We are excited to announce the 3rd Virtual European Flow Core Meeting, taking place on 4-5 December 2025.
The meeting is aimed at all those that run or work in a Flow Cytometry Core Facility and seeks to address common subject matters, themes, and circumstances within the european community. We will focus on new and emerging technologies as well as operational aspects of running, and working in, a core. We will include talks about national cytometry societies, presentation from current core facilities (Crib talks) and also from our industry colleagues (Techno bites). The meeting will run over two days, from lunchtime to lunchtime (4 and 5 December 2025). Although in a virtual format, there will be ample time in the programme for discussion and questions from the community. The meeting will be ‘live’ and will not be recorded, it will be unavailable online afterwards.
Scientific Organising Committee:
Derek Davies
Derek is an independent Cytometry consultant offering education and training in all forms of cytometry. He was previously the National Science Technology Platform (STP) Training Lead at the Francis Crick Institute in London where his role was to develop Educational and Training courses to support Biomedical Research in the UK and beyond. He co-organises the section’s annual flow cytometry course at the University of York and is active in promotion of cytometry via focussed meetings and other courses. He is one of the principal organisers of the flowcytometryUK annual meeting. Derek is particularly keen to promote cytometry education within the UK and beyond.
Désirée Kunkel
Desiree is the Head of the BIH Cytometry Core Facility at the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH). The core facility provides service and state-of-the-art equipment for high-parameter single cell analysis in flow and mass cytometry in an academic and translational medical research area.
Desiree has a PhD in Immunology and many years of flow and mass cytometry experience. She is very passionate about new technologies and their integration into the core facility setting.
Desiree is co-organizer of the German Flow Core Summit and the German Mass Cytometry User Forum and is very involved with the flow and mass cytometry community, on a national and international level.
Marjolijn Hameetman
Marjolijn works at the Flow cytometry Core Facility (FCF) of the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands. The FCF serves over 800 users of which 450 are regular users by offering 24 high performing instruments, training, advice and experimental support. In doing so, the FCF delivers state-of-the-art flow cytometry, mass cytometry and cell sorting services.
She joined the FCF in 2017. As operational manager, Marjolijn is at the helm of the day-to-day processes at the FCF, manages her team of six operators. They try to continuously improve processes, aiming for the highest quality possible. Together with her team she accomplished getting awarded the ISAC SRL recognition in 2023.
Marjolijn is a co-organizer of the Dutch Flow Group meeting and is happy to be more involved in the cytometry community to help other core facilities with their challenges.
Peter O'Toole
Peter heads the Imaging and Cytometry Labs within the Technology Facility at the University of York which includes an array of confocal microscopes, flow cytometers and electron microscopes. Peter gained his PhD in the Cell Biophysics Laboratory at the University of Essex and has been involved in many aspects of fluorescence imaging. Research is currently focused on both technology and method development of novel probes and imaging modalities.
Peter has ongoing collaborations with many leading microscopy and cytometry companies and his group also provides research support to many academics and commercial organisations. Peter is also heavily involved with teaching microscopy and flow cytometry which includes organising and teaching on both the RMS Light Microscopy Summer School and the RMS Practical Flow Cytometry courses.
Gerald Pfister
Gerald is the Head of the Flow Cytometry Facility at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Rome, Italy. His career in advanced biological research and flow cytometry spans decades and continents, beginning with his studies in Austria, where he earned a Master's in Biology and two PhDs in Biology/Protistology and Biomedical Sciences. Gerald also holds a Specialist in Cytometry (SCYM) certification from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP). Before joining EMBL in 2021, he led the Bio-optical Center of the Institute for Biomedical Aging Research in Innsbruck, contributed to research at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil, trained professionals across Europe in flow cytometry and cell sorting for BD Biosciences in Belgium, and developed and managed the Flow Cytometry Core Facility at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute. Gerald is passionate about exploring new technologies and in general embracing new experiences and challenges - especially in international and multicultural settings.
Charlotte Petersen
Aarhus University
Charlotte heads the FACS Core Facility at Aarhus University in Denmark, which is an open access facility with users from eight different departments as well as private companies. Charlotte teaches flow cytometry for bachelor and master students and co-organizes the bi-annual PhD course in flow cytometry at Aarhus University. Charlotte has been a board member of the Danish Society for Flow Cytometry for 10 years and is currently the treasurer. She is involved in organizing bi-annual flow cytometry meetings in Denmark as well as periodic joint Nordic flow cytometry meetings.
Philip Hobson
Phil Hobson is the Deputy Manager of the Flow Cytometry Science Technology Platform at the Francis Crick Institute, London. Following a PhD in Immunology and post doctoral positions at both Imperial College London and Kings College London, he joined the flow facility at the National Institute of Medical Research during the merger to form the Francis Crick Institute. Within the Crick he has developed interests in high containment sorting and health and safety. Due to his responsibilities with the mass cytometry suite, he is interested in high dimensional data analysis of both flow cytometry and imaging data sets.
Ekaterina Kopitman
Ekaterina is a Staff Scientist in the Flow Cytometry Core Unit at the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel. Leveraging her PhD and postdoctoral background in Immunology, she provides comprehensive flow cytometry expertise. She collaborates with WIS researchers, offering scientific consultation on all aspects of flow cytometry, often leading to co-authorship on scientific manuscripts. A key driver in adopting cutting-edge technologies, such as full spectrum flow cytometry and imaging-enabled cell sorting, Ekaterina is also passionate about education of flow cytometry. She develops WIS's academic flow cytometry course curriculum, lectures at the academic courses of other universities, and is an active participant in the IRCF (Israel Research Core Facilities) national initiative.
Lena Müller
Lena joined the Core Facilities at the Medical University of Vienna (MUV) in 2022 and successfully established mass cytometry as a methodological platform at the MUV, where she currently works. She holds a PhD in Immunology and has over 10 years of experience in flow cytometry, as well as 3 years of expertise in mass cytometry. As board member of the Austrian Society of Cytometry (OeGfZ) she is actively engaged in fostering both national and international networks in the fields of flow and mass cytometry and is committed to promoting collaboration and knowledge exchange within the cytometry community.
RMS Contacts:
