Speaker

Here, you can get an overview of the speakers for the 2025 conference.

Keynote Speakers

Patrick Cramer

Munich, Germany

Patrick Cramer

Patrick Cramer has been serving as President of the Max Planck Society since 2023. Cramer studied chemistry at Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Bristol and Cambridge. In 1998, he earned his PhD from the University of Heidelberg for research he conducted at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France. He was then a postdoctoral fellow with Roger Kornberg at Stanford University. Between 2001 and 2014, he was Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Munich (LMU) and from 2014 to 2023 he served as Director of the Department of Molecular Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (formerly Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry) in Göttingen. For his research on gene transcription and its regulation in eukaryotic cells Cramer received numerous awards, including the Shaw Prize in 2023, the Gregori Aminoff Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy in 2022 and the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2021. Cramer is a Member of the German National Academy Leopoldina, the American National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. He served the community in many ways, for example as director of the Gene Center Munich (2004-2013), as chair of EMBL Council (2016-2019) and as chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Max-Delbrück Center in Berlin (2016-2022).

Georg Schett

Erlangen, Germany

Georg Schett

Georg Schett is professor of Internal Medicine and since 2006 Head of the Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology – of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany.

Prof. Schett graduated from the University of Innsbruck (Austria) in 1994. After his dissertation from medical school, he worked as scientist at the Institute of BioMedical Aging Research of the Austrian Academy of Science in Innsbruck. In 1996, he joined the Department of Medicine at the University of Vienna, where he completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and subsequently in Rheumatology. In 2003 he was promoted to professor of Internal Medicine. Before taking up his position as chair of the Department of Medicine 3, he worked as a scientist in the United States for one year.

His scientific work focuses on creating a better understanding of the molecular basis of immune-inflammatory diseases with rapid translation into clinical practice. Initially, he investigated the immunology of atherosclerosis and focused on antibody-mediated endothelial cell damage. His research work led to the understanding of the phenomenon of LE-cells in 2007.

He was awarded the renowned START Award in 2002 and founded a research group for arthritis in Vienna. Prof. Schett is an ERC award winner and speaker of several DFG- and BMBF-funded joint projects. His work has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Carol-Nachman Prize. In March 2023, Prof. Schett received the 2023 “Funding Prize in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Programme” awarded by the DFG. He has published over 1090 peer-reviewed articles.

Louis Ates

Mainz, Germany

Louis Ates

Louis Ates is the preclinical lead of tuberculosis vaccine development at BioNTech (Mainz, Germany). This includes preclinical portfolio management of BNT164a1 and BNT164b1 candidates, which are currently in clinical trials. His main role is to shape research and development to translate the latest insights in TB immunology and the mRNA platform into innovations to improve mRNA-based TB vaccine development. Before joining BioNTech in 2022, Louis obtained his PhD and held two Post-Doctoral positions studying different aspects of tuberculosis and other pathogenic Mycobacteria, with a particular focus on secreted bacterial proteins and how these influence the virulence, pathogenicity, immunogenicity and evolution of these important pathogens.

Dan Barouch

Cambridge, USA

Dan Barouch

Dan Barouch received his Ph.D. in immunology from Oxford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He is currently the William Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. His laboratory focuses on studying the immunology and pathogenesis of viral infections and developing novel vaccine and treatment strategies. His group has led the development of vaccine candidates for HIV-1, Zika, SARS-CoV-2, tuberculosis, and influenza. His work contributed to the development of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and the evaluation of multiple COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2009), Association of American Physicians (2013), and National Academy of Medicine (2020), and he received the King Faisal Prize in Medicine (2023).

Jacobus Burger

Madison, USA

Jacobus Burger

Jacobus Burger is a PhD candidate in the lab of William Murphy, who focuses on developing non-viral gene therapies for neurotrauma disorders. He’s also pursuing projects in therapeutic mRNA delivery for cancer and infectious disease vaccines, organ transplantation, and tissue regeneration. Some of his broad technical interests include non-viral biomolecular delivery, therapeutic mRNA, gene editing, and synthetic biological circuits. He is also passionate about global health and getting involved with any effort of improving health equity around the world.

Marco Cavaleri

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jeff Coller

Maryland, USA

Jeff Coller

Jeff Coller holds the esteemed position of Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of RNA Biology and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University. With over three decades dedicated to RNA and mRNA biology, his research has been pioneering, focusing notably on messenger RNA stability and translation. Dr. Coller earned his Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin and conducted postdoctoral research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Arizona.

Before joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Coller directed the RNA Center at Case Western Reserve University, where he also held the Henry Willson Payne Distinguished Professorship. His research delves into the core of life itself—the translation of the genetic code. His groundbreaking discoveries have reshaped understanding of gene expression, revealing that the genetic code profoundly influences mRNA fate.

Beyond academia, Dr. Coller is a Co-founder of Tevard Biosciences, recognized in 2018 with Pfizer’s Golden Ticket award for its promising neuroscience innovations. Moreover he is a founding member of the Alliance for mRNA Medicines and serves on their Board of Directors. Lastly he sits on multiple Scientific Advisory Boards, including the Society for RNA Therapeutics and the SYNGAP Research Fund. His contributions extend to over 6000 citations in scientific literature and multiple patents in the realm of RNA-based therapeutic applications.

Davide De Lucrezia

Venice, Italy

Davide De Lucrezia

Davide De Lucrezia is a synthetic biologist by training with a passion for bridging biology and computer science. He is co-founder and General Manager of Officinae Bio, now part of Maravai Life Sciences. Over the years, he has led multiple biotech ventures, focusing on innovation at the intersection between artificial intelligence and synthetic biology. His mission is to empower biologists to reprogram biology through smarter tools and streamlined workflows.

Ali Ertürk

Munich, Germany

Ali Ertürk

Prof. Dr. Ali Maximilian Ertürk is Director of the Institute for Intelligent Biotechnologies at Helmholtz Munich, Professor at LMU Munich, and CEO of the biotech company Deep Piction. He is internationally recognized for pioneering tissue clearing and AI-powered 3D imaging technologies that enable cell-level mapping of entire organs and organisms. His group has published in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Methods, Cell, and Nature Neuroscience, and has raised over €20 million in competitive funding, including an ERC Consolidator Grant and awards from CIFAR, Nomis Foundation, and Falling Walls. Building on these technologies, his team develops explainable AI and novel lipid nanoparticle systems for precision delivery of mRNA and gene therapies. Prof. Ertürk has given more than 100 invited talks worldwide, including a TEDx talk, and his research has been widely featured in international media such as The New York Times, Nature, and Reuters.

May Guo

Nanjing, China

May Guo

May Guo is the Strategic Consultant at Vazyme Biotech. May Guo is a successful commercial leader with deep understanding of science and drug discovery with extensive experience in DNA/RNA based therapies (siRNA, CRISPR, mRNA). May received her MBA from Georgetown University and used to work as business development leader in Areterna, Arranta Bio, TriLink and etc.

Shinichi Hashimoto

Kanagawa, Japan

Shinichi Hashimoto

Shinichi Hashimoto joined Fujifilm Corporation in 2009 and has been involved in R&D related to nanoparticle formulation and dispersion. He has more than 10 years of experience in nano-DDS, with a particular focus on lipid nanoparticles. He manages LNP formualtion discovery projects and his team is responsible for molecular design of ionizable lipids and formulation of LNPs.

Venkata Indurthi

North Dakota, USA

Venkata Indurthi

Venkata Indurthi, PhD, is Aldevron’s Chief Scientific Officer, where he provides essential leadership and structure while focusing on strategic opportunities to further strengthen our position across all platforms with a special emphasis on RNA-focused developments.

Indurthi earned a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology from SRM University, Chennai, India, and his PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from North Dakota State University, Fargo, N.D. He has published several scientific papers and has presented at multiple conferences and symposiums.

Indurthi has been a member of the Aldevron team since 2016, holding a variety of positions that increased in responsibility and focus across production, quality and R&D.

Zoltan Ivics

Leipzig, Germany

Zoltán Ivics

Zoltán Ivics received his PhD in molecular biology in 1994. After postdoctoral studies at the University of Minnesota in the USA and the Netherlands Cancer Institute, he was appointed as a research group leader at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Germany. He was appointed as Head of Division at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen, Germany, in 2011. He took up a professorship at the University of Leipzig and leadership of the Department of Clinical Gene Transfer at Fraunhofer IZI in Leipzig in 2024. Prof. Ivics’ major scientific achievement is the molecular reconstruction of the Sleeping Beauty transposon and development of technologies based on Sleeping Beauty gene transfer for a wide array of applications involving genetic engineering of cells. Prof. Ivics has published ~200 papers (h-index: 72 by Google Scholar), and is co-inventor on 12 issued patents. Since 2000 his research efforts were supported by 26 research grants from the German Research Foundation, the German Ministry of Education and Research, the European Commission, the Volkswagen Foundation, the German Cancer Aid and the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research. He received recognition of the “Molecule of the Year” in 2009 for developing a hyperactive Sleeping Beauty transposase that opened the door for clinical applications. He is the current president of the German Society of Gene Therapy. He served as a member of the Board of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) between 2012 and 2022 and has been a member of the committee for “Clinical trials and regulatory affairs” of the German Stem Cell Network since 2015. Prof. Ivics organized several international conferences, including the Annual Congress of the ESGCT in Berlin in 2017. He is an Elected Member of the Academia Europaea and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His current interests focus on establishing clinically relevant methods and protocols for non-viral gene therapy.

Kate Jeffrey

Massachusetts, USA

Kate Jeffrey

Kate L. Jeffrey, Ph.D., is a biotech leader and former academic. She is currently Vice President of Immunology, Pharmacology and Genomics at Moderna, leading platform and therapeutics research. Previously, Kate directed a laboratory at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital and held appointments in Harvard Immunology, Harvard Virology and the Broad Institute. An Australian, she holds a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Melbourne and a Ph.D. from the Garvan Institute n Sydney, followed by postdoctoral work at the Rockefeller University in New York. Her research on immunology, inflammatory disease and epigenetics appears in Cell, Nature, and Science. Honors include the Rockefeller Women in Science Award, Rainin Innovator, Claflin Scholar, and MGH Research Scholar. Kate also co-founded the Imagine Science Film Festival in New York and gave a TEDx talk.

Tao Jiang

Cambridge, USA

Tao Jiang

Dr. Tao Jiang is currently Dirctor of Biotech Development at Hongene Biotech, focusing on discovering business cases for new technologies. Prior to joining Hongene, Dr. Jiang was Principal Scientist of Analytical Development at Moderna. He led the establishment of several mRNA mass spectrometry methods, including the first oligonucleotide sequence mapping for mRNA and the first intact mRNA mass spectrometry. In addition, he established analytical control strategies for various clinical stage drug candidates and raw materials.

Eike Joest

Darmstadt, Germany

Eike Joest

As Head of Innovation mRNA Manufacturing, Eike drives advanced technologies for cost-effective, high-quality mRNA production. He was responsible for development of the upscaled mRNA manufacturing platforms and implementation of AmpTec™ technologies in R&D.

Before joining Merck, he demonstrated broad technical expertise in synthetic biology and molecular biology by publishing in several peer-reviewed journals. Eike holds a M.Sc. with distinction in Biochemistry from Wuerzburg University and a summa cum laude Ph.D. in cellular Biochemistry from Frankfurt University.

Holger Kanzler

Seattle, USA

Narry Kim

Seoul, South Korea

Narry Kim

Narry Kim is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University and the founding Director of the RNA Research Center at the Institute for Basic Science. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Seoul National University in 1992 and her Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1998, where she studied lentiviruses and gene delivery. She then pursued postdoctoral training in Gideon Dreyfuss’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on mRNA surveillance.

In 2001, Kim returned to Seoul National University to establish her research group, where she investigates RNA biology. Her laboratory has significantly advanced the understanding of microRNA pathways by identifying essential components, including DROSHA, and elucidating their mechanism and structures. Additionally, Kim’s team discovered important roles for noncanonical RNA tailing, such as uridylation and mixed tailing, in regulating microRNAs, mRNAs, and viral RNAs. Recently, her research has mapped cellular pathways critical for the delivery and regulation of mRNA therapeutics.

Kim has been honored with numerous prestigious awards, including the L’Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award, Ho-Am Prize and Asan Prize. She is an elected member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAS), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS, USA), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), and the Royal Society.

Piotr Kowalski

Cork, Ireland

Piotr Kowalski

Dr. Piotr Kowalski is an Associate Professor in advanced therapies at the School of Pharmacy, University College Cork, and a Funded Investigator at the APC Microbiome Ireland. He earned his Ph.D. in 2014 from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands), which focused on the development of lipid-based systems for tissue-selective delivery of siRNA. He received his postdoctoral training at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the laboratories of Prof. Daniel Anderson and Prof. Robert Langer. His multidisciplinary research focused on engineering novel biomaterials to enable the delivery of messenger RNAs to treat inflammatory diseases, cancer, and diabetes. Dr. Kowalski’s work resulted in several high-impact publications and patents on RNA delivery technologies and the creation of a US-based biotech startup (Orna Therapeutics). His research at UCC is centered on developing Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products, in particular, novel clinically relevant drug delivery technologies for parenteral and non-parenteral applications, to facilitate effective nucleic acid-based therapies aimed at high-medical need diseases that lack effective treatment. Dr. Kowalski has won a prestigious European Research Council Starting grant to develop a new class of circular RNA therapeutics and is a member of the GENEGUT consortium aiming to create first-in-class oral RNA therapy. Currently, his group investigates the therapeutic potential of RNA molecules, including short interfering RNAs, messenger RNAs, and circular RNAs, to treat diseases such as sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer, and develops methods to deliver these RNA-based drugs to diseased cells.

Yun Gong

San Diego, USA

Linxian Li

Yun Gong leads Innorna’s platform solutions, driving innovation at the intersection of LNP delivery and RNA medicines. Prior to Innorna, she had more than a decade of experience in genomic delivery science, spanning product management, strategy, and life‑science research. Yun has led cross‑functional teams to launch dozens of delivery products, service offerings, and out‑licensing initiatives with global impact. She has also held roles in corporate strategy, M&A and post‑acquisition integration, portfolio and project management, commercial operations, and business analysis at leading companies that serve the life‑science community globally.

Changhui Li

Chengdu, China

Xin Li

Yiwu, China

Xin Li

Dr. Xin Li earned his B.S. in Biological Science from Tsinghua University (2004) and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology from Cornell University (2008). He conducted postdoctoral research at the HHMI/RNA Therapeutics Institute (UMass Medical School) before establishing his independent lab at University of Rochester in 2014. In 2023, he returned to China to lead Zhejiang University’s Center for RNA Medicine and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of RNA Medicine Intelligence. His research focuses on RNA fate control in germ cells, exploring mechanisms of piRNA biogenesis, transgenerational inheritance, mRNA decay across species. Dr. Li’s discoveries have revealed unexpected functions of ribosomes and ultra-long lived mRNA in sperm. He is Associate Editor of GENETICS and has published in Nature Cell Biology, Nature Communications, and other journals.

Michela Locci

Philadelphia, USA

Angelo Lombardo

Angelo Lombardo is Professor of Tissue Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University (UniSR, Milan, Italy) and Group Leader at the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget, Milan, Italy). He is also co-founder of nChroma Bio (Boston, MA, USA). He has pioneered genome editing in human hematopoietic stem cells and T lymphocytes, established the AAVS1 locus as a safe harbor for transgene insertion, and advanced nuclease specificity profiling to enable therapeutic gene correction. His current research focuses on epigenetic editing to achieve durable gene silencing, with applications in the treatment of monogenic diseases, cancer, and fundamental biology. He is an inventor on several patent applications related to his work and has received numerous prestigious international honors, including the Young Investigator Award and the Excellence in Research Award from the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy.

Angelo Lombardo

Milan, Italy

Angelo Lombardo

Karin Loré

Stockholm, Sweden

Karin Loré

Karin Loré is a professor in vaccine immunology at the Division of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. She trained in immunology and received her PhD from the Karolinska Institutet. She did her postdoctoral studies at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC), NIH, USA. Karin’s research focuses on the immunological mechanisms by which different vaccine platforms including mRNA vaccines interact with the innate immune system to regulate adaptive vaccine responses. Recent work has focused on biodistribution of vaccines after administration, vaccine antigen uptake and priming of T cell and B cell responses. Karin has extensive experience in leading late-stage preclinical vaccine studies in non-human primates both in collaboration with academia and the vaccine industry. Her laboratory is currently evaluating responses in ongoing clinical vaccine studies.

Sara Marelli

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Sara Marelli

Sara Marelli PhD is a Senior Scientist in mRNA Therapeutics at AstraZeneca and is focused on optimising RNA constructs for in vivo expressed biologics and advancing RNA-based therapeutics. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Sara gained extensive expertise in virology through her PhD at University College London (UK) and as a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (UK), where she worked on virus-host interactions and innate immunity. Her academic and professional background have equipped her with a deep understanding of molecular biology and infectious disease research, which she is leveraging to drive innovation in delivering next-generation RNA-based therapeutics.

Jordan Minnell

Wellington, New Zealand

Jordan Minnell

Jordan Minnell is a molecular biologist working at the intersection of T-cell immunology and mRNA vaccine design. His current research focuses on engineering mRNA vaccines to elicit stronger liver-targeted T-cell responses. He previously presented his work on a prototype malaria vaccine at the 2023 mRNA Health Conference.

Julian Mochayedi

Frankfurt, Germany

Julian Mochayedi

Dr. Julian Mochayedi serves as the mRNA Portfolio Product & Marketing Manager for Roche CustomBiotech EMEA/LATAM, Roche’s business-to-business division providing high-quality, GMP-grade mRNA raw materials. His deep expertise in the mRNA sector is further enhanced by his translational research background from the DKFZ German Cancer Research Center. Julian’s academic credentials include an M.Sc. in Bioprocess Development and a Ph.D. in Translational Immunology, from Heidelberg University.

Martina Ochs

Lyon, France

Jimi Olaghere

Martina Ochs is a microbiologist with extensive experience in vaccine development. She obtained a PhD from the University of Tübingen, Germany, followed by post-doctoral research at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Martina held positions with increasing responsibility in the vaccines division of the French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi where she worked on pre-clinical and early clinical stage vaccines against Tuberculosis, Otitis Media, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Bordetella pertussis as well as combination vaccines.

Martina joined CEPI in April 2022 and focuses now on development and application of RNA vaccine technology to support CEPI’s 100 Day Mission.

Jimi Olaghere

USA

Jimi Olaghere

Jimi Olaghere is a CasGevy recipient who has developed a keen interest in the advancements of Cell and Gene therapies, since his transformative participation in the groundbreaking clinical trial.

He is passionate about the positive impact these therapies can have on patients in need and has become a staunch advocate for

increased accessibility of gene therapies for SCD patients worldwide.

Wiktoria Orzeł

Warsaw, Poland

Wiktoria Orzeł

Wiktoria Orzeł is a PhD candidate at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw and the Faculty of Biology at University of Warsaw. She studies the regulation of mRNA metabolism, focusing on poly(A) tail dynamics, non-canonical polyadenylation, and translational control. Her work aims to uncover how RNA processing shapes gene expression and contributes to cellular function.

As part of her doctoral work, Wiktoria has developed innovative modifications of Oxford Nanopore sequencing techniques to investigate RNA biology. She has also combined RNA sequencing with ribosome footprinting to study the interplay between RNA processing and translation. Her contributions provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying RNA metabolism and expand the methodological toolkit available for the study of RNA regulation.

Her recent second-author publication in Nature describes how re-adenylation by TENT5A enhances the efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines. This study not only uncovers a novel mechanism of RNA tail regulation but also demonstrates how basic discoveries in RNA biology can be directly translated into advances in therapeutic mRNA design.

Tao Pan

Chicago, USA

Tao Pan

Tao Pan, Ph.D. is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago, USA. Throughout his career he has made many contributions to several areas of RNA science. His current interests focus on the functional genomics and biology of tRNA, the dynamic epitranscriptome of RNA modifications, and tRNA-based diagnostics. He has developed multiple technologies to study tRNA and tRNA/mRNA modifications transcriptome-wide and applied those to biological investigations in basic and clinical science. He also co-discovered TAG-snoRNA guided protein secretion. He was the recipient of NIH director’s pioneer award on adaptive mistranslation, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and did postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Thomas Payne

Melbourne, Australia

Thomas Payne

Thomas Payne completed his Master of Chemistry (MChem) degree at the University of York, UK and is currently finishing up his PhD degree at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Australia. His thesis focuses on the lipid nanoparticle delivery of mRNA-encoded CRISPR-based therapeutics. In addition to his studies, Thomas is working as a Research Assistant designing and manufacturing products for mRNA Core, a collaborative research initiative that facilitates mRNA research across Australia and overseas.

Colin Pouton

Melbourne, Australia

Colin Pouton

Colin Pouton is Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), Melbourne, Australia. Pouton is a pharmaceutical scientist with broad experience in drug discovery, delivery and product development. He began his postdoctoral career at the University of Bath, UK, where he remained before moving to Monash University in 2001.

Pouton is best-known internationally for his program of research on delivery systems to enhance the oral bioavailability of poorly absorbed small molecule drugs, which began during his PhD at the University of London. Since the mid 1990’s he has directed two other academic research programs in parallel, on nucleic acid therapeutics and pharmaceutical applications of stem cell technology. He has published >190 peer-reviewed papers and supervised >75 PhD students.

In 2017 his nucleic acid research group moved away from attempting to enhance nuclear delivery of DNA to focus on in vivo delivery of mRNA. His current focus is a collaborative program to foster early proof-of-concept studies to study the potential of mRNA for vaccination, therapeutic use in chronic diseases, and treatment of genetic diseases by genome editing. These activities are supported primarily by Australian Federal and State government funding for ‘mRNA Core’, a product development facility based at MIPS (mrnacore.org). Pouton’s research group is involved in >20 collaborative POC projects.

In response to COVID-19, Pouton’s research group developed mRNA vaccines encoding membrane-anchored variant RBDs (RBD-TM) derived from the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. Preclinical studies were conducted in collaboration with virologists and immunologists at the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne. A Phase 1 clinical study using the Beta variant RBD-TM mRNA vaccine was completed in 2022. The RBD-TM platform is currently being evaluated at MIPS as a basis for development of broad-spectrum multivalent coronavirus vaccines.

Martin Rabel

Leipzig, Germany

Martin Rabel

In his current role, Martin drives global sales and supports biopharma clients, focusing on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing lipid nanoparticle (LNP) and genomic medicine technologies. Since joining Precision NanoSystems (now Cytiva) in 2019 as a field application scientist, he helped to advance the microfluidic NanoAssemblr™ platform and gene delivery reagents. Martin obtained his pharmaceutical license and postgraduate diploma from Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, where he specialized in bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) nanoparticles for gene delivery applications.

Sandro Roier

Tübingen, Germany

Sandro Roier

Dr. Sandro Roier earned his PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Graz, Austria. With over 14 years of experience in research and development, his expertise spans the fields of bacteriology, infectious diseases, and vaccinology. He is an inventor on several patents and has authored numerous high-impact publications reflecting his commitment to translating basic scientific knowledge into novel therapeutics and vaccines to fight infectious diseases. In 2018, he joined the Infectious Diseases Department at CureVac, where he was responsible for the preclinical development of multiple mRNA vaccine candidates against bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens. He currently serves as a Senior Research Scientist leading the preclinical development of CureVac’s mRNA vaccine program targeting uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC).

Carsten Rudolph

Planegg, Germany

Carsten Rudolph

Carsten Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Ethris, pharmacist by training, received his PhD from the Department of Pharmacy of the FU Berlin. His deep expertise is delivering mRNA specifically to the lungs. He is lead inventor of the SNIM® RNA-Technology and co-inventor of 15 patents/applications and has authored more than 120 scientific publications. Carsten Rudolph received his post-doctoral lecture qualification at the Department of Pharmacy, FU Berlin in 2009.

Arnab Rudra

Boston, USA

Arnab Rudra

Arnab Rudra, Ph.D.
Scientist, Boston Children’s Hospital
Visiting Scientist, MIT

Arnab, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, began his scientific journey in India before moving to the United States for graduate studies. Under the guidance of Dr. Gary Keck, he focused on the total synthesis of natural products, including bryostatin 1 and its analogues. Driven by a keen interest in the challenges of nucleic acid chemistry, he pursued postdoctoral research with Dr. Marc Greenberg at Johns Hopkins University. Since 2016, Arnab has been a key researcher at MIT Chemical Engineering, collaborating with Dr. Daniel Anderson and Dr. Robert Langer. His current work primarily involves glucose-responsive insulin and the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics.

Zachary Sethna

New York, USA

Zachary Sethna

Zachary Sethna is a computational researcher at the Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he studies tumor-immune interactions. He received his PhD in theoretical statistical physics from Princeton University, where he first began modeling adaptive immune repertoires. At MSK, Dr. Sethna developed models for neoantigen immunogenicity and tumor evolution as well as novel techniques for monitoring and characterizing T cell repertoires over time. This work is now being leveraged to design and assess cancer vaccines.

Rajeev Singh

Ravensburg, Germany

Rajeev Singh

Ying Tam

Vancouver, Canada

Ying Tam

Dr. Ying K. Tam, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Acuitas Therapeutics, is a globally recognized expert in nanotechnology and immunology. Ying oversees the scientific program at Acuitas and guides both internal research programs and external programs with partners and collaborators. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed studies, including many in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature and Nature Biotechnology and Cell.

Prior to Acuitas, Ying led a program developing a lipid nanoparticle (LNP), nucleic acid-based immunostimulatory drug at Tekmira Pharmaceuticals. He is a founding scientist at Acuitas and has helped the company become a global leader in the application of LNP technology for the delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics. This includes the development of the LNP carriers used in ONPATTRO® and, as Acuitas’ CSO, COMIRNATY® – the COVID-19 vaccine produced through a partnership between Acuitas, BioNTech and Pfizer.

He earned an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Developmental and Molecular Biology from the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, ON, prior to his post-doctoral fellowship in cancer immunotherapy at the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, BC. Subsequent to that, Ying has held several academic positions, including Instructor and Assistant Professor in the Department of Hematology/Oncology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, IL, overseeing the translational stem cell transplant immunotherapy research program. He also served as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia.

Marvin Tanenbaum

Utrecht, Netherlands

Marvin Tanenbaum

Marvin Tanenbaum received his PhD in 2010 Cum Laude from Utrecht University for his work on cell division in the group of Prof. René Medema. After obtaining his PhD, he was a postdoc in the group of Prof. Ron Vale at UCSF from 2011-2015, where he developed a keen interest in the mechanisms and dynamics of gene expression control. He pioneered several new techniques, including the SunTag system, and contributed to the development of CRISPR activation (CRISPRa), a method to increase expression of endogenous genes. In 2015, he became a group leader at the Hubrecht Institute in the Netherlands and was awarded an ERC Starting grant. In 2017 Marvin was selected as a HHMI International Research Scholar and was also selected as a junior investigator for the new cancer research institute Oncode, which aims to translate basic science findings to clinical use in cancer therapy. In 2018, he received a VIDI award from the Dutch organization for scientific research (NWO). In 2019, he was selected as an EMBO young investigator (EMBO YIP) and was promoted to senior group leader at the Hubrecht Institute. In March 2020 he established and led a consortium to develop and apply new technology for SARS-CoV2 diagnostics in the Netherlands, for which the team was award the Prix Gallien. In 2022, he received an ERC consolidator award, was elected as an EMBO member and became full professor at the department of Bionanoscience at the TU Delft. In 2025, he received an NWO VICI grant and was awarded the Ammodo Science Award for fundamental science. His research group develops and applies single-molecule microscopy methods to dissect the temporal and spatial control of gene expression. He has pioneered methods to visualize mRNA translation and decay of individual mRNA molecules in real-time in live cells, including the SunTag system and its application to mRNA translating imaging. His group has further developed these technologies to enable single-molecule visualization of viral infection as well. The tools that he has developed have been distributed to thousands of research groups worldwide.

Hamid Trimech

Tokyo, Japan

Hamid Trimech

Hamid Trimech is a Process Engineer with over 10 years of experience in GMP facility construction, technology transfers and vaccine manufacturing. He is currently Project Manager in Business Development at ARCALIS Inc., a Japan-based CDMO specialized in mRNA therapeutics and vaccines. Hamid began his career at Sanofi Pasteur, where he contributed to multiple vaccine drug substance projects. Over the past decade, he has supported more than 15 vaccine manufacturing projects in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. At ARCALIS, he first led MSAT activities, supporting facility design and construction, mRNA/LNP drug substance and drug product technology transfer and process validation. Notably, he played a key role in the tech transfer of two COVID-19 vaccines in Japan, a recombinant protein-based vaccine and a self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) vaccine.
He now focuses on client engagement and global project coordination, supporting biotech and pharmaceutical clients from early development through GMP execution.

Satoshi Uchida

Tokyo, Japan

Satoshi Uchida

Dr. Satoshi Uchida is a Professor at the Medical Research Laboratory, Institute of Science Tokyo, Principal Research Scientist at the Innovation Center of NanoMedicine (iCONM), and Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo Pandemic Preparedness, Infection and Advanced Research Center (UTOPIA). He also serves as Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Crafton Biotechnology Co., Ltd., where he plays a leading role in advancing the clinical translation of mRNA therapeutics.

Dr. Uchida’s research lies at the intersection of medicine and engineering, with a particular focus on mRNA therapeutics. After earning his M.D. from Medical School, the University of Tokyo, he began his career as a practicing physician before transitioning to academia. He obtained his Ph.D. in medicine from the University of Tokyo and subsequently spent 4.5 years as an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, where he deepened his expertise in biomedical engineering.

His interdisciplinary work centers on polymer-based mRNA delivery systems and mRNA engineering involving the hybridization of functionalized complementary RNA. These technologies are being applied to protein replacement therapies and mRNA vaccines targeting infectious diseases and cancers. Currently, Dr. Uchida is spearheading the clinical development of naked mRNA-based vaccines, with a clinical trial planned for 2026.

Roy van der Meel

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Roy van der Meel

Roy van der Meel is a biomedical engineer specialized in nanomedicine and RNA therapeutics. After obtaining a PhD from Utrecht University, he moved to Pieter Cullis’ lab at the University of British Columbia where he gained extensive experience with lipid nanoparticle technology. In 2019, Roy was recruited by Willem Mulder to Eindhoven University of Technology, where he is currently appointed Associate Professor in the Precision Medicine group. Roy’s research is supported by grants from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and focuses on engineering RNA-based nanomedicines to precisely regulate immune cell function, aiming to treat diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders. He has co-authored over 60 publications in journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Advanced Materials, and ACS Nano, and he was awarded the Controlled Release Society Young Investigator Award in 2024.

Le Van Toan

Kanawara, Japan

Le Van Toan

Le Van Toan is a researcher specializing in bioengineering for immunotherapy. He earned his medical degree and completed his master’s–resident doctor program at Hanoi Medical University-Vietnam. Currently in his fourth year of doctoral studies in the Department of Immunology at Kanazawa University, he conducts research under the supervision of Professor Rikinari Hanayama, supported by a WISE Program Doctoral Scholarship.

His work focuses on engineering exosomes and harnessing messenger RNA (mRNA) to activate and expand both endogenous antigen-specific T cells and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. These approaches aim to advance innovative immunotherapies for cancer and immune-related diseases.

Contact:
Prof. Rikinari Hanayama – hanayama@med.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Dr. Le Van Toan – vantoan@stu.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

Hanayama Laboratory, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-8640, Japan.
Website: Hanayama Lab – https://immunology.w3.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/index2.html

Thomas Vrucina

Vienna, Austria

Thomas Vrucina

Thomas Vrucina is Deputy Head of Liposome Technology at Polymun Scientific GmbH. He possesses considerable expertise in the formulation of liposomes and LNPs, as well as in the development of the respective processes for their clinical application. He and the team at Polymun Scientific have significantly contributed to the Ist successfui mRNA vaccine Comirnaty by optimizing and upscaling
the LNP process as well as by supporting clinical and early market supply of the successfui Covid-19 vaccine.
Thomas Vrucina studied at the FH Campus in Vienna, Austria, and earned his Bachelor and Master degrees in the field of Bioengineering as well as Biotechnologic al Quality Management.

Ernst Wagner

Munich, Germany

Ernst Wagner

Prof. Ernst Wagner is Chair of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Department Pharmacy, LMU Munich (since 2001) and member of Munich Center of Nanoscience (CeNS) since 2005. He was Director Cancer Vaccines, Boehringer Ingelheim 1992-2001 (world-wide first polymer-based gene therapy in 1994), 1987-1995 Group Leader at IMP Vienna and the Vienna University Biocenter, 1985-1987 postdoc at ETH Zurich, 1985 PhD in chemistry (TU Vienna). He is elected Academician of the European Academy of Sciences, elected member of Controlled Release Society (CRS) College of Fellows, Honorary Professor at Sichuan U and at Jinan U. He authored ≥ 526 publications, with > 55 000 citations, h-index 118 (GS).

Xiao Wang

Pennsylvania, USA

Xiao Wang

Dr. Xiao Wang is a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and the Cardiovascular Institute at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Zhejiang University and Ph.D. in Molecular & Cell Biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, followed by postdoctoral work at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Her research has been published in a variety of journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Circulation, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and Cell Stem Cell. Recently, Dr. Wang has focused on applying advanced genome-editing tools to treat inherited genetic disorders. As senior author, she reported rapid and definitive correction of recurrent variants responsible for phenylketonuria (PKU), including the most frequent variant, in humanized mouse models.

Her current research aims to develop durable, one-time in vivo base- and prime-editing therapies for inherited diseases such as PKU, pseudoxanthoma elasticum, and urea cycle disorders.

Ed Yaworski

Basel, Switzerland

Ed Yaworski

Ed Yaworski is the Chief Technology Officer at Genevant Sciences GmbH where he leads the development of nucleic acid therapeutics utilizing Genevant’s proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology or next generation ligand conjugate technology. He has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry including over 20 years working with delivery systems for nucleic acids, during which he helped advance more than a dozen products into clinical trials in the areas of oncology, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases. Ed is an expert in LNP pharmaceutical development, scale-up, lyophilization, and manufacturing. He is a pioneer of LNP formulation methods and compositions and is an inventor of Genevant’s leading LNP delivery technology. Ed holds an MSc in Chemistry from the University of Manitoba.

Wen Yin

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Wen Yin

Dr. Wen Yin completed a PhD in Pathology at the University of Cambridge and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Nucleic Acid Research Department at AstraZeneca. Wen’s research focuses on self-amplifying RNA platforms and innate immune sensing, employing advanced cell-based assays, live cell imaging, CRISPR gene editing, and multi-colour flow cytometry to investigate RNA sensing mechanisms in mammalian cells. Wen is dedicated to innovating cell and gene therapies and uses interdisciplinary approaches to advance scientific understanding in the field of nucleic acid biology.

Yasuo Yoshioka

Osaka, Japan

Helge Zieler

Joseph Zackular

Philadelphia, USA

Joseph Zackular

Joseph Zackular, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Zackular laboratory is focused on understanding how interactions between the host, gut microbiota, and pathogenic microbes impact human health and disease. The labs efforts primarily center on the nosocomial pathogen, C. difficile, which is an urgent public health threat. The Zackular lab is interested in understanding how the gut microbiota, nutrition, and environmental factors shape C. difficile pathogenesis and the host immune response to infection. Leveraging knowledge learned from studying polymicrobial interactions and immune responses during infection, the lab is developing novel vaccine strategies for the prevention of C. difficile infection and using microbiome-based therapies for the treatment of disease. Dr. Zackular is founding Co-Director of the Center for Microbial Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which is focused on bringing microbiome-based medicine to children.

Jing Zhu

Massachusetts, USA

Helge Zieler

Jing Zhu is the Vice President, Head of Process Development, at Recipharm Advanced Bio, overseeing ATMP process development activities and technology platform establishment. He has 15+ years of experience in process and analytical development, chemistry manufacturing controls (CMC) program steering within the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Recipharm, Jing has been at various leadership roles crossing biotech pharma and vendor companies in nucleic acid and viral vector fields.

Helge Zieler

San Diego, USA

Helge Zieler

In 2011, Helge founded Primordial Genetics with the goal of building the premier company for genetic improvement of microbes and enzymes used in bio-production. Today as CEO of Primrose, he is pursuing the same goal with a focus on manufacturing of nucleic acids and proteins used in genetic medicines, vaccines, and biotherapeutics. Helge has been an early participant in multiple biotech companies including Synthetic Genomics and Chromatin. He completed his doctorate in yeast molecular genetics at Stanford University and post-doctoral work at the National Institutes of Health.