International Scientific Committee

Anna Dimberg, Sweden
Berislav Zlokovic, USA
Birger Brodin, Denmark
Britta Engelhardt, Switzerland
Chenghua Gu, USA
Danica Stanimirovic, Canada

Dritan Agalliu, USA
Elga de Vries, The Netherlands
Elizabeth de Lange, The Netherlands
Gou Young Koh, Republic of Korea
Jennifer Gamble, Australia
Joan Abbott, UK

Joseph Nicolazzo, Australia
Kari Alitalo, Finland
Lydia Sorokin, Germany
Matthew Campbell, Ireland
Per-Ola Freskgard, Sweden
Richard Daneman, USA

Robert Thorne, USA
Stefan Liebner, Germany
Tatjana Rundek, USA
Tetsuya Terasaki, Japan
William Elmquist, USA

Anna Dimberg

Associate Professor, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Sweden

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Anna Dimberg received her Ph.D. investigating differentiation of leukemia cells in 2002, and then ventured into the vascular biology field as a postdoctoral fellow in Lena Claesson-Welsh laboratory. The focus of her research is to understand how tumor vessel abnormalities affect the microenvironment and response to therapy in glioma. A main interest is to investigate how vascular phenotype affects leukocyte recruitment and sensitivity to immunotherapy. The long-term goal is to find vascular targeting strategies that enhance the response to cancer therapy and improve patient prognosis.

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Berislav Zlokovic V.

Professor and Chair Director Physiology and Neuroscience Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA

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Zlokovic studies the role of brain microcirculation and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in health and in the pathogenesis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and stroke. His laboratory has shown that dysfunction in the BBB can accumulate before neuronal loss, and is an early biomarker of human cognitive dysfunction. His group showed that disrupted cross-talk between BBB-associated pericytes, endothelial cells, and astrocytes can lead to neuronal dysfunction in both synapses and neurons, and that targeting pathways within the BBB complex can reverse neurodegenerative process. They identified genes and receptors at the BBB that regulate brain levels of Alzheimer’s amyloid-beta toxin. More recently, his team has developed new imaging techniques to study BBB functions in animal models and the living human brain. His findings contributed to development of Phase 2/3 clinical trials for AD and stroke.

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Birger Brodin

Professor, head of the research group “CNS Drug Delivery and Barrier Modelling “, Department of Pharmacy, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

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Professor Brodin obtained his PhD at the August Krogh Institute, University of Copenhagen, in 1995. The group investigates drug transport mechanisms in the brain endothelium, and develop new in vitro models of the blood-brain barrier, with focus on primary cell cultures and human stem cell models. The group participates in both national and international research networks on BBB research. Birger Brodin has published 96 peer-reviewed articles and text-book chapters.

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Britta Engelhardt

Director Theodor Kocher Institute, University of Bern, Switzerland

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Britta Engelhardt is an expert in brain barriers biology with a special focus on neuroinflammatory processes at the brain barriers. She has pioneered the use of intravital microscopy of the spinal cord microcirculation allowing to study leukocyte/BBB interaction in real time in live mice. For this work she has received the Herrmann-Rein Award of the Society for Microcirculation and Vascular Biology in 2001. She has over 200 publications on this topic. Britta Engelhardt has coordinated the Horizon 2020 funded ITN BtRAIN focusing brain barriers research. She was Vice-Chair and elected Chair of the Gordon Research Conference Barriers of the CNS in 2016 and 2018. She is a founding member of the International Brain Barriers Society and the current president of the Swiss Society for Microcirculation and Vascular Research (SSMVR).

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Chenghua Gu

Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard University, USA

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The laboratory of Chenghua Gu studies the interactions between the vascular and the nervous systems, specifically how the blood-brain barrier (BBB) functions and how blood supply is dynamically matched to the local energy needs of neural circuits. Her laboratory recently demonstrated that inhibition of transcytosis is a major mechanism for the BBB function, and that brain endothelial cells play an active role in mediating neurovascular coupling. Dr. Gu is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Faculty Scholar, and a winner of the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for highly innovative research, and an Allen Distinguished Investigator.

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Danica Stanimirovic

Director R&D, Department of Translational Bioscience, Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre, National Research Council of Canada, Canada

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Danica Stanimirovic manages a portfolio of R&D projects in partnership with academia and Canadian and international biopharma companies aimed at developing, de-risking and advancing antibody- and gene therapies through preclinical development. She is recipient of several Canadian and international awards. She has authored over 170 manuscripts and holds 22 patents in the field of integrative neuroscience, innovative biologics and drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier.

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Dritan Agalliu

Associate Professor, Department of Neurology / Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, USA

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Dr. Agalliu completed his Ph.D. in Genetics and Development in 2006 at Columbia University in New York and his postdoctoral training in Neuroscience in 2011 at Stanford University. Dr. Agalliu’s research is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate formation of the blood-brain barrier in the CNS and the mechanisms of barrier breakdown in a variety of CNS diseases such as stroke and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and autoimmune encephalitis that are characterized by blood-brain barrier failure, using a variety of genetic, molecular, cellular and imaging approaches in animal models for the disease and human genetic studies.

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Elga de Vries

Professor in Neuro-immunology, PI, Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, Amsterdam, UMC, The Netherlands

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Professor dr. Elga de Vries received her PhD in 1995 in the field of Pharmacology, focused on the identification of altered function of the cerebral vasculature in disease state in order to find novel ways to deliver drugs into the central nervous system. After her PhD, she became Marie Curie post-doctoral research fellow at University College London, United Kingdom to study signaling events in brain endothelial cells under inflammatory conditions. In 2011, she became a full professor of Neuro-immunology at the Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology at the Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where she heads the Neuro-immunology research group. Prof. dr. de Vries serves as the current President of the International Brain Barriers Society (IBBS).

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Elizabeth CM de Lange

Professor in Predictive Pharmacology, Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology, Leiden University, The Netherlands

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Prof Dr Elizabeth de Lange studied a Biophysical Chemistry (Groningen University, Groningen, The Netherlands), and obtained her PhD in Pharmacology (LACDR, Leiden University, The Netherlands). She is professor in Predictive Pharmacology at the Research Division of Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology of the LACDR. Her scientific focus is on interspecies extrapolation and prediction of disease progression and human drug effects by development of translational mathematical models on the basis of (pre)clinical data. She is an internationally recognized expert on the combination of highly advanced in vivo experiments (i.e. microdialysis in the brain), analytical techniques, and mathematical and computational models (Mastermind Research Approach).

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Gou Young Koh

Director and Distinguished Professor, Center for Vascular Biology, Institute for Basic Science and KAIST, Republic of Korea

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For last 20 years, he and his research team have focused on discovery and understanding of the growth factors regulating micro-vasculatures including brain vasculatures. During this time, his research team has made numerous major advances and breakthroughs in the field of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. More recently, he and his team have been working on the characterization of key factors involved in the organotypic vasculatures

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Jennifer Gamble

Professor, Wenkart Chair of the Endothelium, Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney, Australia

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Jennifer Gamble work is centred on understanding the key role that endothelial cells play in the induction and resolution of inflammation. Her present interest is in understanding and in the development of potential therapeutics for vascular leak, with particular focus on cerebral cavernous malformations. She is also interested in cellular senescence of endothelial cells and their impact on organismal ageing, with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s Disease.

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Joan Abbott

Professor of Neuroscience, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

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N. Joan Abbott has more than 40 years’ experience in the field of the blood brain barrier and the fluid microenvironment of the brain, with >130 publications and reviews. She was post-doctoral fellow at Duke University and University College London, before being appointed to faculty at KCL. She was Director of the KCL Centre for Neuroscience Research 2000-2003. She heads a research team in the BBB Group, within the King’s College Institute of Pharmaceutical Science. Prof Abbott’s research interests include the physiology, pharmacology, toxicology and pathophysiology of the BBB. A further interest is the measurement and prediction of drug distribution to the CNS, including the influence of brain fluid dynamics, in normal and pathological conditions. She has helped to develop, validate and apply several in vitro models of the BBB, including a tight porcine brain endothelial cell model and a co-culture model of rat brain endothelial cells grown above astrocytes.

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Joseph Nicolazzo

Associate Professor, Department of Drug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics, Monash University, Australia

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Joseph graduated with a PhD in 2004 from Monash University, where he is now an Associate Professor and Associate Dean, Graduate Research. His research focusses on the role of drug transporters at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) in facilitating and limiting drug access into the CNS, how transport across the BBB alters in neurodegenerative diseases, and how the BBB may be exploited to reverse pathology associated with neurodegenerative diseases. He has authored 72 peer-reviewed manuscripts and is regularly invited to international conferences in the field of BBB biology. Joseph is President of the Australasian Pharmaceutical Science Association, Editor of Pharmaceutical Research, and an Editorial Board Member of Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, and Fluids and Barriers of the CNS.

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Kari Alitalo

Academy Professor, Department of Research Programs Unit, Translational Cancer Medicine Program, Wihuri Research Institute and University of Helsinki, Finland

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At the University of Helsinki, Academy Professor Kari Alitalo heads his research group, the Translational Cancer Medicine Program of the Faculty of Medicine and Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Translational Cancer Biology, in addition to which he serves as director of the recently launched iCAN Flagship project. As director of the Wihuri Research Institute, Academy Professor Alitalo employs blood vessel, lymphatic vessel and stem cell technologies in investigating better treatment forms for cardiovascular and many other diseases. Alitalo is among the world’s top researchers specialised in blood and lymphatic vessels.

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Lydia Sorokin

Director, W3 Professor,Institute of Physiological Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry, University of Muenster, Germany

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We investigate blood vessels and inflammation with a focus on cerebral blood vessels, and how the endothelial basement membrane affects endothelial function including barrier function. Our aim is to define how both direct and indirect effects of the ECM influence tissue development and homeostasis, and how this is altered in pathological situations.

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Matthew Campbell

Professor, Department of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

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Dr Matthew Campbell graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) in 2006 with a PhD in Biochemistry followed by Post-doctoral research in Trinity College Dublin (TCD) in Human Molecular Genetics (2006-2012). He has published extensively on the use of RNA interference (RNAi) to modulate levels of distinct tight junction proteins at the blood-brain barrier/inner blood retina barrier (BBB/iBRB) in vivo. Additionally, he has published numerous articles focused on understanding the molecular pathology of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), Alzheimer’s disease, Schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

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Per-Ola Freskgård

Distinguished Scientist, Senior Advisor, BioArctic AB, Sweden

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Currently Distinguished Scientist at BioArctic AB. Before that Distinguished Scientist and Group Head Neurovascular Biology at the Roche Innovation Center in Basel, involved in implementing new technologies required for advancing the use of biopharmaceuticals in CNS disorders such as delivery technologies, one of which is now in clinical testing. Previously, Dr. Freskgård held several positions within the biopharmaceutical industry, including AstraZeneca (Sweden), Maxygen (Denmark), and Novo Nordisk (Denmark). Prior to this, worked at the Caltech (USA) in the lab of Professor Frances Arnold, who recently won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Freskgård holds a Ph.D. in Protein Biochemistry from Linköping University, Sweden and recently held a position as an Associated Professorship in Chemical Biology, Linköping University. He has authored and co-authored more than 75 per-reviewed publications and patent applications neuroscience, protein engineering, in-vitro directed evolution and blood-brain barrier transport.

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Richard Daneman

Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, USA

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Richard Daneman received his B.Sc. from McGill University and his Ph.D from Stanford University. Dr. Daneman then started his own lab as a Sandler Fellow at UCSF, before moving to a position as Assistant Professor at the UCSD. Dr. Daneman focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate blood-brain barrier (BBB) function during health and disease addressing questions such as: What are the mechanisms that regulate the formation of the BBB? How does the BBB interact with the neuronal circuitry to regulate brain function and behavior? What are the molecular mechanisms that lead to BBB disruption during neurological disease?

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Robert Thorne

Denali Fellow / Adjunct Associate Professor, Biology Discovery / Dept. of Pharmaceutics, Denali Therapeutics / University of Minnesota, USA.

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Robert Thorne is currently a full-time Denali Fellow with Denali Therapeutics (Sept 2018-) and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics at the University of Minnesota (Feb 2019-), following earlier service on the faculty at New York University School of Medicine (2008-2010) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2010-2018). His research has focused on the physiology of brain fluids, perivascular pathways for CNS biodistribution, and novel methods/routes/strategies for drug delivery to the brain and spinal cord. Dr. Thorne is the Vice President of the International Brain Barriers Society (https://www.ibbsoc.org/) and has played a major organizational role for many key meetings in the CNS barriers field, including serving as the elected Chair of the 2016 ‘Barriers of the CNS’ Gordon Research Conference.

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Stefan Liebner

Adj. Professor; PI (Group leader), Institute of Neurology (Edinger Institute), University Hospital, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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I am a cell & developmental biologist by training and received my Ph.D. at the University of Tübingen (Germany; Prof. Wolburg’s group). After the postdoctoral training in the Prof. Dejana’s group (IFOM; Milan, Italy), I accepted a group leader position at the Edinger Institute (Frankfurt a.M., Germany). My group focusses on the regulation barrier properties in endothelial cells (ECs), aiming to understand the molecular cues that determine the blood-brain barrier (BBB) phenotype of ECs in the CNS. Herein we concentrate on the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway that is crucial for brain vascularization and BBB induction in ECs. Furthermore, we investigated the contribution of the BBB vasculature to CNS diseases (stroke, tumour, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy), aiming to open new directions for therapeutic approaches.

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Tatjana Rundek

Professor of Neurology, Executive Vice Chair of Research and Faculty Affairs and Director of Clinical Translational Research, Department of Neurology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, FL, USA

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Dr. Rundek is Scientific Director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, Director of a Master of Science degree in Clinical Translational Investigation and Director of the KL2 career development program at the Miami Clinical Translational Science Institute. Dr. Rundek is a vascular neurologist, clinical researcher and a leader of several NIH-funded projects and programs on determinants of stroke, age-related memory loss and cognitive brain health.

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Tetsuya Terasaki

Professor Emeritus, Tohoku University, Japan, Research Director, Bioanalytics, School of Pharmacy, University of Eastern Finland, Finland

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Dr. Tetsuya Terasaki graduated Kanazawa University in 1977 and received Ph.D. degree from University of Tokyo in 1982 and was appointed Professor of Tohoku University in 1996 and Distinguished Professor of Tohoku University in 2008. His major research interest is pharmacoproteomics of CNS and ocular barriers. He published over 330 research articles, 75 review articles and 55 book chapters. He received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon, bestowed by the Government of Japan in 2013. He was selected as a “Highly Cited Researcher 2016” by Clarivate Analytics and his h-index is 76. He retired from Tohoku University and has received an opportunity to continue his research at University of Eastern Finland (UEF) in 2020.

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William F. Elmquist

Distinguished Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Minnesota, USA

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William Elmquist research has studied the influence of active efflux transporters in the blood-brain barrier (BBB) on CNS drug distribution. An important project currently underway is examining the determinants of anticancer drug permeability in the blood-brain barrier to improve the treatment of brain tumors. Long-term objectives of Dr. Elmquist’s research include examining expression and regulation of transport systems in key tissues that influence drug disposition, and how variability in expression, either genetically or environmentally controlled, may contribute to variability in drug response in the patient. Dr. Elmquist has long been a consultant to the pharmaceutical industry and the NIH, served on many journal editorial boards, and is a Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS).

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Contact

Akademikonferens
PO Box 7059
SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
E-mail: cvb2023@akademikonferens.se
Telephone: +46 18 67 20 59

Important dates

Late abstract submission closes on

March 31, 2023

Conference dates
18-22 June 2023

CVB 2023 in cooperation with:

International Scientific Committee

Anna Dimberg

Berislav Zlokovic V.

Birger Brodin

Britta Engelhardt

Chenghua Gu

Danica Stanimirovic

Dritan Agalliu

Elga de Vries

Elizabeth CM de Lange

Gou Young Koh

Jennifer Gamble

Joan Abbott

Joseph Nicolazzo

Kari Alitalo

Lydia Sorokin

Matthew Campbell

Per-Ola Freskgård

Richard Daneman

Robert Thorne

Stefan Liebner

Tatjana Rundek

Tetsuya Terasaki

William F. Elmquist

Contact

Important dates

CVB 2023 in cooperation with:

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