Our Guest Speakers
The GGL is delighted to announce this year's guest speakers for the annual conference. We are honoured to have them contributing to our conference and offer our sincere appreciation for their efforts.
Prof. Francesco Visioli (Section 1)
Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padua, Italy
The research interest of Prof. Francesco Visioli concerns essential fatty acids, namely those of the omega 3 series, and (poly)phenols, as related to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, Prof. Visoli’s reaserch group discovered the biological and pharmacological properties of olive oil phenolics, including hydroxytyrosol. Therefore, he researched bioactive components of plant foods, including lycopene from tomato and biophenols from wild greens. Prof. Visioli studied Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Milan and received a PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Brescia. After receiving his habilitation in the field of physiopathology at the Sorbonne Université in Paris, where he directed the “Micronutrients and cardiovascular disease” unit, he is now Professor of human nutrition at the University of Padua, Italy.
Prof. Visoli is the Editor in Chief of PharmaNutrition and has a publication record of more than 400 papers and book chapters, which have been cited more than 15,000 times. Moreover, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL). Currently, he is the Leader of the “Fats and Human Health” division of Eurofed Lipid and was a member of the EFSA GMO Panel. The Stanford ranking places him as the top Italian researcher in Nutrition and Dietetics.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Prof. Christoph Wilhelm (Section 2)
Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology, University Clinic Bonn, Germany
Prof. Christoph Wilhelm has longterm experience in the research of a unique group of immune cells termed innate lymphoid cells (ILC). His scientific focus is to understand how these cells protect the barrier sites of our body such as the lung, skin and gut and to understand the maintenance of ILC mediated barrier immunity in the context of malnutrition. The overall aim of his research is to understand the link between westernization and the growing health problem of chronic inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowl disease (IBD) and asthma. In 2007, Prof. Wilhelm received his Master Degree at the University of Munich in Germany. Around four years later, in 2011, he gained his PhD at the National Institute for Medical Research in London, UK. Afterwards, he worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the USA, where he stayed for four years. In 2015, he returned to Germany and started working at the University Clinic in Bonn as Principal Investigator. Currently, he holds the position as Professor and Group leader of the Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology division.
Furthermore, Prof. Wilhelm received several honors and awards like the NIH Fellow Award for Research Excellence (FARE award), the Keystone Symposia travel fellowship for oral presentation at the Keystone Symposia 2014 and the Society of Mucosal Immunology travel fellowship.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Prof. Natascha Sommer (Section 3)
Excellence Cluster Cardio-Pulmonary Institute (CPI), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
Prof. Matthias W. Hentze (Section 4)
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Heidelberg, Germany
Prof. Matthias W. Hentze studied Medicine at the University of Münster as well as at Medical Schools in Southampton, Glasgow, Cambridge and Oxford in the UK. In his Doctoral Thesis, he researched the “Influence of amino acid analogs on maturation, transport and stability of cathepsin D in human skin fibroblasts”. From 1985 on, he worked as Guest Researcher at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at Bethesda, USA, where he became a Visiting Associate in 1987 for another two years. Later on, he went to Heidelberg, where he submitted his thesis for Habilitation in the field of Medical Molecular Biology. Since 1989, he works at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, where he had various positions like Group Leader, Dean of Graduate Studies or Senior Scientist. Currently, Prof. Hentze holds the position as Director at the EMBL.
Furthermore, he is a member of numerous Scientific Associations, such as the Scientific Academic Advisory Committee Review of the Weizmann Institute, Heidelberg Club International (HCI), RNA Society Diversity, Inclusion & Equity (DIE) Working Group, Scientific Advisory Board of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Smart Health Initiative, Advisory Board of the MOLIT Institute for Personalized Medicine, the Kuratorium of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centro de Biologica Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CBMSO).
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Prof. Wataru Inoue (Section 5)
Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Prof. Wataru Inoue’s research program investigates the circuit, cellular and molecular mechanisms of stress-induced neural plasticity that contribute to behavioural physiological abnormalities with relevance to stress-related disorders. His main research focus is on hypothalamic neurons and their local circuits that regulate the neuroendocrine stress response. He uses chronic stress paradigms in mice and rats to identify specific forms of neutral plasticity that may underlie the physiological and behavioural abnormalities relevant to stress-related disorders. Inoue received his Bachelor and Master Degree at the Kyoto University in Japan. In 2009, he obtained his PhD at the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. From 2009 to 2014, he worked as Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute in Calgary, Canada. After that, he started working as Assistant Professor at University of Western Ontario and currently holds the position as Associate Professor.
Furthermore, he is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, the Japan Neuroscience Society and the International Society for Neurochemistry. From 2016 to 2019, he received the New Investigator Award from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Prof. Dr. Mariusz P. Kowalewski (Section 6)
Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Mariusz P. Kowalewski graduated in 2002 from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland. From 2002 to 2006, he worked at the Faculties of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, where he received his PhD in 2006. At that time, he was a member of the German Research Foundation (DFG) sponsored Graduate College “Cell-Cell Interaction in Reproduction”. Afterwards, he worked as Postdoctoral Researcher until 2007 in Giessen. For the next two years, Prof. Kowalewski pursued a postdoctoral training at the Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry at the Texas Tech University Health Science Center, School of Medicine, in the USA. Since 2009, he works at the Institute of Veterinary Anatomy, Vetsuisse Faculty at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, where he received his Habilitation in 2012 and currently holds the position as Professor of Veterinary Anatomy, Histology and Embryology as well as the position as Director of the Institute of Veterinary Anatomy.
Prof. Kowalewski’s research interest includes comparative reproductive biology and endocrinology of domestic animals, luteal function and conceptus-maternal communication in accompanying animals as well as molecular mechanisms of STAR-dependent steroidgenesis. Furthermore, he serves as a reviewer for several journals like Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, Animal Reproduction Science, BMC Cancer Research or Gene.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Dr. Holger Kühnhold (Section 7)
Working Group Experimental Aquaculture, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research GmbH Bremen, Germany
Dr. Holger Kühnhold studied Maritime Technologies as well as Aquaculture and Marine Resource Management at the Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and at the Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands. In his Doctoral Thesis, he was investigating biochemical and molecular adaptations to temperature stress in sea cucumbers. The goal of his research project, which he wrote in cooperation with the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) GmbH in Bremen, was to establish functional biomarkers as condition indicators for sea cucumbers in aquaculture settings as well as in the wild. Therefore, he did field work in Portugal and Indonesia, where Kühnhold forwarded sustainable aquaculture practices by promoting sea cucumbers as potential candidates in Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) systems. After receiving his PhD, he worked for more than a year at the University College Cork as Postdoctoral Researcher. In June 2019, Dr. Kühnhold returned to the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) GmbH, where he is currently working as a Senior Researcher within the project “Food for Future” (F4F, https://www.food4future.de/de/home).
In the project F4F, the marine biologist conducts research at the interface between ecophysiology and aquaculture. His research focuses on the utilization of marine invertebrates (e.g. sea cucumbers and jellyfish) and aquatic plants (e.g. duckweed) for human nutrition. On the one hand, this involves determining optimal culture conditions for promising target species in various aquaculture systems. On the other hand, it is about manipulating environmental parameters such as temperature, light quality and UV radiation to specifically increase the production of important nutrients. Overall, the question is how we can better utilize the biomass at the bottom of marine food chains for global food security.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Prof. Dr. Heiko Hayen (Section 8)
Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Münster, Germany
Prof. Dr. Heiko Hayen started his educational career in 1994 at the University of Münster, where he studied food chemistry and received his first state exam. In 2003, he finished his Doctoral thesis in Analytical Chemistry under the title "Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Non-Polar Compounds" with a distinction from both the University of Münster and the University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands. His passion continued as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the "Institute for Marine Biosciences", National Research Council of Canada, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
As for his professional career, Prof. Dr Hayen, previously served from 2005 to 2010 as a scientific employee at the department of Bioanalytics at the “Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS – e.V.” in Dortmund, Germany. Afterwards, he received a position as deputy Professorship for "Food Chemistry" at the Department of Food Chemistry, University of Wuppertal, Germany. Two years later, he became Professor for that department. Since 2014, he holds the Professorship for “Analytical Chemistry” at the University of Münster.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Dr. Natalie Orlowski (Section 9)
Chair of Hydrology, University of Freiburg, Germany
Dr. Natalie Orlowski currently serves as Lecturer and Chair of Hydrology at the University of Freiburg. Her academic career started at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, where she obtained her Bachelor Degree in Agricultural Sciences and Environment Managment and her Master in Environment and Rersources Management. Afterwards, she received a Doctoral Degree from the Institute of Lanscape Ecology and Resources Management at the same university.
During her years of study, Dr. Orlowski gained an accumulated experience in working as a student assistant and a research assistant in her field of study. Moreover, she worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, and as a Postdoctoral Researcher as well as Lecturer at the Institute of Landscape Ecology and Resources Management of the Justus Liebig University of Giessen. Her field of interest focuses on ecohydrology, catchment hydrology, water flow paths stable isotope methods, water extraction methods for soil and plant tissue for stable isotope analysis as well as soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Dr. Orlowski is active in several scientific institutions and contributes too many events in her field of work.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.
Dr. Laura Barrachina Porcar (Section 10)
Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI), National University of Ireland, Galway
After graduating in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Zaragoza (UZ), Spain, in 2011, Dr. Laura Barrachina Porcar enrolled in an equine internship and undertook a Master’s degree in introduction to Research in Veterinary Science at the University of Zaragoza as well. In 2013, Dr. Porcar was awarded a 4- year fellowship to fund her Doctoral studies and join the veterinary regenerative medicine team in the interdisciplinary research group LAGENBIO (UZ), where she received her PhD degree in 2017 with the highest grade. In that time, she was a PhD visiting scholar at North Carolina State University, USA. For another year, she worked as a Research assistant at the UZ, where she received an approval for her application to the Marie Sklodowska-Curie program (European Union’s Horizon 2020) and got a post-doctoral European individual fellowship. Currently, she works at the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at the National University of Ireland in Galway.
Dr. Laura Barrachina Porcar’s research focus is on veterinary regenerative medicine, particulary in the use of musculoskeletal pathologies in the horse. She has furthermore co-authored 15 articles in JCR-indexed peer-reviewed journals, high-ranked in areas such as Veterinary Sciences or Orthopaedics. Moreover, Dr. Porcar participated in several national and international scientific meetings, like the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, the International Society of Animal Genetics as well as the European College of Veterinary Surgeons.
To see the list of publications click here.
To read the abstract click here.