Scientific Ambassadors 2026

Scientific Ambassadors 2026

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  Ana Batista

  University of Coimbra

  Ana is a Biomedical Engineer with extensive experience in biophotonics and laser technology. Her research lies at the interface of engineering, physics, and life sciences, focusing on the development and application of advanced optical imaging tools. She leverages nonlinear microscopy and Raman-based techniques to study lipid nanoparticle delivery, tumour microenvironments, and ophthalmological diseases. Her work aims to extract quantitative insights to understand the cellular and molecular processes shaping disease progression and therapeutic outcomes.

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  Claudia Benke

  Heidelberg University Hospital

  Claudia is a final-year PhD candidate at Heidelberg University Hospital with a background in pharmacy. Her research focuses on translational lung imaging, applying multiscale and multimodal approaches to characterise structurally altered lungs from preclinical models to human-sized specimens. She specialises in synchrotron propagation-based phase-contrast CT, micro-CT, and fixation techniques that preserve physiological lung architecture for imaging. As a Scientific Ambassador of Euro-BioImaging, she will support networking and the promotion of bioimaging, particularly for early-career scientists.

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  Madaleen Brink

  University College Dublin

  Madeleen is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network fellow within the CLEXM Consortium under Horizon Europe. She is based at University College Dublin and supervised by Prof Jeremy Simpson. Her research focuses on correlative microscopy to quantitatively track nanoparticle uptake and intracellular distribution. She has broad expertise spanning point-scanning and spinning-disk confocal microscopy, widefield imaging, room-temperature FIB-SEM, cryo confocal microscopy, and cryo soft X-ray tomography, evaluating SXT as a complementary correlative imaging modality.

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  Pallavi Deolal

  Max Perutz Labs

  Pallavi is a cell biologist with over 10 years of experience in light-microscopy based techniques, specializing in single-molecule localization methods (PALM/dSTORM) in budding yeast and mammalian cells. Imaging inspires her because it reveals dynamic biological processes and turns scientific ideas into concrete, testable hypotheses. Working at this interdisciplinary interface is one of the aspects of imaging that excites her most, and she believes that wider awareness of available imaging technologies will empower researchers to ask more ambitious and insightful questions.

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  Diana Chiang Jurado

  University of Freiburg

  Diana is fascinated by the power of images to bridge the worlds of medicine, biology and informatics. With a background in translational medical sciences, her interests span preclinical research and medical imaging. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair for Bioinformatics, University of Freiburg, she aims to build connections across disciplines, collaborating with researchers from data management and computational science to biology and medicine, through the Galaxy SPOC and Imaging Analysis communities.

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  Sagar Khavnekar

  Co-founder OPENEMAGE

  Sagar is a scientist-technologist building infrastructure for tomorrow's discoveries. As a computational microscopist and structural cell biologist, he is passionate about large-scale open data, data-driven discovery, and open, decentralised science at scale.

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  Olha Maksymiv

  Lisbon School of Medicine

  Olha Maksymiv is an emerging neuroscientist specializing in quantitative bioimage analysis of astrocytes in epilepsy models. Her research combines confocal microscopy with computational reconstruction to investigate protein distribution and cellular heterogeneity at single-cell resolution. As a Scientific Ambassador, she aims to promote reproducible imaging practices and raise awareness of Euro-BioImaging’s technologies and expertise among early-career researchers across Europe.

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  Helena Röss

  Unaffiliated

  Fascinated by the unseen world and the power of imaging, Helena has explored diverse microscopy approaches in her research, primarily confocal imaging and scanning electron microscopy. Most recently, she worked as a lab technician in cell culture and microscopy at the University of Bern, enjoying the opportunity to support fellow researchers in achieving their scientific goals and ensuring smooth laboratory operations. Helena values collaboration, knowledge exchange, and building bridges between researchers and technology.

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  Marketa Schmidt Cernohorska

  Jan Evangelist Purkyne University in Usti nad Labem

  As a postdoc at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Marketa investigates how microtubules contribute to structural resilience within mitotic spindle and in tardigrades during anhydrobiosis. In both contexts, microtubules—as the cell's most robust components—must withstand extreme physical forces, yet the underlying stabilizing mechanisms remain unknown. Her research integrates expansion microscopy with biophysical tools such as optical tweezers, AFM, and Brillouin microscopy to characterize material properties and mechanics. Beyond the lab, she is dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between academia and high-tech sector.

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  Carina Soares-Cunha

  ICVS, University of Minho

  Carina is a neuroscientist investigating circuit and cellular mechanisms underlying motivated behavior and vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders. She employs 1- and 2-photon calcium imaging, using miniscopes and two-photon microscopy to monitor population and single-cell dynamics in freely behaving and head-fixed animals. Combining imaging with electrophysiology, optogenetics, pharmacology, projection-specific circuit dissection, and molecular phenotyping, she define how corticolimbic adaptations drive adaptive and maladaptive motivational states.

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  Balbino Yagüe Jiménez

  University of Granada

  Balbino is a Preclinical MRI Applications Scientist at the University of Granada. He works on advanced MRI and MRS methodologies, helping to optimize protocols for multiparametric quantitative imaging in animal models. He supports researchers with study design, data analysis, and quality control of the results. As ambassador, he will promote FAIR data practices, fostering collaboration across the research community.