meet some of our invited speakers

Andreas received his BSc Honours degree in Biochemistry from the University of East London and his MSc degree in Medical Biochemistry from Brunel University. In 1994 he return to Cyprus where he was hired in the Department of Electron Microscope/Molecular pathology. He was actually the first employee of the department working in the field of molecular biology and genetics. During these early days, he was responsible to equip and organize the department so that it may embark working in this very demanding field. In the meantime he was registered for his PhD with Brunel University UK which he succesfully defend in 2001 in the field of cancer genetics. Following this success, and building on the work carried out during his thesis work, the department began offering a range of diagnostic services investigating  cancer genetic syndromes in Cyprus.

Dr. Hadjisavvas has been very active in research in the fields of cancer genetics, epidemiology as well in the field of nephrology, mitochondrial and neuromuscular disorders. He has participated in more than 20 grants that were completed, either as co-investigator, collaborator or as prinicipal investigator. Currently he holds 5 grants as prinicipal investigator and in another 10 as co-investigator. He has published more than 28 original research articles and two chapters in books. He serves as reviewer for many international scientific journals. He has supervised both PhD and Master students that have succesfully completed their studies. In 2009 Brunel University awarded him the title of Adjunct Professor.  He was a founding member of the Cyprus Society of Human Genetics in 2004 and since then has been an elected member of its board of Directors. He is also currently on the BoD of the Human Genome Variation Society and represents Cyprus as the country node to the Human Variome Project. Over time, he has been appointed by the Counsil of Ministers to various National Committes. He has actively participated in the organization of several international scientific conferences and symposiums and has been invited to deliver many presentations at local and international scientific seminars and meetings.

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.

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]). 

Prof Makrythanasis received his Medical Degree from the University of Athens, Medical School, Greece and got his PhD from the same University in the field of Human Genetics. He got specialized in Medical Genetics in Geneva Switzerland and received his Privat Docent from the University of Geneva for his research in the identification of novel genes responsible for monogenic disorders through the study of consanguineous families. After his return in Greece he worked at the Greek Genome Center of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, before joining the Medical School of the University of Athens, where he currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in Medical Genetics.

Robert is Associate Director of the UCSC Genome Browser, UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Robert Kuhn studied biology and biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin and University of Cincinnati.  Following a masters degree in chemistry at the Oregon Health and Sciences University, he received his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California Santa Barbara, where he studied the centromeres of yeast.  He then studied photoreceptor genes in plants at UC Berkeley and has taught biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology at UC Santa Cruz.  Since joining the UCSC Genome Browser team in 2003, he has been instrumental in guiding the growth of the Browser and has shared the Browser in more than 300 presentations to scientists around the world.