) at CSIRO, where he eventually became an independent scientist in 2016 and led the Crop Resistance Genes team for 2019-2021. Sam’s research interest is centered on molecular genetics and plant pathology, focusing on understanding the interaction between cereal crops and its pathogens. Between 2017-2019, Sam took a secondment position at the Australian National University to complete the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award project, where he extended his research further to understand the molecular interaction between Myrtaceae tree species and the myrtle rust pathogen.

Meiliang Zhou, PhD, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
orcid.org/0000-0001-5175-3684
 Webpage
Research interests: Plant Secondary Metabolites; Transcriptional Regulation; Stress Biology; Plant Hormones; Plant genome; Crop Domestication; Population Genetics; Buckwheat; Arabidopsis; Underutilized Crops; Medical Plants; Forage Crops

Dr. Meiliang Zhou is a professor working in the Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ICS-CAAS). Dr. Zhou obtained his Ph.D. in plant cell physiology (Prof.Dr. Johan Memelink's group) from Leiden University (Leiden, the Netherlands) and completed his postdoctoral work in Leiden University with Prof. Dr.Paul Hooykaas in plant molecular genetics and development group. His group in ICS-CAAS focuses on addressing questions concerning the relationship between plant nutritional values and stress biology. More recently, the group has also been aming at studying the molecualr mechanisms regulating secondary metabolites biosynthesis during crop and medical plant domestication using the methods of population genetics (GWAS and mGWAS) and omics assays. His group mainly uses the genus of Fagopyrum (Buckwheat) as a research model system.

 

Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
 

Lan Guan, MD, PhD, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, USA
orcid.org/0000-0002-2274-361X
Webpage
Research interests: Membrane transport mechanisms, membrane protein crystallography, ligand binding thermodynamics, bioenergetics of membrane transport

Lan Guan, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of the Department of Cell Physiology and Molecular Biophysics, and Co-Director of the Center for Membrane Protein Research, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Texas, USA. She completed her postdoctoral training in the membrane transport field at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute/University California, Los Angeles, mentored by the late Prof. H. Ronald Kaback. She has been a member of the editorial board of Scientific Reports since 2015, and has authored >100 peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, and book chapters. Her laboratory has been focusing on cation-coupled nutrient cotransporters--structures and coupling mechanisms using x-ray crystallography, cryoEM single-particle analysis, thermodynamics, and other biochemical and biophysical techniques combined with genetic methods. Her research has made important contributions to our understanding of the core principles of the cation-coupled symport mechanisms. 

Kristina Haslinger, Dr. rer. nat., University of Groningen, Netherlands
orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-1508
Webpage
Research interests: natural products, biosynthetic pathways, metabolic engineering, enzyme engineering, fungal genomics, bioprospecting, drug discovery, antimicrobials

Dr. Haslinger is an Assistant Professor for Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She obtained her PhD in 2014 from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and moved to MIT (USA) for her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Kristala Prather. Dr. Haslinger specializes in natural product biosynthesis and works towards elucidating and engineering biosynthetic pathways. Her research group uses bacteria and filamentous fungi as heterologous expression hosts as well as cell-free lysates to study enzymes and biosynthetic pathways. 

Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi, PhD, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, India
orcid.org/0000-0003-1549-7550
Webpage
Research interests: protein folding; membrane proteins; mitochondrial outer membrane; thermodynamics; folding kinetics; beta-barrels; translocase complex; metabolite channel; membrane chaperone; protein misfolding; neurodegeneration; synuclein; protein-lipid interaction; membrane protein interactome; protein spectroscopy

Dr. Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi is a Professor and leader of the Molecular Biophysics Laboratory at IISER Bhopal (India), and a Wellcome Trust – DBT India Alliance Senior Fellow. She studies the folding, function, and regulation of the three vital human mitochondrial outer membrane proteins, namely VDACs, TOM complex, and SAM complex, using biophysical tools and single molecule ensemble approaches. Her research also addresses dynamics of the mitochondrial interactome, with emphasis on the interaction mechanisms and misimport pathways of α-synuclein. The overarching goal of her research is to correlate molecular regulators of protein folding and function with misfolding-associated neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

 

Editorial Advisors
Biochemistry

Stephen J. Benkovic, PhD, The Pennsylvania State University, United States of America

William Bentley, PhD, University of Maryland, United States of America

Philip A. Cole, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States of America 

Hermann-Georg Holzhütter, PhD, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

James Wells, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, United States of America

 

Bioengineering

James J. Collins, Dr. phil., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America

Mathias Uhlen, PhD, AlbaNova University Center, Sweden

 

Cancer Biology

Nahum Sonenberg, PhD, McGill University, Canada

Jane Visvader, PhD, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Australia

Bruce R. Zetter, PhD, Harvard Medical School, United States of America

 

Computational and Systems Biology

James Ferrell, MD, PhD, Stanford University School of Medicine, United States of America

Gerard Manning, PhD, Genentech, United States of America

Steven Wiley, PhD, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, United States of America

 

Developmental Biology

Peter W.H. Holland, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Philip Ingham, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Marc Kirschner, PhD, Harvard Medical School, United States of America

Arthur D. Lander, MD, PhD, University of California, Irvine, United States of America

Brian Oliver, PhD, National Institutes of Health, United States of America

Masatoshi Takeichi, PhD, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Japan

 

Ecology

Charles Godfray, PhD, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Sönke Johnsen, Dr. phil., Duke University, United States of America

Anne Magurran, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom

Shinichi Nakagawa, PhD, University of Otago, New Zealand

 

Evolutionary Biology

John M. Archibald, Dalhousie University, Canada

John Brookfield, PhD, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

Dieter Ebert, Dr. phil., Basel University, Switzerland

Laurence Hurst, D.Phil, University of Bath, United Kingdom

Francis Jiggins, PhD, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Alexander Johnson, Dr. phil., University of California, San Francisco, United States of America

Eugene Koonin, PhD, National Center for Biotechnology Information, NIH, United States of America

Ralf Sommer, Dr. rer. nat., Max-Planck-Institut fur Entwickslungbiologie, Germany

David Stern, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States of America

 

Gene Expression and Regulation

Susan M. Gasser, PhD, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland

James L. Manley, PhD, Columbia University, United States of America

Danesh Moazed, PhD, Harvard Medical School, United States of America

Gerd Pfeifer, PhD, Van Andel Research Institute, United States of America

John Rinn, University of Colorado, United States of America

Kevin Struhl, PhD, Harvard Medical School, United States of America

 

Genetics and Genomics

Cedric Feschotte, Cornell University, United States of America

James Gusella, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, United States of America

H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America

Steven Salzberg, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, United States of America

 

Immunology

Sally Blower, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America

Ronald N. Germain, MD, PhD, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, United States of America

Douglas Green, PhD, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, United States of America

Gillian Griffiths, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Jonathan Howard, The Instituto Gulbenkian Ciência, Portugal

Philippa Marrack, PhD, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States of America

Ulrich von Andrian, MD, Harvard Medical School, United States of America

Arturo Zychlinsky, PhD, Max Planck Insitute for Infection Biology, Germany

 

Microbiology

Alex Andrianopoulos, PhD, University of Melbourne, Australia

Mark Marsh, PhD, University College London, United Kingdom

Malcolm J. McConville, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Dominique Soldati-Favre, PhD, University of Geneva, Switzerland

 

Molecular and Cell Biology

Michael Brown, MD, University of Texas Southwestern, United States of America

Patrick O. Brown, MD, PhD, Stanford University, United States of America

Ivan Dikic, Goethe University, Germany

Rachel Green, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States of America

Alan R. Kimmel, PhD, National Institutes of Health, United States of America

Sandhya Koushika, PhD, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India

Heidi McBride, PhD, McGill University, Canada

Timothy Mitchison, Harvard University, United States of America

David O. Morgan, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, United States of America

Sean Munro, PhD, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom

Anne Ridley, PhD, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Julie Theriot, University of Washington School of Medicine, United States of America

Aurelio Teleman, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany

Frank Uhlmann, Dr. rer. nat., The Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom

 

Neuroscience

Richard Benton, PhD, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Anne Calof, PhD, University of California, Irvine, United States of America

Sandeep Robert Datta,MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School, United States of America

Andrew Lumsden, King's College London, United Kingdom

Jacopo Meldolesi, MD, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy

Michelle Monje, Stanford University, United States of America   

Mu-Ming Poo, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, United States of America

Joshua R. Sanes, PhD, Harvard University, United States of America

Michael P. Stryker, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, United States of America

 

Plant Biology

David Baulcombe, PhD, Cambridge University, United Kingdom
Wolf B. Frommer, Dr. rer. nat., Carnegie Institution for Science and Stanford University, United States of America

Elliot M. Meyerowitz, PhD, California Institute of Technology, United States of America

 

Structural Biology

Richard Henderson, PhD, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom

Dagmar Ringe, PhD, Brandeis University, United States of America
Stephen Sprang, PhD, University of Montana, United States of America

Jamie Williamson, PhD, Scripps Research Institute, United States of America