2025 Speakers
Keynote speakers
Jordi van Gestel
Group leader at EMBL Heidelberg
Jordi van Gestel has been a group leader at EMBL Heidelberg since 2022, where his research focusses on microbial predator-prey interactions between bacteria and protists. His interest lies in understanding how microbes and microbial life cycles evolve in the context of predator-prey interactions in the soil. He did his Ph.D. research at the University of Groningen and Harvard University. In 2016, he joined the groups Prof. Andreas Wagner at UZH and Prof. Martin Ackermann at ETH Zurich for a joint postdoc position focusing on microbial evolution, biofilm formation and cell-to-cell communication. After his stay in Switzerland, Jordi joined the laboratory of Prof. Carol Gross at UCSF for about two years before starting his independent research group at EMBL.
Emma Hodcroft
Group leader at Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute
Emma Hodcroft began working in molecular epidemiology, phylogenetics, and modelling in HIV at the University of Edinburgh, where she investigated the heritability of viral load and developed an agent-based model simulating HIV phylogenies during her MSc, PhD, and a post-doc. She then moved to Basel as a post-doc and joined the Nextstrain project, becoming a co-developer of the project. From February 2020, Dr Hodcroft worked full-time on SARS-CoV-2, including identifying a key variant that dominated Europe in the summer of 2020. This work led her to develop the first variant-tracking website, CoVariants.org. Dr Hodcroft was additionally very active in science communication during the pandemic, and was featured regularly in the media. Dr Hodcroft started her own lab in 2023 at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, where she’s switching back to her pre-pandemic work on endemic respiratory viruses. In August 2024, she co-founded Pathoplexus.org, an open-source database to encourage and enable viral genome data sharing while protecting and better crediting data generators. In December 2024, she was recognised as one of Nature’s ‘Ones to Watch’ in 2025.
Péter Szoldàn
CEO of GenuForm AI
TBC
Career talks
Karin Ackema
Head of Quality Management and Regulatory Affairs at Indivi AG (Basel)
Karin started her career as a PhD student at the ErasmusMC in Rotterdam in the the Cell Biology & Genetics department. This was followed by a Postdoc position at the Biozentrum. In 2014, she left academic research for medical writing in the medical device industry at Medical Minds in Bern. This was followed by a position as Quality System Analyst at a DePuySythes site in Bettlach, a production site for orthopedic implants and instruments. Two years later she was promoted to Quality System Team Lead. At the end of 2019, she left this position and became senior consultant Quality & Engineering & Project Management at ISS AG in Biel, where she also picked up medical writing again. Later on, the position evolved into Clinical and Scientific Affairs Manager as part of the ISS CRO (contract research organization). In 2024, she joined Indivi AG, a young TechBio company delivering digital measurement solutions (digital endpoints) for patient monitoring during drug development for neurological disorders.
Hailey Kim
Innovation Office, University of Basel
Hailey Kim is Project Manager at the Innovation Office at the University of Basel since 2023. Before joining the Innovation Office, she completed her PhD in Clinical Neuroimmunology at University Hospital Basel and has experience in the life science and molecular diagnostics sector. The Innovation Office is the central contact point at the University for all matters related to innovation and entrepreneurship. At the Innovation Office, Hailey is deeply involved in international collaborations to support startups in life sciences, such as the Seoul-Basel Startup Hub Acceleration Program and the MIRAHI as part of Swiss Leading House Africa. She is also involved in public-private partnerships, including SPEARHEAD, to fight antimicrobial resistance with better AMR stewardship using machine-learning algorithms developed with real-world data.
Anna-Elina Pekonen
Innovation Office, University of Basel
Anna-Elina has a background in Entrepreneurship Education and startup ecosystem development. Her passion got her involved early on in the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Finland to empower both talents and innovation teams. She is also a co-founder of a few companies that focus on developing startup ecosystems. Anna-Elina joined the Innovation Office in 2023. She is passionate about future-proof innovation, sustainability, team learning and coaching. As manager of the entrepreneurial education program, she is shaping and expanding the entrepreneurial education programs at the University of Basel and support talents to receive the right tools and skills to thrive. She will always enjoy making great connections and continuing to bring impact to the innovation ecosystem with her positive attitude towards life.
Kessara Chan
Video and media specialist
After completing his PhD at the UZH and working a few years as a Postdoc at the ETH, Kessara realized that maybe a career in research wasn’t, after all, his calling. Consequently, he had the bright idea to start a new career in something he had absolutely no clue about and no expertise in: creating videos. After years developing his craft working with startups, NGOs, associations, and companies, Kessara has been in charge of production for the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office since 2021, as well as developing its social media strategy. Kessara now spends his days making videos to help Swiss people understand complicated things, and that, to him, is a pretty good life.
Melanie Generali
Head of iPSCore
Melanie Generali completed her PhD in Integrative Molecular Medicine in 2017 at the University of Zurich (UZH). Prior to this, she completed a Master of Science in Human Biology at UZH, and a Bachelor of Science in Biology at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel in Germany. Dr. Generali has extensive experience in the field of stem cell research and tissue engineering, having worked on multiple international projects. Following her PhD, she joined the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IREM) at UZH, where she worked as a postdoctoral researcher in collaboration with the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University. In 2021, she launched the iPSC Core Facility (iPSCore) at UZH and became the program head, overseeing the facility’s activities related to iPSC, GMP compliance, and tissue engineering. Additionally, she is the Swiss representative in the European Network for Stem Cell Core Facilities (CorEuStem). Since the end of 2022, Dr. Generali has been leading the cardiovascular tissue engineering division at IREM, furthering her work through a new collaboration with Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, focusing on clinical applications in cardiovascular diseases.
Philipp Dexheimer
Science Artist
TBC
Alejandro Tsai
Global Medical and Commercial Operations at UCB
TBC
Workshop
Jens Gaab
Prof. of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at University of Basel
TBC