Professor François Féron is an internationally recognised expert on vitamin D metabolism and olfactory neurogenesis. He is currently the leader of the team « Olfactory Plasticity and Brain Repair » at the Faculty of Medicine, in Marseille. He is also in charge of supervising clinical trials dedicated to repair the nervous system at the Cell Therapy Centre of La Conception Hospital, in Marseille. At the moment, his team is assessing, separately and in combination, the roles of vitamin D (cholecalciferol) and human nasal olfactory stem cells, in animal models of spinal cord injury. Professor Féron was co‐PI of the first Phase I/IIa clinical trial of autologous transplantation of olfactory ensheathing cells in human paraplegia.

Currently holds the post as Professor of Microbiology in the Department of Molecular Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). Studied Biological Sciences, obtaining a doctorate in Biochemistry from the University of Adelaide, Australia. Post-doctorate studies at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Heidelberg) and at Harvard University (Children’s Hospital, Boston). His laboratory currently consists of two post doctorates, a technician, a doctorate candidate and a Master’s student. His team is developing HSV-1 amplicon vectors, using these and other viral vectors to investigate the mechanisms of pathology and of reparation in the nervous system. They currently have two principal lines of research: neural cells of human olfactory mucus for cellular therapy and cellular models derived from patients; gene therapy in Friedreich’s ataxia in close collaboration with the laboratories of  Javier Díaz-Nido (CBMSO, Madrid) and of Richard Wade-Martins (Oxford University, United Kingdoms).

Professional Experiences

Since 04/2010-Junior Group Leader (Ramon & Cajal Contract): Neuronal Regeneration Lab. Prince Felipe Research Institute (CIPF), Valencia. SPAIN

10/2005-03/2010-Researcher, responsible of the project: Adult Stem Cells in Spinal Cord  Regeneration. Prince Felipe Research Institute (CIPF), Valencia. SPAIN

01/2004-09/2005-Researcher of CNIO in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical company Lilly Co. Involved in the study of the complete signalling by using Lilly inhibitors of MAPKs with in vitro and in vivo models (producing genetic modified models: KO and KI conditional mice) National Oncology Research Center. Madrid. SPAIN

02/2003-12/2003-Post-Doctoral Fellow, responsible of the project: Molecular mechanism involved in the effect of Retinoic Acid in preventing glomerulosclerosis. Involved in the docent program of the Department of Physiology -Universidad de Alcalá, Departamento de Fisiología. Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, SPAIN

01/2001-01/2003-Post-Doctoral Fellow, involved in the Screening for new targets responsible of the funtional regionalization of the mouse cerebral cortex.Max-Planck Institute of Biophycal Chemistry. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Göttingen, Germany.

Other Experiences and Achievements
2004 Supervisor-Co-director of a PhD student
2005, now Supervisor of two technical assistants

Academic Formation

2003 Visiting Professor, Medicine Faculty. Alcala University. Madrid
1997-2000 PhD Study.Thesis: The role of Retinoic Acid: in vivo models Dr Lucio-Cazaña, Alcala University. Madrid
1996-1997 Diploma Thesis, Alcala University. Madrid
1991-1996 Pharmacy, Alcala University. Madrid.

Xavier Navarro received his M.D. degree in 1978 and his Ph.D. in Medicine in 1985 from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He completed his specialty training in Neurology at the University of Barcelona, and in Neurophysiology at the University of Minnesota while holding a Fulbright fellowship (1986-1988). He is a fulltime Professor of Physiology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona since 1999. From 1989 he is leading the research group on Neuroplasticity and Regeneration of the Institute of Neurosciences. He also  serves as a scientific advisor of the Institute Guttmann for Neurorehabilitation. His research interests are focused on axonal regeneration, functional restitution after neural injuries, neuroprostheses, spinal cord injury, and peripheral neuropathies. He has published more than 200 articles in these areas of neuroscience.

Currently holds the post as Professor in the Faculty of Biosanitary Sciences at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid).Obtained degree (1985) and PhD (1988) in Biological Sciences from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Carried out her doctoral thesis in the Ramón y Cajal Hospital. Subsequently, did a post-doctorate residency in the Instituto Cajal in Madrid and in the Max-Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Munich. Upon her return to Spain, joined the Center of Molecular Biology “Severo Ochoa” (CBMSO). Has 22 years of experience in the field of Neurobiology with specialization in the study of cellular and molecular processes involving injury and regeneration of the central nervous system. Her actual interest is focused on the study of the Olfactory Ensheathing Glial Cell as mediator of axonal regeneration in the in vitro models (ganglionic neurons of adult retina) and in vivo (spinal cord injuries).

Michal Schwartz is a Professor of Neuroimmunology at The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. She is married and has four children.

Schwartz’s work focuses on the role of innate and adaptive immunity in central nervous system (CNS) plasticity in health and disease.  She was the first to claim that blood monocytes are needed for CNS repair, and that the integrity of the immune system is pivotal for neural tissue survival, repair and renewal. She pioneered the concept of “protective autoimmunity” and its role in CNS maintenance, cognitive and mental activity, and cell renewal from adult stem cells in the healthy and the diseased CNS. Her work has led to a paradigm shift in the perception of the cross talk between the CNS and immune cells, from viewing the brain as a tissue that is protected against immune cell entry, to a tissue that is protected by immune cell activity. Her publications include numerous peer-reviewed articles and invited reviews, many of which appear in the highest ranked journals (e.g., Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Nature Reviews Neurology, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., Science, Journal Clinical Invest., PlosMedicine, Journal Experimental Medicine). Schwartz has received a number of prestigious awards for her research: The 2002 Friedenwald Award from ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology), for her outstanding contribution to vision research and ophthalmology; the Distinguished G. Heiner Sell Memorial Lectureship in 2002 for outstanding achievement in the field of spinal cord injury by the American Spinal Cord Injury Association; NARSAD (The Mental Health Research Association) Distinguished Investigative Award (2007); an award as a distinguished investigator from the European Commission (2008); an honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University (2009); and the Shaked Brain research award from Bar-Ilan University for her pioneering research (2009). Professor Schwartz has been invited as a keynote and plenary lecturer at numerous international meetings (more than 2000), and is an elected member of the International and European Societies for Neuroimmunology. Her pioneering view of the cross-talk between the immune and the nervous systems is a basis for searching for biological markers and developing therapies not hitherto considered for chronic neurodegenerative disorders, for mental disorders, and for rejuvenating the immune system as a way of arresting brain senescence and dementia.

Erik Sundstrom obtained his doctorate in neurobiology at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, where he is now Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society. He heads a laboratory active in cell therapy and spinal cord injury research in the Division of Neurodegeneration at the Geriatric University Clinic, Novum Research Park in Stockholm.