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Prof. Dariush D. Farhud
Life style and Cancer
BSc, in Psychology, University of Mainz, Germany (1963)
MD, University of Erlangen, Germany (1969)
PhD, in Human Genetics and Anthropology, University of Mainz, Germany (1972)
MG, Professorship in Medical Genetics, University of Munich, Germany (1991)
Founder and Head of the first Department of Human Genetics and Anthropology in Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (1972-2002)
Founder and Director of the first Genetics Clinic, Tehran (1975-present)
Expert Advisor on Human Genetics, WHO, Geneva (1976-present)
Member of WHO Committee for Ethics in Medical Genetics, Geneva (1994-2001)
Fellow of TWAS (Third World Academy of Sciences), Trieste, Italy (1996-present)
Member of National Committee of Bioethics., UNESCO- Iran (2003- present)
Fellow of Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences (2006–present)
Dr. Reza Malekzadeh
Road map to develop the capacity
to Sequence RNA molecule and its
modification in health and disease
Former Minister of Health and Medical Education of Iran.
Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Digestive Disease Research Institute. Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Dr.Malekzadeh has received many awards, including the Medal of Honor from International Agency for Research on cancer (IARC/WHO) for
outstanding contribution in research on cancer (2018).
Dr. Mahzad Akbarpour
Immunogenomics approach identifies post
Allo-HSCT leukemia immune scape and relapse.
Dr. Mahzad Akbarpour received his doctoral degree in Clinical Immunology and Oncology from San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy. His award-winning research focuses on developing in vivo immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases, with notable recognition in Nature Biotechnology. Postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University led to significant discoveries in lung transplantation and cellular therapies. Currently, he directs Cell Therapy Labs at Rush MD Anderson Cancer Center, providing HSCs and CAR T cells for patients with hematologic malignancies.
Dr. Amineh Vaghefi
Navigating The Multi-Omics
landscape In Percison Oncology
Dr. Amineh Vaghefi graduated with an MD degree from Tehran University of Medical Science in 2008,following that she completed surgical and
clinical pathology training at Iran University of Medical Science in 2012. In 2014, she studied hematopathology at the hospital clinic,Barcelona Medical
University in Spain.In 2016, she joined the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami in Florida, where she studied cancer
genetics for two years.Her current focus is on percison oncology and
hereditary cancer syndromes.
Adib Miraki
Predicting Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics through Generative Modeling of Single-Cell Biology
Adib Miraki is a computational biologist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where he works in the Lotfollahi Lab, focusing on perturbation modeling through single-cell genomics data. His academic journey began with a degree in medical laboratory sciences from Birjand University of Medical Sciences. During his studies, Adib demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing his field, collaborating with prestigious institutions such as Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Yale University, and the University of Cambridge
Amin Ardeshirdavani
Revolutionizing Cancer Care: The Role of ctDNA in Screening, Detection, and Monitoring
Dr. Amin Ardeshirdavani is an accomplished Genomics Data Scientist with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of bioinformatics, genomics, and software engineering. Currently serving as a Senior Genomics Data
Scientist at Agilent Technologies , Belgium, Dr. Amin Ardeshirdavani leads the strategic analysis and processing of omics data for clinical decision
support software, applying cutting-edge cloud technologies and custom
developed tools. His expertise extends to defining data transformation
protocols, managing cloud-based data environments, and coaching teams in an Agile development setting.
Dr .Massoud Vosough
Precision medicine in liver cancer
Massoud Vosough is medical professional with a diverse background in the regenerative medicine. After graduating from Tehran University of Medical Sciences in general medicine, he continued his studies and specialized in medical biotechnology, pursuing a doctorate at the Pasteur Institute of Iran. His research focus culminated in thesis on the “mass production of liver cells in a bioreactor, utilizing both embryonic and induced stem cells”, which was conducted at Royan Institute.
After successfully defending his thesis, Massoud passed two consecutive postdoctoral programs at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, where he worked under the guidance of Professor Stefan Strom. During this period, he contributed to the HUMAN project in the European Union and various other projects in the realm of regenerative medicine.
Presently, Massoud is the head of the Regenerative Medicine Department at Royan Institute. His current research focuses on the control of gastrointestinal and liver diseases and cancers.
Dr .Hossein Baharvand
The Promise and Potential of Organoids
Hossein Baharvand is a Professor, founder and director of Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology. For the first time, he generated the mouse and human embryonic stem cells (2003) and induced pluripotent stem cells (2008) in Iran. This has enabled his team to pursue many avenues of
research into translational research and regenerative medicine. He has received
several international and national awards including Razi, Khwarizmi, annual book of the year of Iran, ISESCO, UNESCO, the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), and Mustafa Prize. He was elected as a member of Islamic World
Academy of Sciences (2022) and Iran national academy of sciences (2023).
Dr. Amir Hossein Saeidian
Genetic Secondary Findings: A Pathway to Early Cancer Detection and Proactive Prevention
Dr. Saeidian completed his Bachelor’s in Molecular Genetics and Master’s in Human Genetics. He then earned his Ph.D. under the supervision of
Dr. Jouni Uitto, a world-renowned medical geneticist.Previously, Dr. Saeidian was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Applied Genomics (CAG) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, under the
supervision of Dr. Hakon Hakonarson.Currently, Dr. Saeidian is a Laboratory of Genetics and Genomics (LGG) fellow at Baylor College of Medicine, with a
research focus on the genetics of rare diseases. With more than 70 scientific
research publications, he was also selected for the best scientific presentation at the first Cancer.
Dr. Saeid Afshar
The Role of circ-RNAs as Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer: Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Response to Treatment”.
Dr. Saeid Afshar is an accomplished researcher and academic in the field of
Molecular Medicine. He completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine, developing a strong foundation in the intricacies of molecular biology and medicine.
Throughout his career, Dr. Afshar has conducted numerous research projects,
focusing on a wide range of topics, including cancer biomarker studies, systems biology, bioinformatics, gene therapy, and cell therapy. His contributions to these areas have led to a deeper understanding of important medical and biological processes.
Currently, Dr. Afshar holds the position of Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. In this role, he imparts his
knowledge and expertise to the next generation of medical professionals and
researchers. He is also the Department Manager of Medical Biotechnology.
Dr. Afshar’s research interests are diverse and encompass molecular biology,
systems biology, radiobiology, and a particular focus on gene therapy, and cell therapy.
Dr. Mohammad Sadegh Saghafinia
BSc. in Chemical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2012
MSc. In Biotechnology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 2015
PhD. in Molecular Biology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 2020
Dr. Saghafinia is currently an SNF postdoctoral fellow at the Francis Crick
Institute in London, focusing on the immuno-oncology of lung cancer.
Dr. Vahid Khoddami
Vahid Khoddami is the founder and CEO of ReNAP Therapeutics. Khoddami received his BSc in Medical laboratory sciences from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, his MSc in medical biotechnology from Tarbiat Modarres University and his PhD in Oncological Sciences from University of Utah (Cairns lab; HHMI, Department of Oncological Sciences). He then served as postdoctoral fellow for one year at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Utah, then moved to Boston to spend three more years as postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School (Moazed lab; HHMI, Department of Cell Biology). Eventually following ten years of study and research in United States, in the field of epigenomics and epitrascriptomics with emphasis on RNA modification studies, Khoddami returned to Iran in 2017, and in 2019 he founded ReNAP Therapeutics, a leading company in the field of mRNA technology in Iran and the region.
Dr. Somaye Dehghanizadeh
Dr. Somaye Dehghanizadeh is the Scientific Manager at ReNAP Therapeutics Co., where she leads efforts in developing advanced cancer treatment strategies with a focus on the molecular mechanisms of cancer. She began her academic journey in Medicine at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, before transitioning to the Direct PhD Program in Biotechnology at University of Tehran. After earning her M.S. in Medical Biotechnology, Dr. Dehghanizadeh pursued a PhD in Molecular Biology and Oncological Sciences at University of Utah.During her PhD research, she focused on the genetic, epigenetic, and molecular biology of colon cancer at Huntsman Cancer Institute, making significant contributions to the understanding of cancer biology. At ReNAP Therapeutics Co., Dr. Dehghanizadeh continues her work on innovative cancer therapies, applying cutting-edge molecular approaches to improve patient outcomes.
Prof .Sadeq Vallian
I obtained my PhD from the Department of Molecular Medicine at King’s
College London, UK. Subsequently, I pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in the
Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), USA. Currently, I am serving as a Full Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at the University of Isfahan, Iran.
Dr. Mahsa Mollapour
I’m Mahsa Mollapour Sisakht, Ph.D in Applied Cell Sciences and Post-doctoral fellowship in personalized medicine by Organoid disease modeling from Erasmus Medical Center (EMC), the Netherlands.
right now I’m Assistant professor in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Biotechnology Research Center, faculty of Pharmacy and my project are focused on pharmacogenetic by using organoid and spheroids model, here my students and I established the first bladder tumor organoid biobank for drug screening in collaboration with innovation center of stem cell and regenerative medicine in TUMS & Emam Hospital and right now we are running multiple projects in collaboration with different institutes in Iran and also in joint with Cancer Institute of EMC in the field of Melanoma, Breast, and Ovarian cancer.
Dr. Sina Mozaffari
Faculty member at the Dept. of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, adjunct senior scientist at the Max-Planck-Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Germany, and the co-founder of NanoExirgen Therapeutics, a company developed an mRNA-lipid nanoparticle vaccine against COVID-19 (Iribovax®). Mozaffari has spent his PhD and post-doctoral studies (2007-2019) in a pioneer RNA laboratory at the Max-Planck-Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Germany (where the siRNA technology was first discovered in human and patented). Mozaffari’s research in the fields of mRNA processing and gene therapy has been distinguished by numerous prestigious international and national awards, including the Medal of the Max-Planck-Society, the KANZ award of the Mustafa foundation, the National Genetics Award and several awards from National Elite Foundation. He has also received several advanced research grants in Europe.