Viskam Wijewardana

International Atomic Energy Agency, Joint FAO/IAEA, Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Vienna

Dr. Viskam Wijewardana obtained PhD in Veterinary Immunology from Osaka Prefecture University, Japan in 2007 and BVSc from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka in 1999. He was a Post-Doctoral Associate at the University of Pittsburgh on the areas of SIV/HIV immunology 2007-2012. He was a research fellow at Osaka Prefecture University working on dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy 2012-2014. Since 2015, he is working at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna as an Animal Health Officer concentrating on livestock immunology and vaccine development. His current research interests are on development of irradiated vaccines against animal and zoonotic diseases, host-pathogen interactions, and development of assays to measure vaccine immunogenicity.

Richard Kangethe

International Atomic Energy Agency, Joint FAO/IAEA, Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture

Dr. Richard Kangethe obtained his PhD in Biochemistry (molecular parasitology) from the University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in 2012 and was subsequently a post-doctoratal researcher at the HIV Pathogenesis Program based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine Campus where he studied the relationship between HIV and Cryptococcus meningitis in antiretroviral therapy-naive patients. He was initially hired in November 2012 as a consultant at the International Atomic Energy Agency laboratories in Seibersdorf to initiate studies on the effects of low dose irradiation in Trypanosoma spp., and subsequently as a livestock technician in 2017 where he currently works on developing molecular tools for livestock immunology and irradiated vaccine studies.

Giovanni Cattoli

International Atomic Energy Agency, Joint FAO/IAEA, Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Vienna

Dr. Giovanni Cattoli graduated in Veterinary Medicine and holds a PhD from the University of Bologna, Italy. He pursued his post-doctoral research in The Netherlands at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine – Utrecht University and School of Medicine – Free University of Amsterdam. During the period 2000-2015, he was working in the field of virology and influenza infections at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe) where he held the position of Director of the Research & Innovation Department. Since 2016 he has been the head of Animal Production and Health Laboratory at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. His main fields of activity concern the development and application of rapid and innovative diagnostic methods for veterinary infectious diseases and zoonoses, the development of novel vaccines and vaccination strategies for avian influenza and other animal pathogens, molecular epidemiology of emerging and zoonotic pathogens in different animal species.

Dirk Werling

Royal Veterinary College, Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine, United Kingdom

Dr. Dirk Werling studied Veterinary Medicine at the Veterinary University Hannover. He obtained a PhD in Veterinary Virology from the University of Zurich, having worked at the Institute of Animal Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. After a PhD in Immunology at the University of London, he joined ETH Zurich as Assistant Professor, before joining the Institute of Veterinary Virology (University of Berne, CH). Since 2003, he works at the Royal Veterinary College (since 2007 as Chair and Full Professor). His current research interests include host-pathogen interaction, specifically with regards to the innate immune system, and developing new vaccine approaches by using state-of-the-art organ cultures.