Invited speakers

Bio:

Johanna Ivaska is a Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Turku in Finland. After obtaining her PhD at the University of Turku and following a post-doc in the laboratory of Peter Parker in CR-UK London Research Institute, she started her own group at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. In 2013, she joined the University of Turku Bioscience Centre where she currently leads the “Cell Adhesion and Cancer” group. In 2015, she was awarded the highly prestigious national research professorship from the Academy of Finland. Her primary research relates to the biological role of integrins in cancer progression and, in particular, integrin-mediated cell adhesion and migration, cell-matrix interactions and mechanosensing, and the molecular mechanisms governing endosomal traffic of integrins and growth factor receptors in cancer. She is recognized as a leader in her field with numerous commissions of trusts including editorial duties in leading scientific journals, organization of international conferences and as a member of scientific advisory boards. She is regularly invited to speak globally at internationally recognised conferences (Gordon Conferences, EMBO meetings, ASCB) and institutes (MIT, Mount Sinai New York, Cancer Research UK, Institute Curie, Institute Pasteur, UCL, King’s College, University of Cambridge, IFOM Milan, IBEC Barcelona, MPI Cologne and University of Geneva). In addition to reviewing for the European Research Council, Johanna has also been a recipient of major research grants including an ERC StG, an ERC CoG and 3 x ERC PoC grants. She has also been a member of the LS3 CoG panel. Johanna’s contributions to research have been recognised through elected memberships to EMBO and to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. In 2011, she was awarded the Anders Jahre Prize and, in 2017, the Orion pharma research prize and the A.I. Virtanen medal for internationally recognized excellence in biomedical research.