Dr. Adorini is currently Chief Scientific Officer at Intercept Pharmaceuticals, and has previously worked at Sandoz, Roche, and BioXell. Dr.Adorini has performed post-doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has studied several aspects of antigen recognition by T cells and has analyzed immunoregulatory mechanisms to develop immunosuppressive strategies applicable to the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. His current interests are focused on the role of bile acid receptors FXR and TGR5 in immunoregulation, and on the pathogenesis and treatment of autoimmune diseases. He is author of over 270 scientific publications and is a highly cited researcher in Immunology.

 

Dr Roland Baron is Professor at Harvard Medical School, Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and at Harvard School of Dental Medicine, where he Chairs the Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity, since 2008. From 1994 to 2001 Dr Baron was also Vice-President and Head of Bone Diseases Research at Hoechst-Marion Roussel and then Aventis, based in Paris, France. In 2002 Dr Baron founded ProSkelia, a spin-off from Aventis and raised venture capital to start the company, which focused on bone diseases and women’s health. Before joining Harvard, Dr Baron was a Professor of Orthopedics and of Cell Biology at Yale School of Medicine in New haven, Connecticut, for 31 years. He is currently President of the European Calcified Tissue Society (2009-2011). Dr Baron expertise is in the cell and molecular biology of bone and its applications to drug discovery and development, and he has published more than 280 papers on this topic.

 

Professor at the Erasmus MC in field of bone metabolism research. Head of the laboratories of the department of internal medicine and since 1988 focused on regulation of calcium and bone metabolism. Hans has an extensive national and international network and is active in many international committees and boards and as such has a strong network in the R&D communities of bone diseases.

 

Frank Luyten
Frank P. Luyten is Professor, board certified Rheumatologist and Chairman of the Division of Rheumatology and the Department of Musculoskeletal Sciences. Before his tenure in Leuven, he spent 11 years at the National Institute of Dental Research, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA as a postdoctoral researcher and group leader. He discovered several novel bone morphogenic protein family members and Wnt antagonists critically involved in skeletal biology and joint formation. Frank Luyten is also founder and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Comittee of TiGeniX, a biotech spin-off of the Universities of Leuven and Ghent. He serves as advisor and board member of other biotech companies in the field of Regenerative Medicine.

August Verbruggen
Chairman of the department of Rheumatology, Gent University Hospital (B); member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Tigenix.