Prof. Paola Bovolenta is a distinguished Research Professor at the Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigación Científicas (CSIC), serving as Director of the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM, CSIC-UAM) and leading the U709 unit of the CIBER for Rare Diseases. Her academic journey began with a PhD from New York University, School of Medicine, under the guidance of Prof. CA Mason. She pursued postdoctoral research at Columbia University’s Center for Neurobiology and Behavior with Prof. J. Dodd, followed by a tenure at the Cajal Institute, CSIC, Madrid, under Prof. M. Nieto-Sampedro.
In 1996, she founded her research group at the Cajal Institute, later assuming the Chair of its Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Department in 2005. Recognised for her expertise, she co-established the CIBER for Rare Disease in 2006, supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III.
Transitioning in early 2011, she relocated her lab to CBM, taking charge of the Tissue and Organ Homeostasis Program and subsequently assuming the role of CBM Director in 2023. Her professional trajectory includes training at DIBIT in Milan and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. She served as CSIC’s Biology and Biomedicine Coordinator from 2008 to 2014, overseeing 22 research centres in Spain.
Her leadership extends internationally through roles on the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC) and advisory boards such as EMBO Policy Advisory Board and ERA-NET Neuron’s Scientific Advisory Board. She also contributes as Senior Editor at EJN and other editorial boards, fostering international collaboration in research and policy.

Patricia Gaspar is an Emeritus researcher of INSERM (Institut pour la Santé et la Recherche Médicale), working at the Paris Brain Institute. She trained as an MD in neurology and neuropathology (1983), and obtained a PhD in neuropharmacology from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris (1985). She obtained a full-time research position at the INSERM  as group leader and then laboratory director at the Salpêtrière Hospital. She co-headed the Institut du Fer à Moulin (2007-2012) and directed the Ecole des Neurosciences de Paris (2010-14). The main aim of her research has been to better our understanding of the developmental basis of neuropsychiatric disorders. She has largely focused on the developmental role of serotonin (5-HT). Among the current research themes in the laboratory are projects aimed to identify mechanisms the role of 5-HT in parental behavior and early life stress.

She had the opportunity to work 2 years abroad: as MD in Tunisia, (Center of Neurology of Tunis :1979-1980) and as a visiting professor in the US (Jon Kaas laboratory, University of Vanderbilt: 1990-91). Throughout her career, she been involved in a number of general interest tasks for evaluation of research in France and abroad.

Ole Kiehn is a currently Professor in Integrative Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Denmark and Professor in Neurophysiology at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. He received his MD in 1985 and Dr Sci. in 1990 from the University of Copenhagen and was a postdoc at Cornell University, US. He studies the organisation of neuronal circuits that execute movements. His work has identified key elements of spinal circuitries necessary for producing changes in timing and coordination of locomotion and delineated the diversification of brainstem circuits involved in the episodic expression or context-dependent selection of locomotor behaviour. His work demonstrates translational potential in developing therapies for movement disorders caused by trauma or disease to the nervous system. Kiehn’s work has been recognized with the Schellenberg Prize, Kirsten and Freddy Johansen’s preclinical prize, The Brain Prize (2022), Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg’s Professorship, a distinguished professorship award at KI, ERC advanced grants. He is an elected member of EMBO, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Academia Europea and the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet (since 2008) and the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine (2014-2019).