Our programme committee carefully selects the speakers for the scientific programme. They operate at the heart of the Dutch Life sciences and make sure to cover all programme tracks. In the run-up to the conference, we ask them to elaborate on their choice of speakers and what they look forward to at NWO Life 2024.
Vera Meyer
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Vera Meyer runs the Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology at TU Berlin since 2011. Her inter- and transdisciplinary research projects combine natural and engineering sciences with art, design and architecture and create bio-based scenarios for possible living environments of the future. The department focuses on researching and optimising fungal cell factories, with the aim of making more effective use of fungal metabolic potentials for the production of medicines, platform chemicals, enzymes and biomaterials in the sense of a sustainable bioeconomy. Together with her team, she pursues a holistic approach and develops and combines methods from systems biology and synthetic biology.
During NWO Life2024 Vera will speak about fungi: Thinking the impossible as if it were possible: Fungi as source of inspiration for a sustainable future.
By innovatively connecting art and science, she embodies and exemplifies the theme of the NWO Life 2024 meeting: ‘The Art of Science’.
Ali Erturk
His lab (Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (iTERM) of Helmholtz München) accelerates biomedical research by developing and combining enabling technologies. By combining biomedical research with artificial intelligence (AI), and nanotechnology, and also using engineering to develop tools to implement their technologies directly in the medical system, they aim to solve some of the major bottlenecks in research. An unbiased approach, from imaging to molecular analysis (transcriptomics and proteomics), will be very powerful for tackling major diseases. His stunning imaging inspires both science and art.
During NWO Life2024 Ali will speak about Decoding diseases in 3D: AI-powered cell level imaging and omics.
His talks are very inspiring and verge on the interface of science and art, all in all, he perfectly fits the theme of the NWO Life 2024 meeting: ‘The Art of Science’.
Behind the speaker
We asked programme committee member Marnix Medema and chair of the programme committee Bart Eggen who they invited to speak at NWO Life2024 and why. We also asked them about NWO Life in general.
Who is Marnix Medema? 'I am a professor of bioinformatics at Wageningen University & Research, where my group develops and applies methods for omics-based analysis of the chemical language of life, with a focus on host-microbiome interactions. I invited Vera Meyer to speak at NWO Life.'
Who is Bart Eggen? 'I am a professor of molecular neurobiology at the University Medical Center Groningen, where my group investigates molecular and cellular changes in the central nervous system that underlie neurogenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis using a range of -omics approaches. I invited Ali Erturk'
Why did you invite Vera Meyer?
‘I have invited Prof. Vera Meyer from the Technical University of Berlin. She is not only an influential fungal biotechnologist who has published important work on fungal metabolism, but she is also a visual artist who uses her scientific work as an inspiration to create paintings, drawings, plastic works and sculptures that capture the imagination. Through her artwork she emphasises the importance of sustainable bioeconomy and is able to communicate that to society effectively. By innovatively connecting art and science, she embodies and exemplifies the theme of the NWO Life 2024 meeting: ‘The Art of Science’.’ - Marnix Medema
Why did you invite Ali Erturk?
'I have invited Prof. Ali Ertürk from the Helmholtz Institute on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine in München. He has developed DISCO, a tissue transparency technology, allowing for large 3D imaging of biological specimens. In addition, he develops deep learning algorithms to analyse the cellular and molecular details of whole organs and tissues. His talks are very inspiring and verge on the interface of science and art, all in all, he perfectly fits the theme of the NWO Life 2024 meeting: ‘The Art of Science’.' - Bart Eggen
Why should participants come to NWO Life2024? Marnix Medema: ‘NWO Life is a fantastic opportunity to experience the entire spectrum of life sciences in and beyond the Netherlands, to meet new people and to be inspired by high-quality scientific talks. ’
Bart Eggen: ‘NWO Life is a very inspiring meeting, where you can immerse yourself in topics and research areas far beyond your own typical research domain. The broad nature of the conference is inspiring, a great creativity spark and I always come back with new points of view, ideas to pursue and concepts that apply to my research domain.’
What are you most looking forward to? Marnix Medema: ‘I look forward to meeting new people, to hear their ideas and get to know what inspires them.’
Bart Eggen: ‘I look forward to meeting new people, hearing concepts and approaches from other research domains, and getting to know these researchers that I typically don’t meet at the conferences I generally attend. Socially, the atmosphere is vibrant and open. In short, it is a great meeting to meet new people, and get inspired by concepts and approaches from other research domains that might apply to your area of interest.’
