Dr. Maryam Abbasi is an Assistant Researcher at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, with a PhD in Computer Science awarded in 2019. Her research focuses on the development of machine learning and deep learning models for applications in bioinformatics, particularly in computational peptide and drug design. She has led and participated in multiple interdisciplinary research projects involving AI for healthcare, and collaborates actively with international partners in Europe and Asia. Dr. Abbasi is also involved in teaching and supervising graduate students in AI and bioinformatics programs.
Mattea Carmen Castrovilli graduated ‘cum laude’ in Chemistry and obtained a postgraduate degree ‘cum laude’ in Photochemistry and Materials Chemistry. In 2014, she earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna. She was awarded the “Best PhD Thesis SILS-SPECS 2014” prize and the Enterprise Europe Network Service Award in 2019 for the SENSOCARD project
She held a postdoctoral position at CNR-IFN (Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies) at the Politecnico di Milano and became a permanent researcher at CNR-ISM (Institute of Structure of Matter) in 2019. She was promoted to Senior Researcher in 2023. Her research has focused on the fragmentation of relevant biomolecules for cancer therapy, induced by synchrotron radiation and highly charged ion beams, as well as on the investigation of their ultrafast dynamics triggered by XUV radiation using pump-probe laser techniques in the attosecond domain.
Since 2024, she has been teaching a doctoral – level course on biosensors and sustainable immobilization techniques for the Rome Technopole Foundation. She is currently Principal Investigator and coordinator of the PRIN 2022 project ESILARANTE and of a funded research project supported by the Veronesi Foundation
Dr. Ping Luo is an Assistant Professor at Algoma University, Brampton, Canada. His research focuses on the application of machine learning and deep learning to next-generation sequencing data, particularly within the context of liquid biopsy and immunotherapy. He is actively developing computational models for cancer early detection using circulating cell-free DNA, leveraging fragmentomic and methylation data. In parallel, he is exploring deep learning frameworks to predict tumor-reactive T cell receptors (TCRs), which play a critical role in TCR-T therapy development. Prior to joining Algoma, Dr. Luo was a Bioinformatics Specialist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, where he contributed to TCR-related immunology studies. This experience has enriched his understanding of immune-oncology and continues to shape his research in precision medicine and computational immunology.
Roberto Pagliarini is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics of the University of Udine. He earned a Master's Degree in Computer Science (2007, Advisor: Prof. Tiziano Villa) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science (2011, Advisor: Prof. Vincenzo Manca) at the University of Verona, working on modelling, analysis, and reverse-engineering of biological phenomena by means of metabolic P-systems. From 2009 to 2010, he was a visiting scientist at the school of Health of University of Cranfield (UK), where he worked on GPU implementation of algorithms to compute dynamics of metabolic networks. From 2011 to 2016, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine, working on computational methods for modelling inborn errors of metabolism. After that, from 2016 to 2023, he was a senior postdoctoral fellow at the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital (Milan), leading a research project entitled: “A Systems Biology Approach to Decipher the Complex Metabolic Changes in PolycysticKidney Disease: predicting the optimal 'cocktail' of combined diet/compounds for therapy”. In 2018, he was awarded with the “Post-Doctoral Fellowship” from Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, and he won the grant “Bando ricerca finalizzata anno 2016 – Giovani Ricercatori (PI)” award from Italian Ministry of Health for the years 2018-2020. He has presented his research works in several international conferences and workshops (e.g., WABI, RECOMB/ISCB, CIBCB). He has worked as a reviewer for several journals and conferences regarding Computer Science, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, and he is an editor for Frontiers, and a guest editor for MDPI-Algorithms. His current research interests are focused on Systems Biology, Computational Biology, Mathematical Modelling of biological phenomena, and on development of computational methods for allelic specific expression analysis at population level.
Dr. Roderick Melnik is a Full Professor at the Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. He is a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Mathematical Modelling. He is also affiliated with the University of Waterloo and the Centre for Applied Mathematics BCAM in Europe. Before his appointment in Canada, Dr. Melnik held full professorships in the U.S.A. and Denmark, and he held the position of senior mathematician at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Sydney, Australia, working in the Division of Mathematical and Information Sciences. Dr. Melnik has received many awards, including prestigious fellowships in Italy, Spain, England, and Denmark. He has published over 300 refereed research contributions in mathematical modelling for sciences and technology, including biomedicine and bioengineering. Prof. Melnik serves on editorial boards and has been a guest editor of many international journals and book series.
Erwin Woff is Professor of Nuclear Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). He is a staff member of the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Institut Jules Bordet, Hôpital Universitaire de Bruxelles (H.U.B). His research work focuses on the development and validation of prognostic and predictive imaging biomarkers by 18F-FDG-PET/CT. He has worked on Artificial Intelligence in the field of Molecular Imaging as part of an active collaboration between multiple institutions. He is also currently coordinator of an AI working group within the Belgian Society of Nuclear Medicine. He is author and co-author of many peer-review publications in high-impact journals.
Adam G. Polak received the M.Sc., Ph.D., and D.Sc. degrees in Technical Sciences from the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (WUST), Poland, in 1988, 1994 and 2008, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor at WUST. His research includes: modelling and identification of biomedical systems, biomedical signal processing, indirect measurements, machine learning in disease detection and differentiation. In 1992/1993 he held a fellowship from the British Council at the City University, London, and he was on a contract with the Boston University in 2000. He was a recipient of the awards of the Foundation for Polish Science (1995), Department IV of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) (2008), and the scholarship “Enhancing science linkages between New Zealand and Europe through Poland” (2010). He is a member of the Committee on Metrology and Research Equopment PAS, and an IEEE Member. He serves as an Associate Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.
