KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Full professor of Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Palermo, Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies (STEBICEF), Laboratory of Biocompatible Polymers.

Head of the Advanced Technology and Network Center (ATeN Center) of the University of Palermo (July 2020-September 2023).

Research Interests: Synthesis and functionalization of tailor -made copolymers for biomedical applications; development of nano- and microsystems for targeted gene and drug delivery; multifunctional smart drug delivery systems based on carbon dots/biopolymers for nanomedicine and theranostics.

Co-authors of 218 papers published on international journals (Scopus) and co-inventors of 7 national and international patents (Google scholar patent).

Currently Principal Investigator for UNIPA of the PNRR Project: Centro Nazionale in Terapia Genica e Farmaci con Tecnologia a RNA and of the Project: “FILIERA INTEGRATA FRUTTA ESOTICA ITALIANA MAZZONI”  Fitolima, funded by MASAF.

Full Professor at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa

Director of Hematology Unit Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana

Education: 1986-1992: School of Medicine and Surgery at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies; 1992-1996: PhD at the S. Anna School (Pisa) in experimental medicine, focused on resistance in hematology. 1995-1999: Specialization in hematology, University of Pisa; 2025: Master in health management, faculty of Economics, University of Pisa.

Positions: 2000-2017: researcher in hematology, University of Pisa; 2017-2021: associated professor in hematology, University of Pisa; 2018-today: director of school of specialization in hematology, University of Pisa; 2021-today: director of Hematology Unit AOUP.

Interests: molecular biology and immunological aspects of hematological diseases, with focus on measurable residual disease in lymphomas and resistance mechanisms in lymphoma and myeloproliferative neoplasms. The Molecular Biology Laboratory within the Hematology Department in Pisa is the reference point for the North-West Tuscany Area, as well as for the Italian Lymphoma Foundation; this lab is part of the EURO MRD NET (the European network on measurable residual disease in lymphomas), and of the national groups for molecular studies of myeloid diseases (LabNet CML and AML). Moreover, Prof. Galimberti participated to many national and international research projects, ranging from the immunological aspects of allogeneic transplantation to studies on epigenetics, and from the search for predictive markers in myeloma, lymphomas, and myeloid disorders to the most recent PNRR projects focused on association of autoimmune and hematological diseases and on CAR-T monitoring and inflammatory adverse events.

Associate Professor in Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy of the University of Siena.

Education: In 2004 he graduated in medicinal chemistry (Chimica e tecnologia farmaceutiche (CTF)) at the University of Florence (110/110 cum laude). Tutor: Prof. Cristina NATIVI and Prof. Stefano MENICHETTI. Thesis title: Synthesis and reactivity of alpha-alpha’-dioxothione derivatives supported on solid phase. In January 2009, he obtained the International PhD Degree in Structural biology at CERM, the magnetic resonance center of the University of Florence. Tutor: Prof. Ivano BERTINI. Thesis title: Drug design approaches for the identification of new protein-interacting compounds. From 2009 to 2012 he was a post-doc at Sapienza University of Rome, while from 2012 to 2017 he was post-doc at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT). In 2017 Dr. Mori became researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology. In 2017 he got the National Qualification as Associate Professor in Medicinal Chemistry (SSD: CHIM08, 03/D1), while in August 2018 he won a Senior Researcher position (tenure-track RTD-B, L.240/2010) at the University of Siena. Mattia Mori is currently an Associate Professor in medicinal chemistry at the University of Siena from August 2021.

Co-author of more than 160 publications in peer-reviewed journals; H-index: 34 (Scopus, September 2025); 4 book chapter; 5 patent applications (1 granted).

Co-Editor of Current Pharmaceutical Design. Editorial board member of Current Drug Discovery Technologies, Current Enzyme Inhibition, Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry. Guest editor for Molecules, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Current Pharmaceutical Design, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

Postdoctoral Research Associate in the research group Oxidoreductases in cellular defense and signaling at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Her scientific career has been devoted to the field of oxidoreductase enzymology, with 12 scientific publications and 3 crystal structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank. Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the research group Oxidoreductases in cellular defense and signaling. Search of inhibitors for therapeutic purposes.

She completed her PhD in 2018, under the supervision of Drs. Sergio Porté, Xavier Parés, and Jaume Farrés, in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She recombinantly expressed and purified aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH1) isoforms, and specialized in drug discovery based on the search of ALDH inhibitors for cancer treatment. She is collaborating with Advanced Biodesign (Saint-Priest, Lyon, France), a pharmaceutical company that develops novel anticancer drugs based on ALDH inhibitors. The lead compound, DIMATE, in its nanoencapsulated formulation, ABD-3001, entered Phase I clinical trial, targeting acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in early 2023. She has ample teaching experience at undergraduate level in the Faculty of Biosciences, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and she is strongly committed to training and mentoring young researchers: supervisor of 2 PhD theses, 13 MSc theses, 2 pre-doctoral student mobilities, and 3 undergraduate internships.