Invited Speakers

Professor Stevens’ multidisciplinary research balances the investigation of fundamental science with the development of technology to address some of the major healthcare challenges. She is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of several companies in the diagnostics, advanced therapeutics and regenerative medicine space. Her work has been instrumental in elucidating the bio-material interfaces. She has created a broad portfolio of designer biomaterials for applications in disease diagnostics and regenerative medicine. Her substantial body of work influences research groups around the world (>450 publications, h-index 123, >58k citations, Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher in Cross-Field research).

Professor Stevens holds numerous leadership positions including Deputy Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery and the UK Quantum Biomedical Sensing Research Hub, and Scientist Trustee of the National Gallery. She is Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering (USA), International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she has been recognised with over 30 international awards including the 2023 Novo Nordisk Prize.

He specifically focussed on the characterisation of heterogeneous bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), stem cell fate and the control of differentiation, tissue remodelling and regeneration. Ultimately, Professor Genever and his Team aims to exploit our understanding of MSC biology and their secreted products, including extracellular vesicles (EVs), to develop new treatments for degenerative and inflammatory disorders.
With this aim, Professor Genever established Mesenbio, a preclinical stage biopharmaceutical company from the University of York, to help accelerate the translation of their stromal cell EV therapeutics with combined anti-inflammatory and pro-regenerative properties into patients with musculoskeletal disease.

At Columbia, she received a Career Development Award from the Dermatology Foundation to research the ‘Molecular basis of human hair follicle induction’. Claire obtained a PhD in Skin Developmental Biology from Durham University in 2007, and holds a BSc in Natural Sciences. She is currently a Reader in Skin Regeneration within the Department. The focus of the Research Group is to understand mechanisms of tissue development, and regeneration, both in normal conditions, and in response to disease or injury. The hair follicle is used as a model, as it is an accessible and elegant system to study organ regeneration. Research into developmental, and regenerative processes means we can try and recreate them in a lab setting, and exploit the inherent properties of interacting cells to engineer new tissues and structures. Hair follicles contain specialised cells located in a small mesenchymal compartment at the base of the follicle, termed the dermal papilla. Interaction between the dermal papilla and the bulge (the epithelial stem cell compartment of the follicle), drives the hair follicle cycle. Work in the lab encompasses understanding how these cells acquire their specialised ability to instruct hair growth, in addition to elucidating the role of these cells in response to traumatic injury, and their behaviour during skin repair.

He completed his clinical training in orthopaedics and traumatology. Between 2003-2006, he undertook postdoctoral studies with the world-renowned cell biologist, Professor Erkki Ruoslahti, at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute at the University of California, La Jolla; and later worked as a Visiting Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). With strong research interests in tissue regeneration and multi-functional therapeutics to enhance tissue repair, Professor Järvinen has published almost 150 peer-reviewed papers, among them articles in the journals such as Nat. Comms., PNAS, Mol. Ther., and the NEJM. His research has been cited almost 16,000 times (H-index 54).

He graduated in Physics from Nante University and completed his PhD in Biochemistry from Paris University, France. He undertook Postdoctoral studies in Molecular Immunology at Pasteur Institute and the NYU. As a NIH Fogarty Fellow, he joined the INSERM Unit in Paris as a Developmental Biologist. Between 1982-2003, he was a Full Professor at Paris-Est University and also founded and directed a CNRS Laboratory in cell and tissue regeneration, until 2003. Since 2004, he has been Emeritus Professor and Honorary Director of the CNRS laboratory CRRET. Professor Barritault currently has over 200 publications and 40 patents.

Her main research interests are in the field of renal fibrosis. Her Group aims to understand and delineate the mechanisms that can prevent and/or reverse acute and progressive kidney injury, leading to improved kidney health. The extracellular matrix plays an important role in maintaining biological health in cells and tissues and aberrant extracellular matrix regulation drives disease, particularly in the kidneys. Her research has shown that the extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan, hyaluronan, is important in regulating stromal cell phenotype and function to influence renal health and disease. Her studies focus on how this matrix component can be regulated to improve kidney recovery, following injury and disease. Parallel research areas include peritoneal dialysis research (understanding mechanisms that drive fibrosis in the peritoneum) and cardiorenal research (understanding the cellular and molecular drivers of increased cardiovascular pathology in patients with kidney disease).

She then conducted postdoctoral research at Karolinska Institutet (KI) from 2009-2013, before establishing her research group as an Assistant Professor in 2013. She became a Docent in Experimental Dermatology in 2017, and has been a Senior Lecturer at KI since 2022. Dr. Xu Landén has received numerous prestigious awards, including the LEO Foundation Award, a global recognition for outstanding contributions to dermatology research. Her research combines single-cell multiomics, functional genomics, and RNA-based therapies to identify new molecular targets for wound treatment and develop novel strategies to restore normal healing.

He obtained his PhD from the University of East London in 1990, and following Postdoctoral positions at Cambridge University, University of Leicester and Cardiff University, Dr Bowen was appointed Lecturer in Matrix & Molecular Biology in 2001, being promoted to Professor in 2023.
The central theme of Dr Bowen’s research is the regulation of gene expression in kidney disease. This involves understanding how gene sequences in the human genome give rise to functional RNA and protein products. This knowledge is then translated to inform novel approaches to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of kidney disease. Gene products have potential utility as kidney disease biomarkers, i.e. sentinels of disease occurrence and/or progression, and as targets for therapeutic intervention. In this context, we are interested in functional RNAs including protein coding RNAs, microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs, as well as proteins and the functional molecules that they synthesise, such as hyaluronan, a glycosaminoglycan of the extracellular matrix. Current research projects include analysis of urinary microRNAs as biomarkers for diabetic kidney disease, immunoglobulin A nephropathy, acute kidney injury, peritoneal fibrosis and renal transplantation outcomes. Investigation into the roles of microRNAs and long noncoding RNAs in mechanisms of kidney disease, including renal fibrosis, is also ongoing.#