Bio
Education and Training 1997 - MD degree at the University of Bologna, School of Medicine 1998-2000 - Fellow in Experimental and Clinical Hematology at the University of Bologna, School of Medicine 2002 - PhD in Clinical and Experimental Hematology 1998 - Visiting Investigator at the Department of Dermatology, Immunotherapy Unit, Erlangen (Germany) 2000-2002 Research Fellow at the Department of Experimental Oncology, Gene, Therapy and Immunotherapy Unit, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy 2003 - Visiting Investigator at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University,Division of Immunology and Hematopoiesis, Baltimore (USA) Research activity • Acute myeloid leukemia and mylodysplastic syndromes • Basic immunology focusing on tumor escape mechanisms in leukemia, involving leukemia microenvironment: the role of indoleamine 2,3- dioxygenase and tryptophan metabolism • Adoptive immunotherapy with alloreactive NK cells in acute myeloid leukemia patients Positions From 2006 – Attending Physician at the Institute of Hematology “L.&A. Seràgnoli”, University of Bologna, Italy. From 2013 - Group Leader Cell Therapy Unit at Bologna Institute of Hematology From 2018 – Group Leader, Acute Leukemia and Mylodysplastic Syndromes Program at Bologna Institute of Hematology

Bio
Dr. Esther Barreiro (MD, PhD) is an attending physician and associate professor at Hospital del Mar-IMIM and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Barcelona, where she works as a respiratory clinician and researcher and teaches courses at the University. In addition, Dr. Barreiro coordinates a Research Unit on Skeletal Muscle and Lung Cancer in Institute Hospital del Mar of Medical Investigation (IMIM) and is part of the medical staff of the Respiratory Medicine Department at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona. This center is located in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) premises. She is also the Head of one of 33 research groups belonging to the Spanish Network of Excellence for Research in Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES). Dr. Barreiro completed her medical studies at the Universitat de Barcelona, where she graduated in 1989 and became specialist in Respiratory Medicine (1994). Subsequently, she obtained her Master of Science degree at McGill University (Montreal, Canada, 2001) and her Ph.D. degree at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain, 2002), under the supervision of Professor Sabah Hussain. Since early 2007 up until the present, Dr. Barreiro has a tenure position as an independent researcher in the same institution. Her lines of research are linked to the study of molecular mechanisms involved in cancer cachexia and muscle wasting in chronic conditions, as well as lung cancer predisposition in patients with underlying respiratory conditions using animal, cell, and human models. Moreover, she is also in seeking of therapeutic targets for the improvement of muscle mass loss and cachexia associated with chronic respiratory conditions. She has obtained about 65 competitive grants to conduct medical research including 2 funded by the European Commission, and has published 252 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and 23 book chapters. She also has teaching activities at University level (undergraduate and graduate courses) and normally supervises undergraduate, PhD students, and postdoctoral fellows working in her research group.

Bio
Diana Mechtcheriakova, Priv. Doz., Dr., Dipl.-Ing. is the Head of Research Group “Molecular Systems Biology and Pathophysiology” at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Center of Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Medical University of Vienna, the Head of Systems Medicine subdivision of the Austrian Platform for Personalized Medicine, and the Head of technology subunit Tissue Image Cytometry at the BioImaging Austria. Having a background in theoretical physics, biophysics and immunology and extensive experience in academia and in pharma as laboratory head at Novartis Research Institutes, Diana Mechtcheriakova’s long-term research goal is to expand the knowledge on cellular checkpoints, which redirect the physiologically balanced system towards pathological situations leading to development and progression of multifactorial diseases such as aberrant immunity, chronic inflammation and cancer. The research concept is based on a holistic approach for deciphering the complexity of multifactorial diseases and elaborating the doctrine “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” (philosopher Aristotle). For more than 10 years, Diana Mechtcheriakova is actively developing and promoting systems biology approaches. Her current scientific interests/main research areas are systems biology and systems medicine as part of the global concept of personalized medicine, B-cell biology, and immuno-oncology. Special interests refer to the AID/APOBEC-associated biological events; architectural complexity and functionality of ectopic lymphoid structures, producing memory B cells and plasma cells; developing of integrative systems biology-based algorithms in a process of discovery of novel disease-/immune-associated checkpoints and patients’ stratification strategies; and the cellular sphingolipid/lysophosphatidate system in immunity and cancer.