SENIOR2YS

As Chief Executive and Scientific Officer at Takis directly oversees 30+ full time employees and a number of PhD students/Post-doc fellows and coordinates research and regulatory activities aiming at developing cancer vaccines, COVID-19 vaccines, monoclonal antibodies against Cancer and COVID-19, bispecific antibodies. Takis has established strong partnerships with several Italian and international Pharma companies (Merck, Novartis, Alfasigma, GSK, etc), Biotechnology companies (Geron, IGEA, Rottapharm Biotech, etc) and academic centers (e.g. IRCSS Fondazione Pascale, Biogem). Takis is also involved in Regional, National and European projects as SME (Horizon, IMI2, EIC accelerator). As CSO, he is the administrator of many grants from the Italian Ministery of Economic Development, from Lazio Innova and POR-FESR from Regione Campania. As Chief Executive and Scientific Officer at EVVIVAX (Engineered Veterinary Vectored Immunotherapy and Vaccines) he focuses on Veterinary Cancer Vaccines and Immuno-Oncology Products development. He oversees 3 people. EVVIVAX has developed the Vet-ePorator™, a device dedicated to Electro-Gene-Trasnfer and Electro-Chemo-Therapy in Pets. EVVIVAX has established collaborations with the University of Pisa, University of Pennsylvania, Veterinary Oncology Services and Clinica Veterinaria Roma Sud. He is the Scientific Responsible for a grant for Lazio Innova, in collaboration with the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome. As President of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer at NEOMATRIX he focuses on Personalized Cancer Vaccines. NEOMATRIX received 2M€ from two VC funds (2Invest, Germany and i2i, UK). He oversees an increasing team of 6 people. NEOMATRIX has established collaborations with the Regina Elena Institute in Rome, 4BaseBio and IGEA. As Founder and President of VITARES Foundation, he aims to promote Immunology Research and create collaborative networks between basic researchers, Human and Veterinary Medicine. To provide the knowledge tools and encourage the correct information on emerging therapies, VITARES promotes training activities at all levels: schools, patient associations, professionals in the health sector. Dr Luigi Aurisicchio has received many grants as PI from AIRC, MIMIT, MUR, EU Commission, Region Lazio and Region Campania for a total of about 10M€. In the last 5 years, Dr Aurisicchio has currently 112 publications, 3 Book Chapters, 5329 citations, an H-index=41 and i10- index=99 (Google Scholar).

Dr. Ruggero Cadossi graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Modena, specializing in Hematology. From 1980 to 1998, he was a university researcher at the Medical Clinic of the University of Modena. He is the founder of IGEA, where he serves as Medical Director and Director of the Research and Development Department, and since 2003, he has held the position of President. He is the author and co-author of 90 scientific publications in peer-reviewed international journals.

Dr. Michal Cifra leads the Bioelectrodynamics research team at the Institute of Photonics and Electronics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He earned his MSc in biomedical engineering and his PhD in electromagnetic engineering, delving into photonics and molecular biophysics during his early career training (RWTH Aachen in Germany, the University of Chicago in the USA). He now describes himself as an electromagnetic biophysicist.
Dr. Cifra has pioneered research into the molecular details of electromagnetic properties and the effects of pulsed electric fields on proteins and the cytoskeleton, earning him the Justin Teissié Award for Excellence in Electroporation-Based Treatments and Technologies. He is also recognized as a leading researcher in biological autoluminescence, also known as biophotons.
Michal values transparency, clear communication, thorough planning, organization, and detailed logging. He enjoys using a variety of smart digital tools and life hacks to enhance the efficiency of his academic work. Having undergone several leadership and personal development trainings, he strives to apply these experiences to foster growth within his team.

Claudia Consales is molecular and cellular biologist, and she works as a researcher at Italian National Agency for new Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Italy. In the last 10 years, she has been involved in studying the biological effects induced by electromagnetic fields (EMFs) exposure on biological systems, with a particular interest on brain effects. She has started analyzing the effect of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) on Parkinsons’ Disease onset and/or progression, to move towards the analysis of the molecular pathways activated by ultrashort electric pulses when delivered under electroporation threshold in neuronal cells. She is, in fact, interested in elucidating the molecular pathways activated by the electric stimulation, because, knowing them, it is possible to improve their therapeutic application, even imagining innovative therapies. Precisely in this area, she is coordinating a H2020 FET-OPEN project (RISEUP) aimed at developing an innovative approach for spinal cord regeneration, based on the idea of modifying stem cells phenotype in neuronal one through the delivery of a microsecond electric pulses stimulation. Stem cells are transplanted and stimulated in the lesioned area by a bio-compatible, bio-degradable and electrified scaffold, remotely controlled. Under this stimulation, they are differentiated in neurons and these cells can regenerate the injured tissue.

Rafael Davalos is the Weitnauer Chaired Professor within the Georgia Tech – Emory University Department of Biomedical Engineering. Previously, Davalos was an Endowed Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Virginia Tech, Leader of the Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Signaling and Biotechnology Program, and Director of the Center for Engineered Health. Prior to his academic appointments, Dr. Davalos was a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. Davalos has authored over 150 peer-reviewed articles, 17 book chapters, and has 55 issued patents (79 h-index, >19,900 citations). Davalos has mentored 23 PhD and 8 MS students who are now pursuing careers in academia, national laboratories, startups, and industry. His research interests include dielectrophoresis, microfluidics, electroporation, organ-on-a-chip platforms, and medical devices, which have led to innovations for personalized medicine and advanced technologies for cancer therapy. His patents have been licensed to 7 companies and have been used to help thousands of lives around the world. Davalos has served as Treasurer for the ASME Bioengineering Division and the International Society for Electroporation-Based Therapies and Treatments. He was Program Co-Chair for the 2013 AES Meeting and serves on the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions of Biomedical Engineering, Bioelectricity, the ASME Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, and Electrophoresis. He has been a plenary speaker for several prestigious venues including the International Symposium of the Bioelectrochemistry Society, the European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference, the World Congress on Electroporation, and the Society of Cryobiology Annual Meeting. Davalos is an ASME, NAI, BMES, and AIMBE Fellow. He is also a recipient of the NSF CAREER and 2021 ASME Van C. Mow Medal. Dr. Davalos received his bachelor’s from Cornell and doctorate from Berkeley.

https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/federico-gomez

Richard Heller, Ph.D., is Professor of Medical Engineering at the University of South Florida. He previously served as the Executive Director of the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics at Old Dominion University. His research over the past 40 years has focused on evaluating the use of pulse electric fields to manipulate biological cells and tissues. He is considered one of the leading experts in gene electrotransfer. He has demonstrated effective delivery to a variety of tissue targets. He is a Fellow of the following organizations: National Academy of Inventors, Association for the Advancement of Science, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers, Society for In Vitro Biology and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His research has mainly focused on non-viral gene therapy. His publications have reported on work that has demonstrated that plasmid DNA can be delivered efficiently both in vitro and in vivo using pulsed electric fields and since then demonstrated effective delivery to a variety of tissue targets including tumors (melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic, etc), skin, muscle, liver and heart. He has also been involved in translating the approach to both human and veterinary clinical trials. He has over 140 peer reviewed papers, 25 book chapters, edited 5 books and has 71 issued patents. He has been continuously funded by United States federal sources including National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense. He has previously served as President-Elect, President and Past-President of the ISEBTT.

Antoni Ivorra is a Full Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, Spain, where he leads the Biomedical Electronics Research Group (https://berg.upf.edu). Prior to joining UPF in 2010, he enjoyed a four-year postdoctoral stay at the University of California at Berkeley (2005-2009) followed by an eight-month postdoctoral position at the CNRS- Institut Gustave Roussy (Villejuif, France). During 1998-2005, he was with the Biomedical Applications Group of the Centre Nacional de Microelectrònica, Bellaterra, Spain. He received a PhD in Electronics Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, in 2005. He is author or coauthor of 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals, 4 book chapters, and more than 35 conference contributions. He has been inventor or co-inventor of 12 families of patent applications. In 2016 he was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his research on microstimulators for neuroprosthetics.
His research is focused on bioelectrical phenomena and, in particular, on exploring the use of these phenomena for implementing new methods and devices for biomedical applications. Specifically, his main research topics are electroporation, particularly for tissue ablation, electrical bioimpedance for diagnostic purposes, and injectable electronics for sensing and neuroprosthetics.

Micaela Liberti, Senior Member, IEEE, received the M.Sc. degree in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree from Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, in 1995 and 2000, respectively. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Engineering, Electronics, and Telecommunications (DIET) at Sapienza University of Rome. From 2012 to 2015, she served as the national supplement representative of European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) TD1104: “European network for the development of electroporation-based technologies and treatments.” In 2019, she co-chaired BIOEM2019, the Joint Annual Meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS) and the European Bioelectromagnetics Association (EBEA), held from 23rd to 28th June 2019 in Montpellier, France. In 2020 and 2021, she served as the President of the European Bioelectromagnetic Association (EBEA), and until March 2022, she served as the President ad interim of BioEM. Since 2021, Prof. Liberti has been a member of the Scientific Expert Group for the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Technical Advisory Committee of the International Union of Radioscience (URSI) Commission K. Since 2022, she has been a member of TC28 of the IEEE MTT Society. Since 2024, she is President Elect of BioEM society. Her scientific interests include theoretical modeling in bioelectromagnetics, biomedical applications of EMF, microdosimetry, and exposure systems, as well as applicators dosimetry and design.

Paolo Marracino was born in Campobasso, Italy in 1978. During and after his phD at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” his research activities focused on the study of interaction mechanisms between EM fields and biological systems, which led to the publication of 50 works on international journals and more than 600 citations. Since September 2017 he’s been working for Rise Technology srl as researcher and designer of EM structures exploiting bioelectromagnetic interaction mechanisms. He became head of research for biomedical devices in April 2021. His main research topics include: i) the development of a new flexible electrode technology for spinal cord regeneration; ii) the design and development of ingestible smart pills; iii) the development of electrode topology and applicator for novel electroporation procedures; iv) the development of electrode topology and applicator for magnetic mediated biophysical treatment of osteoarthritis, post-traumatic joint pathologies, joint inflammation and degeneration of articular cartilage. He also has expertise in the modelling of dynamic meniscus and the related electrochemical processes in addition to thermo-electric, thermo-mechanics and fluid-dynamics processes.

https://council.science/profile/lluis-m-mir/

Richard Nuccitelli received his B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Santa Clara and both his M.S. degree in Physics and his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Purdue University. For his Ph.D. thesis he worked with Lionel Jaffe to invent a new technique called the self-referencing vibrating probe for the non-invasive measurement of extracellular and extraembryonic ionic currents. That seminal publication has been cited 448 times since 1974. The self-referencing vibrating probe has been used by dozens of investigators to show that all polarized cells exhibit a transcellular current that is critical for their function. Pubmed lists 96 publications using this novel approach for detecting ion fluxes through cells and tissues. Dr. Nuccitelli was a Professor in the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology at UC Davis for 23 years. During that time, he discovered that both neural crest cells and human keratinocytes are very sensitive to physiological dc electric fields and migrate toward the negative pole of such fields. He also conducted many investigations into the mechanisms of frog egg activation and discovered the IP 3 -initiated Ca 2+ wave in the activating frog egg. He has published 151 papers in the field of bioelectrics. He left UC Davis in 2001 to start BioElectroMed Corp. along with his wife, Pamela. BioElectroMed developed the Dermacorder® to map the electric field near human skin wounds and lesions. He joined the Center for Bioelectrics at Old Dominion University from 2003-2007 where he worked half time using nanosecond pulsed electric fields to ablate melanoma tumors. In 2014, BioElectroMed was acquired by Pulse Biosciences (Nasdaq:PLSE) where he is now the Director of Research. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995 and Fellow in the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2015. He served as President of the Bioelectromagnetics Society 2013-2014. He is an Associate Editor of Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics, Bioelectrochemistry, Bioelectromagnetics and a Senior Editor of the new journal, Bioelectricity.

Andrei Pakhomov is a Research Professor at Old Dominion University and the Director of Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics. He received MS in physiology from Moscow State University in 1982 and PhD in radiation biology in 1989. He received a Resident Research Associateship Award from the National Research Council in 1994 and spent the next 10 years with the Microwave Research Group of McKesson Bioservices in San Antonio, TX. In 2005, he joined Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics in Norfolk, VA. His lab focuses on biophysical and physiological effects of nanosecond pulsed electric fields (PEF), from molecular and cellular mechanisms to prospective applications in cancer ablation, deep tissue stimulation, and defibrillation. He leads research on nanoelectropore opening and life cycle, conduction properties, cell stimulation and activation, membrane repair, and cell death mechanisms and pathways. He has served as the Principal Investigator on grants studying nanoelectroporation (NIGMS), PEF-induced cell death mechanism (NCI), picosecond pulse effects (NIBIB), biophysics of PEF stimulation (AFOSR MURI), and cardiac defibrillation (NHLBI). His two ongoing projects, supported by the NIH BRAIN Initiative, are focused on targeted neurostimulation with nanosecond PEF (nsPEF) and with novel interference PEF patterns. He authored over 110 peer-reviewed papers and delivered over 60 invited, plenary, and keynote presentations at international conferences. In 2023, he received the Frank Reidy Award for Outstanding Achievements in Bioelectrics.

Gianpiero Pataro earned his PhD in 2004 from the University of Salerno, Italy, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor in Chemical Plant Design at the Department of Industrial Engineering. His research focused on the application of emerging thermal (ohmic heating) and nonthermal technologies (pulsed electric fields, high-intensity pulsed light, continuous wave UV light, high-pressure carbon dioxide) in food and biotechnological processes. His work aims to:
· Improve the safety, quality, and functional properties of processed foods.
· Induce targeted modifications in food structures.
· Enhance the mass transfer process of valuable compounds from biological matrices (such as food, food by-products, and microalgal cell suspensions).
Currently, his research particularly emphasizes:
· Modelling electrochemical phenomena at the electrode-food interface in a PEF chamber.
· Modelling the electrical behavior of plant tissues before and after exposure to cell disintegration techniques (e.g., PEF, ultrasound).
· Valorizing plant and microbial biomasses using a cascade approach.
· Modelling biorefinery and food processes to improve economic and environmental sustainability.

Javier Raso received his PhD in 1995 at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) where he is currently professor of Food Technology and former Director of the Pilot Plant of Food Science and Technology. He has been a visiting researcher of the Microbiology Department at Unilever Research in Bedford (UK), of the Department of Food Biotechnology and Food Process Engineering at Technical University of Berlin (Germany) and of the Biological Systems Engineering Department at Washington State University (USA). His areas of research are in the field of food preservation and processing by thermal and non-thermal technologies such as ultrasound, high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric fields and combined processing. Research interest is focused on critical factors affecting efficacy of technologies, kinetics and mathematical modeling, process optimization and mechanisms of action. He has been involved in a number of EU and national funded projects in these topics and he is the author of more than 150 peer-review papers a. He is co-editor of the two editions of the book “Pulsed Electric Fields Technology for the Food Industry”, editor of two sections of the “Handbook of electroporation” and he is serving in the editorial board of the “Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies” journal. He was Vice-Chair of the COST Action TD1104 “European network for the development of electroporation-based technologies and treatments (EP4Bio2Med), coordinator of the project FieldFOOD of the Horizon2020 Framework Program of the EU. He is the current President of the International Society of Electroporation-based Technologies and Treatments.

Lea Rems was born in Novo mesto, Slovenia, in 1988. She received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ljubljana in 2016. After postdoctoral training at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands (2016-2018) and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden (2018-2021) she returned to the University of Ljubljana, where she is currently a Research Associate and Assistant Professor. Her main research interests include computational and experimental investigations of the phenomena associated with membrane electroporation, especially at the molecular and cellular level. Her work was awarded, among other, by the Alessandro Chiabrera Award for Excellence in Bioelectromagnetics in 2021. She is also a recipient of the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (2020) and the ERC Starting Grant (2023).

https://www.ipbs.fr/cellular-biophysics/

Felix Schottroff is a Tenure Track Professor of Food Process Engineering at BOKU University in Vienna, Austria at the Institute of Food Technology. In his research, Felix focusses on various novel and non-thermal technologies for microbial inactivation as well as microbial food resources and sustainable and hygienic engineering, taking into account mechanistic approaches, product quality, energy efficiency, process and equipment design. Felix has scientific and practical experience from a variety of industries as well as research projects and has a strong passion for topics at the interface of microbiology and process engineering. Moreover, Felix acts as the co-chair of the European Hygienic Engineering and Design Group (EHEDG) Regional Section Austria and is chair of the Young EFFoST (European Federation of Food Science and Technology) Group as well as the EFFoST working group on sustainable food systems and Officer for Environmental Applications in the ISEBTT Council.

Rian Timmermans studied Food Technology at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. After graduating from the MSc program in 2008, she started as a researcher in food technology at the research institute Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (formerly known as Agrotechnology & Food Innovations). She worked on different mild preservation technologies, such as high pressure pasteurization and sterilization, microwave and radiofrequency heating, pulsed electric fields and ohmic heating in various (international) projects with universities and the food industry. She is combining her knowledge on food processing, microbial inactivation, chemistry and physics, and loves to translate science into industrial applications. She was involved in the dossier formation, research and industrial implementation of pulsed electric field technology by the Dutch premium fruit supplier Hoogesteger in 2011. In 2012 she initiated her own PhD project entitled, “Moderate and High Intensity Pulsed Electric Fields effect on microbial inactivation, shelf life and quality of fruit juices” at the chair group Food Quality and Design (Wageningen University), which she completed in 2018 besides her job as a researcher. In her work she conducted a systematic evaluation of the individual effects of electric field strength and pulse width in combination with heat on microbial inactivation. She discovered a new combination of PEF conditions, using moderate intensity pulses with long duration to inactivate microrganisms. She suggests that a different mechanism is responsible for inactivation using these conditions as is used for high intensity, short duration pulses. The benefit of these conditions is that they are relatively easy to scale up to large volumes. The results of this work are described in multiple peer-reviewed scientific papers and patents.
During her PhD, Rian received “PhD Student of the Year Award”, 2nd place at European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) conference in Uppsala, Sweden in 2014. After completing her PhD, Rian continued her job as a project leader and scientist of mild preservation and processing at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, which she still holds today. She is focusing on smart and sustainable food processing, and PEF is one of the technologies she studies. In her current research PEF is often used as a pre-step to disintegrate plant cells or to electroporate micro-organisms for mass transfer in food and biotechnological applications.

Stefan Toepfl is food technologist and received his PhD on Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) use and system design for food industry from Berlin University of Technology in 2006. As process specialist at the German Institute of Food Technologies, DIL, he has been active in process design and realization of processing equipment with a focus on PEF and other non-thermal technologies as well as plant based protein extrusion. Since 2009 he is professor of Food Process Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences, Osnabrück, Germany. Since 2017 he is managing director of Elea GmbH, a spin off entity for marketing of PEF systems for food and bio-processing industry and technology leader in the field. He is author of numerous research papers, book chapters and patents and active as a reviewer for scientific journals as well as national and international funding bodies.

Urszula Tylewicz is an Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna. Her research activity is mainly focused on the application of non-thermal technologies (e.g. pulsed electric field – PEF, ultrasound, vacuum impregnation, osmotic dehydration) for fruit, vegetables and fish processing (added value product) and valorization of plant and fish by-products. She participated in 14 international and national research projects. She is a co-author of 87 scientific papers in indexed Journals, 6 book chapters;(Scopus Author ID: 25628744800; h index = 33, total citations = 2878, from Database Scopus of 04.09.2024). https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=25628744800.