CROSCIENCE 2024 Symposium

Nenad Ban is a Professor of Structural Molecular Biology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich). He graduated from the University of Zagreb and earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Riverside. He continued his career at Yale University as a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award. Nenad Ban is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, EMBO, and the German Academy of Sciences.

Ivan Đikić is a professor at Goethe University Frankfurt and a member of the Max Planck Institute. He graduated from the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, and completed his Ph.D. in tumor research in Joseph Schlessinger’s lab at New York University. He has achieved significant results in studying life processes in human cells and their pathological changes that lead to diseases such as cancer and infections. Ivan Đikić is a recipient of several prestigious scientific awards, including the Leibniz Prize, the Ernst Jung Prize, and, most recently, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the European Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. For his efforts in popularizing science in Croatia, he was awarded the Order of Duke Branimir with Necklace, presented by the President of the Republic of Croatia.

Stipan Jonjić is a regular member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU) and a Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. His work has been published in top-tier journals such as Nature, Nature Immunology, Cell, PNAS USA, Journal of Experimental Medicine, eLife, Journal of Virology, and many others. He has authored over 230 scientific papers, cited more than 14,000 times. He is also the head of the Center of Excellence for Viral Immunology and Vaccines, which brings together several leading research groups in immunology and infectious diseases at the Universities of Rijeka and Zagreb. He holds several accepted patents, has given over 150 invited lectures, and has supervised more than 30 Ph.D. dissertations. Jonjić is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the European Academy of Microbiology, and Academia Europaea.

Ivana Novak Nakir is a professor at the School of Medicine, University of Split. She graduated in Molecular Biology from the University of Zagreb and earned her Ph.D. from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. She completed her postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Prof. Đikić, funded by an EMBO Long-Term Fellowship. Recently, she was awarded the 2021 Annual National Science Award. Her research focuses on autophagy, a process of cellular degradation essential for maintaining the balance and health of all cells.

Igor Rudan heads the Center for Global Health and the World Health Organization Collaborating Center at the University of Edinburgh. He is the president of the International Association for Global Health and editor of the Journal of Global Health. He has developed a series of methods that international organizations and governments of poorer countries use to prioritize investments in health. He has published more than 630 scientific papers and 16 books, which have been cited more than 220,000 times, and he has received more than 30 awards.

Igor Štagljar is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto School of Medicine. A pioneer in proteomics, his lab has developed groundbreaking technologies like MYTH, MaMTH, and SIMPL, revolutionizing membrane proteomics and drug discovery. With over 140 published papers and 8 patents, he is recognized as a leading innovator in chemical biology and cancer research.

Iva Tolić is the head of the Cell Biophysics Laboratory at the Ruđer Bošković Institute in Zagreb. For her discoveries of the biophysical mechanisms of cell division, she has received numerous awards, including the Order of the Croatian Morning Star, the State Science Award, and the Ignaz L. Lieben Prize from the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Academia Europaea) and EMBO and leads prestigious projects funded by the European Research Council (ERC), often referred to as the “scientific Oscars”.

Adrijana Vinter is the Global Head of Drug Discovery at Selvita and a member of the Selvita Management Board. She leads a multidisciplinary team of over 500 scientists across Europe, the UK, and the US and oversees the scientific and strategic development of drug discovery services. Before joining Selvita, Adrijana worked as a medicinal chemist at PLIVA, GSK, and Galapagos. Adrijana holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Zagreb and an MBA from Cotrugli Business School.