Liming Ying is a Senior Lecturer at Molecular Medicine Section, National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK. He has received a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Peking University, Beijing, China (1998). His BSc in Chemistry and MSc in Physical Chemistry were also obtained from Peking University (1988 and 1991). He received Distinguished Young Chemist Award from the Chinese Chemical Society in 1999 and David Phillips Research Fellowship from the Biotechnology and Biosciences Research Council (UK) in 2003. He was a fellow of Hughes Hall College, University of Cambridge between 2004 and 2006. He has authored/co-authored over 70 peer reviewed publications and three patents. He is serving as reviewer for a number of scientific organizations and funding bodies.

Single Molecule Biophysics, Single Molecule Fluorescence Imaging, Bio nanotechnology, & Chemical Biology

Qi Zhang obtained his Bachelor\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s degree in Chemistry at Fudan University, and obtained his Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry in 2010 at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science. After working as a research assistant professor at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, he is now working as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. To date he has published nine first-author papers (including 2 corresponding-author papers) in various high profile journals such as Nature Chemical Biology, PNAS, Accounts of Chemical Research, etc.

Qi Zhang’s research interests include radical enzymology, particularly radical S-adenosylmethionine enzymology, and chemical biology in relation to posttranslational modifications. He is also very interested in chemical genomics and chemical ecology studies.

Renuka Jain obtained her B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in Botany from Jiwaji University, Gwalior. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Botany from Jiwaji University, Gwalior for research on the regulation of petal senescence. Dr. Jain then spent 3 years at the Umea Plant Science centre, Sweden and another year at University of Missouri-Columbia, USA for her post-doctoral research. For the last two years, Dr. Jain has been heading the bioNutrition division and is involved in the supervision of various research and discovery projects for the development of novel plant bioactives for diabetes, cardiovascular health, calorie management, bone health.

Professor Sam Adeloju is a Professorial Chair in Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, as well as the Director of Research Development in Science and Engineering in the School of Applied Sciences and Engineering at Monash University in Australia. He has an international reputation in the areas of enzyme-based biosensing technology, nanotechnology, electro analytical and environmental chemistry. Professor Adeloju has published over 300 papers in these areas in journals, books and conference proceedings. He was the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Applied Research Medal, presented by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for outstanding contribution to the development of Applied Chemistry in Australia between 1999 and 2009, particularly in the areas of applied electrochemistry, biosensing technology and nanotechnology. Professor Adeloju was also the recipient of the 2011 Stokes Medal of the Electrochemistry Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute for distinguished contributions to research in Electrochemistry in Australia.

Professor Sam Adeloju is very much interested in the areas of enzyme-based biosensing technology, nanotechnology, electro analytical and environmental chemistry.

John H.T. Luong is Distinguished Research Scientist and the Head of Nanobiotechnology and Biosensor Technology at the National Research
Council Canada and a Walton fellow (Science Foundation of Ireland), Department of Chemistry at University College Cork, Ireland. He was the Head of Biomedical Engineering Division of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. He has published over 260 research papers and 10 patents. He obtained his PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering-Biochemical Engineering from McGill University in 1978. He has received several awards for his contribution to various research areas such as Nanobiotechnology, biosensor technology, separation science, and biochemical engineering. He has served as an editorial member and Guest Editor of several journals. He has received over 6300 citations with an h-index of 43. To date, he has supervised over 30 post-doctoral fellows and PhD students.

Bioconjugation, nanomedicine, synthesis of bionanomaterials, nanomaterials, bioelectroanalysis, surface chemistry, cell based impedance spectroscopy, cell based assays, capillary electrophoresis, Raman spectroscopy and other spectroscopy techniques.

Jianwen JIANG is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore. (www.chbe.nus.edu.sg/people/faculty_jiangjw.html). His research is focused on molecular simulation and modeling for solid-state materials and complex fluids such as nanomaterials, polymers and biomolecules. His current research activities include the molecular engineering of nanoporous and membrane materials for energy, environmental and pharmaceutical applications including carbon capture, water treatment, drug delivery, etc. He has published over 130 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and contributed several book chapters and review articles. He is in the editorial board of Advances in Materials Research, International Scholarly Research Network (ISRN) Nanotechnology, Journal of Chemical Engineering and Process Technology.

Our research is focused on the exploitation of supercomputer simulations and the development of sophisticated statistical-mechanics theories for complex fluids and solid-state materials such as biomolecules, polymers, surfactants, and nanostructures. The objective is to provide microscopic and mesoscopic insights into macroscopic properties/phenomena, to bridge the gap between physical and engineering sciences in emerging interdisciplinary fields, and subsequently to assist in the rational design of novel materials and the optimization of engineering processes. The modeling projects are collaborated with internal and external experimentalists. Current research activities include:

Karim Nayernia is an alumnus of the University of Göttingen, where he had defended his dissertation in 1993. He worked at the university until 2006,and received his Professorship (Habilitation) in Molecular Human Genetics). In 2006, he was appointed as Professor of Stem Cell Biology at the Newcastle University Institute of Human Genetics. In 2009, he created human sperm-like cells from male stem cells in the laboratory for the first time. Previously, in 2006, he used sperm created from embryonic stem cells to impregnate mice. The mice produced seven pups, although one died and the other six had health problems. His works were reported by several news agencies: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5166462.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8138963.stm http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/08/sperm-grown-stem-cell-fertility http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/apr/13/cancer.stemcells?INTCMP=SRCH Currently , he is studying and working on different projects in the field of Personalized Medicine.

Dr. Ningyan Zhang joined the Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in late 2010 after more than 15 years in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry mostly recently at Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. Zhang was trained as a protein biochemist and received her Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at the University of Kentucky and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, respectively. During her tenure in the biotechnology industry, she led various research programs at different stages of drug discovery and development, ranging from drug target validation to screening and lead selection for drug development.

Dr. Zhang’s current research interest is centered on resistant mechanisms to cancer therapeutic antibodies targeting the EGFR family of receptors. The human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family consists of four closely related type 1 transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptors (EGFR/HER1, HER2, HER3 and HER4). Both EGFR and HER2 are proven oncogenes and have been successfully targeted by monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of various cancers including non-small cell lung, colon and breast cancers. Even through the therapeutic antibodies have shown clinical benefits, wide spread resistance to the targeted therapies poses significant challenges in the clinic. By using a wide array of experimental approaches including 2D and 3D cell cultures, mouse tumor models, and clinical samples from cancer patients, Dr. Zhang’s research projects focus on study of resistant mechanisms to understand roles of the cross talk between tumor microenvironment and cancer cells in the development of resistance to cancer therapeutic antibodies.

Dr. Mustafa Ozen Completed his PhD from University of Texas, Houstan in 1999 and obtained his MD degree from University University Medical School Kayseri, Turkey in 1992. He is presently working as Professor and Chair, Department of Medical Genetics, Istanbul University Cerrahpasa Medical School Istanbul, Turkey. Dr Mustafa is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.He is associated with the Turkish Council of Scientific and Technological research (TUBITAK) as a member Steering Committee in Health Sciences. He has been awarded the Oncology Research award for the outstanding scientific paper published in 1997, awarded by the Editorial Board of Oncology Research in the year 1998, Presidential Fellowship Award in Recognition of outstanding performance in research, underwritten by the Presidents of the U.T.-Houston Health Science Center (Dr. M. David Low) and the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Dr. John Mendelsohn), Houston, TX in 1998. Hehas morethan 50 publications.

Human Genetics, Cancer Research, Molecular Pathology

Prof. Shahzad, currently based in Vienna, Austria, is one of the pioneers, working for the progress of Translational Medicine (TM) field. Prof. Shahzad is currently serving as Director of Administration and Secretary General for “International Society for Translational Medicine (ISTM)”. He is also acting as a chair for Translational Medicine SIAC group at ‘Dug Information Association’ (DIA). Prof. Shahzad is serving as editor-in-chief for ‘Molecular Medicine & Therapeutics (MMT) Journal and for ‘Translational Biomedicine’ Journal. Prof. Shahzad has advised and participated in establishing Translational Medicine infrastructure for several organizations. Dr Shahzad is invited speaker for many international life sciences conferences. He is professor of Microbiology (V) and Professor of Medicine (V), at Harbin Medical University. In addition, various organizations are getting benefited from wide expertise of Prof.Shahzad in his capacity as a medical advisor and medical scientific expert.

Translational Research and Clinical Diagnostics

Dr. Boyd received a B.S in Physiology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an M.S. in Biology from the University of Memphis. He then received his Ph.D in Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986. Dr. Boyd carried out postdoctoral studies at the University of California, San Diego and the Salk Institute before moving to The Ohio State University College of Medicine as Assistant Professor of Pharmacology in 1990. Dr Boyd is currently Associate Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience. Dr. Boyd is a reviewer for numerous journals and has served on multiple NIH study sections. He has been active in graduate education, recently completing a four-year term as Associate Director of the Integrated Biomedical Science Graduate Program (IBGP).

Research activities in Dr Boyds laboratory have emphasized a molecular biological analysis of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Neuronal nAChRs mediate synaptic transmission in many parts of the vertebrate central nervous system, in autonomic ganglia, retina, and adrenal medulla. We have studied transcriptional regulation of nAChR subunit genes as well the identifying a new allosteric site on the a4b2 neuronal nAChR. This site is being explored for its potential as a binding site for new drugs which modulate nAChR activity and could be used to aid smoking cessation. We have also cloned the zebrafish neuronal nAChR genes and determined the expression pattern of zebrafish neuronal nAChR genes during development. The information derived from these studies is being used to develop zebrafish as a model for studying the role of nAChRs in normal development of the nervous system and the mechanisms by which nicotine perturbs vertebrate nervous system development

Dr. Majd received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Amir kabir Institute of Technology, Tehran, in 2003. She completed her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2009. Her doctoral work, under the supervision of Prof. Michael Mayer, focused mainly on studying molecular processes on biological membranes such as lipid-protein interactions, drug-membrane interactions, and membrane-associated enzymatic reactions using engineering- and nanotechnology-based platforms. After a short postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan, Dr. Majd joined the Department of Bioengineering at the Pennsylvania State University as an Assistant Professor in January of 2011. She currently has a courtesy appointment in Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics. Research efforts and interests in Dr. Majd’s group lie at the interface of membrane biophysics, electrophysiology, biomateri¬als, micro/nano fabrication, and biosensing for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Currently, the main focus of her research group is the molecular processes within and across cell membranes and the role of these molecular events in normal and diseased cellular functions. 

 • Membrane Biophysics and Model Membranes
 • Biological and Synthetic Nanopores fo Sensing and Single Molecule Characterization
 • Cell and Biomolecular Microarrays for Sensing and Cell Studies
 • Hydrogel Micro/Nano Structures for Biological Studies
 • Lipid-Enveloped Particles for Gene and Drug Delivery    

Professor Krzysztof Jozwiak following his graduation in 2000 started 3 year postodctoral training under the supervision of Dr. IW Wainer in Laboratory of Clinical Investigations, National Institute on Aging, NIH, USA. Then he was a postdoctoral scientist in the International Institute of Molecular and cell Biology in Warsaw, Poland. Currently he continues his scientific activity at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University fo Lublin, Poland.

His research interests concerns interdisciplinary combination of experimental and computational characterization of interactions between drug molecules and their protein targets, molecular (neuro) pharmacology and drug design. He is particularly interested in studying allosteric modulators of nicotinic receptors, potentiators of AMPA receptors as well as agonists of the beta2- adrenergic receptor.

Dr. Mihail Lucian graduated from Physics Faculty of the University of Bucharest in the Optics and Spectroscopy field in 1968 and obtained PhD in Physics at the same faculty in 1974. The PhD thesis content was obtained mainly wihin an US - Romania cooperation programme and it is a contribution to the optogalvanic spectroscopy field. In 1975, he founded the Laser Spectroscopy Group, that covered until today, the following topics: tunable lasers, basic laser spectroscopy of complex molecules, biomolecular spectroscopy, spectroscopy applications in environment pollution, medicine and pharmacology, laser optofluidics. Currently he is a senior research scientist at the National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Bucharest and professor, head of PhD at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Bucharest in the Optics Laser and Spectroscopy field.

His research interest focuses on tunable dye lasers, tunable semiconductor lasers, tunable solid state lasers, chaotic emission of laser systems, nitrogen pulsed lasers and ns, ps, fs low power, high power and extremly high power pulsed lasers. Spectroscopy of complex molecules: pollutants, medicines etc. Optofluidics: laser spectroscopy of micro and nanodroplets. Lasers use in multiple drug resistance acquired by bacteria and cancer tumours. Lasers applications in medicine and biology. Lasers applications in environment monitoring and protection. Lasers in life sciences. Lasers in food sciences and Lasers in materials processing.

Ouliana Ziouzenkova is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University (OSU), Department of Human Nutrition. After receiving a bachelors and masters degree from The State University & Schewtchenko Kiev, Ukraine in 1986, Dr. Ziouzenkova completed her Ph.D. degree summa cum laude at the University of Graz, Austria in 1997. She performed her post-doctoral studies at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA from 1997 to 1999 and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston, MA from 1999 to 2003. She was an Instructor in Medicine from 2003 to 2007 in the same institution. Dr. Ziouzenkova has been honored with the Louis and Norman Katz Basic Science Award by the American Heart Association in 2002, the Lerner Young Faculty Award at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2004, and the New Investigator Award by the Organization for the Study of Sex Differences in 2007. She holds four patents and author of 35 publications.

Identification of vitamin A metabolite signaling and transcriptional properties and their effects in the regulation of visceral obesity in males and females.

Shile Huang began to study the role of mTOR signaling in cancer cell survival/apoptosis during my postdoctoral training, mentored by Dr. Peter J. Houghton at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Since starting the laboratory in Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in July 2003, He have been studying how mTOR regulates tumor cell motility and how curcumin inhibits mTOR signaling. The laboratory has considerable experience in studying anticancer mechanisms of small molecules, and has generated/collected a variety of reagents (stable cell lines, and adenoviral, retroviral and lentiviral constructs) related to mTOR pathways. He have a record of successful and productive research projects. So he have the expertise necessary to successfully carry out the proposed work.

mTOR signaling in tumorigenesis and metastasis; anticancer mechanisms of natural products; neurotoxicity of cadmium.

Thomas J. Webster is an associate professor for the School of Engineering and Department of Orthopedics at Brown University. His degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh B.S., 1995 and in biomedical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute M.S, 1997; PhD, 2000. Professor Webster’s research explores the use of nanotechnology in numerous applications, from medicine to computationally modeling protein interactions and cell responses to nanomaterials. Professor Webster is the current director of the Nanomedicine Laboratories at Brown currently at 32 members and has completed extensive studies on the use of nanophase materials to limit implant infection and inflammation as well as increase tissue growth. He has graduated over 78 post-doctoral students, and thesis completing B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students. To date, his lab group has or will by the end of the year generate over 11 textbooks, 55 book chapters, 259 invited presentations, at least 367 peer-reviewed literature articles and/or conference proceedings, at least 533 conference presentations, and 24 provisional or full patents. Some of these patents led to the formation of four companies employing over 35 people. His research on nanomedicine has received attention in recent media publications including MSNBC October 10, 2005, NBC Nightly News May 14, 2007, PBS DragonFly TV covered across the US during the winter, 2008, and ABC Local Nightly News via the Ivanhoe Medical Breakthrough Segment covered across the US during the winter of 2008 and a separate research segment in 2010. His work has been on display at the London and Boston Science Museums and he has raised over 24 million dollars for his research program from the NIH, NSF, DOD, VA, various State agencies, and private industry. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Nanomedicine the first international journal in nanomedicine, has organized 15 conferences emphasizing nanotechnology in medicine, and has organized over 52 symposia at numerous conferences emphasizing biological interactions with nanomaterials. He was also recently selected to chair the 2011 Annual Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting in Hartford. Professor Webster has received numerous honors including, but not limited to: 2002, Biomedical Engineering Society Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award; 2003, Outstanding Young Investigator Award Purdue University College of Engineering; 2005, American Association of Nanomedicine Young Investigator Award Finalist; 2005, Coulter Foundation Young Investigator Award; 2006, Fellow, American Association of Nanomedicine; and 2010, Distinguished Lecturer in Nanomedicine, University of South Florida. He was recently appointed director of the Indo-U.S. Center for Biomaterials for Healthcare and also currently serves as Director of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Students at Brown University.

Design, synthesis, and evaluation of nanophase ceramics for orthopaedic/dental applications.

Andrzej Kloczkowski did his MSc Chemistry form Warsaw University Poland in 1974. He did his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland 1980 and his DSc Habilitation Physical Chemistry Warsaw University Poland 2001. He received his Postdoctoral Fellow from Stanford University in 1981 & 1983. At present he is an Adjunct Professor of Iowa State University.

His research interests focus on various aspects of computational molecular biology and structural bioinformatics, Lattice models of proteins, Prediction of protein structures, Protein dynamics, Prediction of protein functions, Protein packing and statistical potentials, Prediction of binding sites, prediction of phosphorylation sites, Systems Biology.

He is the President of Chinese American Diabetes Association.He is a member of different societies like Society of Toxicology.He is a Manuscript Review for various Peer-Reviewed Journals. He won the patent for The preparation and application of the tumor growth and metastasis inhibitor Decorin.his articles were published in many Peer-reviewed journals.

Bio transformation,Biochemistry and Pathology, Molecular Biology.

Dr. Nekane Guarrotxena earned her PhD in chemistry from the University of Complutense, Madrid-Spain in 1994. She held post-doctoral research positions at the EcoleNationaleSuperieured´ArtsetMetiers, Paris-France (1994-1995) and the University of ScienceII, Montpellier-France (1995-1997). She was the Vice-Director of the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP)-CSIC (2001-2005). From 2008-2011, she was visiting professor in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Materials at University of California, Santa Barbara-USA and the CaSTL at University of California, Irvine-USA. She is currently Research Scientist at the Institute of Polymers Science and Technology, CSIC-Spain. She has been involved for several years on the dissemination of Science and Technology of Polymers-plastics (where she served as a member of Scientific Committee of Escuela de Plasticos y Caucho and FOCITEC or Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology). She is Editorial Board member of the Polymer Research and ISRN journals. Her studies have been published in more than 55 peer-reviewed publications, 2 books (also co-editor) and 21 book chapters. Her research interest focuses on the synthesis and assembly of hybrid nanomaterials, nanoplasmonics, and their uses in nanobiotechnology applications (bioimaging, drug delivery, therapy and biosensing).

Sankaranarayanan Srinivasan received his PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in December 2008. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. He is a member of the Protein Society and has authored 7 publications so far. He also serves on the editorial board of 2 journals and is a peer reviewer for 6 more journals.

His main areas of expertise are protein chemistry, molecular biophysics, structural biology, X-ray crystallography and membrane proteins.

Dr. Perez-Polo JR received Ph.D at Stanford University in 1970. Currently he is a I. H. Kempner Professor and Chair & Professor at the University of Texas, USA.

Our long-term goals are to understand the inflammatory mechanisms triggered by trauma in the central nervous system. We are interested in the effects of chronic inflammation on genotoxic and epigenetic outcomes, cell death, impaired blood brain barrier and immunological activation in CNS and resultant developmental and adult outcomes. We have developed interventions ranging from endogenous receptor antagonists and gene specific “decoy” inhibition of transcription factor binding to gene promoter sites as potential therapies. We also study the role of trauma-induced post-translational modifications that regulate intracellular trafficking in stress response mechanisms. Our hypothesis is that oxidative stress in the nervous system, caused by chronic or acute trauma, triggers inflammatory responses that result in the uncoupling of gene networks responsible for the resultant deficits. Our studies focus on: the Bcl-protein family and inflammatory cytokines. We rely on in vitro and in vivo rodent models for perinatal ischemia, spinal cord and head injury.

Joseph Fomusi Ndisang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology of University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine. He received postdoctoral training in Physiology at the University Of Saskatchewan College Of Medicine from 200-2005. He received a PhD in Pharmacology Toxicology from the University of Florence, Italy, 2000. He received a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from University of Florence, Italy, in 1995. He has received several distinguished awards and distinctions including: Associate Fellow of the Scientific Council of the International College of Angelology (2007); Young Investigator Award by International College of Angelology (2007); Young Investigator Award by the American Society of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics-Division for Drug Discovery, Development & Regulatory Affairs (2005); Young Investigator Award by the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine (2005); Caroline tum Suden/Frances A. Hellebrandt Professional Opportunity Award for Meritorious Research by the American Physiological Society (2005); and Recognition Award for Meritorious Research by a Young Investigator by the American Physiological Society (2004). He has served as peer-reviewed for several reputed journals and granting agencies in United States, United Kingdom and Canada. His research interest is mainly focused on investigation the role of the heme oxygenase system in hypertension, diabetes (types-1 and -2), and obesity.

His research interest is mainly focused on investigation the role of the heme oxygenase system in hypertension, diabetes (types-1 and -2), and obesity.

Dr. ElSayed received his BS of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Cairo University in May 1994. In July 2002, he obtained Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Maryland where he investigated the effect of the physicochemical properties of dendritic carriers on their transport across epithelial and endothelial barriers under the supervision of Professor Hamidreza Ghandehari. Soon after his graduation, Dr. ElSayed joined the University of Washington, Department of Bioengineering to work with Professors Allan Hoffman and Patrick Stayton on the development of pH-sensitive polymeric carriers for delivery of therapeutic nucleic acids into epithelial cancer cells for treatment of breast cancer. In January 2007, Dr. ElSayed joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan where he has established the Cellular Engineering and Nano-Therapeutics Laboratory (www.bme.umich.edu/centlab.php). His research program utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to develop bio-inspired drug delivery systems that enhance the therapeutic activity of the incorporated drug molecules while eliminating or minimizing their potential side effects with particular emphasis on rational design and synthesis of novel biomaterials for drug and gene delivery, bio-nanotechnology, and “smart” therapeutics. Dr. ElSayed received several honors and awards including the National Cancer Center Fellowship, Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship, US Department of Defense Award, US National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and Coulter Foundation Translational Research Partnership in Biomedical Engineering Award.

Dr. ElSayed's research program focuses on the development of bio-inspired drug delivery systems that enhance the therapeutic activity of the incorporated drug molecules while eliminating or minimizing their potential side effects. He follows two parallel approaches to achieve this goal. First, he aims to better understand the mechanism(s) of transport of small molecules, macromolecules, and polymeric drug delivery systems across epithelial and endothelial barriers under normal and pathological conditions. Second, he rationally designs and synthesizes novel small and macromolecular carriers that can effectively exploit established transport mechanisms to “communicate” with the different epithelial and endothelial barriers encountered within the body to selectively deliver their therapeutic cargo to the diseased tissues with cellular and sub-cellular accuracy. Specific areas of research include: * Rational design and synthesis of novel “smart” therapeutic and imaging particles. * Development of in vitro models of epithelial/endothelial barriers in microfluidic channels. * Molecular engineering of oral “biomimetic” drug delivery systems. * Applications of therapeutic ultrasound in drug delivery to solid tumors.

PhD in Electrical Eng. Liverpool University Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Liverpool L69 3BX, Liverpool, UK. Working.

Soft Computing Algorithms and Methodologies Robotics Image. Signal Analysis Decision support systems and exploratory data analysis in Finance and Quality Food Analysis.

Dr. Li Wen is an Associate Professor in Department of Food and Biological Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, China. She earned her PhD at Wuhan University, China. Currently, she is a post doctor at Hunan Agricultural University, School of agronomy. She has published 20 peer-reviewed papers. She has an extensive background in plant physiology and proteomics. Her research aims to use novel technologies that bridge the fields of biology and crop breeding. In practice, her research relies on the application of proteomic and transcriptomic technique to find the proteins and genes related to plant development or disease defense. She has teaching experience of more than 14 years and was an Education Fellow in the Life Sciences from Changsha University of Science and Technology (from 1998). She has received many awards such as Excellent Fellow (2007 & 2010), the Distinguished Teaching Award of Changsha University of Science and Technology (2009).

She has an extensive background in plant physiology and proteomics. Her research aims to use novel technologies that bridge the fields of biology and crop breeding. In practice, her research relies on the application of proteomic and transcriptomic technique to find the proteins and genes related to plant development or disease defense.

Kangling Zhang is an associate professor of University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He completed his B.S degree in Chemistry from Anhui University, in 1984, his M.S from University of the Pacific in Biochemistry in 1997 and Ph.D from University of California at San Francisco in Mass Spectrometry in the year 2000. He served as an Assistant Researcher in Mount Sinai University, New York in 1998, senior scientist in ISN pharmaceuticals Costa Mesa. He is an associate professor in the division of Pharmacology and also a director of Mass Spectrometry in Loma Linda, CA from 2007.

Histone modifications, DNA methylation/demethylation in epigenetic modulation and regulation of gene expression and their importance in cell differentiation and diseases. Elucidation of epigenetic networks in which protein expression and metabolomic pathways are involved by proteomic and biological approaches

icardo Ferraz (1979) is Professor at the School of Health Technology Polytechnic Institute of Porto. He graduated in Chemistry in 2002 and received his Master degree in 2006 at the Faculty of Science, University of Porto. He has worked under the Supervision of Paula Gomes devoted to the study of the stereochemistry of imidazolidin-4-one derivatives of primaquine in ring closure. At the moment he is finishing his PhD at the Faculty of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon under the Supervision of Christina Prudencio, John Paul Noronha and Zeljko Petrovski. His thesis is focused on the development of new ionic liquids the active pharmaceutical ingredients.

His research interests focuses on peptide synthesis, Ionic liquids as active pharmaceutical ingredients, antibiotic resistance & development of new drugs.

Angelo Santino was born in Lecce, Italy) on August 1963. In 1988 he graduated in Biological Science at the University of Lecce, defending a thesis on yeast genetics. In 1990-1991, he was fellow at the Istituto Biosintesi Vegetali, CNR, Milan, and in 1992 at the Institute of Natural Resources, Chatam Maritime, UK. In 1994, he had a temporary position at the Institute of Research on Agro-alimentary Biotechnology, CNR, Lecce. Since 1997 Angelo Santino has obtained a full position as scientist at the same institute (renamed as Institute of Science of Food Production, Unit of Lecce, since 2002).

Main research activities of Angelo Santino deal with plant molecular biology, metabolic engineering, biochemistry and cell biology. His scientific activity has been focused on the following main topics: • hormones signalling in plant response to (a)biotic stresses • Lipid droplets and lipids storage in plant cell • Induction and purification of recombinant proteins; proteins chips • Biological activity of phytochemicals; novel carriers for their stabilisation and up-take improvement.

Mingxuan Xu received her Ph.D. from Chinese Academy of Science in Microbiology, During her Ph.D, her research mainly focus on functional studies of linear plasmid SLP2 in Streptomyce livindance, the mechanism that maintain SLP2 replication as linear mode and the conjugation of linear plasmid. Dr. Mingxuan Xu then switched her research field to neuroscience during her postdoctoral training at the Ohio State University on studies of Voltage gated potassium channel Kv3.1 trafficking . Axonal targeting of Kv3.1 is associated with adaptor protein Ankyrin G and motor protein KIF5B, Differential Axonal/dendritic targeting of two Kv3.1 isoforms Kv3.1a and Kv3.1b is due to preferentially association with AnkG and Kv3.1 self- inhibition mediated by N-terminus and C-terminus interaction.

Mingxuan Xu current research aims is to study how the KCNQ channels regulate excitability by being concentrated at axon initial segments and nodes of Ranvier. KCNQ channels are targets of antiepileptic drugs and are mutated in a human epilepsy syndrome called Benign Familial Neonatal Seizures. This research could lead to new understanding of epilepsy mechanisms and better treatments for epilepsy and related disorders.

Cheorl-Ho KIM completed his Ph.D. in laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Agricultural Chemistry from The University of Tokyo in 1990. He is presently employed as Professor in Department of Biological Science, Sungkyunkwan University. He served as editorial board member of various journals like The Journal of Microbiology

Glycobiology, Protein Receptor-glycan interaction, Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Glycobiology

Dr. M. Salman Khan has received his Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, INDIA in 2008. Currently he is working as Assistant Professor in Department of Biotechnology, Integral University. He is life member of Indian Society for Atherosclerosis research and also nominated editorial board member of several reputed journals like Biochemistry and analytical biochemistry, International Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Journal of Bioscience and Medicine. He has published several research articles in international journals and also working as a reviewer of several international journals.

His current research interest is to find out the possible mechanism of role of natural products and their bioactive compounds in combating various free radical mediated diseases including atherosclerosis, hyperlipidemia and diabetes in vitro as well as in animal models and human subjects. In addition, he is also working on mechanistic aspect of drug interaction with key enzymes/proteins in above disease models and to develop new analogues with the use of bioinformatics.

Devanjan Sikder, D.V.M., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor. Prior to joining Sanford-Burnham, Dr. Sikder was Research Assistant Professor at the Division of Translational Research, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where he also completed his post-doctoral fellowship in Professor Thomas Kodadeks laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in genetic engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, and his D.V.M. from Bidhan Chandra Agriculture University, India. His major research interests are in animal models of obesity, central and peripheral mechanisms controlling food intake and energy expenditure; brown fat development and differentiation. Dr Sikders research also focuses on the regulation of biochemical events that together orchestrate invasiveness and cancer metastasis.

Brown Fat Biology, Obesity, Metabolism, Biochemistry, Genomics, Transcription, Cancer.

Dr. Smita Mohanty received her doctoral degree in Chemistry in 1988 from University of Delhi in India. She conducted postdoctoral studies in University of Washington, Seattle, WA and in New York in Structural Biology.

Our research interest has focused on structure-function studies of proteins using high-resolution solution NMR, circular dichroism (CD), fluorescence spectroscopy techniques, congenital disorders of glycosylation, Human PDZ domain and Tumorigenesis, signal transduction in olfaction.

Rafael A. Caas has obtained his PhD in 2006 under the supervision of the Prof Francisco M. Cnovas and Dr. Francisco R. Canton in the Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Department of the University of Malaga (Spain). His PhD thesis was about the nitrogen re-mobilization from the storage proteins of the pine seeds during the germination and initial seedling development being mainly focused in the role of the asparagine. Subsequently, he obtained a competitive postdoctoral fellowship from Spanish Education Ministry to work in the IJPB-Versailles, INRA (France) under the supervision of Dr. Bertrand Hirel. In this stage, he studied the nitrogen metabolism of the maize ears and their relationship with the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Now, he is a researcher in the University of Malaga, developing projects about nitrogen metabolism of adult conifers.

Rafael A. Caas is interested in the plant nitrogen metabolism focused in the amino acids inter conversions during the lifetime of trees.

Eiko Nakamaru-Ogiso is currently a research assistant professor at University of Pennnsylvania. She earned a Ph.D at the Univeristy of Tokyo in 1998, and became a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute. While at Scripps, Dr. Nakamaru-Ogiso began to study the structural and molecular mechanisms of respiratory NADH: quinone oxidoreductase (complex I). In 2007, Dr. Nakamaru-Ogiso moved to University of Pennsyvania, and started her own laboratory in 2010.

My ultimate research interest is mitochondrial energy metabolism in human health and disease. My current focus, complex I, is the entry enzyme of mitochondrial respiratory chain,that plays a central role in cellular aerobic energy metabolism. Complex I dysfunction comprises more than 30% of mitochondrial diseases including Parkinson’s disease. Elucidating complex I mechanisms is therefore imperative for understanding mitochondrial diseases associated with complex I dysfunction. We are now tackling one of the most challenging fundamental question in bioenergetics how electron transfer is linked to vectorial H+ translocation in complex I, which remains unanswered 30 years after Mitchells Nobel Prize for the chemiosmotic theory

Dr. Achuth Padmanabhan received his bachelors in engineering (biotechnology) from School of Engineering and Technology, Bharathidasan University, India in 2005. Subsequently he received his PhD from University of Maryland Baltimore County in Biological Sciences working under Dr.Charles Bieberich. During his PhD he studied post-translational mechanisms that stabilize key oncogenes (like MYC) and tumor suppressors (like NKX3.1) in prostate cancer cells. He currently works as a postdoctoral associate at the laboratory of Prof. Mark Hochstrasser in the Dept. of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. His current work aims at understanding the assembly of yeast and mammalian proteasomes. Dr. Padmanabhan serves on the editorial board of a number of international journals.

My expertise include protein biochemistry, proteomics, Mass spectrometry, protein kinases, protein phosphorylation and ubiquitination, proteasome assembly and function, protein degradation, cancer biology, mammalian and yeast genetics

Dr Uma Lakshmipathy has been involved in the field of stem cells for nearly a decade. Her doctoral degree in Molecular Biophysics and subsequent postdoctoral experience in DNA repair brought new perspective and led her to the area of stem cell research with focus on developing ex vivo gene repair systems. As a junior faculty at the Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota, she identified efficient gene delivery methods into stem cells to enable repair of adult stem cells from monogene disorders. She moved to Invitrogen, Life Technologies, in 2005 and was involved in the development of novel technology platforms for creating labeled stem cells. Her current research interests are regulation of stem cell maintenance, development of technologies for generation, identification, characterization and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells.

Technologies for generation, identification, characterization and differentiation of pluripotent stem cells.
Genetic and epigenetic regulation of stem cell maintenance
Gene Transfer and creation of labelled stem cells

 Gabor Szabo is working as assistant professor in Semmelweis University. He has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities as Obstetrician and Gynecologyst. He has authored 8 research articles. He is a member of the European Society of Human Genetics, Hungarian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hungarian Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hungarian Society of Obstetrical and Perinatal Anaesthesiology, Hungarian Society of Hypertonology.

Gabor Szabo research interests are Pre-eclampsia, Pathological Pregnancies, Hypertension, Gene polymorphism

Tiong Gim Aw received his Ph.D. in Environmental Microbiology in 2010 from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, focusing on the molecular detection and characterization of human enteric viruses in water environments. He is currently working in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, United States, as a research scientist. He is actively engaged in the International Society for Microbial Ecology, the American Society for Microbiology and the International Water Association. His research interests focus on linking water security, microbial ecology and advanced biotechnology. He is keen to bring scientific discovery and translational science to the water industry. Dr. Aw is currently interested in next generation sequencing technology and metagenomic approaches for better understanding of virus ecology and virus genomes in water environments. His other areas of expertise include environmental virology, rapid detection of pathogens in water by advanced molecular techniques, fate and transport of viruses in urban water catchments and microbial source tracking.

Viral metagenomics using next-generation sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, Rapid detection and genotyping of human pathogens, Biosensors for drinking and recreational water quality monitoring, Fate and transport of pathogens in urban water catchments, Microbial source tracking, and Environmental epidemiology

Dr Jiapu Zhang is an Australian Research Scientist. He finished his PhD degree in the Universities of Melbourne and Ballarat (Australia), one Masters (in research) degree in the National University of Singapore, and one Masters (in research) degree and one Bachelor degree in China in 2004, 2000, 1996 and 1993 respectively. During 1996 to 1998 he lectured in Shandong University – a top university of China. Since 2005, he has worked in Australia’s CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), Ballarat University and Melbourne University and other Victoria universities as a research and teaching staff. CSIRO has a world-wide reputation for excellence and achievement in basic and applied research; Dr Zhang was well trained by CSIRO in protein structure-based drug design, materials. Dr. Zhang has investigated the secret of prion diseases and other neurodegenerative diseases.

My Research Interest: Protein structure and function, structural dynamics and structure-based drug design, bioinformatics, molecular modeling, etc.

Dr. Hesham, graduated from Genetics department, Assiut University, He got his M.Sc in microbial genetics from Assiut University, and his PhD degree from Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, CAS in Genetics and Environmental Meta-Genome Biotechnology. He is editor in chief, editorial board member and reviewer of some international journals with high impact factors. He interesting in Molecular Biology, Environmental Meta-Genome Biotechnology, Microbial Ecology, Microbial Genetics (Isolation, identification and sequencing), wastewater treatment,Biodegradation and bioremediation. He expert in Molecular Genetics and biotechnological techniques (Clone library, RFLP, RAPD,  sequencing, phylogenetic, florescent in situ hybridization (FISH), PCR-DGGE, MPN-PCR, reverse transcriptase PCR , real time PCR (RT-PCR) & Monitoring functional catabolic genes and the approaches to link diversity with function in the environment).He has published from 2006-2012 about 25 papers on Biodegradation and Environment.

Industrial Microbiology and biofuel.
Soil microbiology and enzyme activity.
Microbial Genetics and molecular biology.
Meta-Genomics and environmental biotechnology.
Biodegradation and catabolic genes.
wastewater treatment and sludge bulking.

In 1990 I graduated in Biological Science at the University of Valencia and remained there to undertake a PhD under the supervision of Consuelo Guerri at Research Institution (Instituto de Investigaciones Citolgicas), which I completed in 1996. During my PhD my dissertation was Changes of astroglia intermediate filaments gene expression during rat brain development: Effect of alcohol exposure. I analyze the events which occur during the early stages of astrogliogenesis during brain development, using in vivo and in vitro experiments. I did experiments in cells in culture primary as radial glia (stem cells in brain), astrocytes and neurons.
In 1997 I joined Eva Qwanstroms group at the Hallamshire Hospital (University of Sheffiel) in Sheffield, UK and spent three years involved in the identification of an adhesion-regulated subunit of the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor complex. I was working in immunology, cytokines, inflammation processes and matrix regulation of IL-1 responses.
In 2000 I returned to Spain at Department of Physiology, Medicine Faculty of Valencia. University of Valencia and I were appointed to a part-time position as Lectureship. In 2004 I was appointed to a fixed-term position as permanent University Lecturer at this department in the University of Valencia. During this time I was involved in the mechanisms of oxidative stress in the generation of Alzheimer’s disease with Jose Vintildes group. Also at this time I developed my lectures with Luis Such group with who I learned a lot about physiology and how to do a correct lecturer to pupils in my our department.
At this moment I work in Alzheimer’s diseases and in inflammation and oxidative stress mechanisms. Also I would like to work in precursor cells and the subsequently ability to further differentiate into neurons and astrocytes inside the brain. I order a grant from my sanity government and I still waiting for the resolution grant, about stem cells and brain.

Physiology & Alzheimer’s diseases and in inflammation and oxidative stress mechanisms.

Narasimham L Parinandi is the Associate Professor in Department of Internal Medicine the Ohio State University College of Medicine USA He earned his PhD 19801986 at University of Toledo. He did his postdoctoral fellowship 198690 at the Hormel Institute University of Minnesota the premier lipid institute He was also a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 19982002 Currently he is the Chairperson of Education of the Davis Heart Lung Research Institute of the Ohio State University He has published nearly 70 peer reviewed papers was author of five book chapters and edited a book on Free Radicals and Antioxidant Protocols He has teaching and mentoring experience of more than 16 years and mentored over 40 students He served as an editor of the Chemical Abstracts of the American Chemical Society He was one of the members in International Academy of Oral Medicine Toxicology He served as a reviewer of peer reviewed journals in the area of cell biology and Lipidomics He has been on the editorial board of the World Journal of GI Pharmacology He organized many conferences He received many awards like Distinguished Mentor Award in 2008 and Distinguished Undergraduate Mentor Award in 2009 of the Ohio State University.

Lipidomics approach of studying the regulation of phospholipases under oxidative and nitrative stress in the vascular endothelium and respiratory tract epithelium; Lipid signaling mechanism of inflammatory cytokine release in respiratory epithelium exposed to inhaled toxicants; Heavy metal toxicity to endothelial and epithelial systems and membrane lipid signaling; Synthesis, analysis, and biological activity of oxidized phospholipids, oxylipid signal mediators, oxidized sugar and lipid conjugates; Lipid mediators in adipose during sleep apnea; Phospholipidomics and eicosanomics of chronic lung diseases.

25 April 1967  Born in Niigata, Japan
March 1993    B.A. in Medical Course, School of Medicine, Jichi Medical University
March 1993    Doctor of Medicine, Jichi Medical University
April 1993 Joined Department of Surgery, Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital
November 2004    Master of Philosophy in Medicine, Niigata University
December 2005 Board Certified Surgeon of the Japan Surgical Society
April 2006 Deputy Physician-in-Chief of Division of Gastric Surgery, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka, Japan
January 2007 Board Certified Surgeon in Gastroenterology of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterological Surgery
April 2007 Research Fellow of Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center Research Institute
January 2009 Board Certified Gastroenterologist of the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology
February 2009 Assistant Professor of Digestive Surgery, Digestive Disease Center, Showa University Northern Yokohama Hospital

Detection, sorting and analysis of circulating tumor cells,
Super-early diagnosis and estimation of treatment efficacy of cancer

Dr. Synan AbuQamar completed his B.Sc. from the University of Jordan/Department of Plant Production in 1998. Then, he moved to Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN, USA) where he finished his M.S. from the Department of Agronomy in the area of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology in 2003; and Ph.D. from the Department of Botany & Plant Pathology in the area of Molecular Genetics of Plant Immunity in 2007. Between 2007-2008, he conducted postdoctoral research at Purdue University in the lab of Dr. Mengiste, working on functional genomics of host defense to fungal pathogens. Since August 2008, Synan joined the Department of Biology at United Arab Emirates University as an Assistant Professor. Synan\'s current research interest is in the area of Plant Molecular Genetics/Plant Biotechnology. He co-authors a number of publications in peer-reviewed international journals and is a reviewer and an editorial board member of several international journals.

Molecular Genetics of Plant Immunity- understanding the molecular and cellular factors that control plant defense response mechanisms against necrotrophic pathogens, mainly Botrytis cinerea, using Arabidopsis and tomato as host plants. Research Interest: Functional genomics of plant defense responses to necrotrophic fungi. Molecular components of host defense signaling in response to necrotrophic pathogens. Interaction and cross-talk between signal transduction pathways in response to biotic and abiotic stresses Plant Molecular Genetics - understanding the molecular and cellular factors that control plant defense response mechanisms against necrotrophic pathogens, mainly Botrytis cinerea, using Arabidopsis and tomato as host plants.

1994-1998: Firat Univ. Faculty of Science and Arts, Department of Biology 1999-2001: Firat Univ. Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences Department of Biology, Master Thesis. 2002-2007: Firat Univ. Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences Department of Biology, PhD Thesis. The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) Encouraging Award for International Scientific Publications.

I have many studies on systematic botanic, ethnobotanik, rare and endemic plants, medicinal plant, antioxidant activities of plants, DPPH and ABTS radical removal activities of plants, plant essential oils, nitrate contents of plants, plant production strategies and the diseases infecting from soil. I work in many international journal in order to follow the international innovations in the field of plants.

Xuechu Zhen is a professor of Neuropsychopharmacology in the Department of pharmacology at Soochow University College of Pharmaceutical Sciences in China. He was formally a professor and principle investigator in Shanghai Institute of Material Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences during 2006-2011. In 2003-2006, he became associate professor in department of Pharmacology and physiology at City University of New York Medical School. He received his Doctor degree in Medicine in University of Geneva, Switzerland in 1996. His lab is focused on neurotransmission and diseases and related drug discovery targeted to Schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease and drug abuse. His research is supported by National Science Foundation of China, Ministry of Science and Technology of China.

Neurotransmission and Diseases, related drug discovery targeted to Schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and drug abuse.

Crispin R. Dass [(BAppSci (Hons), PhD)] has 17 years of cell and molecular biology research experience, mainly focusing on oncological R&D. He completed his secondary education in California, before moving to Australia for his tertiary education. His research is on systems at various levels-in silico, in vitro, in vivo, ADME/Tox, clinical, and also in biomedical education fostering passion in young scientists. His forte lies in formulation of nanoparticulate drug delivery systems for new and old compounds for cancer therapy. He has worked on projects for Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Amgen, and Novartis. His extensive experience is documented in his 120 papers to date, with publications in Nature Medicine, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Biomaterials, Nucleic Acids Research, Cancer, and Journal of Controlled Release. He is currently on the editorial board of 4 other journals in his field, and has been invited to chair sessions and to give keynote lectures at national and international conferences. Based currently in St Albans (Melbourne, Australia), he has research links within Australia and in Thailand, Fiji, USA, China, South Korea, Japan, Iran and India.

Cancer R & D
Drug delivery systems
Nanotechnology
Cell biology
Molecular biology
Developmental biology
Gene therapy
Protein therapy
Biomining for safer therapeutics
Tissue regeneration

Dimitrios N Bikiaris is an Associate Professor of Polymer Chemistry and Technology in the Department of Chemistry at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He has a large research experience in the field of Polymer Chemistry and Technology, in synthesis of new biocompatible polymers and their applications as drug delivery carriers. He has co-authored more than 170 publications in peer-reviewed journals and more than 128 in conference proceedings and 4 chapters in international books. He has served as reviewer in 70 scientific journals. He is the co-inventor of 12 international patents. His current research focuses on the synthesis of new biocompatible aliphatic polyesters and their applications for drug nano encapsulation and the preparation of drug solid dispersions.

His research focuses on synthesis of new biocompatible polymers, study of polymer blends, derivatization of natural polymers (starch, chitosan), polymer composites and nano-composites, application of polymers as excipients for pharmaceutical uses, drug delivery systems, and investigation of nanoparticles as effective drug carriers.

Vitor H. Pomin was born and raised in Petropolis, a small town approximately 40 miles away from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the year 1980. After finished his high-school studies, he moved to Rio de Janeiro to pursue the degrees of Licenciate in Biological Sciences (2003), Masters (2005) and PhD (2008) at Biological Chemistry supervised by Prof. Paulo Mouro; all degrees from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Right after his PhD defense, Dr. Pomin moved to Athens, GA, USA for a period of 2.5 years to pursue his post-doctorate at Prof. Prestegards laboratory in Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia. Currently, he holds a position of Professor of Biochemistry at the same Institute he graduated, the Institute of Medical Biochemistry.

The research expertise of Dr. Pomin comprises mainly the application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy in Glycobiology.

Bechan Sharma has received his PhD in Biochemistry from Banaras Hindu University-Varanasi, India during the period of 1988. Currently, he is working as a Professor of Biochemistry in University of Allahabad, Allahabad-India. He has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities as a Chairman, Biochemistry Department. He is serving as a Chief Editor/Associate Editor/Editorial member of several reputed journals like Cellular and Molecular Biology -France, International J. Pharmacy and Pharmacological Research, Journal of Environmental and Occupational Medicine (JEOM), China, Journal of Eco-Physiology and Occupational Health (JEOH), India, Int. J. Antiviral & Antiretroviral (Omics Publishing Group), USA, and 17 other international journals. He has authored more than 90. Research articles/books. He is a member of American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA, Society of Biological Chemists, India, Indian Science Congress Association, India, and International Forum for Public Health, Shanghai, China and three other National Scientific Societies in India. He has been honored with many National and International Awards.

Bechan Sharma research interests are Molecular Biology of HIV-1, Biochemistry and Biochemical Toxicology.

Search for novel enzymes for biotechnological applications
Enzymes related to host plant protection from diseases
Search for quality food resources and nutraceuticals in the vast biodiversity of Indo-Burmese mega biodiversity hot-spot.

Sivanesan is an Assistant Professor of Oncology, Drug Discovery Program; In-Charge of Macromolecular Modeling Core Department of Oncology at Lombardi Cancer Center NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center of Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Post Genomics, Comprehensive Cancer.

Dr. Vijay Pratap Singh has completed his D.Phil. at the age 30 years from University of Allahabad and presently he is working as an Assistant Professor of Botany at Govt. R.P.S. Dev P.G. College, Chhattisgrah. He has published 22 papers in reputed journals and serving as an editorial board member or reputed journal(s). His research interest involves stress-mediated alterations in physiological and biochemical responses of cyanobacteria and plants. He is also working on aspect of dual behavior of UV-B radiation in presence of other stress in cyanobacteria.

To understand impact of different fluence rates of UV-B on cyanobacterial physiology
Role of UVRESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8) in perception and transduction of signal for protective responses following low UV-B fluence rate exposure
To understand impact of metal stress on cyanobacterial physiology
To understand stress tolerance strategies of cyanobacteria as wells as plants