CL13 - Keynote speakers

Two worlds of retinal regeneration: the Xenopus and the mouse perspectives

• Muriel PERRON
  Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience

Muriel Perron was a post-doctoral fellow in Bill Harris’ lab at UCSD San Diego (1996-97) and then in Cambridge UK (1997-99), where she worked on Xenopus retinal stem cells in the ciliary marginal zone. In 2014-15 she was a visiting Scientist at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, in Xian-Jie Yang’s lab. She obtained a permanent position at the CNRS in France in 2000. She is now a Director of Research at the Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, of which she is the deputy director. Her lab focuses on retinal regeneration, using both Xenopus and mouse models, with a recent interest in the links between neuroinflammation and regeneration potential.

Neural Crest Migration: The Embryo’s Great Invasion

• Roberto MAYOR
  University College London

Roberto Mayor is a distinguished developmental biologist renowned for pioneering cell migration research and its role in embryonic development. Born in Chile, he pursued his undergraduate degree and completed his PhD working on mouse embryo development in Chile. Following his doctoral studies, Dr. Mayor embarked on postdoctoral research at The National Institute for Medical Research, London, United Kingdom, where he delved deeper into the molecular and cellular dynamics of neural crest development.
Throughout his career, Dr. Mayor has published extensively in prestigious scientific journals, contributing seminal papers that have advanced the field of developmental biology. His work has been recognized with numerous awards and honours, such as International Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), EMBO member, Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK) and member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences. He is Editor in Chief of the journals Cells & Development and Gene Expression Patterns.
In addition to his research, Dr. Mayor is a dedicated educator and mentor, committed to training the next generation of scientists. He has supervised numerous PhD students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia. His passion for teaching and mentorship is evident in his involvement with various scientific societies and his participation in international courses.
In the early 2000s, Dr. Mayor joined University College London (UCL), where he is currently Professor of Developmental and Cellular Neurobiology at UCL. His research has elucidated the intricate signalling pathways and mechanical forces that guide cells to their correct positions in the developing embryo, providing insights that have implications beyond developmental biology, extending to cancer research and tissue engineering.