Prof. Dr. Dagmar Wachten is a Full Professor of Biophysical Imaging and Director of the Institute of Innate Immunity at the University of Bonn. She also serves as Vice Dean for Technologies and Sustainability at the Medical Faculty. Her research centers on the biology of primary cilia, which act as crucial cellular antennae for sensing environmental cues and regulating cell fate and tissue function. She investigates how cilia-dependent signaling shapes communication between cells, particularly in tissue niches involving immune cells, and how defects in these pathways contribute to ciliopathies such as polycystic kidney disease, obesity, blindness, and infertility.

To study these mechanisms, Wachten’s lab combines optogenetics, genetically encoded biosensors, advanced imaging, mouse genetics, and biochemistry, offering precise insights into ciliary signaling at high spatial and temporal resolution. Beyond cilia research, her group develops approaches that can be applied to other subcellular compartments to explore cell–cell communication in tissue development, homeostasis, and disease.

In addition to her research, Wachten plays a leading role in several collaborative initiatives. She is Speaker of the Collaborative Research Center SFB1454 “Metaflammation,” Co-Speaker of the Research Unit FOR5547 “Primary cilia dynamics,” and a core member of the Excellence Cluster ImmunoSensation2. She also contributes to advisory and review boards, strengthening interdisciplinary exchange and advancing imaging technologies in biomedical research.

More information about her work is available at the Wachten Lab website.

Irene Miguel-Aliaga is a Principal Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute and was formerly Chair of the Genes and Metabolism Section at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences in London. Her research explores inter-organ communication, with a particular focus on how the intestine interacts with other organs such as the brain. Using Drosophila, mouse, and human models, her lab investigates how intestinal signaling regulates feeding, tumour susceptibility, reproductive success, and systemic physiology.

Her team has uncovered striking sex differences in the brain–gut axis, demonstrating how these differences shape metabolism and disease risk. They have also identified novel nutrient-sensing mechanisms, including unexpected roles for metal detection in growth and feeding regulation. More recently, Miguel-Aliaga has pioneered approaches to study the geometry and positioning of the intestine, revealing how the organ’s spatial organisation constrains or enables its function.

She has been recognised with numerous honours, including election to the Academy of Medical Sciences (2019), the Royal Society (2022), and EMBO membership. Her awards include the Genetics Society Mary Lyon Medal (2022), the Suffrage Science Women in Science Award (2018), and the J. W. Jenkinson Memorial Lectureship (2025). She has also been awarded three consecutive ERC grants.

More information about her work is available at the Miguel-Aliaga Lab website.