LECTURES THAT LAST
Lectures That Last are a series are lectures aimed at inspiring students all over the world. Here, world-renowned scientists and professors from the world’s most prestigious universities and industries share their knowledge, advice, and words of wisdom to inspire students to succeed. All students around the world can access these lectures at no cost.
Dr. Willian da Silveira
Dr. da Silveira is currently a Lecturer in Molecular Genetics and Genomics at the Staffordshire University and an adjunct lecturer at the International Space University. He is also co-head of the Space Omics Topical Team funded by ESA.
Dr. da Silveira has a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy-Biochemistry, a Master’s degree in Biosciences applied to Pharmacy, and a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences, obtained at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. After the completion of his PhD, he became a Research Fellow in Bioinformatics Analysis at the Centre for Genomic Medicine (CGM) at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). There, he focused on Big Data analysis and Omics advances and started his collaboration with NASA Genelab. In 2019 he assumed the role of Research Fellow in Food System Biology at the Queen´s University Belfast (QUB) investigating the effect of food contaminants in gene expression networks and senescence in primary prostate cells. In 2022 he was part of the Class-2 of the NASA STAR training program.
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Dr. Argita Zalli
Dr. Argita earned her PhD at the University of Birmingham, UK. Her research investigated the effects of two agonists on immune function with the goal of better understanding how stress affects the ability of the cytotoxic cells of the immune system to fight infection. Following her PhD, Dr. Argita carried out her postdoctoral research training at University College London, where she published several high-impact scientific journals in the field of psychology whilst collaborating with world-leading scientists, including a Nobel Prize winner.
While conducting scientific research, Argita also worked as a lecturer as she designed, taught, and directed several biomedical sciences courses for medical students. Argita was awarded the UCL medical students’ top teaching award for the neuro-immunology course she designed, delivered, and directed. After completing her first post-doc training, Dr. Argita moved to Imperial College London, where she conducted medical research in the field of haematology.
Her passion for higher education teaching led Dr. A Zalli to complete her MSc studies in University Learning and Teaching at Imperial College London, whilst working full time and being a mum. Over the past couple of years, Dr. Argita has focused on teaching and pedagogical training of university teaching staff, and she is currently a teaching and learning specialist lead in the Faculty of Medicine, clinical years.
Dr. Argita is also the co-founder of We Speak Science, a non-profit institution, the aim of which is to increase awareness of science and medicine in the USA and Europe. Through We Speak Science, Dr. Argita co-founded a charity called “Aferdita Ime,” in collaboration with other world-class oncologists and scientists, whose aim is to help cancer patients through psycho-social support and counselling.
Dr Argita co-founded a charity called “Aferdita Ime”, in collaboration with other world-class oncologists and scientists, whose aim is to help cancer patients through psycho-social support and counselling.
Francesko Hela, PhD
Francesko finished his high school in Albania where he participated and won different prizes in Biology Olympiads. He finished his undergraduate studies with a major in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Middle East Technical University, graduating as an Honour student. He earned his PhD in Koc University, Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program. His research focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms behind the effect of autophagy in luteal granulosa cells and its role in sex steroid synthesis and cholesterol metabolism. He has started his postdoctoral studies in Joslin Diabetes Center in Harvard Medical School where his research is focused on the role of senescence in beta cell biology in Type 2 Diabetes. He has published several papers in respected journals and participated in different scientific conferences.
Keti Zeka, Ph.D.
Dr Zeka received her PhD in “Chemical Processes and Biotechnology Innovation” from L’Aquila University, in Italy, having investigated bioactive compounds in Crocus sativus. During the course of her PhD research, she actively sought and set up international collaborations, with placements in Japan and at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, which resulted in original and review publications.
At the end of her PhD, Keti followed her developing interest in regenerative medicine and cancer and had the initiative to join the world-renowned Gurdon laboratory on an Erasmus+ fellowship for 6 months, where she had the chance to be acquire knowledge and expertise in epigenetics of nuclear reprogramming.
While studying chromatin modifiers, Dr Zeka became increasingly interested in these molecules’ capacity to catalyse post-translational modifications in non-histone proteins and how this activity may extend and complement their range of targets and effects at the level of chromatin.
Keti’s research at the University of Cambridge (UK) focused on the cross-talk
between epigenetics and metabolism in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Her studies have been supported by prestigious personal fellowships such as the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC, 2016-2017), the Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (2018-2020) and the Cambridge Philosophical Society Postdoctoral Fellowship (2020). Since December 2020, Keti’s scientific curiosity has driven her postdoctoral journey to the Giustacchini Lab, at the UCL Zayed Centre for Research, to work on paediatric leukemic stem cells.
The importance of Keti’s project has been recognised through the prestigious award “Olivia Hodson Cancer Fund 2021”, a special purpose Fund within Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and the UCL institute of Child Health. Furthermore, Keti is an active member of the Institute as she is part of the GOSH BRC Junior Faculty and Child Health Open Research Advisory Board.
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Ajit Jaokar
Based in London, Ajit’s work spans research, entrepreneurship, and academia relating to artificial intelligence (AI) with Cyber-Physical systems. He is the course director of the course: Artificial Intelligence: Cloud and Edge Implementations at the University of Oxford. He is also a visiting fellow in Engineering Sciences at the University of Oxford.
Besides this, he also conducts the University of Oxford courses: Digital Twins, Cybseecurity, and Agtech. Ajit works as a Data Scientist through his company, feynlabs – focusing on building innovative early-stage AI prototypes for complex AI applications.
Besides the University of Oxford, Ajit has also conducted AI courses at the London School of Economics (LSE), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), and as part of The Future Society at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also working on a book to teach AI using mathematical foundations at the high school level.
Ajit is the Chief AI Officer of Digitty.io, a venture-funded company based in Berlin. His work at Oxford and his company is based on the interdisciplinary aspects of Artificial Intelligence, including AI with Digital Twins, AI with Quantum, AI for Metaverse, and AI in Agtech and Life Sciences.
His teaching is based on a methodology for AI and Cyber-Physical systems, which he is
developing as part of his teaching and research, especially for Engineering Sciences. His Ph.D. research is based on AI and Affective Computing (how AI interprets emotion). Ajit has contributed to the World Economic Forum and the European Parliament on
technology and AI themes. Ajit is interested in social causes and mentors young people at Oxford and beyond, especially for the Autism Spectrum and neurodiverse skill sets for learning Artificial Intelligence based on mathematical foundations.