Supervisors

Full Professor in Animal Nutrition at University of Milan. Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety.In particular she gives courses of Animal Nutrition in: Bachelor degree in Biotechnology; and Master Degree in Veterinary Biotechnology Sciences and in Animal Science Courses of University of Milan. She is Vice-Rector to International strategy at University of Milan.

She has been Council member of EAAP (European Federation) of Animal Science and Vice-Chair of the Board of Italian Animal Science and Production Association (ASPA). Her main research field related to the role of animal nutrition and welfare in the production of high quality and healthy food of animal origin, and the role of nutrition in animal health with special emphasis on micronutrients and antioxidants.

Prof David Eckersall, BSc, MBA, PhD, FRSB, MAE is the Professor of Veterinary Biochemistry at the University of Glasgow. He graduated in Biochemistry from the University of Liverpool and with a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.

Current interests include the investigation of acute phase proteins in animals, particularly in relation to their use as biomarkers of disease and also the application of proteomics in veterinary sciences. The development and validation of diagnostic tests for protein biomarkers such as Haptoglobin and canine C-Reactive Protein has been central to his research while characterising the protein modifications in milk during bovine mastitis and their use in monitoring this disease is a further area of study.

Prof. Giovanni Savoini, DVM, PhD, is a Full Professor of Animal Nutrition at the University of Milano. At present is Head of the Department Health, Animal Science and Food Safety “Carlo Cantoni”.

He graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milano

• Holds a PhD in Zootechnical Sciences
• Worked as professor of Animal Nutrition at the University of Reggio Calabria and Messina

His research activity is dedicated to the study of physiological and pathological aspects of ruminant and monogastric nutrition.

The main topics in this field are related to the role of nutrition on animal health, immune and inflammatory response.

Prof. Juraj Pistl, DVM., PhD has been working at UVMP as a scientific-pedagogical worker since 1978. He has been involved in teaching activities at all three cycles of higher education. He is the guarantor of the PhD study branch Virology. His scientific activities focus on the current issues in microbiology, virology and immunology. He has been involved in research projects addressing viral infections (rotaviruses, pestiviruses, circoviruses, flaviviruses), prophylaxis against salmonellosis and actinobacillus infection, and environmental problems (immunotoxicology). He is the head of the Section for Isolation of Pathogens at the Centre of Excellence “Infektzoon” and a scientific co-guarantor of MediPark – the University Science Park. He has participated in several international (EU Framework Programme, Norway Grants) and national projects (Scientific Grant Agency – VEGA, Cultural and Educational Grant Agency – KEGA, Slovak Research and Development Agency – APVV). He is currently involved in research on zoonotic vector-borne pathogens of viral origin (West Nile virus, tick-borne meningoencephalitis and other arboviruses) and several projects funded from the Structural Funds of the EU (Infektzoon, Neurosciences, Probiotech, MediPark).

Mangesh Bhide, PhD. has expertise in the field of host-pathogen interactions, mainly immunoproteomics and ligand receptor interactomes. He has acquired excellent skills in molecular biology and proteomics like protein arrays, mass-spectrometry based peptide mass fingerprinting, De-novo sequencing and shotgun proteomics. In 2007 he finished his Marie-Curie post-doctoral fellowship. Since 2008 he has been leading the Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology. Mangesh has published 71 papers in CC journals, 1160 citations (h index – 21), presented works in nearly 75 international congresses, 10 plenary talks. He is on the editorial board of Frontiers in Microbiology (IF-3.9) and Folia Microbiologica (IF-1.2), and guest editor of Molecular Biosystems (IF-3.3). He has successfully completed 8 research projects led 3 bi-lateral projects between Slovakia and Portugal, Russia and France. He is leading ongoing project H2020 EJD-ITN and participated in 4 COST actions funded by European science foundation. In the years 2015-2016 he was European Research Area Chair (ERA chair) for proteomics in Croatia in the faculty of veterinary medicine. In 2013 and 2017 he organized the international conference in the field of proteomics. Till to date he has guided 7 post-doctoral fellows (4 from Slovakia, 1 India, 1 Hungary, 1 Spain), 7 doctoral fellows and 6 diploma students. His laboratory harboring now MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker), Liquid chromatography, protein expression technology, sequencing facility and nanobody production. His current interests are revealing bacterial interactomes (repertoire of pathogen ligands) interacting with cells of neurovascular unit by using shotgun proteomics (with mass spectrometry), and development of nanobodies against ligands of the neuroinvasive pathogens.

Dr Mark McLaughlin (BSc Hons, PhD, FHEA) is a lecturer in Veterinary Anatomy and Cell Science at the University of Glasgow. He graduated in Biochemistry and gained his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow. He spent six years as a post doc at the University of Dundee investigating the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release mechanisms and protein dynamics.

Current research interests are focussed on neurological disorders involving myelination, motor neuron disorders and neuronal plasticity. These research activities also encompass the application of proteomic techniques to dissect disease mechanisms and identify biomarkers as diagnostic aids in areas of veterinary neurology and oncology.

Dr Richard Burchmore is a Senior Lecturer in the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences at The University of Glasgow.

• Graduated in Parasitology from King’s College London
• Holds a PhD in Biochemistry
• Worked as a post doc position in the US, England and Scotland

Current interests include the host:pathogen interface, particularly for the protozoan parasite Leishmania, and use of mass spectrometry to understand biological interactions.

Further interests include the role of the microbiome in brain development and physiology, and the application of protomics and metabolomics understand secreted molecules in health and disease.

Prof. Vladimir Mrljak, DVM, PhD, is a Professor of Internal Diseases at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb.

• Graduated at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb
• Holds a PhD in Veterinary Sciences

His main research activity is devoted to the study of pathogenesis of babesiosis respectively protozoal diseases and clinical laboratory diagnostics

Current interests include the application of clinical proteomics in the veterinary medicine, especially proteomics and metabolomics in the clinical medicine

Dr. Armand Sánchez, is full professor in Animal Sciences (Animal Genetics) at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain since 1996. Head of the “Molecular Genetics Veterinary Service” of UAB, and head of the research group “Molecular animal breeding in Veterinary Sciences”, whose activities focus on the application of molecular techniques to animal production, he is PI of many projects funded by Spanish, international institutions or private companies.

Author of 190 papers published in international journals (SCI) and many internal technical reports in the field of animal genetics, given more than 150 invited talks, posters and demos outside of home institutions. At present, he and his group take part in animal genomics projects about genetic characterization of economical important traits for animal production, and in the development of analytical methods for molecular diagnosis. The research group “Molecular animal breeding in Veterinary Sciences”, is an officially recognized quality research group (Generalitat de Catalunya, 2017-SGR-1060) since 1989.

In the last 10 years the group has participated in numerous competitive projects in the frame of molecular genetics applied to animal breeding. More focused in pig genomics, several QTL of economic importance and relevant candidate genes and markers have been described by our group, and 3 patents awarded actually one of them in exploitation and licensed by UAB. As an applied result of his activity he founded in 2011 the spin-off company “Vetgenomics“ the first SME participated by UAB a company of diagnostics in animal molecular genetics that actually employs 14 people.

At the institutional level he has been director of the Department of Animal Sciences and Food Technology, Vice-Dean of the Veterinary Faculty, Vice-Director of the Research Center in Agrigenomics and actually Director of the Doctorate School and Vice-Chancellor of Research and Technology Transfer of UAB.

Prof. Fabrizio Ceciliani, DVM, PhD, is an Associated Professor of Veterinary Pathology at the University of Milano.

• Graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Milano
• Holds a PhD in Biochemistry
• Worked as a post doc position in Molecular Biology at the University of Pavia

Current interests include the molecular immune response of white blood cells in large dairy ruminants, and the relationship between innate immunity and microbial community.

Further interests include the immune capability of adipose tissue depots, and it reflects in production diseases as well as the application of OMIC techniques in veterinary sciences. chniques and ways of working.

Prof. Helga Sauerwein (Dr. agr., Dr. agr. habil.) is Full Professor of Physiology & Hygiene in the Institute for Animal Science of the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Bonn, Germany.

• Graduated in Animal Science at the Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephan
• Habilitation in Physiology
• Worked as a Post Doc in Endocrinology at the Auckland Medical School, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Current interests include the adaptive reactions towards metabolic challenges, in particular in response to lactation, focusing on adipose tissue and skeletal muscle.

Further interests include preventive and metaphylactic approaches aiming to decrease metabolic stress and to support adaptive reactions for decreasing the risk of production diseases in large dairy animals.

Dr Karl Burgess, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.

• Graduated in Pathobiology at the University of Reading
• Holds a PhD in Biomedical and Life Sciences
• Was a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Metabolomics at the University of Glasgow

Current interests include the development of novel methodologies and software for metabolomics, and the application of metabolomics in industrial biotechnology.

Further interests include pathogen biofilm formation as well as the proteomics and multi-omics techniques.

Prof. M. Filippa Addis, PhD, is Associated Professor of Veterinary Infectious Diseases at the University of Milano since 2017.

• She graduated in Biology at the University of Sassari
• Holds a PhD in Microbiology and a Specialization in Microbiology and Virology
• In her early career, she was Research Fellow at the University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, Dept. of Microbiology
• In 2002-2005 she was Post-Doc in Veterinary Infectious Diseases at the University of Sassari
• From 2006 to 2016 she was Senior Researcher at Porto Conte Ricerche, Tramariglio, Alghero

Her research activity has focused mainly on the development and application of proteomic technologies for pathogen characterization and disease understanding, identification of biomarkers, and development of laboratory and field immunodiagnostics.

Among other topics, she worked on characterization of microorganisms, disease mechanisms and host response in infectious diseases affecting dairy ruminants, including mastitis and paratuberculosis, characterization of innate immunity mediators as disease biomarkers, development of methods and pipelines for enabling proteomic characterization of complex biological matrices and foods of animal origin, and, most recently, on the application of omic strategies and pipelines for investigating microbial communities and their role in animal health and disease.

Professor Bain graduated with an Honours degree in Zoology and completed her PhD at the University of Glasgow. She since worked at the university as a lecturer and senior lecturer in Comparative Veterinary Anatomy before being appointed to Professor of Comparative Anatomy and Histology in 2014. In 2017, she was appointed to the position of MVLS College Dean for Learning and Teaching.

Over the last 25 years Maureen has developed an interdisciplinary line of research on avian reproduction, looking primarily at developing novel methods for assessing eggshell quality through national and international collaborations with such diverse groups as engineers, molecular biologists and geneticists. She has published extensively on the topic of egg and shell quality (h-index 28; 2067 citations) and is a recognised authority in her field. Throughout her research career she has worked closely with stakeholders in the commercial poultry industry including producers, nutrition and primary breeding companies (egg and meat sectors). Out with the university Prof Bain is the vice chair of British Poultry Science Ltd., she sits on the council of the UK branch of WPSA and was the former chairperson of the WPSA European Federation Working Group 4 (Egg and Egg Products).

Tom Preston is Professor of Stable Isotope Biochemistry at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, University of Glasgow. He is also an Adjunct Professor of St John’s Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India. Tom read Biochemistry at the University of St Andrews and gained a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Dundee.

Tom’s current research collaborations include: a), functional measures to inform the management of cancer cachexia, quantifying tissue protein synthesis, body composition and energy expenditure; b) developing a dynamic proteomics capability through veterinary collaboration, with translation to human biology; c), amino acid bioavailability from plant proteins in the context of chronic undernutrition in developing countries; d), investigating the benefits of fermentable dietary fibre in improving weight management, glycaemic control and gut function.