Miami Engineering Career Development Associate Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering
University of Miami, USA

Dr. Tomei is the Miami Engineering Career Development Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Miami. She obtained her M.S. in Materials Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan (Italy) in 2004, and her Ph.D. in Bioengineering and Biotechnology from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) in 2008. Dr. Tomei currently directs the Islet Immunoengineering Lab at the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) where she is applying her unique background in bioengineering and immunology to develop novel immunoengineering platforms to prevent rejection after islet transplantation and to promote antigen-specific tolerance for a cure of type-1 diabetes.

Head of the Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Organ Regeneration
University of Geneva Technical Director of the Cell Isolation and Transplantation Center
University of Geneva Hospitals, Switzerland

Dr. Ekaterine Berishvili is the Technical Director at the Cell Isolation and Transplantation Center, Department of Surgery, University of Geneva Hospitals. She also leads the Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Organ Regeneration at the University of Geneva. Her expertise is focused on cell-based therapies for type 1 diabetes, immune tolerance induction, and the bioengineering of the endocrine pancreas. She holds positions on the board of the ESOT and CTRMS. Dr. Berishvili is an active member of several scientific committees, including Breakthrough T1D beta cell replacement consortium, and serves on the editorial board of Transplant International as an associate editor. At the national level, Dr. Berishvili is a member of the Swiss Transplant Cohort Study’s scientific committee. She represents Geneva in the Swisstransplant working group specializing in pancreas, islet, and small bowel transplantation.

Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Principal Faculty, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Inaugural Endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston, USA

Dr. Melero-Martin graduated in Chemical Engineering from the University of Seville, Spain, in 1998. After working for three years in Industry, he earned a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 2005. He then trained as a post-doctoral fellow in the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital. In 2008, he joined the Department of Cardiac Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital to run a biomedical research laboratory. Currently, he is an Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, a principal faculty at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and the inaugural incumbent of an endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Melero-Martin’s research interest is primarily centered on bioengineering blood vessels. He investigates how vascular networks are formed from stem cell differentiation and has developed novel bioengineering applications with clinical translational potential. Dr. Melero-Martin strives to investigate questions that can have a long-lasting impact on regenerative medicine.

Dr. Melero-Martin’s laboratory is a reference in human progenitor and pluripotent stem cell-derived vascular cells, areas in which he has contributed multiple original papers.

Dr. Melero-Martin routinely collaborates and provides expertise to other laboratories in the US and abroad. He has a track record of successfully obtaining funds from multiple sources, including the NIH, the private sector, foundations, and intramural support. The NIH has continuously funded his research since 2009.

Samuel Y. Sheng Professor of Biomedical Engineering (in Systems Biology)
Columbia University, New York, USA

Dr Leong is the Samuel Y. Sheng Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. He is one of the pioneers in developing multifunctional nanocarriers for delivering drugs, antigens, proteins, siRNA, and DNA to cells. He graduated with a B.S. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, both in Chemical Engineering. Dr. Leong’s current research encompasses nonviral gene editing in vivo, biomaterials for inflammation modulation, and human-tissue chips for disease modeling and drug development. His publication record includes around 500 manuscripts, an h-index of 138, and over 73,000 citations. He also holds more than 60 issued patents. Dr. Leong's contributions have been recognized by his election to the USA National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Academy of Medicine. Other recent awards include the Society for Biomaterials' Founders Award (2022), the IEEE-EMBS Career Achievement Award (2023), and the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award (2024). Dr. Leong has been serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biomaterials for the past decade.