Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Engineering

Leaving GSK after 22 years of service, now she is director of Bio-Mimetic Chromatography Ltd. The consultancy provides data analysis, biomimetic HPLC method set up and measurements, in vivo drug distribution modelling and various courses to pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers of analytical equipment. She is a Honorary Professor at UCL School of Pharmacy since 2004; leading the Physchem/ADME module (London, UK) for Drug Discovery MSc. She has developed biomimetic HPLC methods for high throughput measurements of serum albumin, glycoprotein and phospholipid binding. She invented the Chromatographic Hydrophobicity Index (CHI) for fast determination of compound’s lipophilicity using generic gradient reversed phase chromatography. Built mathematical statistical models based on the measured properties to predict human in vivo drug distribution, such as volume of distribution, DRUGeff max, tissue/plasma partition. She contributed to the Drug Efficiency Index (DEI) concept and dose estimation based on DEI. She is highly skilled in data analysis and data visualization supporting the efforts in lead optimization and drug candidate selection. She has published over 100 papers that achieved over 3000 citations. Wrote a book on “Physicochemical and Biomimetic Properties in Drug Discovery; Chromatographic Techniques for lead optimization” published by Wiley in 2014. She is associate editor of ADMET & DMPK journal and Fellow Member of Royal Society of Chemistry.

Chromatographic Techniques

I have diverse leadership experience as a health services professional with significant accomplishments in all aspects of pharmacovigilance, clinical development, medical affairs, regulatory affairs, primary health care, project management & international health programs. I have vast experience of working in diverse therapeutic areas including rare diseases, novel preventive & therapeutic vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, cardiovascular, oncology, neurology, nosocomial diseases, generic and OTC medicines. I am currently working as Disease Area Cluster Lead for Biosimilars & Drug Delivery Devices at Pfizer. Currently Pfizer has the largest biosimilars portfolio in the industry that includes projects on Inflammation, Oncology, Hematology, ophthalmology etc. My past experience includes working as Associate vice president PV and Therapeutic Area Head (Rare Diseases) for Sanofi Genzyme, working as Senior Director & Director for vaccines PV at Sanofi Pasteur, working as Medical Consultant for Apotex Inc Canada. Prior to joining industry I had worked as Joint Executive Director for Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Registrar of the Post graduate medical institute PIMS and as Deputy Director General, Ministry of Health Pakistan. I have also worked on various primary healthcare, public health, health planning & development programs as well World food, UNICEF, WHO & JICA assisted programs on drug safety, emergency preparedness, and primary healthcare.

Pharmacovigilance, Drug safety.

Emmanuel O. Akala, R. Ph., Ph.D. is a Professor of Pharmaceutics, Chair, Howard University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) and Director, Laboratory for Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery, and Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Drug Products Design. His training is cosmopolitan and his curriculum vitae (CV) provides details of his professional training as a pharmacist and an immunization pharmacist (registered in Utah, Maryland, Washington DC and in Nigeria), a pharmacy professor, and a research scientist with bias for conventional and novel drug delivery systems. Professor Akala received B. Pharm. (Hons) degree and M.Sc. (Pharmaceutics) degree at The University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, Nigeria and Ph.D. degree in Pharmaceutics at The University of Manchester, England (as a Commonwealth Scholar). He was a DAAD Fellow at the Institute of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Munster, Germany, and an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Pharmaceutics and Bioengineering at The University of Utah, USA. He has worked as a pharmacist in Nigeria and USA, and as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics in Nigeria, as a Teaching Assistant in England, as a Laboratory Instructor and Research Associate in USA and Germany and as an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor of Pharmaceutics in USA.

His research interests includes Controlled Drug Delivery and Drug Targeting, Drug Formulation and Stability Studies, Pharmacokinetics in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Design, Pharmacokinetics in Pharmaceutical Dosage Form Design, Drug Formulation and Stability Studies, Biomaterials, Biopharmecutical Application of Nanotechnology.

Anna Szemik-Hojniak is an associate professor (Molecular Photophysics), employed at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wroclaw (Poland). She received her Ph.D in Radiochemistry and her post-doctoral research work she conducted in Belgium [ULB(Phys. Chem)-Solvay Found, dir. Noblist, prof.I.Prigogine; KULeuven-Radiochem.(Inst.Nucl.Sci.,Belg.At.En.Com.) and France (Centr, Nucl. Res,Strasbourg-CNRS). Her scientific interest is in Time-Resolved Emission Spectroscopy (Excited State Electron and Proton Transfer) of organic compounds for high - tech and Pharmaceutical Industry. Dr Szemik performs intensive internat. scientific collaboration with the research groups from Holland (awarded by KNAW and NOW, Europ.Laser Centre), Germany (Berlin), France (Saclay), Russia and Israel. In 2005, at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Wroclaw (Poland) she opened a new Laborarory of Molecular Photophysics. Since 1996, she participates in ICWES conferences (International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists) and during the last 9 years she served as INWES Board Director (“Distinguished Service Award”-2011). In 2007, she organized International Symposium for Women Scientists and Engineers of New EU Countries and East Europe “Strategies for a Highly Skilled Global Workforce” (Letters of Congrats from EC-Directorate of Women in Science and from the Min.Sci.High Educ,-Poland). Anna publishes both the professional papers and those on Women in Science. She cooperates with EC (Directorate “Women in Research and Innovations”) for “Science: it is a girl thing” project (Letter of Congrats from the Polish Ministry of Science and High Education).

Pharmaceutical Industry, Excited State Electron and Proton Transfer

Dr. Anka G. Ehrhardt is a biophysicist with a doctorate degree in human physiology. She is currently working in the United States building and directing a team applying the latest technologies in support of the development of new live saving drugs.

Velvet Revolution in Biomarkers, Science and Business Drivers in Clinical Biomarkers

Dr. Tirotta has been an active member of Miami Children’s Hospital medical staff since 1991, practicing with the Department of Anesthesiology; he has served as the Director of Cardiac appointment with the Department of Anesthesiology at The University of Miami School of Medicine. Dr. Tirotta received his BA from Cornell University in 1982 and his MD from New York University School of Medicine in 1986. He also received an MBA degree from Columbia University in 1999. Dr. Tirotta completed his internship in Internal Medicine at SUNY at Stony Brook in 1987. He completed his residency training in anesthesiology at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1990; he sub-specialized in pediatric and cardiovascular anesthesia, including heart transplantation. He has been the Principal Investigator on a number of clinical drug/device trials, including on the ONQ Pain Buster, the muscle relaxant Zemuron, the procoagulant RiaSTAP, the Cardiotronic NICOM device and the AirPurge.

Cardiovascular anesthesia including heart transplantation

Dr. Adam Le Gresley obtained his PhD from the University of Surrey, working under Professor Nikolai Kuhnert on the synthesis of Calix[4]arene derivatives for dynamic combinatorial libraries. He undertook his postdoctoral work as an NIH Research Fellow at Drexel College of Medicine in the USA, working on the synthesis and evaluation of "caged" compounds for probing biological pathways. Since joining Kingston University in 2009, He have established a research group in organic and analytical chemistry, funded by industrial sponsors such as GlaxoSmithKline and LGC Ltd, working on the design and synthesis of fluorogenic compounds for problem pathogen detection and method development for NMR metabolomics/2D qNMR for complex mixture analysis and metrology. He have collaborations with institutions in Germany, Australia and the USA. He have 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals and 2 patents.

Skin Health, Metrology and G-quadruplex ligand development for cancer treatment

Satyanarayana Somavarapu move to England came with the award of a Commonwealth Fellowship from the Association of Commonwealth Universities and he undertook a PhD at the University of Aston in Birmingham. In 2005 he was appointed as Academic Fellow at The School of Pharmacy and became a lecturer in 2010. He has over hundread publications, including fifty journal articles, over fifty peer-reviewed abstracts and several international conference presentations. He also has six patents on vaccine formulations. His research focus is on designing, understanding & developing technologies for novel nanocarrier systems in overcoming biological barriers for the targeted delivery of small therapeutic molecules and macromolecules (proteins, peptides, siRNA, miRNA) via the pulmonary route in the treatment of lung diseases (lung cancer, asthma, COPD) and ocular conditions.

Designing, understanding & developing technologies for novel nanocarrier systems in overcoming biological barriers for the targeted delivery of small therapeutic molecules and macromolecules (proteins, peptides, siRNA, miRNA) via the pulmonary route in the treatment of lung diseases (lung cancer, asthma, COPD) and ocular conditions.

Pillhun Son earned his PhD from Texas Tech University in Organic and Computational Chemistry and then moved on to work on Material Science and Physical Chemsitry during his Postdoc. He has worked on several database building and information solution initiatives for CAS, including, CASREACT (CAS’s premier reaction database) and the all new Formulations information solution (set to launch mid 2017). Most recently, Pill also acheived a MS in Information Systems from Northwestern University.

Material Science and Physical Chemsitry

Jean-Michel Schermann is a specialist in the mechanisms of drug transport across the blood-brain barrier. The beginning of Jean-Michel Scherrmann's scientific career in the 1970s was contemporaneous with the rise of radioimmunology, which he applied to drugs and toxic substances, developing polyclonal and then monoclonal antibodies. This method of analysis will open up numerous applications in clinical pharmacology and toxicology, the most significant of which have been the pharmacokinetics of digitalis in the elderly, morphine after intrathecal or epidural administration, and colchicine in its various therapeutic indications and in intoxications acute. These same antibodies will subsequently be used as an antidote to acute poisoning. His main contribution was to succeed in the first application of anti-colchicine antibody Fab fragments in man to treat colchicine intoxication. This clinical success expressed a new scientific message about the ability of an antibody to remotely induce the displacement of a quasi-irreversible intracellular drug . This clinical success has paved the way for immuno-toxicotherapy, which takes advantage of the ability of an antibody to sequester and then eliminate a toxicant. This concept of immunotoxic therapy, Was extended to antivenom treatments, then to cerebral detoxification by tricyclic antidepressant antibodies and abuse drugs such as cocaine. This last area has opened to Jean-Michel Scherrmann the way of an in-depth research on protective mechanisms and passage through the blood-brain barrier. With his colleagues, he establishes the first quantitative proteomic analysis of the main enzymes of metabolism and membrane transporters (in particular the ABC proteins) at the level of the human blood-brain barrier. The functional role of ABC proteins in brain defense mechanisms has been amply illustrated by his team as a source of vulnerability and variability of responses to psychoactive compounds. In the field of exchanges at the level of the blood-brain interface, his team is looking for new strategies for brain addressing of drugs , by coupling to vector peptides recognizing the molecular targets of the blood-brain barrier. Jean-Michel Scherrmann is currently Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Paris-Descartes University and Director of the Joint Research Unit (Inserm 705 / CNRS 8206) "Neuropsychopharmacology of addictions". The laboratory's scientific project concerns the identification of neurobiological, pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic factors of vulnerability and variability affecting addictive behavior, both in terms of exposure to natural and synthetic drugs, and to associated therapies including Treatments with psychoactive substances and substitutes such as methadone and buprenorphine.

Mechanisms of drug transport, Neuropsychopharmacology of addictions,neurobiological, Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacogenetic factors.

Dr. Nicolini graduated (summa cum laude) at School of Medicine, University of Pisa in 1974. He received postgraduate diplomas at University of Pisa in Internal Medicine (1980), Pneumology (1984), and Nuclear Medicine (1986). His research interests include breast and gastrointestinal cancer and their metastases, tumour markers, post-operative follow-up, physiopathology, immunology and immunotherapy of cancer, and thyroid tumours. Since 1975 he has contributed to research in neuroendocrinology and thyroid physiopathology. Additionally, he has worked on a study aimed at distinguishing benign from malignant thyroid tumors by fine needle aspiration and biopsy (FNA, FNB). Later, this research has had further developments with studies on galectin. The achieved results have permitted to better select patients with malignant thyroid nodules who need surgery, hence reducing the number of undetected malignant cases. From 1978 to nowadays, Dr. Nicolini is the principal investigator of a clinical research aimed at defining the usefulness of serum tumor markers for early detection and treatment of distant metastases from breast and colorectal cancer. Methods and diagnostic accuracy of different serum tumor markers have been examined. The accuracy of instrumental examinations has been evaluated too. The scope of this research is to offer to patients a post-operative follow-up with high effectiveness/cost ratio. During last decade, his research has been mainly devoted to immunology: specifically, the evaluation of immunogical parameters (total lymphocytes and subsets, cytokines and growth factors) both in healthy subjects, and in breast cancer and in endocrine dependent metastatic breast cancer patients treated with hormone-immunotherapy. Based upon the results of this research, an interpretative model of the relationships between immune system and tumor cell biology has been proposed. The same model has also been applied to better comprehend the improved clinical outcome obtained in gastrointestinal cancer patients at high risk of relapse.

Neuroendocrinology, Thyroid physiopathology, Malignant thyroid tumors, Galectin.

Dr. Sophia Zi Gu is a Professor and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering at University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. She obtained PhD from Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, in 2011, and she was awarded a NHMRC EC Fellowship in 2013 when she started her independent research at UQ prior to joining UNSW in 2016. Sophia has been working in multidisciplinary research areas that combine the knowledge and skills across nanotechnology and biomedicine, and has developed a targeted anti-restenotic therapy and built inorganic nanoparticle platforms for diagnosing and treating diseases. She published in high-impact journals including Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, Chemistry of Materials, Materials Horizons, and Journal of Controlled Release etc. Her recent awards include The Monash Engineering Women’s Leadership Award and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Award. Her research group focuses on developing multifunctional nanomaterials for theranostic application (disease therapy and diagnosis).

Nanoparticles for cancer treatment and diagnosis.

Dr. Dieter Heber is a Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Institute, University of Kiel, Germany.

Antimitotic, Adenosine receptor antagonists, cardiotonics, Mannich reaction, Morphine, sterically hindered, Positive inotropic active ingredients, radical scavengers, Vilsmeier reaction.

Zeeshan Ahmad has obtained his BSc and PhD (2007) from the University of London. He has worked as a Research Fellow on several drug delivery and biomaterials projects at Queen Mary and University College London before taking up a lectureship in Pharmaceutics in the University of Portsmouth, School of Pharmacy in 2010. He then moved to the Leicester School of Pharmacy in 2013, and recently was appointed as the Chair in Pharmaceutics (2016). He also leads a UK wide initiative (academic and industrial) on EHDA Technologies and is also a Royal Society Industry Fellow. He has published extensively and specializes in drug delivery, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical technologies and biomaterials. His research group comprises national and international PhD, MSc and undergraduate students where the focus is on developing advanced nano, micro and macro drug delivery systems through interdisciplinary design, concepts and technology.

Drug delivery, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical technologies and biomaterials.

Dr O’Driscoll is a pharmacist with a PhD in microbiology and working as Professor in Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen since 2010. Her key research areas are novel antimicrobials, veterinary pharmacy, contact lenses, aseptic suite working and contamination control and water treatment.

Novel antimicrobials, Veterinary pharmacy.

Essam GHANEM is an experienced physician and Qualified Person for Pharmacovigilance with almost 25 years of experience in clinical research and drug development in academic institutes, Pharmaceutical Industry and Clinical Research Organisations. Around 8 years working experience as EUQPPV and as consultant Safety physician in the Pharmaceutical Industry.Essam Ghanem is the founder of the pharmacovigilance consultation company Vigi-Care BVBA. At present time, Essam Ghanem is the head of Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance at Keyrus Biopharma (BE, FR, CA, LEB)(*). Membership owner of European society of CRO Federation (EUCROF).

Pharmacovigilance,clinical Research and Drug Development.

Sinerik Ayrapetyan has completed his Ph.D and postdoctoral studies from Ukraine Academy of Sciences. He is the president of Life Sciences International Postgraduate Educational Center and head of UNESCO Chair in Life Sciences. He is the author of 7 books and 185 papers in refereed journals, and is serving as a member of Editorial Board of ISRN Biophysics, the Board of Associate Editors for the "Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine" Journal, Associate Editor for Biomedical Research of "Journal of International Dental and Medical Research".

Metabolic regulation of excitable cell membrane function.

Pierre A. MORGON is Chief Executive Officer of AJ Biologics and Regional Partner for Switzerland at Mérieux Développement, and the Founder of MRGN Advisors. He is also Non-Executive Director to the Board of Theradiag as well as to the Board of Eurocine Vaccines. He holds a Doctorate of Pharmacy, a Master in Business Law and a MBA. He is also an alumnus of INSEAD, IMD and MCE executive programs. Pierre has over 28 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biological industry and in healthcare IT, in marketing positions up to C-level global marketing strategy, and in operations up to general management. He has acquired direct experience with blockbuster products in diverse markets (primary care, specialty care, hospital, vaccines, and biotechnology), geographies (US, Europe, Japan, China, India, Emerging Markets) and organizations.

Pharmaceutical, biological industry and in healthcare

Dr.Anselmo J. Otero-Gonzalez, Microbiologist, Havana University, 1978, PhD, National Centre for Scientific Research, Havana, 1987, Doctor in Science, Havana University, 2008, now is SeniorResearcher, Antimicrobial Peptide lab, Faculty of Biology, Havana University, Cuba and president of National Board for PhD examination in Cuba. He is professor of Cell Engineering and Immunology. 1981: awarded with a fellowship for attending the Uppsala Separation School, Biomedical Centre University of Uppsala, Sweden. 1983: doctoral stay at the Department of Genetics, Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia, USA for monoclonal antibody generation. 1991: post-doctoral stay regarding Cell banking at the European Collection of Animal Cell Cultures, Porton Down, Salisbury. 1992: fellowship for a research project (AIDS-HIV vaccine), Swedish Centre of Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden. 2000: awarded with a postdoctoral fellowship, David Rockefeller Centre for Latin-American Studies, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA. 2011-12: post-doctoral stay at Harvard Medical School for characterizing the antifungal peptide Cm-p5. He also has(2008-present) collaboration with the Bioorganic Department, Leibniz Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Halle (Saale), Germany regarding antimicrobial peptide isolation, evaluation and characterization. In this moment he is applying for projects to be developed at the Centre Interdisciplinary for Neurosciences of Valparaiso, University of Valparaiso, Chile and at the Core Facility Functional Peptidomics (CFP), University of Ulm, Germany. Dr. Otero has more than 90 scientific articles in recognized journals and more that 145 abstract and presentations in scientific events.

Antimicrobial peptide isolation, Evaluation and characterization, Characterizing the antifungal peptide Cm-p5, Plant Biochemistry.

Mb. Rezaee, has extended his valuable service as an professor in Research Institute Forests and Rangelands-Tehran- IRAN. MB. Rezaee international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interests as a professor reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals.

Photochemistry of Medicinal, Aromatic, Poisonous plants

Tirasak has completed his PhD from Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand and postdoctoral studies from NeuroVirology and Cancer Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia. He is a professor in Medical Science Department of Rangsit University. Most of his publications concern viral diseases and immunity in invertebrates, inducible viral receptors and phage therapy.

Neurovirology and Cancer Biology