Eleonora Torre is a postdoctoral researcher in Cardiac Physiology (IGF, CNRS, UMR 5203), Montpellier, France. She obtained a BSc in Biology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, 2015, and a Ph.D. in Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, 2020. She has been trained as a cardiac electrophysiologist. Her research activity focuses mainly on the study of the mechanisms underlying cardiac automaticity.
Matteo E Mangoni is a Research Director at the Institute of Functional Genomics, National Center for Scientific Research. He obtained a Ph.D. in Physiological Sciences (General Physiology and Biochemistry) at the University of Milan in 1994. His research activity is focussed on the physiological, genetic and developmental mechanisms underlying the generation and regulation of the heartbeat. During his Ph.D. period at the University of Milan, he contributed to the definition of the biophysical mechanism by which intracellular cAMP regulates cardiac hyperpolarization-activated f-(HCN) channels and modulates heart rate. During his postdoctoral period, he studied the functional role of ancillary subunits of cardiovascular Ca2+ channels pore-forming alpha subunits. Between 2001 and 2005, he was the first scientist to isolate and study pacemaker cells from the sinus node and the conduction system of the mouse heart. These studies opened the way to the use of mouse genetics in the study of the heart pacemaker mechanism, an approach that is now used by many laboratories worldwide.
Alain Lacampagne is the director  PhyMedExp, Montpellier University, INSERM, CNRS, CHRU Montpellier. He obtained a BSc at the Faculty of Science, Tours France in 1992, a Ph.D. at the Faculty of Science, Tours France in 1995 and an Accreditation to supervise research, Faculty of Medicine Montpellier France in 2003. His main scientific interest is focused on excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in cardiac and skeletal muscle both in normal and pathophysiological situations.
Albano C Meli is an Inserm researcher specializing in cardiac excitation-contraction coupling, inherited cardiopathies, and disease modeling using patient-derived organoids. He is als a Director of the Organoid Platform at Montpellier Biocampus. He obtained a Master's in Neurobiology at the Faculty of Science, University of Montpellier (France) in 2004, a Ph.D. (Summa cum laude) at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Montpellier in 2007 and an H.D.R. (Summa cum laude) at the University of Montpellier (France) in 2017. His expertise encompasses ion channel biophysics, cardiac physiology, and excitation-contraction coupling. He employs a combination of animal models and patient-derived cardiomyocytes derived from human pluripotent stem cells to model congenital cardiac arrhythmias and cardiomyopathies, as well as to develop pharmacological interventions. Over the past, he has played a pivotal role in elucidating the role of the ryanodine receptor/calcium release channel in the pathophysiology of the heart, skeletal muscle, and brain.
Pietro Mesirca is a Permanent researcher at INSERM, Montpellier, France. He obtained a Degree in Physics at the University of Bologna, Italy in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Bologna, Italy in 2007. He was a Postdoctoral fellow in Cardiac Physiology, (IGF, CNRS, UMR 5203), Montpellier, France from 2007 to 2016. His research activity focuses mainly on the study of the mechanisms underlying cardiac automaticity.
