Eneko Lopez is a mechanical engineer with more than 5 years of experience in optomechanical assemblies and works as laboratory engineer in the Nanoengineering Group at CIC nanoGUNE (San Sebastián, Spain). He holds a MSc in Smart Systems, specialized in microsystems from the Furtwangen University (Germany) and is currently pursuing his PhD career. His current research includes the application of chemometrics to spectroscopic data for the development of medical diagnostic tools, which is reflected in his 5 last publications.
Jaione Etxebarria Elezgarai has a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (2008) and a postgraduate
Master in Engineering of Advanced Materials (2010) from The University of the
Basque Country in Bilbao. In 2015, she completed her doctoral thesis on polymeric
microsystems for flow control and sensing applications in Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems at
the Microsystems department of the IK4-Ikerlan Research Center. Subsequently, she continued her
postdoctoral research in the Microfluidics Cluster UPV/EHU at The University of the
Basque Country for three years, and she is currently working in the nanoengineering group
at CIC-nanoGUNE as a postdoctoral research associate.
Miren Altuna is a neurologist specializing in cognitive and behavioral pathologies. She has specific training in the comprehensive care of the adult population with Down's syndrome (DS) and in epilepsy and sleep disorders associated with Alzheimer's disease in the general population and in DS (Rio Hortega Fellowship, Memory Unit, Sant Pau Hospital Barcelona, 2018–2022). She works as a clinical neurologist at the CITA-Alzheimer Foundation and in the Basque Health System (Osakidetza), Spain. She is also an independent postdoctoral researcher, leading projects on aging and the identification of multimodal biomarkers in DS, and a coordinator of projects studying epigenetic mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative cognitive impairment in the general population and in DS. She has completed postdoctoral training, a master's degree in health sciences research (2017) and in neuroimmunology (2019) and a PhD in health sciences (2021). Her PhD thesis, "Identification of epigenetic biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease" (Cum Laude, 2021), received an award for best doctoral thesis from the College of Physicians of Gipuzkoa, Spain. She is the principal investigator of three projects to identify multimodal biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease and associated pathologies in DS (2022 and 2023). She received grants for attending and presenting her results at the annual congress of the European Academy of Neurology in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022, and at the Alzheimer's Europe annual meeting in 2023.
Mikel Tainta was born in Pamplona, Spain in 1987. He obtained his medical degree in 2011 at the Medical School of the University of Navarra and became a clinical neurologist in 2016 after a residency programme in the Department of Neurology at Donostia University Hospital (chaired by Dr. Martí-Massó).
As a part of the residency program he visited the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California San Francisco (directed by Dr Bruce Miller).
In June 2016 started as clinical researcher at the Center for Advanced Therapies of the Fundación CITA Alzheimer Fundazioa in San Sebastian (directed by Dr. Martinez-Lage). He combines this activity with clinical neurology practice in Osakidetza, in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country.
His main research interests are now focused on the characterization and outcome of pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease, as well as strategies for the early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.
He is a member of the Spanish Society of Neurology, the Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology of Navarra and was a founding member of the International Society on Vascular behavioural and cognitive disorders (Vas-Cog). He has been the Coordinator of the Dementia Study Group of the Spanish Society of Neurology (2009-2012) and is a member of the Dementia Panel of the European Federation of Neurological Societies since November 2008. In 2010 he received the SEN (Sociedad Española de Neurología) Award to the best teaching activity in Neurology of the year together with Dr. Miguel Goñi. In 2012 he received the “Doctor of the year award” from the Spanish weekly health journal “A tu salud”. In 2015 has been awarded with the SEN (Sociedad Española de Neurología) 2015 Alzheimer-Social Award for his coordination of the kNOW Alzheimer Project.
Dr. José Manuel Amigo Research Professor. IKERBASQUE. Basque Foundation for Sciences. Bilbao. Spain; and Distinguished Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry. University of Basque Country. Spain. Current research interests include hyperspectral image analysis and the application of Chemometrics. He has authored more than 180 publications and has given more than 60 conferences and courses at international meetings. He received the “2014 Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems Award” and the “2019 Tomas Hirschfeld Award”. He is editor of the book “Hyperspectral Imaging. Volume 32. Elsevier. ISBN: 9780444639776. In Data Handling in Science and Technology.
