YSF Keynote Speakers

Four keynote lectures will be delivered during the IUBMB–FEBS–PABMB Young Scientists' Forum by inspiring scientists:

Bruno Correia is a tenure track assistant professor at the Institute of Bioengineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. The focus of his research group is to develop computational tools for protein design with particular emphasis in applying these strategies to immunoengineering (e.g. vaccines and cancer immunotherapies). His group also carries out experimental characterization of the designed proteins. His lab has been awarded two prestigious research grants from the European Research Council, and he was awarded the young investigator award by the Protein Society in 2021 and an EPFL prize for best teacher of life sciences in 2019. 

Opening Lecture: 'Expanding the landscape of functional proteins by computational design'

Élyse Fischer is a research scientist in the group of Dr David Barford at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK. She has been awarded the inaugural IUBMB Whelan Young Investigator Award for her contributions to understanding the molecular mechanisms of spindle assembly checkpoint activation by sequential mitotic phosphorylation. She is also the recipient of the Post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), USA and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to complete her PhD at Cambridge, UK.

Keynote Lecture: 'Molecul­­­ar mechanisms of mitotic checkpoint complex assembly at kinetochores'

Franck Martin is a Research Director from CNRS at the University of Strasbourg, France. He is principal investigator at the ‘Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire’ in the department ‘Architecture et Réactivité de l’ARN’ (RNA architecture and reactivity). His research activities are focused on deciphering molecular mechanisms of translation in eukaryotes. Among these, cellular mRNA translation and viral translation are investigated in his team.  

Keynote Lecture:  'Viral and cellular translation during SARS-CoV-2 infection'

Rohit Pappu is the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Engineering in the Dept of Biomedical Engineering, and the Director of the Center for Science & Engineering of Living Systems, at Washington University in St Louis, USA. His research interests focus on the biophysics principles underlying the form, function and evolution of intrinsically disordered proteins as well as the physical principles underlying spatial and temporal organization of cellular matter. Work in the Pappu lab spans polymer physics, computations, bioinformatics and biophysical experiments. He was elected 2019 fellow of the Biophysical Society, 2013 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Mercator Fellow for SPP2191, a program sponsored by the German Research Foundation DFG.

Keynote Lecture:  'The biophysical principles of biomolecular condensates'