National Ph.D. Meeting
Ferrara, Italy · 5-7 February 2026
National Ph.D. Meeting
Ferrara, Italy · 5-7 February 2026
National Ph.D. Meeting
Ferrara, Italy · 5-7 February 2026
The joint ABCD–SIBBM National Ph.D. Meeting 2026 is a three-day event that will take place in Ferrara — a city rich in history and science.
This unique meeting brings together Ph.D. students from across Italy who work in cellular, molecular, and developmental biology. It’s an opportunity to share your work, exchange ideas, and connect with peers and experts in a friendly and stimulating environment.
As in previous editions, the selection of both keynote speakers and oral presentations is organized by a committee of four Ph.D. students, ensuring a meeting shaped by and for young scientists.
Why join?
Whether you’re a Ph.D. student eager to share your science or a group leader looking to meet future collaborators (and perhaps your next postdoc!), this meeting is the place to be.
Save the dates and join us in Ferrara!
We look forward to welcoming you to an inspiring and collaborative experience.
Under the patronage of
Dr Elena Palma is a Principal Investigator at the Roger Williams Institute of Liver Studies, King’s College London, where she leads the Mitochondrial Medicine for Liver Disease Group. Her career has been dedicated to mitochondrial biology and translational liver models. She completed her PhD at the University of Padova in Professor Paolo Bernardi's lab, investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in muscular dystrophies and acute liver failure. Following her PhD, she joined the Institute of Hepatology, Foundation for Liver Research, where she established the human precision-cut liver slice (PCLS) technology and its application to study liver disease, in particular, alcohol-related liver disease and liver cancer. These efforts enabled a series of publications positioning PCLS as a discovery and preclinical testing tool. Dr Palma conceived and led the first studies demonstrating that perturbations in mitochondrial dynamics contribute to alcohol-related liver disease and that megamitochondria represent an adaptive response to ethanol injury. Her current research explores mitochondrial plasticity and intercellular communication in human 3D models of liver disease and cancer, with a particular focus on the cellular and clinical relevance of megamitochondria and mitochondrial transfer.
Stephen's PhD investigated immune evasion strategies used by African swine fever virus, carrying this research out at the Pirbright Institute, UK. He followed this by postdoctoral training stints at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis. Stephen established his lab in 2012 at the University of Glasgow, Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute where he is now Senior Group Leader, Professor of Mitochondrial Cancer Biology and Deputy Head of School. He and his team seek to understand (and exploit) how mitochondria regulate cell death and inflammation in cancer development and treatment. His lab is supported by funding from CRUK, BBSRC, NIH and others.
