Prof. Aurora Martínez Ph.D.
Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway
Aurora Martínez is a Professor at the Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway. Her research focuses on the structure–function relationships and regulatory mechanisms of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH), linked to TH deficiency and phenylketonuria (PKU), respectively. By integrating biochemical, structural, and animal studies, her group investigates how enzyme instability drives disease and is developing targeted, mechanism-based therapies, with a special focus on PKU.
– Structural recognition and stabilization of tyrosine hydroxylase by the J-domain protein DNAJC12
Website: https://www4.uib.no/en/find-employees/Aurora.Martinez
Ina Sonnen Ph.D.
Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Norway
The Sonnen lab focuses on understanding how signalling dynamics robustly transmit biological information in multicellular systems, spanning early embryonic development to adult tissue homeostasis and disease.
The lab uses model systems such as mouse somitogenesis, gastruloids, and blastoids to study how signalling dynamics coordinate early development and blastocyst formation. To investigate tissue maintenance and regeneration, the team focuses on the small intestine as a model of homeostasis and examines how misregulated signalling can drive cancer.
Ina’s group combines cutting-edge technologies—including microfluidics and real-time fluorescence imaging—to perturb and quantitatively analyse signalling pathways. These approaches are complemented by biochemical and cell biological methods to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying dynamic signal encoding from single cells to complex tissues.
– Coupling of cell proliferation to the segmentation clock ensures robust somite scaling
Website: https://www.sonnenlab.org/
Assoc. Prof. Jakub Sedzinski, Ph.D.
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), University of Copenhagen
Jakub’s team investigates the molecular and mechanical principles that guide the differentiation and renewal of these tissues from stem cells, to advance therapies for respiratory diseases. To address these questions, the group combines cell and developmental biology with physics and computational modeling, using both Xenopus embryos and human-derived organoids. Jakub earned his Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and continued his postdoctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin before joining University of Copenhagen in 2017.
– Single-cell morphodynamics predict cell fate decisions during mucociliary epithelial differentiation
Prof. Mark Q. Martindale, Ph.D.
The Whitney Laboratory of Marine Bioscience, University of Florida
Dr. Martindale obtained a B.A. in natural sciences at New College of the University of South Florida and earned his Ph.D. in zoology at the University of Texas at Austin. After spending 9 years on the faculty at the University of Chicago, Dr. Martindale was recruited the University of Hawaii and ultimately assumed the Directorship of the Kewalo Marine Lab in Kaka’ako. In 2010 Dr. Martindale and Dr. Max Telford initiated an open access journal called EvoDevo (http://www.evodevojournal.com/). Dr. Martindale was the Director of the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience from December 2012 to December 2024.
– Single-cell morphodynamics predict cell fate decisions during mucociliary epithelial differentiation
Website: https://www.whitney.ufl.edu/people/current-research-faculty/mark-q-martindale-phd/