Takao K. Hensch, PhD, is a joint professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School at Boston Children’s Hospital, and professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard’s Center for Brain Science. After undergraduate studies with Dr. J Allan Hobson at Harvard, he was a student of Dr. Masao Ito at the University Tokyo (MPH) and a Fulbright fellow with Dr. Wolf Singer at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, before receiving a PhD in neuroscience working with Dr. Michael Stryker at the University of California, San Francisco in 1996

Takao K. Hensch, PhD, is a joint professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School at Boston Children’s Hospital, and professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard’s Center for Brain Science. After undergraduate studies with Dr. J Allan Hobson at Harvard, he was a student of Dr. Masao Ito at the University Tokyo (MPH) and a Fulbright fellow with Dr. Wolf Singer at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research, before receiving a PhD in neuroscience working with Dr. Michael Stryker at the University of California, San Francisco in 1996

Jean-Christophe Corvol is Professor of Neurology at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, head of the Clinical Research Center for Neurosciences at the Brain and Spinal cord Institute (ICM), co-chair of the French clinical research network for Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders (NS-Park/FCRIN), and researcher in the team of neurogenetics at the ICM (head Pr A. Brice). JC Corvol has a training in both Neurology and Pharmacology (MD in 2003), has done a PhD (2005) in experimental neurosciences  on dopaminergic signalling (Institut du fer à moulin, Paris) and a post-doc at UCSF (2006-2007, San Francisco, USA). His field of interest is genetic modifiers and pharmacogenetics in Parkinson’s disease. The approach is transversal, combining experiments in experimental models, candidate genetic association studies in well-phenotyped cohorts, imaging-genetic studies, and genome wide association studies. JC Corvol has published >100 original articles in peer review journals (H index=33).

After a PhD thesis prepared at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris and MIT on the structure of plant messenger RNAs, Alain Prochiantz joined the College de France, first as a post-doc and then as a junior group leader, where he studied the in vitro development of mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and the regulation of neuronal polarity.

Following a sabbatical year at NYU School of Medicine, he started a Research unit at Ecole normale supérieure in Paris. In this new environment, he studied the role of homeoproteins in the definition of neuronal shape. This led his laboratory to discover that homeoproteins can travel between cells. This novel signaling pathway has received experimental confirmation in several models including the establishment of the retino-tectal map and the regulation of plasticity in the developing and adult cerebral cortex.

In addition to its fundamental aspects his work has opened the field of transduction peptides and led to several biotechnological and biomedical developments in the field of neurological diseases. In addition to his scientific work, Alain Prochiantz has written several books and theater plays for the lay public. Member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2003, he presently chairs the Council of Administration of the Collège de France where he holds the Chair of morphogenetic processes.

Stéphane Palfi, MD., PhD, is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Head of the Neurosurgery Department at Henri Mondor Medical center, Paris University (UPEC) and Head of a research Team 14 INSERM IMRB 955.

His interests are in developmental therapeutics for Parkinson disease, Huntington disease, Tremor, Dystonia, Psychiatric disorders. He has worked extensively in the area of electrical neuromodulation of the brain in movement disorders, gene therapy for Parkinson disease, cell grafting for Huntington and Parkinson disease as well as primate models of neurodegenerative disorders.

Pr. Stéphane Palfi has published extensively on trophic factor and enzymes based gene therapy in Parkinson disease and Huntington disease. He is a principal investigator on numerous preclinical and clinical studies and has been involved in studies of many novel agents including implanted brain devices, trophic factors GDNF, CNTF and Lentiviral vectors Prosavin.

Dr. Jeffrey H. Kordower is the Jean Schweppe-Armour Professor of Neurological Sciences, Professor of Neurosurgery, Director, Research Center for Brain Repait, Section Head on Neuroscience, and Director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Rush University Medical Center.  He received his B.A. and MA from the CUNY and his Ph.D. from that same institution in 1984.  He received an Honorary Doctor of Science from CUNY in 2004. Dr. Kordower is an international authority in the area of aging movement disorders, which special expertise in experimental therapeutics and pathogenesis in movement disorders. His laboratory is particularly well known for studies in primates. In this regard, he has performed the critical preclinical studies required to translate experimental therapeutic into clinical trials.  In this regard, numerous gene and cell therapy preclinical studies that have been tested in patients with Parkinson’s disease.  Experimentally, he has published landmark papers in the area of cell replacement strategies including the first demonstration that fetal dopaminergic grafts can survive, innervate and form synapses in patients with Parkinson’s disease (NEJM). Furthermore, he demonstrated that long-term grafts in such patients can form Lewy bodies (Nature Medicine). He recently co-authored a paper in Nature demonstrating that of human dopaminergic stem cell can survive and function in parkinsonian mice, rats and monkeys (Nature). With regards to gene therapy, he published the lead article in Science demonstrating that gene delivery GDNF can prevent the emergence of motor symptoms and prevents nigrostriatal degeneration in nonhuman primate models of PD. He also was also the first to demonstrate that gene delivery of CNTF can obviate neurodegenerative processes in a nonhuman primate model of Huntington’s disease (Nature). Dr. Kordower has published close to 400 manuscripts and chapters, has lectured all over the world, has been on over 20 Journal Editorial boards (including Sections Head or Associate Editor on three; Journal of Comparative Neurology, Movement Disorders, and Neurobiology ofAging). He has also been the Past President of the American Society of Neural Transplantation (now American Society of Neural Therapy and Repair), served on the program committee for the World Parkinson’s Congress, and is both a founding SAB member, and past Executive Committee member, for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Anne Bousseau has an extensive experience in drug development. During her 25+ years in the Sanofi-Aventis group, Anne has held multiple senior positions all along the drug value chain, from leading a discovery group in the early days of HIV research to developing and registering oncology molecules such as cabazitaxel/ Jevtana in advanced metastatic prostate cancer.

From 2004 to 2015, Anne has led the Sanofi Oncology Project Direction group, in charge of the development strategy of more than 30 molecules, small molecules and biologics, starting at the preclinical stage up to registration, internally or through collaborations and alliances. During these years, a strong focus has been on translational research and the transition from Research to Development.

Before that, she held different positions in the Research organization, such as AIDS Therapeutic Area leader, including target validation, lead optimization and preclinical characterization of candidates.

Anne Bousseau received her medical degree from the Paris School of Medicine. She also did a PhD inImmunology in Paris at the Institut Jacques Monod (CNRS).

From 2005 to 2015, Alexia was Partner and Head of Healthcare at Omnes Capital. She co-headed the management of the 26 innovative funds in venture capital.

Alexia joined the venture capital space in 1999 as an investment manager at Sofinnova Partners, where she was involved in the selection and creation of several successful investments. Alexa holds an MAE from IAE and an MSc in Neurosciences from University of Life Sciences-Inserm, Lyon.