Leonora Balaj, Instructor, Mass General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical SchoolLeonora Balaj is Instructor in Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Bridgeport in CT and her PhD in Medicine from the VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands. During her graduate studies she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Breakefield at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the department of Neurology. Her work focuses on the characterization of brain tumor derived vesicles as a tool for cell-cell communication as well as a source for biomarkers. |  | | | Héctor Peinado Selgas, Head of Microenvironment and Metastasis Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Weill Medical College of Cornell UniversityI did my PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Amparo Cano in Madrid (Spain, Biomedical Research Institute “Alberto Sols”) where I specialized in analyzing Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition Mechanisms. In this lab we described the molecular mechanisms of EMT regulated by Snail transcription factor and Lysyl Oxidase 2 (EMBO J (2005) 24:3446-58, Nat. Rev Cancer. (2007). 7:415-28). I defined a role for beta-catenin in regulating cancer stem cell behavior in skin cancer (Nature. (2008) 452:650-3). I joined Dr. Lyden’s laboratory as a postdoctoral associate in 2008 to study the crosstalk between tumor cells and bone marrow derived cells during metastatic progression. During these years I developed my career as an independent researcher with an excellent collaboration with Dr. Lyden. In 2010, was appointed to a Faculty Position in the Department of Pediatrics at WCMC and in 2013 I was promoted to Assistant Professor. My work has recently defined that tumor-secreted exosomes educate bone marrow progenitor cells toward a pro-metastatic phenotype (Nature Medicine. 2012. (18): 883-891.). My current research goals are focused on understanding the crosstalk between the tumor and its microenvironment by exosomes and the development of new diagnostic test to monitor response to therapy. |  | | | Axl Neurauter, Senior Manager R&D-Biosciences, Thermo Fisher ScientificAxl Neurauter has over 18 years experience from product development within Dynal/Life Technologies, developing multiple product lines for cell isolation and cell activation/expansion. Currently, he is focusing on development of reagents for magnetic bead based exosome isolation and analysis. Axl Neuratuer has co-authored one peer-review article on exosomes, four publications/book chapters on bead based cell isolation/activation and four patents. |  | | |
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