EHPRG2026 - Plenary lectures

Plenary lecture Biology Catherine Royer Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, USA Pressure-based mapping of protein functional landscapes	Catherine Royer is an internationally recognized expert in biological fluorescence, protein folding and biomolecular interactions. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry in Paris at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie, and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign. After an NSF-CNR postdoctoral fellowship in Paris, she became User Coordinator of the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics at UIUC. She then became Assistant and then Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1997 she moved back to France as Director of Research, and then Director of the Center for Structural Biochemistry in Montpellier. In 2014 she moved to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy NY as a Chaired Constellation Professor in Biocomputation and Bioinformatics. Royer developed fluorescence anisotropy-based assays and analysis software for quantification of protein interactions. Her discovery of the molecular mechanisms of pressure effects on biomolecular structure and stability has allowed for structural and energetic characterization of low-lying excited states of proteins implicated in allosteric regulation using fluorescence, NMR, small angle x-ray scattering and computation. She has also implemented novel fluorescence imaging methodologies, even under pressure, for quantifying proteins and their interactions in live cells to uncover molecular mechanisms of cellular regulatory networks. Abstract.
Plenary lecture Chemistry Dominique Laniel Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions School of Physics and Astronomy University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK A First Foray into High-Pressure Carbonitride Wonderland	Dominique Laniel is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions (CSEC), University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom). His research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of novel materials under extreme pressures and temperatures, with a particular focus on nitrides and carbonitrides of relevance as high-energy-density and superhard materials. He received his PhD from Sorbonne Université (France) in 2018 and subsequently held an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship and a Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). In 2022, he joined the University of Edinburgh after being awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, establishing an independent research program in high-pressure materials discovery. He is also a recipient of the GRC Jamieson Award (2018) and the EHPRG Award (2024). Abstract.
Plenary lecture Earth Sciences Maria del Carmen Sanchez Valle Institut für Mineralogie Universität Münster, Münster, Germany Title	Introduction text Maria del Carmen Sanchez Valle Abstract.
Plenary lecture Physics Xiao-Di Lu Laboratory of Materials Physics Institute of Solid State Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Hefei, China Title	Dr. Xiaodi Liu is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). She received her Ph.D. from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2013 and joined the Institute of Solid State Physics as an Assistant Professor, later promoting to Associate Professor (2018) and Full Professor (2023). She also conducted visiting research at the University of Edinburgh in 2018 and 2022. Her research specializes in high-pressure physics, employing diamond anvil cell techniques combined with in situ Raman spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and electrical and magnetic measurements to investigate material properties under extreme conditions. Her pioneering work focuses on ultrahigh-pressure hydrogen, quantum magnetic measurements using solid-state color centers, and the structural and physical behavior of condensed matter at high pressures. As a corresponding or first author, she has published in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature Materials, Physical Review Letters, PNAS, and Nano Letters. She had led about 8 major research projects, including grants from the NSFC and CAS. Abstract.