Our keynote speakers
Mark Blaxter from The University of Edinburgh, UK
Monday 12 September
Opening Keynote

Gipsi Lima-Mendez is a trained
biochemist with a PhD in bioinformatics. Her interests are in
applying/developing computational methods to gain insights into the mechanisms
underlying the evolution and functioning of biological systems, ranging from cellular
processes to entire ecosystems. She uses statistical analyses, networks and
classification methods to integrate different layers of biological information:
genotypes –(meta)genomes, gene expression –(meta)transcriptomes, environmental
conditions, etc. and have applied these approaches to studies on the evolution
and ecology of mobile genetic elements and to the prediction and discovery of
ecological interactions in ocean plankton communities.
Dick Roelofs from VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Monday 12 September
Session 2: Evolutionary and ecological omics
Dick
Roelofs is associate professor
Molecular Ecology at VU University Amsterdam and holds a MSc degree in
Agricultural Sciences with specialization in plant molecular genetics at
Wageningen University. He became interested in molecular evolution during his
PhD project at the University of Amsterdam. After a post-doc project on genetics
of RNA interference, he joined Promega life sciences to develop new
technologies for genome research. In 2002 he switched back to academia at
Ecological Science, VU Amsterdam, where he leads the Ecogenomics team focusing
ongenome analysis of soil invertebrates. In particular, he applies
transcriptomics analysis as mechanistic tool to assess soil quality and to
study genetic adaptation to environmental stress. He participates in national
and international collaborative projects trying to assess and improve life
support functions of the soil. He teaches courses in Evolutionary Genetics and
Environmental Genomics and co-authored the first textbook on Ecological
Genomics.
Mark Viant from University of Birmingham, UK
Tuesday 13 September
Session 3: (Eco)toxicological omics
Tuesday 13 September
Session 3: (Eco)toxicological omics

Wednesday 14 September
Session 4: Epigenetics in ecology and (eco)toxicology: Science and technology

Juliette Legler is Professor of Toxicology and Environmental Health at the College of Health and Life Sciences, Brunel University London. She is also leader of the Environment and Health Theme, a multidisciplinary group of about 60 researchers within Brunel University’s Institute for Environment, Health and Societies. Prior to joining Brunel University London in January 2016, she was employed for over 14 years at the Institute for Environm
ental Studies, VU University Amsterdam, where she was Deputy Head of the Department of Chemistry and Biology. From 2014-2015 she served as Director o
f the SENSE Research School for Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment, a joint venture of the environmental research institutes of ten Dutch universities. Voted the VU’s Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences Teacher of the Year in 2012, she has taught environmental toxicology at the BSc and MSc level and coordinated the VU’s MSc program in Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of toxicity of chemicals and the effects of chemical exposure on humans and wildlife. An author of about 100 scientific articles and book chapters, she is particularly interested in understanding the role of epigenetics in the long term health impacts of early life exposure to environmental chemicals. Juliette is a European registered toxicologist and was elected Vice President of the Netherlands Society of Toxicology in June 2015.
Joseph R. Shaw is an Associate Professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, and holds adjunct appointments in their School of Public Health and Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics. Shaw is recognized as an Outstanding Environmental Scientist by the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and most recently was appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Scientific Advisory Panel for his work investigating environmental conditions including toxic exposures, genome structure, and their influence on individuals and populations. His research group seeks to discover critical, specific, and causative adaptive mechanisms resulting from complex environmental exposures. His work embraces new high-throughput molecular techniques and couples these with evolutionary theory, statistical analysis and bioinformatics in order to integrate environmental-response across levels of biological organization. Current research in his laboratory focuses on (i) associating variation in genome structure with adaptations to extreme environments within and between populations; (ii) identifying the mechanisms of actions of environmental and chemical stress, especially metals, and (iii) elucidating the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of mutations and establishing their role evolved tolerance.
Prof. Brown is the
inaugural Chair of Environmental Bioinformatics at the University of
Birmingham, UK, and the Department Head for Molecular Ecosystem Dynamics in the
Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division at Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, USA. He leads integrative analysis for the Consortium for
Environmental Omics and Toxicology (CEOT), and is involved in the Microbes to Biomes Initiative, leading analysis for a
project aimed at understanding host-microbiome interactions in adaption to
environmental challenges. He views exposure biology as a powerful tool to study
complex systems. In genetics, models are perturbed
one gene or locus at a time. In exposure biology, exogenous stressors perturb
entire pathways or organ systems, altering the metabolic landscape and the expression
of hundreds of genes. His research program aims to establish exposure biology
as a foundational science, viewing toxicology as systems-level genetics, with
the potential to play a major role in the elucidation of processes ranging from
development to speciation. His labs measure adaptive and toxic responses using
multi-omics modalities to provide new insights into levels of biological
organization extending beyond individual cells or organisms, linking the
biology of the nucleus to ecosystem dynamics. This work is funded by the
National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and the National
Environmental Research Council.
Joëlle Rüegg from Swedish Toxicology Sciences Research Center, Sweden
Wednesday 14 September
Session 5: Transgenerational and epigenetic effects of chemicals

Joëlle Rüegg is senior researcher at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and at the Swedish toxicology science research center Swetox, a collaboration bet
een eleven Swedish Universities. Joëlle holds MScs in Biochemistry and Neuroscience from the University of Zurich and the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD “summa cum laude” in Biochemistry from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Prior to joining Swetox 2014, she held postdoc positions at Karolinska Institutet and Axcentua Pharmaceuticals AB in Stockholm (2005-2009) and an indepe
ndent researcher position at the University of Basel (2010-2013). At Swetox, she is head of a research team comprising four students and two postdoctoral fellows. Her research focuses on deciphering molecular mechanisms underlying epigenetic effects of endocrine disruptive chemicals to gather deeper understanding of how these chemicals affect developmental processes and human health. Further, she is using these molecular insights for developing methods to test chemicals for their potential to induce epigenetic changes. Joëlle’s research is embedded into larger national and international collaborative projects, including the Swedish EDC-2020 project funded by the Swedish Research Council Formas and the Horizon 2020 research and innovation action EDC-MixRisk, for which she is deputy coordinator.Wednesday 14 September
Session 5: Transgenerational and epigenetic effects of chemicals
Thursday 15 September
Alan Poole earned his Bachelor of
Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Cardiff, Doctor of
Philosophy from University of Surrey and is a Fellow of the Royal College of
Pathologists. He worked for the UK Medical
Research Council studying the modes of action of pulmonary lung carcinogenesis
in particular mesothelioma before moving to Smith Kline and French to lead a
scientific team involved in preclinical development of ethical
pharmaceuticals. He was later employed by Dow Chemical in Switzerland where he
worked for over 20 years addressing safety of industrial chemicals during which
time he participated in many industry and governmental activities. He has published a book on
toxicology as well contributing chapters to several others. He has published
widely in the scientific literature and contributed to various meetings and
symposia on toxicology.

Professor Dr. Gilbert
Schönfelder is since October 2012, the head of the Department “Experimental
Toxicology and ZEBET” at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)
and appointed full professor of Experimental Toxicology and Alternatives to Animal
Testing at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.
In addition, he is responsible for the "German Centre for the
Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R)". He is licensed to practice
medicine and has qualifications as a medical specialist in pharmacology and
toxicology, as well as in clinical pharmacology.
Professor
Schönfelder main research interests are alternatives to animal testings,
experimental toxicology, endocrinology, reproductive and developmental
toxicology. He is working on strategies for toxicological assessments. His scientific
work is published in international highly ranked journals, i.e. Nature, Nature
Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The EMBO Journal,
EMBO Reports, Circulation Research and Environmental Health Perspectives.
Professor
Schönfelder has a long teaching career in toxicology, pharmacology, clinical
pharmacology, and environmental medicine.