ICRS2025 Keynote and Plenary SpeakersPresidential Plenary Lecture Dr. Franziska Denk, Neuroinflammation in pain – have we been overlooking the mesenchyme?Franziska Denk is an Associate Professor at King’s College London, where she works on neuro-immune-stromal cell interactions in the context of chronic pain. Her lab uses transgenic models, stem cell derived human cell culture systems and high-throughput molecular analyses (https://www.franziskadenk.com/, @denklab.bsky.social). Franziska’s team is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the MRC, the European Union, industry and several charities. Her group is passionate about data sharing (Denk, Nature, 2017) and interdisciplinary research in an open, positive research culture (Soliman & Denk, Brain Behavior & Immunity, 2024).
Presidential Plenary LectureDr. Vincenzo Di Marzo, 1992-2025: From endocannabinoid-mediated inter-cellular signaling to endocannabinoidome-mediated inter-kingdom chemical communicationDr. Di Marzo is Canada Excellence Research Chair on the Microbiome-Endocannabinoidome Axis in Metabolic Health (CERC-MEND) at Laval University, Quebec, Canada (https://cerc-mend.chaire.ulaval.ca/en/home/), and Associate Research Director at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry of the National Research Council (ICB-CNR) in Pozzuoli, Italy (https://www4.na.icb.cnr.it/en/researchers-and-technologists/). He is also the coordinator of the Endocannabinoid Research Group (www.icb.cnr.it/erg) in the Naples region, and the director of the Joint International Research Unit between the Italian National Research Council and Université Laval, for Chemical and Biomolecular Research on the Microbiome and its impact on Metabolic Health and Nutrition (MicroMeNu, www.umilaval.cnr.it). Dr. Di Marzo has co-authored over 800 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has been listed as amoung the most Highly Cited Researchers (top 1% in the world) from 2014-2022. He is also a recipient of the ICRS Mechoulam award for his outstanding contributions to the cannabinoid research field.
Kang Tsou Memorial LectureDr. Richard Di Marchi, Medicinal Evolution of Natural Hormones to Transform Drug Treatment of ObesityDr. Di Marchi is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Gill Chair at Indiana University. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He was Group Vice President at Eli Lilly and later at Novo, and recognized for discovery and development of Humalog®, rGlucagon®, and Forteo®. His academic research has broadened the understanding of glucagon physiology and the discovery of single molecule multimode agonists for the treatment of diabetes and obesity. Professor Di Marchi is co-inventor on more than one hundred U.S. patents and co-author to more than two hundred fifty peer-reviewed publications. He was identified as a top five translational researcher by Nature Biotechnology. He has co-founded eight biotech companies, notably Ambrx, Marcadia, Calibrium, and MBX. Professor Di Marchi has received the APS Merrifield career award in peptide sciences, the ACS Alfred Burger career award in medicinal chemistry, and the 2023 AAAS Bhaumik Breakthrough Award for GLP-1 Rx in obesity. |