33rd European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases

Dr. Dominik Nörz is a physician and clinical researcher within the field of infecious diseases and holds a Doctoral Degree (MD) from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. His interests are focused on the design and implementation of molecular diagnostics and has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, with focus on studies related to improving the testing modalities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ryan Shields is an Infectious Diseases pharmacist and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the Co-Director of UPMC Presbyterian Antibiotic Management Program and Co-Director of the Center for Innovative Antimicrobial Therapy. He is actively engaged in the diagnosis and management of patients infected by multi-drug resistant bacteria. His laboratory focuses on the characterization and suppression of antimicrobial resistance by using molecular markers to predict patient responses and PK-PD pre-clinical models to study novel antibiotic approaches. Dr. Shields’ clinical and research roles have focused on designing individualized treatment regimens for patients infected by MDR pathogens, the emergence of resistance to new antimicrobial agents and innovative stewardship approaches to implement molecular diagnostic tests.

Yvan CASPAR is a clinical microbiologist and assistant professor at the Bacteriology Laboratory of Grenoble Alpes University Hospital, which hosts the French National Reference Center for Francisella. He is also a member of the Bacterial Pathogenesis and Cellular Responses team of the Institute of Structural Biology Grenoble. His main research focuses are the development of new diagnosis methods and of new therapeutic strategies. He has great interest in innovative rapid diagnosis technologies, in particular to improve the management of sepsis and antibiotic stewardship.

Dr. Alison Kuchta has been at Roche Diagnostics for 5 years as a Director in Clinical Development and Medical Affairs and is currently the Medical Respiratory Lead across diagnostic platforms. Prior to joining Roche, she practiced as a Pediatric Infectious Disease physician at University of California San Francisco where she completed her Pediatrics residency as well as fellowships in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology. Her MD and PhD degrees are from Virginia Commonwealth University. In her current role, she advises research and development teams, as well as designs and oversees clinical trials for related diagnostics products.

Qian Feng, Ph.D, is a virologist and immunologist with a broad experience as a Research Scientist in the fields of molecular virology, cell biology and immunometabolism. Qian has studied Biomedical Research at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands. She trained on poliovirus replication at NIAID, NIH in Bethesda and on hepatitis C virus host-tissue tropism at the Rockefeller University in New York, before obtaining her PhD degree on immune activation and evasion by picornaviruses at the University Utrecht. Before joining Roche, Qian worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the ETH Zurich, where she focused on mitochondrial biology, cellular metabolism, and their regulatory role in T cell differentiation and function. She is now Clinical Scientist Infectious Diseases in the Medical and Scientific Affairs team of Roche Diagnostics International.

Professor Anna Maria Geretti (MD, PhD, FRCPath) is an academic clinician and specialise in virology. She trained in Italy, the Netherlands and the UK and had held senior positions within academia and the national health system in the UK and in Italy and within pharmaceutical research & development in Switzerland. Her research focuses on HIV and other STIs, viral hepatitis, antiviral therapy, viral co-infections and diagnostics. This has led to over 250 publications (Scopus H-index 53) spanning patient-side, laboratory-based and epidemiology studies, including projects with the World Health Organisation, field work in sub Saharan Africa and drug and biomarker development within academia, industry and academia/industry partnerships. She chairs the British HIV Association panel formulating guidelines on the immunisation of people living with HIV and has a special interest in understanding how to optimise vaccination practices in this population. Her ambition is to turn my multifaceted experience into delivery of an impact that promotes scientific progress and is globally beneficial to healthcare and the development of future generations of clinicians and scientists.

Tone Tønjum is full professor at University of Oslo and chief physician and head of her research team Genome Dynamics and the Mycobacteriology Lab at Oslo University Hospital. The main focus of the Genome Dynamics group is to study the mechanisms involved in genomic variability and maintenance, in health and disease. This involves the study of defects in DNA repair and horizontal gene transfer. These mechanisms are essential for the development of antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR). Her main research field and experinece over the last years is focused on the evolution and antimicrobial drug resistance (AMR) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Gram-negative bacteria; impact of genome dynamics and bioenergetics in bacterial pathogenesis and AMR; role of the microbiome in the Brain-Gut Axis.

Dr. Carolin Bier is a Global Medical Affairs Manager at Roche Diagnostics Solutions and is based out of Rotkreuz, Switzerland. Carolin holds a Diploma in Biochemistry from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany, a Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Biology and Biochemistry from the Johann-Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt a.M., Germany and trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow investigating leukaemia and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma at the University Hospital of Mainz, Germany. Throughout her Roche career, Carolin worked in the Global PCR Assay Development team where she was a team leader responsible for the development of multiple tests on the cobas R 6800/8800 Systems, including cobas R SARS-CoV-2, microbiology and STI applications, as well as the tests related to transplant monitoring. After 10 exciting years in Development, Carolin joined the Global Medical Affairs Infection and Immunity Team in early 2022. In this role Carolin oversees the global medical strategy for GenMark testing solutions, which includes educating clinical laboratories on test design and clinical utility and maximising the impact of multiplex syndromic assays on medical practice.