Yuri Gerelli is a Senior Researcher at the CNR Institute for Complex Systems, affiliated with the Department of Physics at Sapienza University of Rome, and Coordinator of the CLIMB MSCA Doctoral Network. He obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Parma (Italy) in 2010. He then spent 10 years at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, first as a postdoctoral fellow and later as a tenured scientist, where he also coordinated the Partnership for Soft Condensed Matter (PSCM).

His research focuses on the structure and dynamics of bio-based and soft matter systems, with a particular emphasis on lipid membranes at interfaces. Within CLIMB, he will contribute to advancing the understanding of the lipid flip-flop mechanism in model membranes.

YG supervises DC01 (CNR & Sapienza University) and co-supervises DC04 (Lund University).

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Marie Skepö is a Professor of Theoretical Chemistry at Lund University and also an affiliated professor at Chalmers University of Technology. Trained in physical, surface, and colloid chemistry, she earned her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Lund University and has dedicated her career to understanding how intrinsically disordered proteins and other biomolecules interact, both in solution and at surfaces. Her group combines molecular simulations with advanced biophysical techniques, such as X-ray and neutron scattering, to explore the complex dynamics of proteins and biomolecular systems. Skepö has mentored numerous students and postdoctoral researchers while building a strong international network of collaborations. She is a member of several national research communities, including a group leader at the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab), the Center for Nanoscience at Lund University (NanoLund), and the Wallenberg Initiative for Materials Science for Sustainability community (WISE). Beyond her research, Skepö has held several leadership roles, including Vice Director of LINXS, the Institute of Advanced Neutron and X-ray Science, where she helped strengthen connections within the scattering community. Marie supervises DC04 (University of Lund).

Georg Pabst is an Associate Professor in the Biophysics Department at the University of Graz, Austria. He studied physics at Graz University of Technology (graduating in 2000) and holds a habilitation in Applied Physics.

His research group has advanced analytical models for SAXS and SANS data analysis of lipid vesicles, enabling insights into membrane asymmetry, lipid domains, elastic stress, bilayer interactions, and the impact of peptides and proteins on membrane structure. Combined with his expertise in fabricating asymmetric lipid vesicles, this work underpins his contributions to CLIMB, where he develops plasma membrane mimics for fundamental research and pharmaceutical applications. He supervises DC06 (University of Graz) and co-supervises DC01 (CNR & Sapienza University).

Reidar Lund obtained his PhD in 2004 at Forschungszentrum Jülich/University of Münster in Germany. After several postdoctoral stays at Forschungszentrum Jülich,  the University of the Basque Country, Spain and UC-Berkeley, US, he was appointed as Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway in 2016 and later full Professor in 2022. He was appointed Researcher (Científico distinguido) at the Donostia International Physics Centre, San Sebastian, Spain in 2025.  He is also an associate researcher at the Norwegian Centre for Molecular Medicine (NCCM) a branch of the Nordic European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and at the “Hylleraas Centre for Quantum Molecular Sciences” - a Centre of Excellence in Norway.

He currently leads the group Bio3 - Soft Matter which currently focusses on structure, kinetics and thermodynamics of self-assembled systems (peptides, surfactants and peptides/proteins), antimicrobial peptides and  model lipid membranes. The group uses a range of experimental techniques and computational tools, but has a particular expertise in small-angle scattering methods based on light, neutrons and X-rays.

In CLIMB he will serve as the academic supervisor in DC7 where we will build model cell membranes for bacteria and study transport and structural alteration induced by antimicrobial peptides.

Emanuel Schneck studied Physics at Technical University of Munich (TUM) and received his Ph.D. in 2010 from Heidelberg University. After postdoctoral assignments at TUM and the Free University of Berlin, he went to Institut Laue-Langevin (Grenoble, France) as a Marie Curie fellow in 2012. In 2014, he became research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, supported by an Emmy-Noether grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Since 2019 Emanuel Schneck has been Professor of Physics at Technical University of Darmstadt. His current research is focused on biological and biotechnologically relevant soft interfaces and their investigation with x-ray and neutron scattering techniques as well as molecular simulations.

Within CLIMB, ES supervises DC08, leads the WP6 - Communication and outreach and sits in the CLIMB Steering Committee.

Florian Meier holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry earned from University of Ulm, Germany in 2013 and joined Postnova Analytics in 2014, where he is now Head of the Department Research & Applications.

Over the years at Postnova, Florian gained vast experience in the application of various Field-Flow Fractionation (FFF) techniques and related detection systems such as Multi-Angle Light Scattering (MALS), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Particle Tracking Analysis (PTA), and Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).

As a passionate researcher in an industrial environment, his research focuses on the characterization of samples in the nano- and micrometer size range including e.g., nanoparticulate drug delivery systems, vesicles, viruses, proteins, engineered nanomaterials, micro- and nanoplastics and many more, thereby exploiting and continuously pushing the limits of multi-detector FFF. 

Florian supervises DC11 (Postnova Analytics GmbH).

Simona Sennato is a Senior Researcher at the CNR Institute for Complex Systems, affiliated with the Department of Physics at Sapienza University of Rome. She got her Ph.D. in Physics in 2006 at Sapienza University of Rome. She became temporary researcher at Physics Department in 2014 and in 2016 she moved to CNR-ISC. She developed expertise in Soft Matter and Biological Physics and in the investigation of dynamic, structural and morphological properties of soft systems by scattering and microscopic techniques. Current main research interests include the exploitation of colloidal aggregation mediated by electrostatic interactions for the development of drug delivery systems for infectious diseases and polymeric-metallic hybrids for plasmonic applications. 

Within CLIMB, she will contribute to advancing the characterization of lipid vesicles and nanoparticles by implementing a novel analysis method of trasmission spectra.

SS supervises DC12 (CNR & Sapienza University).

Debora Berti is Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence, Italy, where she also serves as Vice-President and Deputy for Research. Debora’s scientific interests revolve around Physical Chemistry of Soft Matter, and of interactions at the nano-bio interface to understand NPs’ cytotoxicity, advance their clinical translation and inform the design of synthetic hybrid systems with high structural control and potential use in biomedical and biotechnological applications.

She is co-Editor of the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science and member of the Editorial Board of Advances in Colloid and Interface Science (Elsevier) and JCIS Open, member of the Ownership Board of Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, (Royal Society of Chemistry). She was the President of the European Colloid and Interface Society (2013-2015).

Thierry Charitat is a Professor at the Institut Charles Sadron (ICS, Strasbourg), affiliated with the Department of Physics and Engineering at University of Strasbourg (Unistra). TC is the Head of the Master of Physics at Unistra. He has supervised 8 PhD students, and several bachelor’s and master’s students. TC is strongly involved in wider training activities at Unistra.

TC research focuses on Soft Matter physics, especially focusing on interfaces as lipid membranes physical properties. Within CLIMB, he will bring his experimental and theoretical expertises in lipid membranes physics, model system, preparation and characterization by neutron and x-rays reflectivities.

TC co-supervises DC08 (TuDA).

Giovanna Fragneto is the Science Director of the European Spallation Source based in Lund Sweden, an ERIC facility under construction that has the ambition to become the most powerful neutron source in the world. She spent 25 years at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), an international research institute based in Grenoble, France, delivering high flux neutron beams for the study of matter in the realms of soft and hard condensed matter, biology, magnetism, materials science, nuclear and particle physics.

She obtained her first degree at the University Federico II of Naples in Italy and a DPhil from the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Oxford, UK. As from 2016 she holds the Chair Grands Instruments Européens at the University Grenoble Alpes, France, and since December 2022 she is Adjunct Professor at the Physical Chemistry Division of the University of Lund, Sweden

She investigates surfaces and interfaces with special emphasis to the structure of model biological membranes, characterised with reflectivity techniques using neutron beams or synchrotron radiation, as well as interactions of lipid bilayers with cholesterol, peptides, proteins, enzymes, cationic lipoplexes, nanoparticles.

GF co-supervises DC09 (Institut Laue-Langevin)