Success Story: Sami RTIMI
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne-Switzerland Founder of IbtiCare Dr. Sami Rtimi was awarded a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Carthage at Tunis. Then he moved to Switzerland where he achieved another PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering working on self-sterilizing surfaces for hospital facilities. Sami created some Start-ups in which he translated his academic results into commercial products and services. IbtiCare is one of his successful projects. IbtiCare is based on a technology rendering any kind of surface anti-microbial. The surfaces prepared at Sami’s company were showed to kill harmful pathogens in the minute range by simple contact. His products are now adopted for beddings, lab-coats and curtains for hospitals. More recently, IbtiCare developed implantable medical devices showing a compromise between antimicrobial property and biocompatibility. IbtiCare business model was chosen as top-10 in Switzerland. The company was granted as most innovative in Canton de Vaud, best Venture-competitive start-up in Switzerland and as finalist for the global MassChallenge competition. Ibticare is now represented in Europe, America and Asia. (Research Profile) Conference title: |
Session Biotechnology: Riadh HAMMAMI
University of Ottawa-Canada School of Nutrition Sciences Dr. Hammami completed in 2004 his Master's degree in Biochemistry at the Institute Pasteur of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar. He received in 2009 a Joint Doctorate in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Lille1 - Sciences & Technologies (France) and the University of Tunis El Manar (Tunisia). He then completed five years post-doctoral training at the Department of Food Science and Nutrition in Laval University, Canada. In 2017, Dr. Hammami joined the school of Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Ottawa as assistant Professor in gut microbiology. He developed strong expertise in development of databases and bioinformatics tools, as well as their application for the development of novel antimicrobials peptides. His current research program is focused on the roles and functions of the gut microbiota, the use of functional microbes in foods to improve quality, safety and consumer health, and the use of functional microbes to produce functional ingredients. (Research Profile) Conference title: Role of gut Microbiota in human health and disease: an overview of a no longer |
Session Molecular/Cell Biology and Immunology: Kamel BENLAGHA
University Paris Diderot (Paris 7)-France INSERM UMR 1160 (Alloimmunité - Auto-immunité - Transplantation) Kamel BENLAGHA is currently a research director at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). His laboratory is specialized in the study of the biology of innate lymphocytes and particularly the Natural Killer T (NKT) cells. He began his studies in Tunis at the University of Sciences in Manar II, from where he obtained a Master degree in Genetics. He then pursued his studies in Paris, and obtained a master degree and a thesis in Immunology in 1997 from Pierre and Marie Curie University. He joined Princeton University, in the United States, as a research associate, and then in 2003, as an instructor, at the University of Chicago. In 2005, he joined the INSERM, and set up his own research group through the program “Group Avenir”, in Paris, at St-Vincent de Paul Hospital, and then at the St-Louis Hospital. Kamel developed several tools and made seminal discoveries in fundamental Immunology. He is involved in more than thirty scientific publications and is recognized by his peers as one of the world specialists in his field. (Research Profile) Conference title: Characterization of the developmental landscape of innate iNKT cells |
Session Molecular/Cell Biology and Immunology: Pierre TRIFILIEFF
University of Bordeaux-France NutriNeuro Institute (INRA) Pierre received his PhD in 2006 from the University of Bordeaux, France. He then moved for a postdoctoral training at Columbia University, New York, in the lab of Eric Kandel to pursue his research on the molecular mechanisms of memory consolidation. In 2010 he became Research Associate at the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene at the New York State Psychiatric Hospital where he developed a new research program focused on preclinical models of psychiatric disorders. In 2013 he was appointed as an independent investigator at the NutriNeuro Institute (INRA) in Bordeaux. His group combines biophysical, pharmacogenetic, optogenetic, electrophysiological and behavioral approaches to unravel the implication of dopamine transmission in some endophenotypes of psychiatric disorders. Over the last years, his research has focused on the impact of brain lipid composition on neuronal physiology and its relevance for psychiatric disorders. (Research Profile) Conference title: In search for modifiable endophenotypes of psychiatric disorders: from reward processing to membrane lipids |
Session Molecular/Cell Biology and Immunology: Guillermo MARINO
University of Oviedo-Spain Autophagy and Metabolism Lab Dr. Guillermo Mariño completed in 2007 his Doctoral degree within the laboratory of Carlos López-Otín, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Oviedo Spain. In 2007, he was awarded for Excellence in PhD for his thesis work. He then completed two years post-doctoral training at the same laboratory working on Cell Death and Autophagy. In 2010, Dr. Mariño got the EMBO Long Term Fellowship and joined the Guido Kroemer Laboratory in Paris and the University of Paris Sud (Paris 11) and Paris René Descartes (Paris 5). Since 2015, Guillermo started the ‘Ramón y Cajal program’ for Young PI in the University of Oviedo, Spain. Dr. Guillermo Mariño is actually a well-recognized expert in Aging, Autophagy, Cell Metabolism and Cancer and he published several excellent papers in prestigious journals including Nature, Science, Cell and EMBO. (Research Profile) Conference title: Autophagy deficient mice as a model for studying stress-induced autophagy in vivo |
Session Genomics and Bioinformatics: Jean-Christophe ANDRAU
University of Montpellier-France The Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier IGMM Our laboratory is interested by the epigenetic and transcriptional events involved in the outcome of T-cell differentiation, using mouse as a model organism. How a stem cell becomes a fully differentiated T-lymphocyte represents a paradigm that can now be envisioned at the epigenetic level and genomic scale. Using ChIPseq and RNAseq, we recently showed that active enhancers associated to differentiation in thymic cells are transcribed and can be followed by the co-occurrence of specific epigenetic marks. We are now extending these genome-wide analyses to other differentiation stages and wish to understand how the dynamic of regulatory elements usage affects T-cell fate in normal and pathological states such as in type 2 diabetes and T-ALL cancer situations. The role of noncoding RNAs in mouse and human differentiation is also part of our interest, as we could show that enhancers can be transcribed with ou without polyadenylation of associated RNAs. We therefore developed several RNAseq protocol dedicated to the analysis of specific RNA populations (polyA-, total- and short-RNAseq). Another aspect of our research project relies on deciphering the rules governing promoter and enhancer nucleosome positioning and depletion. We previously showed that CpG islands intrinsically deplete nucleosome at promoters, independently of transcription. We are now further investigating the structural determinants of nucleosome positioning and the influence of transcription both at promoters and enhancers. Finally we are also investigating the role of novel post-translational modifications of the carboxy-terminal domain of Pol II. Based on biochemical and mutational approaches combined to genome-wide analyses, the precise role of these modifications in the transcription cycle will be investigated. (Research Profile) Conference title: Transcription termination and genome organisation |
Session Genomics and Bioinformatics: Chamseddine KIFAGI
Technical University of Denmark openhagen-Denmark I'm Chamseddine KIFAGI a senior-postdoc researcher in Danmarks Tekniske Universitet-Nanotechnology (DTU-Nanotech). I did my PhD between a Tunisian (CBS, Sfax) and a French laboratory (sysdiag, Montpellier) and it was focused the genetic and bioinformatics study of diabetes type 2 and its complication DN2. From May 2012 to February 2015, I did my first postdoctoral project at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM). My project concerned the study of the involvement of the epigenetics (ROS/SUMO axis) in the induction of apoptosis in AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia). Since June 2016, I’m working as a senior-postdoc researcher in Katharina LAHL’s group at the Immunology & Vaccinology division (DTU-Nanotech). In my actual project I focus on how the maturation and the specification of DC subsets in the gut is directed by a specific transcriptional program. Through my projects, I applied a chromatin-related NGS techniques, such as ChIP-seq and ATAC-seq, and I got a huge experience of the related computational analysis. (Research Profile) Conference title: Chromatin-related NGS techniques: advances and perspectives |
Session Biotechnology: Mohamed Anis ALOUINI
SYNVEC R&D CHEMISTRY Bordeaux University Mohamed Anis alouini is the General Manager of SynVec R&D Chemistry SynVec is a research and Development Company specialized in chemistry and chemical biology. Through a labeling from Aquitaine Council of the French Government, SynVec, an ADERA department, offer an access to technological innovations. We rely on the the technical resources of our teams to take into account our customer's needs in the chemical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. We conduct our R&D programs in strict confidentiality to ensure complete success - an operating mode that procures real reactivity and guarantees short deadlines to meet customer’s needs. Our main activities: -Development of chemical vectors for cellular and tumoral targeting. -Custom chemical synthesis (heterocycles, fluoresent dyes, peptides...) -Chemical, physico-chemical and biochemical analysis and purification (HPLC, LCMS, RMN, X-RAY DIFFRACTION, ELECTROPHORESIS, MASS ANALYSISSPECTROSCOPY UV, FLUO, FT-IR...) -Trade of chemical compounds trough our global network -Technology transfer in the field of chemistry and chemical biology. (Research Profile) Conference title: |