Scientific Speakers

Intersecting theory and methods in structural biology
Randy Read was born in Canada and studied at the University of Alberta in Edmonton for his BSc and PhD degrees, both in Biochemistry. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, he returned to Edmonton to take up a faculty position in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. Since 1998 he has been Professor of Protein Crystallography at the University of Cambridge in the UK, based in the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. In 2014 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London.

Randy’s main research interests are in the field of structural biology, concentrating more on computational methods in recent years. He is particularly interested in developing likelihood-based methods that make the best use of experimental data, whether they come from crystallography or cryo-EM.

Molecular visualization of protein biogenesis in the cell
Friedrich Förster studied physics at RWTH Aachen University and completed his PhD at the Technical University Munich in 2005 on computational analysis of cryo-electron tomograms. After postdoctoral work at UC San Francisco, he became a group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in 2008 and a full professor at Utrecht University in 2016.
Förster pioneered statistical and computational methods for cryo-electron tomography, establishing subtomogram averaging and classification approaches that enable high-resolution structural biology in situ. His work provided key insights into protein biogenesis at the endoplasmic reticulum, including how ribosome–mRNA complexes engage specialized translocons, and into mitochondrial polysome organization. He elucidated mechanisms of signal peptide cleavage and contributed to the structural understanding of the 26S proteasome. Other contributions to integrative structural biology include direct phasing approaches for the molecular interpretation of small-angle X-ray scattering data

Bacterial E3 ligases: structure, mechanism and inhibition
Katrin Rittinger obtained a degree in Chemistry from the University of Heidelberg and carried out her PhD work at the MPI for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Subsequently she did a postdoc at the MRC-NIMR in London working on the structural characterisation of 14-3-3/ligand complexes and the regulation of Rho family GTPases.

In 2000 she established her own research group at the MRC-NIMR and has since studied a number of multi-protein assemblies that regulate signalling processes as well as protein ubiquitination, combining biochemical and structural methods with chemical biology approaches. In addition, she is part of a collaborative multi-group Open Science project with GSK which has developed an innovative covalent chemoproteomics platform to unlock undruggable targets and to extend the liganded proteome.

Since 2015 she is part of the newly established Francis Crick Institute, where she is a Principal Group Leader

Building new biology from scratch: From de novo enzymes to new-to-nature pathways and synthetic cells
Tobias J. Erb is synthetic biologist and Director at the Max Planck Institute for terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany. Research in his lab centers on the discovery, function and engineering of novel CO2-converting enzymes and their use in use in engineered and artificial photosynthesis, including the bottom-up design of synthetic chloroplasts and artificial cells.

Tobias Erb studied Chemistry and Biology and did his PhD in 2009 at the University of Freiburg (D) and the Ohio State University (US). After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Illinois (US), Erb headed a junior research group at ETH Zürich (CH) from 2011 to 2014, before he relocated to the Max Planck Institute in Marburg, where he was promoted to Director in 2017.

Tobias Erb and his team have received multiple international awards for their research on Synthetic Biology, among them the Leibniz Prize (2024), the Future Insight Award (2022), and the Otto-Bayer Prize (2018). He is member of several European Academies (EAM, EMBO), as well as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Tobias Erb leads the German Research Cluster of Excellence “Microbes-4-Climate”, as well as the EU Synthetic Biology postdoctoral network “SynCellnExUs”. He regularly serves as expert for Synthetic Biology (e.g., Advisory Board of the German Association for Synthetic Biology), is author of several white papers on Synthetic Biology, and advices different stakeholders and policy makers (e.g., OECD, National Academy of Sciences, German Research Foundation).

Essential Co-Translational Pathways for Maintaining Proteome Health
Elke Deuerling is Professor and Chair of Molecular Microbiology at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Her research investigates the molecular principles of protein biogenesis, focusing on how nascent polypeptides emerging from the ribosome are accurately folded, modified, and targeted to maintain proteome integrity. She uncovered a previously unrecognized layer of co-translational regulation, demonstrating that the nascent polypeptide–associated complex (NAC) coordinates networks of biogenesis factors to selectively engage nascent chains, thereby preventing misfolding and ensuring proper maturation and targeting. Her work establishes that folding, modification, and targeting are integrated, hierarchical processes, providing a conceptual framework for co-translational proteostasis and revealing conserved strategies that safeguard proteome homeostasis and organismal fitness. Her contributions have been recognized e.g. by her election to EMBO in 2023 and the Walter Neupert Medal for outstanding achievements in Molecular Biology in 2024.

Understanding promiscuous carboxylation for engineering advanced carbon concentrating mechanisms
Andreas M. Küffner studied Chemistry and Chemical and Bioengineering at ETH Zurich. He completed his PhD on "Biomolecular Condensation for Biocatalytic Reaction Engineering" in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. P. Arosio at ETH Zurich. He then joined Prof. Dr. T. J. Erb at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology for his postdoctoral studies, supported by an EMBO and an MSCA fellowship, investigating the biocatalytic mechanisms of carbon-concentrating mechanisms. In particular, he studied how the pyrenoid matrix enhances carboxylation by Rubisco, the most abundant enzyme on Earth. Following the award of a Max Planck Research Group on biological carbon capture, funded by the Max Planck Foundation, Andreas established his independent research group at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen in 2025. His group focuses on promiscuous gas-utilizing enzymes and their control through de novo organelles in vivo.

From basic biology to new therapeutic ideas: stress response signaling and regulation
Michael studied Biochemistry in Bayreuth, Germany and received his PhD at the MPI in Martinsried, Germany in the lab of Stefan Jentsch. After he did his postdoctoral research in the lab of Marc Kirschner, he started his own lab at the University of California at Berkeley in the fall of 2006. He is currently a Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology and is the Dr. K. Peter Hirth Chair in Cancer Biology. Michael is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Mechanisms of protein quality control
Sichen (Susan) Shao is a Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Her lab investigates the molecular mechanisms of protein biosynthesis and quality control, with a particular emphasis on ribosome-associated quality control, organellar protein biogenesis, and atypical factors in the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Her research integrates biochemical, cell biological, and structural approaches. Before starting her lab in 2016, Susan obtained her PhD through the graduate partnership program between Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health, working with Manu Hegde. She then continued her research with Manu Hegde as a postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.

CryoET insights into mammalian proteostasis
Juliette Fedry used cryo electron tomography and subtomogam averaging during her postdoc to provide subnanometer visualization of protein translocation at the mammalian Endoplasmic Reticulum membrane. This work allowed the visualisation of the different ribosome translocon complexes, as well as their quantification and spatial analysis in native membranes. Juliette further implemented Focused Ion Beam milling approaches to study mRNA translation and its reorganization upon ribosome collision stress in intact mammalian cells. This study revealed a couple of bottlenecks in collision stress clearance and provides a framework for quantitative analysis of translation dynamics in situ. Juliette started her lab at the MRC-LMB 2 years ago, further investigating translation regulation in mammalian cells

Proteostasis function and disfunction: the machines and processes that maintain proteome health
Judith Frydman grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she majored in Chemistry and received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. She carried out her postdoctoral training with Ulrich Hartl at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York, where she had two major contributions to the field of cellular protein folding. First, she discovered that eukaryotic cells have a ring-shaped chaperonin complex, which was termed TRiC and secondly, she established that, unlike what was previously believed based on biophysical experiments, protein folding in in eukaryotic cells occurs cotranslationally as polypeptides emerge from ribosomes during their biosynthesis. Importantly, she showed that distinct molecular chaperones are specifically recruited to bind ribosome-nascent chain complexes to assist cotranslational folding. These fundamental discoveries have shaped current thinking of protein folding in vivo. She started her lab in Stanford in 1996, where she is the Donald Kennedy Chair in Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University and a professor in the Departments of Biology and Genetics. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The central theme of Dr. Frydman’s research is to understand how cells maintain a healthy and functional proteome by focusing on biological mechanisms controlling cellular protein folding, aggregation and quality control. Her research has made important contributions to understanding protein homeostasis (proteostasis) in eukaryotic cells. Her lab discovered that distinctly regulated proteostasis networks mediate cotranslational folding and protection of the proteome from proteotoxic stress. She also established the key role of spatial sequestration of misfolded and aggregated proteins in specific membrane-less cellular compartments in proteome quality control and defined how chaperone-dependent pathways cooperate with specific components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system to mediate cytoplasmic and nuclear misfolded protein quality control. Her lab also harnesses these insights to develop therapeutic approaches to ameliorate human diseases including   neurodegenerative and viral infectious diseases. Work in the Frydman lab has also identified specific interventions that disfavor the production of toxic protein species; efforts are now focused on the link between aging and loss of cellular robustness.  

Approaching mitotic chromosome formation from all directions
Bill Earnshaw has spent many years studying chromosome packaging and segregation during cell division. He graduated from Colby College (Waterville, Maine) in 1972, completed his Ph.D. with Jonathan King at MIT in 1977 and did postdoctoral training in Cambridge with Aaron Klug, Tony Crowther and Ron Laskey and in Geneva with Ulrich Laemmli. He and his team discovered the first centromere proteins, identified the chromosomal passenger complex and were the first to construct a human synthetic artificial chromosome. Their recent work uses minute-by-minute analysis of how the DNA is folded to make mitotic chromosomes as cells enter mitosis. When not trekking with his Tamang friends in the Himalayas, he enjoys collaborations with genomics experts, polymer physicists and cryo-electron tomography experts. He co-authors the textbook Cell Biology with Tom Pollard, Graham Johnson and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz (4th edition published in 2023). He is a member/fellow of EMBO, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society of London and the National Academy of Sciences (USA).
 

How Do Chromosomes Communicate? 
Dr. Jumana AlHaj Abed is a molecular biologist and independent group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany. She began her academic journey in Jordan, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Genetics and Biotechnology from the Jordan University of Science and Technology. As a Fulbright scholar, she moved to the United States to complete her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Southern Methodist University. She later conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, focusing on the organization and pairing of homologous chromosomes. In December 2023, she established her own research group, where she investigates how maternal and paternal chromosomes interact and influence gene regulation using advanced genomic and super-resolution imaging techniques.

Transcription as a lens for interpreting genome sequence
Charles G. Danko is an Associate Professor at Cornell University in the Baker Institute for Animal Health and the Department of Biomedical Sciences. His research focuses on understanding how gene expression programs are encoded in DNA sequence, with an emphasis on transcriptional regulation and the functional impact of non-coding genomic variation. Trained in biomedical engineering and bioinformatics, Danko maps RNA polymerase II genome-wide using a combination of nascent transcription assays (PRO-seq, ChRO-seq), high-resolution chromatin architecture (Micro-C), and ChIP-seq. His lab develops machine learning models to uncover the rules linking genotype to phenotype, producing widely used bioinformatics tools and providing insights into regulatory element function, enhancer-promoter interactions, and disease-associated gene regulation.

Chromatin-based regulation of embryonic stem cell lineage commitment
Dr. Nihal Terzi Cizmecioglu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Middle East Technical University (METU), Türkiye. A graduate of Bilkent University, she earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University, specializing in the role of chromatin in transcription termination and completed postdoctoral research at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School on epigenetic pathways governing embryonic stem cell differentiation.
At METU, she leads an independent research group funded, focusing on the molecular and epigenetic mechanisms dictating cell fate. Her significant scientific contributions have been published in high-impact journals, including Molecular Cell, Cell Reports, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the FASEB Journal, and the FEBS Journal.
Her leadership in the field has been recognized with the L’ORÉAL-UNESCO "For Women in Science" Award (2021), the Turkish Science Academy’s Young Scientist Award (2024), and the Turkish Academy of Sciences Outstanding Young Scientist Award (2025).

Aging and rejuvenation of the ovary
Diana Laird is a Professor at University of California San Francisco in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Institute for Regeneration Medicine, and Bakar Aging Research Institute. She directs the Laboratory of Germline Development, Fitness, and Aging. Her research program is motivated by solving infertility, reproductive aging, and understanding how environmental inputs affect the germline. She is deputy director of the UCSF P30 Center for Environmental Research and Translation for Health (EaRTH). She grew up in Oregon, earned her bachelor’s degree in Physics from Harvard, and found her home in research as a field biologist during four seasons in Antarctica. After PhD at Stanford in stem cell biology with Irving Weissman, she trained as a postdoc in developmental genetics with Kathryn Anderson at Sloan Kettering Institute. Her research has been covered by The New York Times, TIME, and Freakonomics. Her scientific accolades includethe NIH New Innovator Award (DP2), the W.M. Keck Foundation for Biomedical Research and she is currently a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator

Therapeutic and structural insights on the integrated stress response
Dr Anne Bertolotti has made seminal contributions to our current understanding of protein quality control mechanisms, the cellular defence against the harmful proteins that accumulate in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s or motor neuron diseases as well as their manipulations for therapeutic benefits. She exploited her knowledge to identify strategies to boost these defence mechanisms for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Two of the molecules discovered in Anne’s lab were found efficacious in a phase 2 and phase 2a clinical trial in ALS.

Dr Anne Bertolotti obtained her Ph.D. from Strasbourg University (France) working with Pierre Chambon and Laszlo Tora on transcription. She did her post-doctoral research with David Ron at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, NYU Medical Center, New York. She was an INSERM Investigator from 2000 to 2006, was elected an EMBO Young Investigator in 2005, was awarded an ERC consolidator grant in 2013, became and EMBO member in 2013 and won the Hooke Medal in 2014. In 2017, she became a Fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences in the UK and was awarded a Wellcome Trust Investigator Award. In 2018, she won the GlaxoSmithKline Award from the Biochemical Society. In 2024, she received a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award. In 2025, Anne delivered theIUBMB Jubilee Award Lecture.
Dr Anne Bertolotti is a programme leader in the Neurobiology Division at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) since 2006. In 2022, she became joint head of the Neurobiology Biology Division.

Local Machinery for Protein Turnover at Neuronal Synapses
Chao is fascinated by the use of molecules to process and store information. Trained as a chemist during Ph.D. with Prof. William R. Dichtel at Cornell University and later, Northwestern University, USA, Chao began his scientific career studying 'smart' molecular self-assembly. Unsatisfied with the simplicity of artificial molecular behaviour, Chao then decided to chase after memory proteins in the brain for his postdoc with Erin M. Schuman, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, where he finds his life-long passion for molecular machines in the brain. His lab investigates the molecular tools a synapse has for modifying its own content and function, a key process that imparts plasticity to the brain.

Molecular Brain Mapping: Seeing the Forest Beyond the Trees
Sven currently leads the Molecular Brain Mapping research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. His lab leverages multimodal imaging, AI, and behavioral paradigms to probe the brain’s “hidden connectome” beyond the wiring diagram and understand how synaptic circuit architecture results in biological computation. Previously, Sven co-invented the neural barcoding technology PRISM as Lead Scientist Molecular Connectomics at E11 Bio, a Focused Research Organization (FRO) dedicated to scaling up connectomics to whole mammalian brains. Beyond Sven’s deep background in synaptic physiology and expansion microscopy technology development, he also holds an MA in History and Literature, informing his approach to science through heuristic methodology and driving his interest in how the brain produces culture, art and technology.

FireProt: combining machine learning, physics, and evolution for protein stability design.
David Bednar is an Associate Professor at the Loschmidt Laboratories,  Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Since earning his Ph.D. in 2017, he  has focused on integrating computational bioinformatics with protein  engineering to solve complex biological challenges. His global research experience includes research internships at  Rutgers University (USA), the University of North Carolina (USA), and  Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland). With over 90 publications and  multiple international patents, his work bridges the gap between molecular modeling and practical applications in  enzymology and medicine. His research highlights include investigating  Alzheimer’s disease, developing next-generation thrombolytics for stroke  treatment, and designing innovative bioluminescent enzymes. He is committed to open science, translating complex research  into accessible web servers and databases that support more than 100,000  users worldwide annually.

How cells defend their cytosol against bacteria: LPS ubiquitylation and other tricks
I am a molecular immunologist interested in how individual human cells defend themselves against pathogens. Our work is inspired by the remarkable ability of unicellular organisms to resist infections entirely through cell-autonomous defences. We aim to identify fundamental principles of cell-autonomous immunity in mammals and how they work together with professional immune cells. By understanding these mechanisms, we hope to develop novel strategies for preventing infectious diseases and controlling cellular homeostasis.

Learning the rules of inhibition: a systematic dissection of inhibitory receptors in T cells.
Dr. Sumana Sharma is a Group Leader and RDM Principal Investigator at the MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit, University of Oxford. Her research investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying immune receptor signalling and T-cell regulation, using quantitative cell-based assays, synthetic receptor engineering, and systems-level approaches to study both activating and inhibitory signalling pathways to use in both cancer and autoimmune contexts. She also has extensive expertise in genome-wide and arrayed CRISPR screening, as well as the integration and analysis of CRISPR datasets, with a particular interest in uncovering immune-specific vulnerabilities in cancer cells.