Prof Bart Deplancke, a Biochemical Engineer (Ghent University, 1998), pursued doctoral studies in Immunobiology at the University of Illinois and postdoctoral research in regulatory genomics at Harvard and UMass Medical Schools. As a Full Professor and Vice-Dean of Innovation at EPFL’s School of Life Sciences and a Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics member, he develops experimental and computational methods, involving microfluidics and single-cell genomics, for studying genome and adipose biology. Deplancke has over 100 publications in highly respected journals and has received numerous awards, including the Cloëtta Prize and Leenaards Prize for Biomedical Translational Research. He co-founded Genohm (acquired by Agilent) and Alithea Genomics, and was elected EMBO member in 2023.