Meet some of our Invited Speakers

Andreas Laner, PhD

Head of Genomics Program

Areas of Specialization

• Genetics of hereditary cancer syndromes
• Next-generation sequencing applications
• Interpretation and classification of sequence variants

Education & Experience

• Diploma in Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich
• PhD, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich

Professional affiliations

• MGZ Munich, Head of Genomics Applications
• Member, European Society of Human Genetics
• Curator, Leiden Open Variation Database
• Organizational Committee, Variant Effect Prediction Training Course, Crete 2016
• Scientific Program Committee, 14th International Symposium on Variants in the Genome, Santiago de Compostela 2017 

Anna is head of the Development and Technology Transfer department at the Munich Medical Genetics Centre since 2011. Anna moved from Barcelona to Munich in the year 2000 where she obtained her PhD in molecular biology by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in the year 2005. As a post-doc she worked at the Helmholtz German Research Centre for Environmental Health in the Human Genetics Institute of Prof. Dr. Thomas Meitinger, where she managed the laboratory unit of the next-generation sequencing core facility. Her primary research area was genetic identification and molecular characterization of rare Mendelian diseases.  As specialist in high-throughput sequencing and data analysis, she focuses her professional career at MGZ on the interdisciplinary management of laboratory technology, bioinformatics, and scientific development. In particular the application of next generation sequencing and the development of bioinformatics methods to detect genomic variations for the diagnosis of genetic disease. She aims to achieve Best Practices for high-throughput sequencing data analysis depending on the type of variation of interest and the technology employed. Anna has contributed to publications on guidelines for utilization of next-generation sequencing approaches in genetic testing and she is also assessor of the External Quality Assessment scheme for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease within the European Genetics Quality Network (EMQN) framework.

Ensembl Outreach Officer - Yates team: Genomics Technology Infrastructure

Ben joined Ensembl as an Outreach Officer in September 2015. As a member of the Outreach Team he delivers workshops, answers helpdesk queries, creates training materials and help pages, and manages social media. Before starting at EMBL-EBI, Ben obtained his PhD in Biological Sciences from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge. He has previously hosted the BlueSci science radio show and now organises 

Jan Traeger-Synodinos, DPhil (Oxon)

Jan is a Professor of Genetics, and Director of the Laboratory of Medical Genetics, Athens University, and has over 30 years of experience in molecular genetics. Originally from the UK, where she graduated with a BSc in Physiology and Biochemistry from Reading University and a Doctorate (DPhil) at Oxford University, (under Sir Professor David Weatherall), she moved to Greece in 1982 and since 1983 has worked in the university clinics (pediatrics and genetics) of the St. Sophia’s Children’s Hospital in Athens. In 2005 she became a member of Athens University Medical School, in the Laboratory of Medical Genetics. Jan has wide experience with molecular diagnostics for many monogenic diseases. She is an internationally recognized expert in the hemoglobinopathies and also preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and has contributed to publications on Best Practice Guidelines for both topics. Her main research activities focus on investigating the molecular genetics of monogenic diseases and also the development of methods for molecular diagnostics. She has also participated in an EU-funded project which focused on Introducing diagnostic applications of next-generation sequencing in human genetics. She has over 150 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and chapters in several books. 

Jan is a long-term member of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) and the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), serving on the Steering Committee of the ESHRE PGD Consortium between 2004-2016, and as Chair between 2012-2014.  She is also a member of the Special Advisory Group for External Quality Assessment for PGT through GenQA and The Haemoglobinopathy Expert Panel, recognised by the Clinical Genome Research (ClinGen).

Johan den Dunnen studied biology at the Catholic University Nijmegen (Nederland). In the same university he received his PhD in Molecular Biology for his work on the "Evolution of eye-lens crystallin genes". After his PhD he moved to the department of Human Genetics (Leiden University) and became involved in the search for the gene causing Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy. He is currently employed at the Center for Human and Clinical Genetics (Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Nederland), studying genetic disease in general and neuromuscular disorders (DMD/BMD, LGMD) in particular. As professor in "Medical Genomics" he focuses on the use of new high-throughput technology in research and diagnosis of genetic disease, in particular the development of methods to detect DNA variants and the application of next generation sequencing. To spread the laboratories knowledge on hereditary muscle disease he initiated the "Leiden Muscular Dystrophy pages" (http://www.DMD.nl). As part of these efforts he currently curates over 50 gene sequence variant databases. His group developed the freely available LSDB-in-a-Box software package LOVD, the Mutalyzer tool (HGVS sequence variant description) and he participates in the EU FP7 Gen2Phen project (WP leader for gene variant databases [LSDBs]). 

Leslie Matalonga obtained a PhD in Biomedicine (University of Barcelona) and worked at a clinical Group in Hospital Clínic de Barcelona for 7 years. Since 2017, Leslie joined the CNAG-CRG Bioinformatics Unit as Clinical Genomics Specialist. She works in the analysis and interpretation of genomic data from patients with rare diseases. She works in collaboration with the developer team of the RD-Connect GPAP (https://platform.rd-connect.eu/ ) and coordinates part of the new features to be added. She has been involved in several national and internal projects towards rare disease genomic diagnostics and research such as URD-Cat, NAGEN 1000G and Solve-RD, where she is leading a working group on exome re-analysis through APIs. She is also a member of the ELIXIR Rare Disease Community and is an author of 21 international publications.

Associate Director UCSC Genome Browser

UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, Santa Cruz, CA, USA