Keynote speakers

Prof. Dr. Ivo Lambrichts is a world-renowned scientist who started his journey after receiving his degree at the KU Leuven in Belgium. During his PhD in Dentistry at Hasselt University in Belgium, he studied the innervation of the periodontal ligament and epithelial rests of Malassez. At the University of New Jersey (USA), he received training in orofacial pain and pathology (2005). To date, Prof. Dr. Ivo Lambrichts is a full professor of microscopic anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Hasselt (UHasselt), and vice-dean of the Faculty of Medicine (UHasselt). His laboratory contributes to stem cell research, oral biology and oral imaging research, and is involved in tissue banking, tissue reconstruction, and regeneration. Moreover, his group of motivated scientists is specialized in dental stem cells. They are experts in dental stem cell isolation techniques and differentiating experiments. They have succeeded in successfully differentiating Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSC) towards functional Schwann cells and neurons. Besides contributing to more than 195 publications and several book chapters, he gained international fame in 2012 with his extraordinary research in Hasselt: new mandible in titanium. In 2020, he was awarded the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) distinguished Scientist Award in Pulp Biology and Regeneration for his outstanding research contributions.

Dr. Laura Ordovas received her M.Sc degree in Biochemistry in 2002 and a PhD degree in Genetics and development in 2006 at the University of Zaragoza. She did her postdoc at the stem cell institute of the KU Leuven, Belgium. Dr. Ordovas is specialized in induced pluripotent stem cells and genome engineering using directed nucleases such as ZFN, TALEN, and CRISPR-CAS9. In 2015 she joined BSICoS at the Aragon Institute of Engineering Research (University of Zaragoza). Moreover, in 2017, she became a faculty research member of the BSICoS group.
Her lab focuses on human cardiac aging and cardiac conditions using in vitro modeling with Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs), genome engineering, and integration of experimental data in computational biology.

Prof. Dr. Ludo Van Den Bosch obtained his PhD in Physiology at the KU Leuven in 1990. Since 2013, Prof. Dr. Ludo Van Den Bosch is group leader of the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease research. His research focuses on acute and chronic axonal and neuronal degeneration and regeneration mechanisms. Together with his motivated team he aims to contribute to develop new therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, hereditary motor neuropathies and frontotemporal dementia. To do so, his research team uses state-of-the-art techniques by modeling neurodegenerative diseases with differentiated Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSCs). His scientific discoveries are published in over 100 peer reviewed research papers, published in international top ranked journals such as Nature.

Dr. Viviana Meraviglia obtained her M.Sc degree in Biology in 2010 at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (Italy). In 2014, she obtained a degree within the PhD program in Translational and Molecular Medicine at the Vascular Biology and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory in Centro Cardiologico Mozino in Milan (Italy). During her first postdoc experience (2014-2018), dr. Meraviglia worked as a Senior Researcher Scientist at the Institute for Biomedicine, Eurac Research in Bolzano (Italy), working in the Cardiovascular Medicine Lab. She had a significant role in setting up and implementing human pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology, producing over 15 patient-derived hiPSC differentiated cardiomyocytes.
Currently, dr. Meraviglia works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Leiden University Medical center (Netherlands). In the group of Prof. Dr. Christine Mummery, her research focuses on the use of hiPSCs to investigate molecular pathways responsible for the pathogenesis of inherited and congenital cardiac diseases. By combining her expertise in stem cell/cardiac biology and CRISPR Cas-9 gene targeting technology, she aims to create complex hiPSC-models as 3D-cardiac microtissue composed of cardiomyocytes and non-myocyte cells to more accurately reproduce the multicellular organization and the dynamic function of the native heart. Moreover, dr. Meraviglia won the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing 2020 for her research on 3D-mini hearts using hiPSCs.

Dr. Tomáš Bárta received his M.Sc degree in Molecular Biology at Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic) and obtained his PhD there in 2012 at the Histology and Embryology department. Then, he worked at Newcastle University (UK) for one year as a Postdoctoral Research Associate.
Currently, dr. Bárta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Histology and Embryology at Masaryk University where he focuses on the use of pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal organoids as a retinal model and a potential source for cell replacement therapy. More specifically, this is in order to treat retinal dystrophies or as bioartificial 3D grafts for the intervertebral fusion of the spine using a 3D porous carrier with suitable physical properties with the application of human mesenchymal stromal cells and endothelial precursors.

Prof. Dr. Ivan van Riet obtained his PhD in biomedical sciences in 1994 at the VUB. Since 2004, he has been functional as a full professor at the faculty of Medicine, VUB. He is laboratory director of the hematopoietic stem cell bank at UZ Brussel and specialized in processing and banking of blood/bone marrow derived stem cells with a link to regulatory issues. Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Ivan van Riet is national representative and laboratorial inspector of the European accreditation organization for stem cell transplantation and cell therapy (JACIE). He has over 100 publications and his scientific discoveries have been cited over 5000 times.