Outstanding Achievement Award
Seppo Yla-Herttuala, University of Eastern Finland, Kuoppio
Supported by:
Dr. Seppo Yla-Herttuala, MD, PhD, is a world leader in viral gene therapy for cardiovascular diseases and brain and bladder cancer. His team was the first to use adenovirus-mediated gene transfer to human arteries already in 1995. Since then, he has conducted 12 phase 1-3 clinical trials in cardiovascular and cancer gene therapy. He has also been heavily involved in angiogenesis research, development of new gene transfer vectors and led large scale manufacturing process development of gene therapy products. He is the originator of the “cloud concept” of ncRNAs around promoters and the concept of “epigenetherapy”. He has always focused his attention on common chronic diseases and major disease indications. He is the past President of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (2010-2012) and has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Therapy (2015-2020). Currently, he is the head of the National Virus Vector Laboratory in the University of Eastern Finland (EU EATRIS infrastructure for vector production). He is the founder of Ark Therapeutics Ltd (currently Finvector Oy) where he and his colleagues developed gene therapy drug for bladder cancer which was approved by FDA in December 2022.
Young Investigator Awards
Alessio Nahmad, Tabby Therapeutics
Alessio Nahmad is a highly accomplished researcher with numerous scholarships, awards and co-inventor on patent applications. He is the first author of 3 high-impact publications and is committed to engineering multimodal cell therapies to enhance interactions with the immune system. He developed a novel immunotherapy platform for the treatment of escape-prone diseases, known as B cell engineering, and a co-founder a seed-stage biotech company that aims to bring his innovative works to life.
Samuele Ferrari, SR-TIget, Milan
Samuele Ferrari is a senior postdoctoral fellow in Luigi Naldini’s lab at the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-Tiget) in Milan (Italy). His work has contributed to uncover major pitfalls of current gene editing platforms by cutting-edge approaches and to devise strategies improving them. His main research interest is therefore the development, improvement, and safety validation of gene editing technologies in view of their therapeutic application, with specific focus on hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.
Exceptional Service Award
Hildegard Büning, Hannover Medical School
