Keynotes
We are pleased to announce the following keynote speakers for EMCHD 2024.
Tue | Sep 3: Innate immunity against fungi and the role of complement
Prof. Michail S. Lionakis, M.D., Sc.D.
National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Bethesda, USA
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/michail-s-lionakis-md-scd
Biosketch
Prof. Michail S. Lionakis, M.D., Sc.D. is a Senior (Tenured) Investigator and the Chief of the Fungal Pathogenesis Section at the Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, NIAID. He completed his M.D. at the University of Crete, Greece, and later earned his Sc.D. in Microbiology/Mycology from the same institution. He underwent postdoctoral training at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine, focusing on Mycology and Internal Medicine Residency. He further specialized in Infectious Diseases during his Clinical Fellowship at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and pursued postdoctoral studies in Immunology at the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, NIAID. He has been recognized with numerous awards, including the NIAID Merit Award, Junior Investigator Award from the Immunocompromised Host Society (ICHS), and the ACP Walter J. McDonald Award for Early Career Physicians, among others.
His research interests are focused on the understanding of genetic and immune defects underlying susceptibility to fungal infections in humans. His research endeavors encompass the study of mucosal and invasive candidiasis, invasive aspergillosis, and the genetic predisposing factors for human fungal diseases.
Wed | Sep 4: Parkinson’s disease: At the crossroads of genetics, environmental factors, and the complement system
Prof. Dr. med. Christine Klein
Director of the Institute of Neurogenetics
Director of the Section of Clinical and Molecular Neurogenetics at the Department of Neurology
Schilling Professor of Neurology
University of Lübeck
Lübeck, Germany
www.neurogenetics-luebeck.de
Biosketch
Prof. Dr. med. Christine Klein is a highly esteemed neurogeneticist and serves as the Director of the Institute of Neurogenetics at the University of Lübeck, Germany. She embarked on her academic journey in the field of medicine at several prestigious universities, including Hamburg, Heidelberg, Lübeck, London, and Oxford, obtaining her medical degree and doctorate. Her postdoctoral training included a significant period at Harvard Medical School, after which she returned to Lübeck to establish her own research group.
Prof. Klein's career is marked by numerous honors and recognitions. She was awarded the Cotzias Award by the Spanish Society of Neurology in 2019 and was elected to the esteemed Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences in 2021. She has made a substantial impact in the field of neurogenetics, particularly in the study of Parkinson's disease and dystonia, with more than 500 scientific publications to her name.
Her research interests are primarily focused on the genetic basis and treatment of hereditary movement disorders with a strong commitment to interdisciplinary and translational research at the forefront of integrating clinical and academic pursuits.
Thu | Sep 5: Single cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics – powerful tools to unravel pathophysiological pathways in inflammatory diseases
Prof. Dr. med. Malte Spielmann
Director of Human Genetics at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel & Lübeck
University of Lübeck
Lübeck, Germany
https://www.uksh.de/humangenetik/Unser+Team/Leitung.html
Biosketch
Prof. Dr. med. Malte Spielmann is Professor and the Director of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Lübeck. He completed his medical studies at the University of Witten/Herdecke and earned his medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School. He received his specialist recognition in Human Genetics at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Throughout his academic career, he served as a research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and as a DFG research fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. Since 2018, he has been leading a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics. He held the position of a DFG Heisenberg Fellow at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin from 2019 to 2020. Since 2020, he has serves as Professor and the Director of the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Lübeck, Germany.
His research interests encompass single-cell transcriptome profiling, rare diseases, and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. He has been honored with the Doctoral Student Award from the University of Bochum and the Young Investigator Award from the European Society of Human Genetics.
Fri | Sep 6: Circadian clocks – gatekeepres of health and disease
Prof. Dr. Henrik Oster
Lichtenberg Professor of Neurobiology
Director, Institute of Neurobiology
Center of Brain, Behavior & Metabolism
University of Lübeck
Lübeck, Germany
https://www.neurobio.uni-luebeck.de/mitarbeiter/henrik-oster.html
Biosketch
Henrik Oster is Lichtenberg Professor of Neurobiology and the Director of the Institute of Neurobiology at the Center for Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism at the University of Lübeck in Germany. He completed his studies in biochemistry at Leibniz University Hannover and earned his PhD under the supervision of Urs Albrecht at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. His postdoctoral research was conducted under the mentorship of Gregor Eichele at the Max Planck Institute in Hannover and Russell Foster at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. From 2007 to 2011, he served as an Emmy Noether Junior PI at the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen, and in 2011, he was appointed as an Associate Professor of Chronophysiology at the University of Lübeck. Since 2017, he is Professor of Neurobiology at the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Lübeck.
His research interests are focused on the genetic basis of circadian (24-hour) rhythms in physiology and behavior. He particularly investigates the interactions between clocks in different tissues and how their time signals influence physiological functions such as sleep and energy metabolism, as well as immune functions and cognition. His research encompasses work with cells, mice, and humans.