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SPEAKERS

Session Speakers

Meet the session speakers who will share their expertise, insights, and unique perspectives at this year’s IVBM.

Rui Benedito

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine

GERMANY

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Graeme Birdsey

Imperial College London

UNITED KINGDOM

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Joyce Bischoff

Boston Children’s Hospital,
Harvard Medical School

UNITED STATES 

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Charles Cox

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney

AUSTRALIA

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Jiulin Du

Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

CHINA

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Mariona Graupera

Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute


BARCELONA

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Pilhan Kim

KAIST & BioMedical Research Center

SOUTH KOREA

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Jonathan Kipnis

WashU Medicine in St. Louis

UNITED STATES 

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Jan Kitajewski

City St George’s, University of London

ENGLAND

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Bong Ihn Koh

Yale Stem Cell Center, Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine

UNITED STATES 

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Kaska Koltowska

Uppsala University, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology

SWEDEN

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Yoshiaki Kubota

Keio University School of Medicine

JAPAN

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Ferdinand le Noble

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

GERMANY

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You Mie Lee

College of Pharmacy

SOUTH KOREA

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Pia Ostergaard

City St George’s, University of London

ENGLAND

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Tim Padera

Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

UNITED STATES 

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Karlheinz Peter

Department of Cardiometabolic Health, University of Melbourne

AUSTRALIA

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Tatiana Petrova

University of Lausanne and ISREC, EPFL

SWITZERLAND

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Li-Kun Phng

RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR)

JAPAN

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Michael Potente

Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) & Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)

GERMANY

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Justin Rustenhoven

Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland

NEW ZEALAND

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Martin Schwartz

Yale University

UNITED STATES 

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Bilal Sheikh

Helmholtz Munich

GERMANY

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Leon Smyth

Department of Physiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University

AUSTRALIA

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Jean-Leon Thomas

Department of Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, Paris Brain Institute, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris

UNITED STATES & FRANCE

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Miguel Torres

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, CNIC, Madrid

SPAIN

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Natalie Trevaskis

Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences

AUSTRALIA 

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Jaap van Buul

Amsterdam UMC at the University of Amsterdam

THE NETHERLANDS

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Julien Vermot

Imperial College London


ENGLAND

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Miikka Vikkula

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)

BELGIUM

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Brant Weinstein

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)

UNITED STATES 

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 Karina Yaniv

Weizmann Institute of Science


ISRAEL

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Rui Benedito

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine 

GERMANY

BIOGRAPHY

Rui Benedito graduated in Microbiology and Genetics in Lisbon/Portugal, where he also completed his PhD. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral training with Dr. Ralf Adams in England and Germany, focusing on elucidating the roles of distinct Notch and VEGF signaling components in angiogenesis. Following his postdoctoral work, Rui Benedito joined the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid, Spain. His group has since developed innovative genetic and imaging tools of broad relevance, which are being applied to investigate vascular biology at high cellular and molecular resolution across both physiological and pathological contexts. This work provides fundamental insights that enable the development of improved strategies to therapeutically target blood vessels in cancer or to promote vascular development and function in cardiovascular disease. In 2025, he was appointed Director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Germany, where he will continue his research in vascular biology.

Graeme Birdsey

Imperial College London

UNITED KINGDOM

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Birdsey leads a research program focused on uncovering novel transcriptional pathways that govern endothelial cell gene expression during angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. His work integrates cross-disciplinary methodologies, including in vitro molecular and cellular biology techniques, in vivo animal models, in silico modelling, and bioinformatics analysis of next-generation sequencing data. Dr. Birdsey’s research has significantly advanced our understanding of the master transcription factor ERG, elucidating its critical roles in maintaining endothelial lineage identity and homeostasis, as well as regulating angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis in both health and disease.

Dr Joyce Bischoff

Boston Children’s Hospital,
Harvard Medical School

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Bischoff is Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School with a primary appointment in the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.  She received an A.B. in Chemistry from Duke University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and post-doctoral training at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, MA.   Her current research focuses on endothelial plasticity and altered molecular mechanisms that cause  vascular tumors and vascular malformations. Dr. Bischoff was co-Editor-in-Chief of Angiogenesis from 2005-2020 and currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Clinical Investigation, ATVB, and the Journal of Vascular Anomalies.  She has served on numerous NIH study sections including as a member of the Cardiovascular Differentiation and Development Study Section from 2004-2008. She is the 2022 recipient of the Earl P. Benditt Award from the North American Vascular Biology Organization.

Dr Charles Cox

Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Sydney

AUSTRALIA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr Cox is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Laboratory Head of the Cardiac Mechanobiology Lab at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. Dr Cox’s over-arching research interest is in understanding the molecular mechanisms and pathways by which physical forces are sensed by cells. In particular, how ion channels decode these signals within the cardiovascular system and contribute to cardiovascular health and disease. Recent work from his lab has shed light on the molecular mechanisms of mechanosensing in both PIEZO (Science, 2023) and OSCA/TMEM63 channel families (Nature, 2024).

Justin Rustenhoven

Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland

NEW ZEALAND

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Justin Rustenhoven is a Senior Research Fellow and Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland. His research investigates how vascular–immune interfaces at the brain’s borders regulate central nervous system (CNS) homeostasis. During his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Prof. Jonathan Kipnis at the University of Virginia and Washington University in St. Louis, he characterized the meningeal immune system as a key site of CNS surveillance, and revealed how specialized skull bone marrow pathways contribute immune cells that shape brain physiology and inflammation. Establishing his own laboratory at the University of Auckland, Dr. Rustenhoven uses complementary mouse models and human cell-based approaches to study how immune, vascular, and lymphatic sites at the brain’s borders influence CNS function in health, injury, and neurodegeneration. His work seeks to determine how peripheral immune compartments communicate with the brain and how these pathways might be harnessed therapeutically.

Dr Jiulin Du

Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

CHINA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Jiulin Du is a senior investigator and deputy director of Institute of Neuroscience (ION), Center for Excellence for Brain Science & Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He obtained B.S. degree from University of Science & Technology of China in 1993 and Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Institute of Physiology, CAS in 1998, and then did postdoc studies at Tokyo University and UC Berkeley. He joined ION at 2006 as a principle investigator. He has received many awards, including Shanghai Penoy Award for Natural Sciences, Shanghai Natural Science Award, Natural Science Award of the Ministry of Education of China, National Wen-Ren Talents, CAS Hundred Talents, National Outstanding Young Scientist, Hsiang-Tung Chang Outstanding Young Neuroscientist, and CNS-CST outstanding Neuroscientist. His laboratory has developed a series of innovative in vivo methods for zebrafish-based research and established a novel experimental paradigm for whole-brain scale research. His main research interests are to elucidate the general organization rules of the vertebrate brain and the neural circuit mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviors.

Mariona Graupera

Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute

BARCELONA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Mariona Graupera is a vascular biologist, dedicated to study the signaling, molecular and cellular mechanisms governing vascular growth in physiological and pathological contexts. Dr. Mariona Graupera received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Barcelona in 2003 in vascular physiology. She completed 6 years of postdoctoral work at Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and the Bart’s Cancer Institute in London in the field of cell signalling and angiogenesis. In 2009 she established her laboratory as an independent investigator at IDIBELL funded by the Ramon y Cajal program. In February 2021, she joined the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute as Group leader, and in 2023 she became an ICREA professor.  She has authored more than 80 manuscripts, along with the organization of internationally recognised congresses. Her research is supported by key national and international funding bodies, ranging from leading national foundations to the European Research Council.

Dr Pilhan Kim

KAIST & Director of the BioMedical Research Center

SOUTH KOREA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Pilhan Kim is a leading expert in the development of cutting-edge in vivo live animal microscopic imaging systems. As a Professor at KAIST and Director of the BioMedical Research Center, his research focuses on the engineering of ultrafast laser-scanning intravital microscopy. This technology enables real-time, high-resolution visualization of cellular dynamics in various internal organs in a living organism, providing novel insights into disease mechanisms and therapeutic responses. Dr. Kim is also the founder and CEO of IVIM Technology (KOSDAQ-listed), a global leader in commercializing all-in-one intravital microscopy platforms utilized by global institutions and biotech companies.

Dr Jonathan Kipnis

WashU Medicine in St. Louis

UNITED STATES

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Jonathan (Jony) Kipnis is BJC Investigator and Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also directs the Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG) Center.

Dr. Kipnis’s lab studies the interplay between the immune and nervous systems in health and disease. His lab discovered meningeal lymphatic vessels that drain the brain to peripheral lymph nodes, reshaping our understanding of CNS immune privilege. Kipnis lab also identified skull and vertebral bone marrow as local immune reservoirs for the brain and spinal cord. Recent work revealed new brain waste-clearance structures, demonstrated how sleep-driven brain waves drive cerebrospinal fluid flow, introduced engineered T cells as potential therapies for neurodegeneration, and identified endogenous peptides bound to MHCII with immunoregulatory function.

Dr. Kipnis earned his Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, where he was a Sir Charles Clore Scholar and received a prize from the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) for scientific achievements. Among other awards and recognitions, he is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.

Jan Kitajewski

University of Illinois Cancer Center, University of Illinois Chicago

ENGLAND

BIOGRAPHY

Jan Kitajewski is the Director of the University of Illinois Cancer Center and Head of the Department of Physiology at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He obtained his B.A. from University of California Berkeley, PhD in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, and conducted postdoctoral work on Wnt signaling at UCSF as a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow and an ACS Senior Fellow.  In 1992 he joined Columbia University and UIC in 2016. His past leadership roles include President of North American Vascular Biology Organization. Jan Kitajewski is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a pioneer in studying Notch in the vasculature and discovered roles for Anthrax Toxin Receptor, GPCR, VEGF-Receptor signaling pathways in physiological and tumor endothelium. Dr. Kitajewski holds several patents for biologics designed to inhibit the Notch pathway. His current research is on tumor angiogenesis and the metastatic vasculature.

Bong-Ihn Koh

Yale Stem Cell Center, Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BIOGRAPHY

Bong-Ihn Koh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine and at the Yale Stem Cell Center. He began his research career in Dr. David Scadden’s laboratory as an undergraduate student at Harvard University. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2014 from Princeton University, where he studied the mammary gland stem cell microenvironment in Dr. Yibin Kang’s laboratory. His military service and passion for vascular biology led him to study the meningeal vascular response following severe head injury in Dr. Injune Kim’s laboratory at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. In 2020, he joined Dr. Ralf Adams’ laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, where he made the surprising discovery that the skull bone marrow continues to grow throughout life and stays resilient against aging. Bong-Ihn investigates specialized stem cell microenvironments, with a particular focus on vasculature, in various craniofacial bones to find novel cellular/molecular targets to drive stem cell fate. 

Kaska Koltowska 

Uppsala University, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology

SWEDEN

BIOGRAPHY

Kaska Koltowska graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Genetics from King’s College London, UK, in 2007. In 2011 she completed a PhD in Developmental Biology at the National Institute for Medical Research, UK, in the laboratory of Elke Ober with focus on liver development in zebrafish. The same year, she joined Ben Hogan’s laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, Australia. Her post-doctoral focused on uncovering new players regulating lymphatic vessel formation.

In 2018 began her independent line of research at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her laboratory aims to determine how molecular and cellular regulators work together to ensure proper lymphatic vessel formation. As this is a very dynamic process, she is using zebrafish as a model system to visualise it in real time in vivo. Together with state-of-the-art genetic models and the latest single-cell transcriptomics, she identified new players that regulate lymphatic vessel development. Her work delved into chromatin organisation and regulation of gene expression by specific lymphatic endothelial enhancers.

Professor Yoshiaki Kubota

Keio University School of Medicine

JAPAN

BIOGRAPHY

Yoshiaki Kubota, MD, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy at Keio University School of Medicine. He graduated from Keio University School of Medicine in 2000 and completed his clinical training in the Department of Plastic Surgery at the same institution. He then entered the PhD program in the laboratory of Toshio Suda. After conducting postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health in Yosuke Mukouyama’s laboratory, he returned to Keio University and became a principal investigator of the Laboratory of Vascular Biology in 2013. He has served as a Professor in the Department of Anatomy at Keio University since 2017. He is a member of the Editorial Board of EMBO Molecular Medicine. His research interests focus on vascular biology, with particular emphasis on vascular patterning in the central nervous system and skeletal tissues.

Ferdinand le Noble 

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

GERMANY

BIOGRAPHY

Ferdinand le Noble is Professor of Molecular Biology and Director of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. My research focusses at understanding the molecular regulation of angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in the context of ischemic cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. For this purpose our lab is investigating the molecular control of organo-typical vasculatures and angiocrine control to promote regeneration. Our lab has a particular interest in the cross-talk between vessels and nerves, and the role of neuronal guidance molecules and hemodynamic factors herein. For this purpose we use an integrative genetic and physiological approach in zebrafish, and mouse model systems. Ferdinand le Noble served as co-organiser of IVBM2024 in Amsterdam.

You Mie Lee

College of Pharmacy 

SOUTH KOREA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. You Mie Lee, PhD is a professor at College of Pharmacy and a Director of the Vessel-Organ Interaction Research Center (VOICE) MRC of Korean MSIP. Dr. Lee’s research focuses on vascular interaction with tissue microenvironments in organ-specific pathogenesis. Currently, Dr. Lee served as the president of the Korean Society of Vascular Biology and Medicine. She has received several prestigious awards, including the KNU Academic Award, the Korea L’Oreal-UNESCO Award for Woman in Science, and Science and Technology Medal from Korea Ministry of Science and ICT. In 2020, she was elected as a member of the Korea Academy of Science and Technology. Dr. Lee has published over 130 SCIE-indexed journal papers.

Pia Ostergaard

City St George’s, University of London

ENGLAND

BIOGRAPHY

Pia Ostergaard is a Professor of Human Genetics and the research lead for the City St George’s Lymphovascular Clinical Academic Research Group. This multidisciplinary team brings together clinicians and researchers in molecular biology, genetics, imaging, and bioinformatics to advance understanding of lymphovascular disorders. The group focuses particularly on uncovering the genetic causes of lymphoedema and lipoedema, aiming to improve diagnosis, refine clinical management, and drive the development of targeted therapeutic approaches.

Professor Tim Padera

Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Padera earned dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University. He earned his PhD in Medical Engineering from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program and performed his thesis work at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Padera is Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School and a Principal Investigator in the Edwin L. Steele Laboratories, Department of Radiation Oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Padera is also a Member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Faculty. He earned an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award in 2011 and was named the Rullo Family MGH Research Scholar 2021. He served on the National Commission on Lymphatic Diseases. Dr. Padera is recognized as a leader in the field of functional lymphatic imaging, particularly with respect to lymphatic vessel pumping, lymphatic metastasis and lymph node imaging. He has seminal papers describing the role of functional peritumor lymphatic vessels in tumor dissemination and showing lymph node metastasis can spread to distant organs. His group has also developed a novel method to study the autonomous contraction of collecting lymphatic vessels in mice. This work opened the door to the wide array of genetic mouse models to study underlying functional lymphatic deficits in lymphedema, states of inflammation, aging and bacterial infection.

Professor Karlheinz Peter

Department of Cardiometabolic Health, University of Melbourne

AUSTRALIA

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Karlheinz Peter is Head of the Cardiometabolic Health Department at the University of Melbourne, Deputy Director, and Head of the Atherothrombosis & Vascular Biology Laboratory at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. Prof Peter also works as an interventional cardiologist at the Alfred Hospital and holds an Investigator Level 3 NHMRC fellowship. Prof. Peter is a past president of the Australian Vascular Biology Society and he is currently president of the Australian Molecular Imaging Society.

 

Prof Peter undertook medical and research training at the Universities of Freiburg & Heidelberg, Germany, followed by further research and clinical training at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, Scripps Research Institute, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Prior to moving to the Baker Institute, Prof Peter was Director of the Cardiac Catheter Laboratory at the University of Freiburg.

 

Prof Peter’s research focuses on the role of platelets, immune cells, coagulation, and inflammation in the development of thrombosis, atherosclerosis, aortic stenosis, myocardial infarction, and stroke. His work has led to the identification of novel biomarkers and molecular imaging strategies for thrombosis and unstable atherosclerotic plaques, new mechanistic concepts that drive inflammation and cardiovascular diseases, and innovative anti-thrombotic and anti-inflammatory therapies. He recently co-founded a Centre for Cardiometabolic mRNA Therapy at the Baker Institute to develop innovative mRNA therapeutics.

Tatiana Petrova

University of Lausanne and ISREC, EPFL

SWITZERLAND

BIOGRAPHY

Tatiana (Tanya) Petrova is a Professor at the Department of Fundamental Oncology at the University of Lausanne. Tanya graduated in chemistry from Moscow State University and received her PhD from the University of Geneva. She did her postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Linda Van Eldik at Northwestern University and with Kari Alitalo at the University of Helsinki, where she studied mechanisms of lymphangiogenesis. She started her group in Helsinki before moving to Lausanne in 2008. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the heterogeneity of endothelial cells and the functions of organ- and disease-specific lymphatic and blood vessels.

Li-Kun Phng

RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR)

JAPAN

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Li-Kun Phng is Team Director of the Laboratory for Vascular Morphogenesis at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research in Kobe, Japan. She received her Ph.D. from CRUK London Research Institute/University College London for work on Notch signalling in angiogenesis and completed postdoctoral training at EMBL Heidelberg, KU Leuven and NCVC Osaka, supported by EMBO, HFSP and JSPS fellowships. In 2016, she established her independent research group at RIKEN. Her research focuses on the cellular and mechanical principles that govern blood vessel formation and remodelling by implementing genetics, quantitative imaging and biophysical approaches in the zebrafish. Her lab’s discoveries provide important foundations for understanding vascular development and the dysregulation that underlies vascular malformations.

Professor Michael Potente

Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) & Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)

GERMANY

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Potente is Professor of Vascular Biomedicine at the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). In addition to his academic appointments, he is a practicing physician at the German Heart Center of Charité (DZHC), where he works as an interventional cardiologist. As elected EMBO Member, he has received several prestigious awards, including the Louis N. and Arnold M. Katz Basic Science Research Prize and the Judah Folkman Award. His research focuses on fundamental mechanisms of vascular development and disease, with an emphasis on metabolic regulation.

Martin Schwartz

Yale University

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BIOGRAPHY

I earned my Ph.D. at Stanford University with Harden McConnell on biophysics of model membranes, then did postdoctoral research with Richard Hynes at MIT, where I learned cell biology studying interactions of fibronectin. As an independent scientist, my lab was among the first to demonstrate signaling by integrins and the first to report that integrin-mediated adhesion is required for transmission of signals downstream of growth factor receptors. We were the first to show that Rho family GTPases are signaling intermediates on integrin pathways and the first to report that cell adhesion is required for survival of endothelial and other cells. We developed the widely used pull down assay for Rho activity and were the first to show that adhesion regulates activity of Rho, Rac and Cdc42. Our work identified PECAM1 as the first bona fide mechanotransducer for fluid shear stress in endothelial cells and worked out key aspects of molecular mechanism and relevance to atherosclerosis.  We have applied our expertise in extracellular matrix and integrin signaling to elucidate the role of extracellular matrix proteins and receptors in vascular disease, tested these ideas in animal models of atherosclerosis, hypertensive remodeling and aneurysm. These studies led to identification of an integrin-phosphodiesterase pathway as a potential therapeutic target in atherosclerosis and aneurysms. We discovered and have extensively characterized shear stress mechanotransduction at endothelial cell-cell junctions through PECAM-1, VE-cadherin, VEGF receptors and latrophilin2. We have also invented and used fluorescence-based assays for visualizing signaling events in live cells, including sensors that measure molecular tension across specific proteins. Partnering with Dr. Chenxiang Lin’s lab, we have developed DNA origami nanodevices for applying tension to proteins on a biochemical scale. We recently identified protocadherin gamma A9 as a therapeutic target for treatment of atherosclerosis and are pursuing translational studies. My lab continues to invent and use novel and state of the art biophysical and cell biological tools and approaches integrated with animal models, to understanding the role of mechanical forces in cardiovascular physiology and disease.

Bilal Sheikh 

Helmholtz Munich

GERMANY

BIOGRAPHY

Bilal Sheikh leads the vascular epigenetics group at the Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research in Leipzig, Germany. Bilal undertook his doctoral studies at the Hall Institute in Melbourne, followed by postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg, Germany. His research focuses on understanding how obesity and diabetes drive a range of pathologies such as dementia, which are underpinned by vascular dysfunction. Bilal has received a number of prestigious awards including the Allen Foundation Distinguished Investigator and Henriette Herz Scout.

Leon Smyth

Department of Physiology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University

AUSTRALIA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Leon Smyth is a new lab group leader and ARC Future Fellow within the Monash University Biomedicine Discovery Institute. Driven by the unique relationship between the immune system and the central nervous system (CNS), his research investigates the brain’s borders, specifically the meninges, as an intermediary for neuro-immune communication. Currently, his team explores how meningeal stroma orchestrates immune responses in both healthy states and neurological diseases like stroke and brain cancer. This work builds on his postdoctoral research as a postdoc with Prof. Jonathan Kipnis (WUSTL), where he described anatomical structures surrounding bridging veins that facilitate CNS immune surveillance and identified novel stromal populations in the meninges and developed tools to target these.

Jean-Leon Thomas

Department of Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, Paris Brain Institute, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris

CHINA

BIOGRAPHY

My research focuses on signaling molecules shared by neural cells and vascular cells, such as vascular endothelial growth Factors (VEGFs) and axon guidance molecules. Our laboratory is investigating the role of the VEGF-C dependent lymphatic vasculature of the meninges, as a communication route between the central nervous system and the immune system. We use novel imaging approaches for three-dimensional imaging of brain lymphatic drainage in mice and humans to assess the therapeutic potential of meningeal lymphatic vessels to treat neurological diseases, especially brain tumors and intracranial hypertension.

Miguel Torres

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, CNIC, Madrid

SPAIN

BIOGRAPHY

Miguel Torres trained in Drosophila Genetics during his PhD (1991, CIB-CSIC, Madrid) and later in Mouse Developmental Genetics during his Postdoc at the MPI, (1992-96. Goettingen,Germany). He established an independent research group at the National Center for Biotechnology, (CSIC, Madrid 1996) and moved in 2007 to the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC, Madrid), where he coordinates the Cardiovascular Regeneration Program. His group has a strong focus on understanding cell population homeostasis, cardiovascular development and cardiac regeneration.

Professor Natalie Trevaskis

Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences

AUSTRALIA

BIOGRAPHY

Natalie Trevaskis is a Professor, Pharmacist and Heads the Lymphatic Medicine Laboratory at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Melbourne, Australia. Her research program is focussed on the role of lymphatics in acute, inflammatory and metabolic diseases, and understanding the delivery of therapeutics and vaccines to the lymphatics to treat these diseases. She has extensive experience in biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics and delivery of a range of therapeutic types.

Natalie’s research has resulted in >100 peer reviewed papers (~10,000 cites) including significant papers in Nature, Nature Metabolism, Nature Nano, Nature Rev Drug Discovery, Angew Chemie, J Control Rel etc. She is also an inventor of 10 patent families (>65 individual patents), including for a lymph-directing prodrug technology licensed to Seaport Therapeutics with three candidates currently in clinical trials. Natalie has worked and consulted extensively with industry (Pfizer, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly, Amgen, Genentech, Janssen, Protagonist, PureTech Health, Moderna etc.) to solve drug delivery problems.

Natalie has received several notable academic prizes. For the past 3 years, Natalie has been named as a Clarivate highly cited (Hi-Ci) researcher in pharmacology (top 0.1% or ~120 worldwide). She has also received the Monash University Vice Chancellor’s Researcher of the Year Award in 2025.

Jaap van Buul

Amsterdam UMC at the University of Amsterdam

THE NETHERLANDS

BIOGRAPHY

Prof. Jaap D. van Buul is Professor of Vascular Cell Biology at the University of Amsterdam, where he studies how leukocytes migrate across the vascular wall and how endothelial cells maintain barrier integrity during inflammation. He leads the Vascular Cell Biology lab at Amsterdam UMC and has been a key figure in Dutch vascular and cell biology, co-founding and chairing the Dutch Endothelial Biology Society and serving as president of the Dutch Society for Cell Biology. Moreover, he was co-organizer and president of the previous IVBM 2024 in Amsterdam.

The Van Buul Lab has a longstanding interest in elucidating the fundamental mechanisms of leukocyte transendothelial migration (TEM), with particular focus on how the vessel wall preserves its integrity during this dynamic process. Under controlled inflammatory conditions, the vasculature effectively limits permeability while allowing leukocyte passage. However, in inflammation-driven pathologies, this regulation becomes disrupted, the endothelial response needed to reseal the transient gaps used by transmigrating leukocytes is impaired, resulting in elevated vascular permeability. Such defects can be pronounced in severe conditions like COVID-19 and sepsis. Another pathological feature is the loss of local TEM “hotspots,” specialized regions of the endothelial monolayer where transmigration normally occurs efficiently. The disappearance of these sites further contributes to the permeability increase observed during inflammation. A deeper understanding of this complex process is essential for developing effective therapeutic interventions.

Julien Vermot 

Imperial College London

ENGLAND

BIOGRAPHY

Julien Vermot leads the biomechanics and signalling lab focusing on the understanding on the impact of mechanical stresses during morphogenetic and regenerative processes. 

Julien Vermot obtained his PhD in developmental biology from the University of Strasbourg in 2003, where he worked on the role of retinoic acid during embryonic development. He then worked as a visiting scientist the Stowers Institute for Biomedical Research in Kansas City, USA, followed by a post-doctoral position at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena where he developed new tools to study the role of mechanical forces during development. He was Research Director at the French INSERM before joining the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London in 2019. He is currently Professor of Biomechanical Signalling & Tissue Morphogenesis in the Department of Bioengineering.

Professor Miikka Vikkula

Institut de Duve UCLouvain

BELGIUM

BIOGRAPHY

Professor Miikka Vikkula, MD, PhD, is an internationally recognized leader in human and medical genetics, with over 30 years of research at the interface of molecular genetics, vascular biology, and rare diseases. He trained in molecular genetics at the University of Helsinki (MD–PhD), completed postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School, and later obtained a second PhD at UCLouvain. He established his independent research group at the de Duve Institute in Brussels in 1997, where he has been a Full Member and part of the Directorate since 2004, and has served as Full Professor of Human Genetics at UCLouvain since 2013.

Prof. Vikkula is a pioneer in defining the genetic and molecular basis of vascular and lymphatic anomalies. His work identified the causes of numerous inherited and sporadic vascular disorders, established key disease entities, and revealed central pathogenic pathways, notably PI3K–AKT–mTOR and RAS–MAPK signaling. A hallmark of his research is translation to therapy: his group developed disease models and led or contributed to multiple clinical trials, including the phase III VASE trial of sirolimus, as well as precision-medicine trials for arteriovenous malformations. He currently serves as Chair of the VASCA working group of VASCERN and Vice President of ISSVA.

He has published over 250 original research articles with more than 31,000 citations (H-index 89) and has received numerous prestigious awards, including the INBEV–Baillet Latour Clinical Research Prize, the Earl P. Benditt Award, the LE&RN Lifetime Achievement Award, and the EURORDIS Black Pearl Scientific Award. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium and was appointed Commander of the Order of Leopold by His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium.

Dr Brant Weinstein

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Brant Weinstein received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and his Ph. D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He carried out postdoctoral studies on hematopoietic and vascular development in the zebrafish at Harvard with Mark Fishman.  He is currently a Senior Investigator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in Bethesda, Maryland.  Dr. Weinstein is a leading expert on zebrafish development whose laboratory has pioneered many key tools and resources used for vascular biology research in the fish and made numerous seminal vascular biology research discoveries, including a novel pathway regulating arterial identity, a role for neuronal guidance factors in vascular patterning, a mechanism for vascular lumen formation in vivo, and identification and characterization of a lymphatic vascular system in the zebrafish. In addition to his research work, Dr. Weinstein has played numerous important leadership roles in the zebrafish and vascular biology research communities.  He was founding organizer of the Strategic Conference of Zebrafish Investigators and founding President of the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS).  He also served as President of the North American Vascular Biology Organization (NAVBO) and was a founding and long-time organizer of the important NAVBO Developmental Vascular Biology (DVB) workshops.  Dr. Weinstein also served as Program Head and Associate Scientific Director for the NICHD intramural Division of Developmental Biology.

Professor Karina Yaniv

Weizmann Institute of Science

ISRAEL

BIOGRAPHY

Prof. Karina Yaniv earned a BSc in chemistry and biology and an MSc in biological chemistry, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She completed her PhD in developmental biology at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School in 2005. She conducted postdoctoral research at the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland.  She joined the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2009.

With a strong passion for vascular biology, Karina Yaniv’s career has been dedicated to deciphering the mechanisms controlling blood and lymphatic vessel formation during embryonic development and the role of the vasculature in organ growth and regeneration. Her discoveries have greatly contributed to the understanding of the origins and differentiation of lymphatic endothelial cells, the link between lipoproteins and angiogenesis, and the role of the vascular system during tissue regeneration. Yaniv is currently the President of the European Vascular Biology Organization of EVBO and has recently been elected EMBO Member. Among her academic and professional awards and honors are the European Vascular Biology Organization lecture award (2024), the Levinson Prize in Biology (2017), the Wendy Chaite Leadership Award by the Lymphatic Education and Research Network (2016), 3 prestigious ERC grants -ERC Starting (2013), ERC-Consolidator (2018) and ERC-Synergy (2023) by the European Union, the Israel Cancer Research Foundation Career Development Award (2012) and the Werner-Risau-Prize for outstanding research in vascular biology (2007). Prof. Yaniv is the Head of the Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky Center (Weizmann Institute of Science), which supports MSc students with financial hardships, and is actively involved in promoting women in STEM and advocating for gender equality in science.