Keynote Speakers
Ang Cui, PhD
Assistant Professor at Harvard University
Dr. Ang Cui is an Assistant Professor at Harvard University, where she leads the Systems Immunology Laboratory at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on utilizing high-throughput experimental and computational methods to unravel complex immune responses, aiming to develop more effective immunotherapies for cancer, infections, and immune-mediated diseases.
Dr. Cui completed her Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics with a concentration in Computer Science from the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program in 2021. Prior to this, she earned her Master of Science in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from Yale University in 2015, and her Bachelor of Applied Science in Engineering Science, majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering, from the University of Toronto in 2013.
Following her Ph.D., Dr. Cui completed postdoctoral research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in 2022, further deepening her expertise in systems immunology.
Her achievements include receiving the 2023 International Cytokine and Interferon Society Christina Fleischmann Award for Excellence in Cytokine & Interferon Research as well as serving as a panelist for the panel discussion “Artificial Intelligence and Medicine” at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Additionally, in 2024, she was recognized as one of the Global 35 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review.
With a strong academic background and a commitment to advancing the field of immunology, Dr. Cui continues to make significant contributions to understanding and treating immune-related diseases.
Angelo Lombardo, PhD
Assistant Professor, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele
Prof. Lombardo obtained his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2011, conducting research in Luigi Naldini's lab on innovative gene therapy approaches utilizing artificial nucleases and targeted genome editing. His early studies were groundbreaking, representing the first reports of gene editing in clinically relevant cell types, including human embryonic stem cells and hematopoietic progenitors. His significant contributions to the field include identifying the human AAVS1 locus as a genomic safe harbor for transgenesis and developing pioneering strategies to assess the specificity of artificial nucleases.
As a Project Leader, he demonstrated targeted gene correction in human hematopoietic stem cells. Since 2013, Angelo has served as an Assistant Professor at Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, and since 2015, he has been a Group Leader at the SR-Tiget. His team has developed a novel gene therapy modality that leverages targeted epigenetic editing to permanently silence gene expression.
Angelo has published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including first or last author papers in prestigious journals such as Cell, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Methods. He is listed as an inventor on several patent applications stemming from these publications. Additionally, he has received numerous prizes, including the Young Investigator Award from the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT) and the Excellence in Research Award from the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT). He has been a recurring plenary speaker at major international conferences, including the Keystone Symposia, ASGCT, ESGCT, and ISSCR.