The ICBG Symposium committee have carefully selected keynote speakers who are leading experts in their respective fields.
Teagasc Food Research
University College London
University of Cambridge
Breedi B.V.
University of Aberdeen
University of Limerick
Dr Orla O'Sullivan , Teagasc Food Research
Orla O’Sullivan is a Senior Computational Biologist in Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ireland and Principal Investigator with VistaMilk and APC Microbiome Ireland (Science foundation Ireland Research Centres). Orla graduated from UCC with a BSc in Biochemistry and subsequently a PhD in Bioinformatics. She is scientific advisor with SeqBiome and sits on the scientific advisory board of Open Research Europe. Orla has a H-Index of 65 with over 16000 citations leading to a list as a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher. In 2019, she was awarded the highly prestigious SFI Early Career Researcher of the Year. Her research focuses on elucidating the microbiome from various environments including human gut and lung, soil, rumen and food. Of particular interest to her is the role of fitness and diet, specifically whey protein, on the human gut microbiome both in healthy and diseased cohorts. This research has led to collaborations with many sporting bodies including the Irish Rugby Football Union, Cricket Ireland, Sports Ireland and English Premiership teams.
Prof Francois Balloux , University College London
Francois studied at the University of Lausanne where he got his PhD in 2000. He then moved to Edinburgh as a postdoc. Somewhat unexpectedly he was offered an Assistant Professorship by Cambridge University two years after his PhD and moved there in 2002. Five years later he relocated to the newly formed MRC Centre for Outbreak Modelling at Imperial College, and in 2012 moved again to University College London (UCL) where he’s held a post of professor of computational biology, and since 2015 Director of the UCL Genetics Institute. He’s published a few papers over the years but what he’s most proud of is that the majority of the PhD students and postdocs who have gone through his lab have already secured positions as principal investigators themselves.
Dr Aylwyn Scally , University of Cambridge
Aylwyn Scally is a researcher in human evolutionary genetics at the University of Cambridge. His research uses computational and mathematical methods with large-scale genetic data, studying the evolution and ancestry of human and great-ape populations, and the genetics of germline mutation.
Dr Daria Iakovishina , Breedi B.V.
Daria Iakovishina is an agri-biotech entrepreneur in the field of livestock genomic selection. With a PhD in Bioinformatics from École Polytechnique, Paris, she co-founded Breedi, a pioneering company for genomic solutions in livestock agriculture. Previously, she honed her skills as a Senior Bioinformatics Scientist at Atlas Biomed and a Researcher at iBinom. As CEO of Breedi, she's revolutionised livestock breeding in CIS countries using cutting-edge genomic and bioinformatic technologies.
Prof Zofia Miedzybrodzka , University of Aberdeen
Zofia is Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Aberdeen and Honorary Consultant Clinical Geneticist and Service Clinical Director- Genetics for NHS Grampian. Zofia Miedzybrodzka studied medicine and trained as a clinical researcher and specialist genetics doctor at University of Aberdeen and with the NHS Grampian in the North of Scotland. She uses the roles of service clinical director of NHS laboratory and clinical genetics in the north of Scotland, and honorary consultant clinical geneticist to deliver high quality impactful research in gene discovery, characterisation, clinical epidemiology and rigorous technology assessment. Her work is highly collaborative both locally, nationally and internationally and she has particular interests in evaluation of genomics, Huntington’s disease (HD) and prevention in hereditary cancer. As chair of the Scottish genetics laboratories’ consortium she led NHS Scotland from testing for small panels of genes to exomes and genomes, with widespread cancer testing and beginnings of pharmacogenomics in everyday clinical practice. Recently her work on a breast and ovarian cancer gene, BRCA1, in Orkney came to public attention, leading to Woman and Home Magazine celebrating her as “Britain’s most amazing woman- Science Pioneer” for 2023.
Prof Aedin Culhane , University of Limerick