CARMA Conference 2025

Ramiro Alberio is Professor of Developmental Biology at the University of Nottingham, UK.  He graduated as veterinarian from La Plata University (Argentina), and gained his PhD from the University of Munich (Germany). His laboratory investigates the molecular mechanisms governing acquisition of cellular identity. He established livestock (sheep, cattle and pig) embryonic stem cells lines which have broad applications in biotechnology. These cells lines are used by multiple academic and industrial partners to produce cultivated meat. He is the Director of the Centre for Large Animal Biotechnology (CeLAB), and member of the ACNF subcommittee on Cell Cultivated Products, which advises the FSA on cultured meat safety.

As the FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Robin May provides expert scientific advice to the UK government and plays a critical role in helping to understand how scientific developments will shape the work of the FSA, as well as the strategic implications of any possible changes. He is responsible for the integrity of the science and evidence that underpins FSA activities, as well as for communicating the FSA’s evidence-based approach to other government departments, external stakeholders and consumers.

Professor May’s early training was in Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford, followed by a PhD on mammalian cell biology at University College London and the University of Birmingham. After postdoctoral research on gene silencing at the Hubrecht Laboratory, The Netherlands, he returned to the UK in 2005 to establish a research program on human infectious diseases. He was Director of the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham from 2017-2020.