Speakers

Pau is a botanist interested in studying the responses of mountain plant species to environmental change, with a focus on genomics and evolution, but also at the plant community level. His main expertise is in the field of comparative phylogeography, i.e. understanding how patterns of genetic diversity are formed within species, and searching for common evolutionary responses among species exposed to the same historical events. In recent years he has specialised in high-elevation systems, from the Alps to the Mediterranean mountains.
In the field of vegetation science, he is involved in several projects investigating changes and responses of high-elevation vegetation to environmental change. He coordinates two long-term monitoring sites in northern Italy that are part of the GLORIA network, an international network to study the response of alpine vegetation to climate change around the world. All of his research has the ultimate goal of contributing to better conservation plans to preserve biodiversity at different scales.

Pau obtained his Ph.D. in molecular plant systematics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2017. Later, he started his postdoctoral research in 2018 in the Department of Botany at the University of Innsbruck, where he currently holds a tenure-track position as assistant professor since 2020.

TITLE OF THE LECTURE: Understanding the origin and fate of alpine plant diversity — from genes to communities

Laura is Professor in Plant Biology at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the Research leader of Climate laboratory in Tromsø, which is the northernmost phytotron facility in the world focusing on studying the effect of climate conditions on the growth, quality and the resilience of plants.
She is a plant physiologist and molecular biologist and her research activities have focused mainly on the Nordic wild plants, especially on wild Vaccinium berries which are one of the best sources of the health beneficial phenolic compounds. The special interest in her research has been understanding the regulation of the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway during the fruit development affected by the environmental and genetic factors.

TITLE OF THE LECTURE: Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) – prospects from the wild harvest to breeding and domestication

Michael Oberhuber is director of Laimburg Research Centre in Pfatten-Auer (Vadena-Ora), Italy, since 2009. He holds a Msc. and PhD in chemistry from the University of Innsbruck, Austria.

During his PhD thesis, he investigated the molecular processes of autumnal leave senescence, unravelling the secrets of the fall colours. In 2003, he moved to Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, CA, to study molecular evolution and the origin of life. Back to Europe, he joined Sandoz Development Centre at Sandoz/Novartis (Kundl, Austria) as laboratory head for the development of pharmaceuticals.

His research interests include agricultural chemistry, nutrition, natural products, and chemical biology. Currently, his laboratory is employing targeted and untargeted metabolomics to study food properties, traceability, and natural product chemistry. His research is aimed at improving the competitivity and sustainability of the local agricultural production.

TITLE OF THE LECTURE: From Mountains to Markets: Integrating Scientific Approaches for a Sustainable Development of Alpine and Mountain Plant Cultivation in Trentino-South Tyrol

He studied Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Innsbruck. After receiving his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Biology from the University of Munich he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology of the University of California, Irvine. Since 2001 he is Full Professor of Pharmacognosy at the Institute of Pharmacy of the University of Innsbruck. From 2004 until 2022 he was the Dean of Study Affairs of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy. He retired in September 2022.
His main research interests are: isolation and structural elucidation of secondary metabolites from higher plants with anti-inflammatory and antitumor activity, analysis and quality assessment of (medicinal) plants and phytopharmaceuticals, discovery of pharmacologically active natural products by means of computer aided models.
He is author of more than 400 publications in international scientific journals. Since 2006 he is president of the Herbal Medicinal Products Platform Austria (HMPPA).

TITLE OF THE LECTURE: Bioactive natural compounds: Alpine plants as promising sources

He studied Pharmacy at the University of Düsseldorf/Germany; he was registered as a pharmacist in 1995. From 1995 to 1998, Christian pursued doctoral studies in Pharmacognosy at the University of Innsbruck/Austria. From 2000 to 2001 Christian was a DFG-funded postdoctoral fellow in the group of Dr. Nigel B. Perry in the Plant Extracts Research Unit of Crop & Food in Dunedin/New Zealand. Back in Innsbruck, Christian completed habilitations (state doctorates) in Pharmacognosy (2003) and Botany (2007). From 2010 to 2013, Dr. Zidorn worked in the group of Dr. Anna Lönnroth in Brussels/Belgium as a scientific officer in the field of infectious diseases with the European Commission; here he was responsible for FP7 collaborative projects in the fields of antimicrobial resistance and emerging epidemics. In 2015 and 206 Christian studied marine natural compounds as a Marie Curie IEF grant holder at the CNR − Istituto di Chimica Biomolecolare in Pozzuoli/Italy in the group of Dr. Margherita Gavagnin. Since April 2016, Chrisitan Zidorn is full professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biology of the Institute of Pharmacy at the Kiel University in the far North of Germany. His research interests include phytochemistry, chemo¬phenetics, botanical systematics, and chemical ecology. Professor Zidorn has published more than 125 original papers in international journals, more than 20 international reviews, and 25 papers in journals of national interest. His research resulted in the discovery of dozens of new natural compounds from various compound classes, such as sesquiterpenoids, diterpenes, phenolic acids, iridoids, lignans, diarylheptanoids, and polyacetylenes. Christian Zidorn is one of the editors in chief of Biochemical Systematics and Ecology and associate editor of Fitoterapia and serves on the editorial board of e.g., Phytochemistry.  His current research focuses on chemophenetics of the Cichorieae (Asteraceae), bio-actives from vegetables, and on marine natural products from seagrasses, their bioactivities, and ecological functions.

TITLE OF THE LECTURE: Seasonal, geographical, and ecological variation of bioactive natural products