Upcoming and past Honorary Guest Lectures

HOW WE RAISED A BACTERIUM TO THE RANK OF A MODEL SYSTEM : THE LISTERIA PARADIGM.

Leibniz-HKI, Seminar room Louis Pasteur
Beutenbergstraße 11a, 07745 Jena

After studying chemistry in Lille and Washington DC, Pascale Cossart arrived in 1971 for her PhD at the Pasteur Institute where she pursued her whole career. She first studied DNA-proteins interactions and their specificity, then undertook in 1986 to study the molecular and cellular basis of host-pathogen interactions, taking as a model the intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Her research led to multiple discoveries, in particular the molecular and cellular mechanisms allowing bacterial entry into cells, crossing of the intestinal and feto-placental barriers by the bacterium, and also factors mediating bacterial actin-based motility as well as several novel mechanisms of gene regulation, in particular the discovery of the first thermo-sensor regulating expression of virulence factors and of riboswitches involved in antibiotic resistance. She discovered the regulatory role of cellular mitochondria in infection and unveiled several host post-translational modifications controlling infection, in particular histone modifications, paving the way to new targets against bacterial infections.

Cossart’s contributions were recognized by international prizes e.g. the Robert Koch prize, the Jeantet prize or the Balzan prize. She is a member of NAS and NAM, of the Royal Society, the Leopoldina and the French Academy of sciences for which she was Secrétaire perpétuel from 2016 to 2022. She was a visitor at EMBL- Heidelberg in 2022 and 2023. She was in May 2024 a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School (USA).

NANO NEEDS LIGHT TO IMPACT LIFE: INTEGRATING IMAGING IN CANCER NANOMEDICINE CLINICAL TRANSLATION

Großer Rosensaal, Fürstengraben 27, 07743 Jena

Twan Lammers obtained a D.Sc. in Radiation Oncology from Heidelberg University in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from Utrecht University in 2009. In the same year, he started the Nanomedicine and Theranostics group at RWTH Aachen University. In 2014, he was promoted to full professor of medicine at RWTH Aachen University Clinic. His group aims to individualize and improve disease treatment by combining drug targeting with imaging. To this end, image-guided (theranostic) drug delivery systems are being developed, as well as materials and methods to monitor tumor growth, angiogenesis, inflammation, fibrosis and metastasis. He has received multiple scholarships and awards, including ERC starting, consolidator and proof-of-concept grants, the CRS Young Investigator Award, the Adritelf International Award, the Belgian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences International Award, and the JNB Trailblazer Award. He currently serves as the president of the Controlled Release Society and as a council member of the European Society for Molecular Imaging. He is a member of the editorial board of 10 journals, and acts as associate editor for JCR, DDTR and MIB. Since 2019, he is included in the Clarivate Analytics list of Highly Cited Researchers.

TREE-HUGGING MADE REAL: WHAT DOES A GREEN ENERGY TRANSITION REALLY LOOK LIKE?

Großer Rosensaal, Fürstengraben 27, 07743 Jena
Zoom-Meeting-ID: 665 9798 6554, Kenncode: 406245

Prof. Dr. Oliver L.A. Monti is professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and professor of Physics at The University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, USA. He received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry (with emphasis in Physics) from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland, before moving to the University of Oxford for his PhD. After a research stay at JILA in Boulder, Colorado, USA, he accepted a faculty position at The University of Arizona in 2004, where he has since risen through the ranks. He currently holds the Homer C. and Emily Davis Weed Endowed Chair in Chemistry and is Associate Department Head. His research interests cover electronic structure and ultrafast dynamics of organic semiconductor interfaces, quantum materials and single molecule electronics. In his personal time he races bicycles, loves hiking with his family and rough-housing with his dog Zepto.

MOLECULAR RESOLUTION FLUORESCENCE IMAGING

ACP Auditorium, Albert-Einstein-Straße 6, 07745 Jena
Zoom-Meeting-ID: 641 4598 7220, Kenncode: 648685

Markus Sauer studied Chemistry at the University Heidelberg where he received his Diploma in 1991 and his PhD in 1995 in Physical Chemistry. 1998 he has been awarded the BioFuture Prize for Detection, Analysis and Handling of Single Molecules, which allowed him to establish his own group for single-molecule fluorescence detection and single-molecule DNA sequencing. From 2003-2009 he was Professor and chair of Laser Physics and Laser Spectroscopy at the University Bielefeld, Germany. Since 2009 he is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biotechnology and Biophysics at the Julius Maximilian University Würzburg, Germany. His research interests are single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging with a particular focus on super-resolution fluorescence imaging by direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM) and its applications in neurobiology and immunology. He has published more than 300 papers and coordinates several super-resolution microscopy projects.

DYNAMIC LIGHT SCATTERING FOR NON-INVASIVE DIAGNOSIS OF BLOOD AND BLOOD MICROCIRCULATION

ACP Auditorium, Albert-Einstein-Straße 6, 07745 Jena
Zoom-Meeting-ID: 651 5294 5838, Kenncode: 374059

Igor Meglinski, MSc, PhD, is a Professor at the School of Engineering & Applied Science and at the School of Life & Health Sciences in Aston University, Birmingham (UK), and at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering of the University of Oulu (Finland). Professor Meglinski’s research interests lie at the interface between physics, medicine and biological sciences, focusing on the development of new non-invasive imaging/diagnostic techniques and their application in medicine & biology, material sciences, pharmacy, food, environmental monitoring, and health care industries.
He is a Chartered Physicist (CPhys), Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Fellow of SPIE, and Fellow of OPTICA. Prof. Meglinski is author and co-author of over 350 papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, proceedings of international conferences, and book chapters, and over 700 presentations at major international conferences, including about 300 invited lectures, keynote and plenary talks.

SPIN AND ORBITAL ANGULAR MOMENTA IN BIOMEDICAL DIAGNOSIS AND TISSUE CHARACTERISATION

ACP Auditorium, Albert-Einstein-Straße 6, 07745 Jena
Zoom-Meeting-ID: 651 5294 5838, Kenncode: 374059

Igor Meglinski, MSc, PhD, is a Professor at the School of Engineering & Applied Science and at the School of Life & Health Sciences in Aston University, Birmingham (UK), and at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering of the University of Oulu (Finland). Professor Meglinski’s research interests lie at the interface between physics, medicine and biological sciences, focusing on the development of new non-invasive imaging/diagnostic techniques and their application in medicine & biology, material sciences, pharmacy, food, environmental monitoring, and health care industries.
He is a Chartered Physicist (CPhys), Chartered Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Fellow of SPIE, and Fellow of OPTICA. Prof. Meglinski is author and co-author of over 350 papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, proceedings of international conferences, and book chapters, and over 700 presentations at major international conferences, including about 300 invited lectures, keynote and plenary talks.