Nicolò Costantino Brembilla is a leading scientist and Privat Docent working at the Geneva University Hospitals and the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicolo' is a world-renowned expert on the role of IL-17 cytokines in inflammatory skin disorders.

Trained as a medical biotechnologist, he established and directed the Dermatology Research Laboratory at the University of Geneva, initiating a new line of research on IL-17-dependent crosstalk between stromal and immune cells in the skin. This research led Nicolo' to create new in vitro reconstructed skin models and to develop and patent innovative skin substitutes, in collaboration with Dr Preynat-Seauve, for the treatment of skin healing defects. Prior to his current position, he worked as scientist in the Operational Excellence Research department of Merck Serono, and contributed to the creation of the PRIMM proprietary YOMICS platform, a tool to produce customized polyclonal antibodies as a service. Nicolo’ has contributed significantly to the advancement of scientific knowledge in the immunological and dermatological fields and sits on the board of leading journals in immunology and dermatology.

Nicolo’ Brembilla holds an MBA in innovation and technology management from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, a PhD in Immunology from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and a master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Milan (Italy).

Olivier Preynat-Seauve is a PharmD, academic researcher and Privat Docent working at the University Hospitals of Geneva and at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Olivier has over 20 years of experience working at the interface between stem cells, regeneration, and immunity, with a particular interest in tissue engineering. His main focus is the study of the regulation of adipose-derived stromal cells in various environments, including the healing process. In addition to his academic achievements, his research has led to several patents based on innovative stem cell solutions.

Olivier holds a PhD in cellular and molecular immunology from the University of Grenoble-Alpes (France), and a Swiss FAMH certification in hematology and technical management of the blood banks and immunohaematology laboratory.

Wolf-Henning Boehncke earned his M.D. as a fellow of the German Scholarship Foundation in Kiel/Germany and Glasgow/Great Britain. He received his postdoctoral training in immunology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda/USA. Following assignments at the University Hospitals in Kiel and Ulm he became Full Professor and Head of the Section of Allergy/Immunology at the Department of Dermatology of the Goethe-University in Frankfurt/Main. Since 2012, he is Head and Chairman of the Division of Dermatology and Venereology at the Geneva University Hospitals and Full Professor at the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva.

Professor Boehncke has served in key positions of multiple national and international scientific organizations such as GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis), IPC (International Psoriasis Council), and the German psoriasis registry PsoBest. Professor Boehncke is currently the president of SPIN (Skin Inflammation and Psoriasis International Network).

Professor Boehncke’s research focuses on clinical and translational projects in cutaneous inflammation. He has been Principal Investigator in multiple clinical studies of phases I - IV and published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles, among them landmark papers in The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Nature, and Nature Medicine. Several of these were honored by distinguished prizes.

In the last 5 years, Professor Boehncke has established a dedicated out-patient clinic for patients with chronic wounds, which in the meantime has become a point of reference on a national level. A large and rapidly increasing number of patients with a broad range of pathologies (chronic venous insufficiency, vasculitis, pyoderma gangraenosum, …) is seen and followed there. This substantial clinical activity is complemented by numerous research activities, including translational research on skin regeneration as well as clinical studies. One of the products of this activity is TrophiPatch, an allogeneic cellular skin patch developed by HekeTiss, a spin-off from the University of Geneva.

Karl-Heinz Krause is full professor at the Department of Pathology and Immunology, Geneva Medical Faculty. He is a trained specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases and has a joint appointment with the Geneva University Hospitals. His research is centred around translation medicine and his main fields of research are reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating NADPH oxidases, as well as pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons. For both topics, his research team puts a particular focus on physiology and pathologies of the central nervous system. Of particular importance among his stem cell research activities is the development of engineered neural tissues. Karl-Heinz Krause has also been active in the biotechnology field. He is coinventor on numerous patents. He is also cofounder of several start-up companies, including GENKYOTOX (development of NADPH oxidase inhibitors), NEURIX (pluripotent stem cell-derived neural tissues, TRANSCURE bioservices (stem cell-based humanized mouse models), Antion Biosciences (therapeutic minigenes and HIV cure), and HPlus therapeutics (development of proton channel inhibitors).

Bernardin Assiene, Cameroonian is a Senior International Civil Servant of the United Nations. Since April 1, 2021, he has held the position of Director of Oversight (Inspector General) of a leading United Nations specialized agency and he is a member of the agency’s Executive Management Group.

Before taking up his current duties, he was respectively Director of Department and a Deputy to the Inspector General of the Global Fund in Geneva, and prior to that, Director of Inspection and Investigations at the UN World Food Program in Rome (Italy), from 2014 to 2018. His career as a senior international civil servant began in May 2010 at GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, where he was the first to serve as Director of the Fiduciary Oversight Department that he created, and in this capacity, he developed the organization’s framework, tools and systems for fiduciary management and oversight. Before becoming an international civil servant, Bernardin held executive level responsibilities in the private sector, notably Managing Director of CODESCA (Switzerland) S.A., the operational holding company of the Mimran Group in Geneva, concurrently with the functions of Controller General of the Group. Prior to this and between 2000 a 2010, he was Director of Internal Audit and Compliance for IPS West Africa (Aga Khan Group), Regional Manager of Internal Audit for British American Tobacco Group Francophone Africa, West and Central African Region, Director of Internal Audit for the CICAM Group (DMC, Dollfus Mieg & Cie Group, France), and a Corporate Internal Audit of the Mobil Oil Group. His professional career began as an Auditor and Management Consultant in Cameroon with Baker Tilly Afrique Audit Conseil, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, from 1994 to 1998.

Bernardin Assiene is recognized by his peers as one of the main international experts in financial and management oversight, transparency and accountability, governance, integrity, and risk management.

Bernardin Assiene holds an MBA in innovation and technology management from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, a master’s degree in Management and Public Administration from the University of West Brittany in Brest (France), a master’s degree in Geopolitics and Foresight from the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) in Paris (France), and a master’s degree in Finance and Accounting from the University of Yaounde? (Cameroon). He holds numerous certificates including a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) credential, from the ACFE (USA).