Upcoming event
From Molecular Matrix to Therapeutic Strategy:
The Multifaceted Role of Hyaluronan in Medicine
Join us online for an inspiring session with Dr. Laura Alaniz (Group leader, CIT NOBA, UNNOBA, Argentina).
From its essential role in tissue structure to cutting-edge therapeutic applications, hyaluronan is far more than filler — it's a molecular powerhouse. Dr. Alaniz will guide us through its biology, clinical relevance, and emerging potential across medicine.
✨ A must for anyone interested in ECM dynamics, inflammation, and translational research!
📅 Date: 25 June 2025
⏰ Time: 10 AM Buenos Aires
9 AM NY | 3 PM CET | 2 PM BST
📍 Location: Online
🔗 Registration: follow QR code or click here
For more information on our speaker
click here
Past events
(Circadian) control of collagen homeostasis: new paradigms and tools
What do collagen, circadian rhythms, and (yes, you guessed it!) immune signalling have in common?
Dr. Joan Chang (Manchester Cell-Matrix Center) has answers!!!
Joan’s academic journey spans five countries and a diverse research portfolio, from collagen cross-linking in cancer to adipocyte -tumor interactions and ECM proteomics.
Now leading her own lab, her work explores the intra- and inter-cellular regulation of collagen-I, with a special focus on circadian and immune influences.
📅 Date: 28 May 2025
⏰ Time: 9 AM NY | 3 PM CET | 2 PM BST
📍 Location: Online
🔗 Zoom link: click here
For more information on our speaker
click here
Spinning Success:
How 3DBioFibR is Weaving a Business from Biopolymers
Have you ever considered commercializing your research? Curious about transitioning from academia to industry?
Join us for an insightful online talk with Gukaran Chowdhry, Director of Business Development at 3DBioFibR, as he shares how cutting-edge extracellular matrix (ECM) technologies are making their way from the lab to the market. Learn about the journey of translating biomaterials research into a thriving biotech venture and gain valuable insights into the intersection of science and entrepreneurship.
📅 Date: April 24th, 2025
⏰ Time: 9 AM EST | 3 PM CET | 4 PM EET | 7:30 IST
📍 Location: Online
🔗 Zoom: click here
For more information on our speaker
Proteomics for ECM
Are you interested in applying proteomics to your extracellular matrix (ECM) research? Join us for an exciting online scientific talk where we explore how mass spectrometry can enhance our understanding of ECM biology.
We are thrilled to host Dr. Cassandra Clift (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School) and Dr. Rachel Cahalane (Brigham and Women’s Hospital & University of Galway), who will share their expertise with us.
🗓 Date: March 18, 2025
⏰ Time: 12 PM EST | 5 PM CET
🔗 Zoom link: click here or follow the QR code
For more information on our speakers
or find them in their socials:
@Dr Cassandra Clift (Twitter/X)
@Dr. Rachel Cahalane (Twitter/X, Bluesky)
Showcasing ECRs in Mechanobiology
Join us for an exciting online session organized by The Meshwork, where Early Career Researchers (ECRs) will share their innovative work in the field of mechanobiology. This session celebrates the work of three Early Career Researchers, offering them a platform to present their cutting-edge contributions to the field. A great opportunity to connect with emerging talent and gain fresh insights into how mechanical forces influence biological systems.
🔗 Zoom link: Scan the QR code or click here
For more information on our speakers click here
or find them in their socials:
@DrSarahBoyle (Twitter/X, Bluesky)
@CarstenSchulte4 (Twitter/X, Bluesky)
@MathildeMthu (Twitter/X), @mathildemathieu (Bluesky)
Dr. Chloé Yeung will chair the session
Alexandra Naba's Bio
Alexandra Naba is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Illinois Chicago and a member of the University of Illinois Cancer Center. Alexandra received her Ph.D. from the Curie Institute in Paris, where she studied the role of the membrane-cytoskeleton linker, ezrin, in normal and tumor cell adhesion, in the laboratory of Daniel Louvard under the supervision of Monique Arpin. For her postdoctoral training, Alexandra joined the laboratory of Richard Hynes at MIT where she pioneered the application of proteomics and bioinformatics for the systematic analysis of ECM compositions, defining the concept of "matrisome". Alexandra founded the Matrisome Project and MatrisomeDB, two resources aiming to disseminate methods, reagents, and data to advance ECM research. She has received numerous prestigious awards including the Junior Investigator award from the American Society for Matrix Biology, and the Rupert Timpl award from the International Society for Matrix Biology. More recently, she received the 2024 UIC - College of Medicine Departmental Faculty Award. Alexandra is also a member of the editorial board of Matrix Biology and has served on the council of the ASMB and of the ISMB.
Chair: Prof. Cathy Merry (Nottingham University)
Sylvie Ricard-Blum's Bio
Sylvie Ricard-Blum is Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Lyon (France). She studies the structure, interactions and functions of the extracellular matrix (ECM) using biochemistry, biophysics, bioinformatics and systems biology. Her laboratory has developed a roadmap and tools to build and contextualize ECM interaction networks, including the database MatrixDB. She has identified several hundreds of ECM interactions, and built interaction networks of ECM proteins, bioactive ECM fragments (matricryptins), glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans leading to the prediction of new functions for a number of them. Her current research aims at determining the role of intrinsic disorder, cross-linking, proteolysis and mutations in rewiring ECM networks in disease with a focus on matricryptins, lysyl oxidases and syndecans. She has been Secretary and President of the French Society for Matrix Biology, as well as President of the International Society for Matrix Biology (2019-2020) and serves as Associate Editor of Matrix Biology and Matrix Biology Plus and Editor of the newsletter of the International Society for Matrix Biology.
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Lab sustainability; easier said than done?
Rewatch our event to find out how we can green our life science labs and increase awareness on sustainable practices.
Our guest speakers, Dr. Julie Di Martino and Dr. Federico Forneris highlighted practices and offered their insights on how, by changing everyday habbits, we can reduce the carbon footprint of our labs.
Elena Rainero's Bio
She obtained her PhD from the University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy, with a thesis investigating the role of the lipid kinase diacylglycerol kinase alpha in controlling epithelial polarity and cell migration.
She then joined Prof Norman's lab, at the CRUK-Beatson Institute (now Scotland Institute) to study the role of integrin trafficking in cancer cell invasion and migration. Since 2016, she is a lecturer in the School of Biosciences at the University of Sheffield and her lab focuses on understanding the role of the extracellular matrix in controlling cancer cell migration, growth and metabolism.
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