Michael Gasik, PhD, Full Professor at Aalto University Foundation  

Topic: Soft biomaterials as medical devices: an overview

Michael Gasik is a Full Professor at Aalto University Foundation (Espoo, Finland) and has held visiting professorships in the UK, Japan, Italy, Portugal, and Estonia. With over 300 publications and patents spanning 30 years, he has led numerous EU, IEA, and national projects. Michael was appointed as European Orthopaedic Research Society Ambassador for Finland in 2020 and has served in various international committees and organizations, including COST Actions and the European Connected Health Alliance (ECHA). He specializes in developing innovative in vitro testing methods and owns the LinkedIn group ‘Advanced Testing of Biomaterials’, and have founded Seqvera Ltd. (www.seqvera.com) in 2016, focusing on biomaterials, medical devices, and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) development in compliance with regulations like MDR 2017/745 and IVMDR 2017/746.

Sibylle Grad, PhD, Principal Scientist bei AO Research Institute Davos

Topic: Mechanically loaded whole organ models for preclinical orthopaedic research

Sibylle Grad is a Principal Scientist at the AO Research Institute Davos (ARI), Switzerland. She is the Focus Area Leader for Intervertebral Disc and Cartilage Biology and deputy Program Leader of the Regenerative Orthopaedics Program. Sibylle Grad obtained her PhD in Natural Sciences from the Department of Cell Biology of the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETHZ), Switzerland. After completing her first post-doctoral training, she joined the AO Research Institute Davos. She has since then acquired extensive research expertise in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with focus on cartilage and intervertebral disc repair and regeneration. Her projects include whole organ culture and bioreactor studies, cell therapy, molecular therapy, circulating and tissue biomarkers; bioreactor loaded explant models for cartilage and osteochondral defects. Her expertise in advanced ex-vivo organ culture systems for studying both degeneration and repair is widely acknowledged in orthopedic research. Sibylle Grad is also a private docent with habilitation in Biomedical Engineering and course leader in the graduate program of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology of the ETHZ. She has obtained funding from many national and international agencies and has been section leader of several collaborative projects. She is a co-organizer of the ARI Orthopaedics Annual Conference and a member of various scientific committees. Her publication list includes more than 170 peer-reviewed articles.

Taina Viheriälä, PhD, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University

Topic: GrowDex-T serves a supportive scaffold for an implantable device designed to treat epilepsy 

Taina Viheriälä is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology at Tampere University, Finland. She earned her PhD in Cell and Tissue Technology in 2023. Following her graduation, she has taken on roles as a project manager and researcher, contributing to epilepsy-related projects. During her PhD studies, she developed extensive expertise in human pluripotent stem cell biology, with a particular focus on ocular epithelial cells, their functionality, and electrophysiological properties. In the current project PRIME, funded by the European Union, she works as the responsible cell biologist, focusing on the PRIME initiative’s overarching goal of developing an implantable device containing engineered living cells to treat epilepsy. Her primary responsibility is to optimize the conditions for the cells within the device, including the use GrowDex-T as a supportive scaffold. 

Andre Maia, PhD, Head BioSciences Screening Scientific Platform at i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde

Topic: Advancing Towards 3D Cellular Model Applications​

Dr. André Maia holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, Biologist by training  and highly experienced researcher in the field of Cell and Molecular Biology. Since 2014 heads and manages a scientific platform dedicated to high-throughput and high-content screening. Highly experienced in high-content imaging technology and automated image analysis with 2D/3D cellular models. Organiser and lecturer on advanced courses. Supervisor of Master and PhD students. Team member of national and international projects funded by FCT and EU, including research infrastructures.  Participation in several COST actions, including management and workgroup leader positions. Co-author of several publications and book chapters. 

Timothy P. Spicer, PhD, Director of HTS and Discovery Biology at the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute

Topic: Automated HTS of 3D Primary Tumor Models for Drug Discovery and Precision Oncology

Timothy P. Spicer Ph.D. is a research professor and Senior Scientific Director in the Department of Molecular Medicine at UF Scripps Biomedical Research. He joined Scripps Research in Florida in 2005 which is now part of the University of Florida since April 2022. Tim has more than 34 years of experience in drug discovery, including 10 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Tim is currently the director of HTS and discovery biology and co-directs the screening center at UF Scripps. He is a faculty member of the UF Health Cancer Center and is part of their executive leadership team where he co-leads the Cancer Targeting and Therapeutics Program and is a permanent member on the Translational Research Council. He supervises HTS assay development & related efforts including technology development for which he has impacted on a worldwide scale. Tim serves on multiple boards across the globe including the Florida Center for Brain Tumor Research, ChemoSen3D, Ion Biosciences in TX, as well ViQi AI, an imaging-based AI company. He is the past President and Chairman for the Society of Lab automation and Screening (SLAS) and is the Associate Editor of SLAS Discovery. He has authored >160 drug-discovery related publications and is an inventor on 10 patents, including those that represent drugs that are now in man (RUKOBIA). For further information please see his linked in profile at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-spicer-5786943/; laboratory website at https://hts.scripps.ufl.edu/ and faculty pages at: https://wertheim.scripps.ufl.edu/profile/spicer-timothy/ and https://cancer.ufl.edu/research/research-programs/cancer-targeting-therapeutics/

Gerard Rubi Sans, PhD, Scientist I at MiNK Therapeutics

Topic: MiNK-215: Novel allogeneic FAP-CAR iNKT cell therapy remodels the tumor stroma to potentiate anti-tumor immunity  

Dr. Gerard Rubí Sans is a Scientist at MiNK Therapeutics, where he leads research in the development of 3D in vitro cancer models to enhance cell therapy and bispecific antibody therapies against lung, colorectal and liver solid tumours and other lung diseases. Gerard holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, where he developed complex colorectal cancer models as personalized medicine and drug screening platforms.

Pelin Candarlioglu, PhD, Director of Immunotherapy

Topic: Choosing The Right Model For The Right Question: Industry Insights On Qualifying And Adopting Organ On Chip  Models

Pelin's career began as a Molecular Biologist at Sabanci University in Istanbul. She pursued further studies with a Marie Curie Fellowship at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna and earned her PhD from Imperial College London under Prof. Molly Stevens. After her PhD, she focused on oncology and worked on circulating tumor cells during her PostDoc at University College London.

Pelin then ventured into Organ On Chip (OoC) technology while establishing a Cell Biology/Microfluidics lab for Enplas Corporation in Cambridge. She led the development of a microfluidic chip system for cell therapy and immuno-oncology applications. Following this, she joined GSK to lead the UK Complex In Vitro Models (CIVM) group, expanding the OoC model portfolio for immunotherapy and supporting GSK’s Cell and Gene Therapy Department. She developed multiple cell therapy OoC models and introduced lymph node modeling at GSK Pharma. Her work also included supporting GSK’s portfolio during the COVID-19 pandemic and developing various disease models. After leaving GSK, Pelin founded 3D and 3Rs Ltd. and is now the Head of Immunotherapy at Vivodyne, focusing on developing industry-aligned, high throughput Immuno-Oncology OOC models.

Pelin has made significant contributions through research papers, keynote speeches, and presentations at conferences. She has advanced OoC adoption globally through organizations like NA3RsC MPS Initiative, NC3R, and EURoOCS, where she chairs the Industry Advisory Board. She is committed to facilitating regulatory acceptance of OoC-derived data and maintains strong connections with regulators in the UK, EU, and US.

Tilo Weber, Scientific Officer for Animal-Free Science

Topic: Animals in the (Petri) Dish: Towards a Truly Animal-free Laboratory

After graduating in biology at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in Germany, Tilo Weber worked for three years at a biotechnology company that developed an animal-free endotoxin test. Since 2016, he is a Scientific Officer for animal-free science at the Academy for Animal Welfare of the German Animal Welfare Federation. In 2024, he has been co-editor for a research topic on animal-free cell culture at the scientific journal Frontiers in Toxicology.