Mariana Pavel-Tanasa graduated simultaneously from both Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Iasi (Romania), where she earned her medical degree, and from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, where she completed her degree in physics in 2011. She then pursued a PhD in medicine as a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK, focusing on autophagy and neurodegeneration under the supervision of Professor David C. Rubinsztein, successfully defending her thesis in 2016 without corrections. In 2017, she returned to Grigore T. Popa University as a lecturer in immunology, and she is currently an associate professor with habilitation. She has coordinated a series of national research grants related to the role of autophagy and inflammation in controlling immunosenescence and viral infections. She received the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Romanian award in 2019 for her research in the field of life sciences.
Petru Cianga is the Head of the Immunology Department of the ”Grigore T.Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania. He completed his PhD studies in 2002 in Immunology at the "Grigore T Popa" University, and was awarded in 2004 for the paper "Heterogenous expression of the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) in mammary gland epithelial cells" by the Alexander Hollaender Committee for International Programs and Environmental Mutagen Society. He has published numerous papers in various journals, and serves as a professor for Medicine University as well as for Research Projects. His teaching disciplines include immunology and transplant genetics, and his interests include molecular therapy in malignancy.
