The organization of the Life Science Symposium has invited top-tier academics and researchers who will explore cutting-edge techniques and strategies to unravel the complexities of the brain. They will shed light on how these interventions enhance our understanding and improve various medical processes.
Throughout the day, speakers will guide you on a journey from detection to diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases from a life sciences perspective, covering a diverse array of crucial topics. These include the role of genetics in neurological diseases, analysis of the clinical picture, and the practical applications of tools such as biosensors.
Co-hosts of the 12th Life Science Symposium
Dr. Marta Artola Perez de Azanza
Leiden University
Dr. Marta Artola is an Associate Professor at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry. Her research focuses on developing chemical tools, including inhibitors, degraders and probes, to study the role of carbohydrate-processing enzymes with the aim of supporting medical diagnostics and drug development.
Dr. Madeline Kavanagh
Leiden University
Dr. Madeline Kavanagh is an Assistant Professor at Leiden University Institute of Chemistry. Her research is focused on developing small molecules and chemical probes to modulate the specific biological pathways and proteins that regulate immune function. With her research, she contributes to a better understanding of the immune system’s role in many human diseases and the development of new therapeutics.
Keynote speakers of the 12th Life Science Symposium
Dr. Sjors Scheres
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
Dr. Sjors Scheres is the head of the Structural Biology of Neurodegeneration research group, part of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. His group conducts research to determine and visualize the structure of proteins involved in neurodegenerative disorders. He will talk about how Cryo-EM (electron microscopy) is applied to characterize these protein structures.
Dr. Emma Coomans
Amsterdam University Medical Center
Dr. Emma Coomans is a postdoctoral researcher at the Amsterdam University Medical Center. Her expertise is in PET imaging for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. In her research she applied tau-PET to measure tau proteins (involved in the on-set of Alzheimer’s) in the brain and showed that this detection technique can be used for establishing diagnoses. Her lecture will cover tau-PET imaging and its clinical application.
Prof. Dr. Danielle Posthuma
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Prof. Dr. Danielle Posthuma is a Professor of Genetics of Complex Traits at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Prof. Dr. Ir. Marcel Verbeek
Radboud University Nijmegen
Prof. Dr. Ir. Marcel Verbeek is a Professor of Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disorders at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. An important goal of his research is to identify new biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of neurodegenerative disorders. He will speak about the detection of biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid in Parkinson’s disease and how the gut microbiome and peripheral enzymes may affect therapeutic efficacy of levodopa (a widely used medication for Parkinson’s).
Dr. Inge Holtman
University Medical Center Groningen
Dr. Inge Holtman is the head of Neurogenomics and Transcriptional Regulation at the University Medical Center Groningen
.
Dr. Joost Smolders
Erasmus Medical Centre
Dr. Marina Trombetta-Lima
University of Groningen