Born on 4 of October 1957 in Kharkov, Ukraine. Graduates from Lviv Medical State University. In 1980 entered postgraduate course on genetics in the Institute of Molecular Biology & Genetics (Kyiv, Ukraine). Professional skills in cytogenetics and clinical genetics improved during multiple internships (Institute of Medical Genetics, Moscow; Universite D'Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland). Works as a vice-director on scientific work in the Institute of Hereditary Pathology (Lviv, Ukraine) and as a full professor in the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Medicine of the University of Rzeszów (Poland). As a scientific projects coordinator performs research project “Evaluating the contribution of genetic and epigenetic factors in predisposition to breast cancer and ovarian cancer from Poland and Ukraine”, conducted jointly with the University of Melbourne.

Pascal Borry is associate professor of bioethics at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law (University of Leuven, Belgium). His main research activities are concentrated on the ethical, legal and social implications of innovative technologies. He published among other issues on topics such as direct to consumer genetic testing, public health genomics, biobanking, research on human tissue, genetic testing, preconceptional screening and neonatal screening, and sport ethics. He published more than 130 publications in international peer reviewed journals. He is programme director of the Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics and teaches medical ethics to medical students. He is member of the Flemish Commission on neonatal screening (2012-2017), member of the Belgian Consultative Committee on Bioethics (2014-2018) and expert of the Superior Health Council (2014-2020). Within the European Society of Human Genetics he is member of the Professional and Public Policy Committee (2009-2016) and elected member of the board (2012-2017). Within the university he is member of the steering group YouReCa (Young Researchers Careers). Recently he became member of the Ethics Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He received various prizes. In 2006 he received the triennal prize for biomedical ethics ‘Professor Roger Borghgraef’. In 2014 he also received the Innovation Prize of the Dutch Association for Community Genetics and Public Health Genomics, and in 2015 the prize of the Dutch Society for Bioethics. In 2015 he also received the Science Communication Award of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. He was a visiting scholar at the Case Western Reserve University, the Université de Montréal, and the VU Medical Center Amsterdam . He is Invited scholar at the Center for Genomics and Policy of Mc Gill University.

Davit Chokoshvili (1988) is a doctoral researcher at the KU Leuven, Belgium. Davit has an interdisciplinary academic background, having previously studied public policy, applied biotechnology, and bioethics. His research interests are primarily in the areas of clinical genetics and public health genomics. Davit’s doctoral project, to be defended in June 2018, focuses on reproductive genetics and is entitled “Expanded carrier screening for monogenic disorders: an interdisciplinary inquiry”

Coming from a background in Paediatrics, Angus has worked in Clinical Genetics at Cardiff since 1989, with particular interests in Rett syndrome and ectodermal dysplasia, the genetic counselling process and the social and ethical issues around human genetics. He has authored or edited ten books, often with colleagues, including ‘Genetic Testing: Accounts of Autonomy, Responsibility and Blame’ by Arribas-Ayllon, Sarangi and Clarke and numerous research papers and book chapters. He has directed the Cardiff University MSc course in Genetic Counselling since it was launched in 2000. He contributes to policy discussions - he was a member of the Human Genetics Commission - and the writing of reports for the British and European Societies of Human Genetics and HUGO.
Angus has actively supported the UK Ectodermal Dysplasia Society and Rett UK and is working to develop clinical trials of novel treatments for both conditions as well as supporting the societies and their members.

James L. Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D., is the director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging at Mayo Clinic and Noaber Foundation Professor of Aging Research. Dr. Kirkland’s research is on cellular senescence, age-related adipose tissue and metabolic dysfunction, and development of agents and strategies for targeting fundamental aging mechanisms to treat age-related chronic diseases and disabilities. He published the first article about drugs that clear senescent cells – senolytic agents. He is a scientific advisory board member for several companies and academic organizations. He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, President-Elect of the American Federation for Aging Research, and past chair of the Biological Sciences Section of the Gerontological Society of America. He holds honorary appointments at Boston University and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He is a board certified specialist in internal medicine, geriatrics, and endocrinology and metabolism.

Zaal Kokaia received his MSc (1984) from Tbilisi State University (Georgia) and first PhD (1987) from I.Beritashvili Institute of Physiology, Tbilisi, Georgia. He continued to work as Senior and Leading Scientific Fellow at the same institute (November 1988 - May 1992) until he moved to Sweden and continued his scientific carrier at Lund University. Here, at he Medical Faculty, he obtained second PhD in 1995 and Academic Degree of Docent in 1999. Since then he continued to work at the Department of Clinical Sciences and from 2008 he is Professor of Experimental Medical Research. Currently, Prof. Kokaia is Director of Lund Stem Cell Center, Coordinator of National Strategic Research Area in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine and he is heads Laboratory of Stem Cells and Restorative Neurology. His research interests are to study the possible use of in vitro and in vivo reprogrammed cells and modulation of neuroinflammation for improved functional recovery after stroke.

Laura Niedernhofer, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine and the Center on Aging at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida. She has a Bachelor of Sciences in Chemistry from Duke University and completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at Vanderbilt University. She followed this with post-doctoral training at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherland. There she discovered a new progeroid syndrome caused by a defect in DNA repair, cementing a link between DNA damage and aging. She began her independent career at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Dr. Niedernhofer’s current research program at Scripps is focused on discovering the mechanism by which DNA damage promotes aging and age-related diseases. She primarily works with murine models of human genome instability disorders and has a drug discovery program aimed at extending healthy aging. Laura was an Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging, a recipient of the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, and is the 2018 Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star in Aging Research.

Paul D. Robbins, Ph.D. is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in Jupiter, Florida and Director of the TSRI Center on Aging. Previously he was a Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Director of Basic Research for the Molecular Medicine Institute and Co-Director of the Paul Wellstone Cooperative Muscular Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as well as Interim Director of Molecular & Cellular Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. He received his B.A. from Haverford College, his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Mulligan at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. He has co-authored over 325 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 175 book chapters and reviews and has edited four books. Dr. Robbins’ research is focused on developing therapeutic approaches, including small molecules, biologics and stem cells, to extend healthspan and reduce frailty in mouse models of aging.

Current positions:
1998 – Present: Director, Founder of Center of medical genetics and primary health care.
2011 - Present: Founder and Head of department of medical genetics of Yerevan state medical university.
2000 - Present: Chief specialist of Ministry of Health of Armenia
International professional activity:
2004- 2008: Expert of CDSP, Council of Europe, Strasbourg:
“CM Document of European Health Committee:Recommendation CM/Rec of the
Committee of Ministers to member states on the impact of genetics on the organization
of healthcare services and training of health professionals”.
2009-2011: Expert of CDSP, Council of Europe, Strasbourg
2004: Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence: Harvard School of Public Health, USA
2006: Fogarty Scholar-in-Residence: Harvard School of Public Health, USA
1994-1999: CNRS fellowships, University Paris YI, France.
Principal Investigator and participant: International scientific programs and projects.
Present Research Interests:
Medical genetics
Molecular diagnostics.
Human cytogenetics
Cancer genetics
Genetics of Familial mediterranean fever (FMF) and autoinflammatory disorders
Genetics of mental retardation
Scientific Publications: 185 (more than 70 articles in international journals).

1998 Docent Degree, Experimental Neurology, Lund University, Sweden
1991 Habilitation Degree (Doctor of Biological Sciences), Inst. of Physiol., Georgian Acad. Sci., USSR
1983 PhD Degree (Candidate of Biological Sciences) nst. of Physiol., Georgian Acad. Sci., USSR
1978 BA in Biology, Tbilisi State University, Georgia, USSR
CURRENT POSITION(S)
2008 – current Professor at the Dept. Clinical Sciences, Epilepsy Center, Lund University, Sweden
2011 – current Professor at Chavchavadze State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
2013 – current Director of Epilepsy Center, Lund University, Sweden
2013 – 2018 Coordinator of EC FP7 Large Collaborative Project EPITARGET
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
1986 Scholarship Award from Swedish Institute
SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
1996 12 PhD students (4 ongoing) , 11 Postdocs (3 ongoing), more than 25 graduate students
EXPERT REVIEWER
Science, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, The Journal of Neuroscience, Brain, The European Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroscience, Molecular Therapy, Hippocampus, Experimental Neurology, Neuroscience Letters, Brain Research, Journal of Neuroscience Research, Synapse, Annals of Neurology, Neurological Sciences.
PUBLICATIONS
More than 120 articles total, average citation per item: 44; Total citations excl. self-cit.: 4 942; h-index: 39.
Published in Journals: Neuron, PNAS, Brain, J. Neurosci., J Clin. Inv., Neurobiol. Dis., Gene Therapy, PLOS ONE, Hippocampus, Molecular Therapy, and others.
PATENTS
• Use of nucleic acid sequences for the treatment of neurological and phychiatric diseases, vectors and compositions. EU Patent number: EP2046394 (2014)
• Use of nucleic acid sequences for the treatment of epilepsy. US patent number: 8,901,094 (2014)
• Treatment of cerebral ischemia and cerebral damage with neuroprotective agents. US patent number: 5,972,924 (1999)

Dr. Tchkonia received her Master’s degree from Tbilisi State University and her Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from the Institute of Molecular Biology, Moscow Russia. She was a Docent at Tbilisi State University and invited lecturer at Tbilisi State Medical University. After two years of postdoctoral training at the Boston University Medical Center, Dr. Tchkonia joined the faculty at the Evans Biomedical Research Center at Boston University. Since 2007, Dr. Tchkonia has been a senior research scientist at the Kogod center on Aging and associate professor at the department of Medicine at Mayo Clinic.. Her research is focused on the role of senescent cells in aging and disease. In collaboration with Dr. Kirkland and others, she identified the first senolytic drugs that are effective in eliminating senescent cells both in vitro and in vivo and demonstrated that pharmacological targeting of these cells can alleviate age-related frailty and symptoms of multiple diseases. Some of these drugs are ready to be tested in clinical trials for variety of indications at different centers in US and world-wide. Dr. Tchkonia is one of the four co-inventors of a mouse model where senescent cells can be removed selectively and a named inventor on multiple patent applications related to therapeutic approaches for targeting senescent cells in aging and disease.

Dr. Tajerian is a neuroscientist with an interest in chronic pain both in preclinical animal models and in humans. Specifically, her work focuses on the supraspinal correlates of pain chronification, taking into consideration both cellular and extracellular mechanisms of maladaptive plasticity. After completing her doctoral degree at the department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University, Canada, Dr. Tajerian joined the department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Services at Stanford University, USA. She will join the Department of Biology at Queens College, New York, as an assistant professor in fall 2018.

Nicole de Leeuw has a Master of Science degree in Medical Biology (University of Utrecht, the Netherlands), a Master’s in Nutritional Sciences (University of Illinois, USA) and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She completed her four-year-training in clinical cytogenetics at the Nijmegen department of Human Genetics in 2003 and was subsequently appointed there as Clinical Laboratory Geneticist. Since 2012, she is leader of the theme Intellectual Disability & Congenital Anomalies within the Division of Genome Diagnostics in Nijmegen. Her main activities involve the application of genome wide SNP-based array analysis and Whole Exome Sequence (WES) data analysis of both nucleotide and copy number variants in constitutional genome diagnostics. Together with her colleagues she aims to efficiently identify the genetic cause of a patient’s disorder and to unravel the underlying mechanism in order to provide adequate information for appropriate genetic counselling. She is actively involved in external quality assessment, she participates in national and international educational activities; she is supervisor of the Clinical Laboratory Geneticist training programme in Nijmegen, member of the European Cytogeneticists Association (ECA) board of directors and coordinator of the ECARUCA database (www.ecaruca.net).

A molecular biologist by training from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, Nicole Fleischer has worked for the past 15 years in clinical research and marketing of cutting edge medical technologies. For the past 4 years, Nicole is director of research at FDNA Inc, combining different forms of artificial intelligence with phenotype /genotype correlations. Her focus is in Next Generation Phenotyping technologies, which couples the automated phenotype analysis with the continuously growing genomic knowledge. The aim is to open new ways to rapidly reach accurate molecular diagnosis for patients with genetic syndromes, and by that contribute to the emerging field of precision medicine.