Invited Speakers

Brian T. Chait

Brian T. Chait was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He received his B. Sc. (1969) and B. Sc. (Hons) (1970) from the University of Cape Town and D.Phil. (1977) in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Oxford.

He is currently Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor at The Rockefeller University in New York City, where he is Head of the Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Gaseous Ion Chemistry.

Brian has been a leader in the development of novel tools for the mass spectrometric investigation of biological systems, work that is documented in more than 450 research publications and that has yielded 32 US patents.

His laboratory uses mass spectrometry and other analytical techniques to help understand the molecular machinery within cells.

Justin Benesch

Justin Benesch is Professor of Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow in Physical Chemistry at University College, Oxford. His research is internationally recognised for advancing innovative biophysical approaches to understanding protein behaviour, with a particular emphasis on mass measurement technologies integrated with complementary experimental techniques, simulations, and rigorous thermodynamic and kinetic analysis. These methods have reshaped our understanding of how proteins assemble, interact, and evolve.

A founder of Refeyn Ltd, Justin has played a pivotal role in establishing and translating mass photometry into a powerful tool for the life sciences, enabling precise molecular mass measurements in solution. His contributions have been acknowledged with several prestigious awards, including a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, and the Norman Heatley Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Alfred Tissières Award from the Cell Stress Society International.

Chloé Martens

Chloé Martens is an FRS-FNRS Group Leader at the University of Brussels, where she leads a research group within the Biochemistry and Structural Biology unit. Research within her group focuses on deciphering how the dynamics of membrane transporters govern their function in both physiological and pathological contexts. She has a strong interest in multidrug efflux pumps that contribute to bacterial resistance, as well as human transporters involved in drug disposition and pharmacokinetics.

Chloé’s group uses structural mass spectrometry, with a particular emphasis on hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS), to investigate transporter mechanisms. Her lab has contributed to the development of protocols and methodologies enabling the study of challenging membrane proteins, and has helped establish HDX-MS as a powerful tool to probe structural plasticity and conformational switching in these systems. A major objective is to develop approaches that allow the study of these proteins in experimental conditions that replicate their native environment.

In recognition of the quality and impact of her research, she has been awarded the Solvay Prize and the Hector Lepouse Prize.

Xiaojing Cong 

Xiaojing Cong is a computational biophysicist specialized in the structural and functional dynamics of drug target proteins and protein–ligand interactions. She studied chemistry and biophysics in China, then earned a PhD in Functional and Structural Genomics from SISSA (Italy) and an HDR in Health & Biology from the University of Montpellier (France). Her research combines molecular simulations, computer-aided drug design, bio-/chemo-informatics, and machine learning to investigate disease mechanisms and support drug discovery. She focuses primarily on the molecular dynamics of GPCRs and membrane proteins, with a strong emphasis on integrating pharmacological and structural biology data to serve in silico drug design.

Petr Man

Petr Man earned his degree in Biochemistry and Proteomics from Charles University in Prague in 2004, followed by postdoctoral research in HDX-MS with Eric Forest at the Institut de Biologie Structurale in France. There, he studied protein–membrane interactions and developed methods for detergent removal and alternative protease use in HDX-MS. Back in Prague, he continued advancing HDX-MS, focusing on proteolysis strategies and data processing tools. Despite plans to avoid membrane-associated proteins and pH-dependent systems, these challenges re-emerged through his work on wood-degrading enzymes and membrane-bound proteins. Petr’s research is closely tied to Bruker Daltonics. After using FT-ICR MS for high-resolution HDX-MS, he adopted timsTOF technology to leverage its speed and ion mobility. He now collaborates with Bruker to refine HDX-MS workflows for broader adoption.

David Schriemer

David Schriemer is an academic and entrepreneur. He graduated with degrees in organic chemistry and bioanalytical chemistry and received further training in biochemistry during postdoctoral work. He was the founder of INH Technologies Inc. and served as Research Director in MDS Proteomics Inc. before joining the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Calgary in 2001. Dr. Schriemer’s laboratory investigates structure-function relationships in large multicomponent protein systems of relevance to cancer and builds tools to probe protein interactions at the cellular level. Dr. Schriemer has been a Canada Research Chair in Chemical Biology and a Senior Scholar of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. He served as the Director of the SAMS Centre for Proteomics until 2017. He is currently the Chief Science Officer of Nepetx LLC (a company that is developing a therapy for celiac disease), and the Director of APACE (Advanced Protein Analytics Centre of Excellence), a new core facility for structural proteomics in Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine.