MEDCHEMMEET2022

I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1930. My father, who had studied in Vienna, Austria, was a physician and head of the Jewish hospital in Sofia. I went to the American Grade School in Sofia for 4 years until it was closed by the pro-German government. From 1942, for over 2 years –during the second world war - my family lived in small villages in the Balkans. My parents believed that the family was safer there. Nevertheless my father was taken to a concentration camp for part of this time. We immigrated to Israel in 1949. I studied biochemistry at the Hebrew University (M.Sc.) and at the Weizmann Institute (Ph.D.). I spent a year in New York, at the Rockefeller Institute and returned to the Weizmann Institute in 1960. I worked on the chemistry of various natural products. I initiated there my work on hashish, which I received from the Police. In 1966 I moved to the Hebrew University, originally as senior lecturer and later as full professor in 1972. From 1979 to 1982 I was Rector (Academic Head) of the Hebrew University. I retired in 2000 but continued my research. I still have a lab with 3-4 post-doctoral researchers. My work has been mostly on the chemistry of natural products, the best known being the cannabinoids. In collaboration with numerous colleagues in Israel and abroad I have also published in pharmacology and on clinical trials. I have published about 470 scientific papers and have received numerous national and international prizes, including the Israel Prize – the most prestigious Israeli Prize. I have honorary doctorates from 5 Universities (from Canada, US, Spain and Israel). I am a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and was head of its Science section during 2007-2013. I married Dalia (born Borovitch) in 1955 and we have 3 children, Roy, a professor of mathematics at the Technion in Haifa, Hadas, an M.D. ophtalmologist and Dafna, an M.D. pediatric neurologist. We have 7 grandchildren.

Dr. Wei Li is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), and the Director of UTHSC College of Pharmacy Drug Discovery Center. He is also the Founder and CSO of SEAK Therapeutics LLC, a startup company focusing on developing small molecule therapeutic agents. Dr. Li obtained his BS degree in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1992. After a two-year graduate study at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he went to Columbia University and obtained his PhD degree in chemistry in 1999. He has been working at UTHSC College of Pharmacy since 1999. His research focus is medicinal chemistry and small molecule drug discovery. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers, four book chapters, and is an inventor of more than ten issued US patents and a larger number of related patents in other countries. Dr. Li has been actively serving as a grant reviewer for a number of US government, state, and foreign funding agencies. He is also a frequent reviewer for journal articles and is serving as an editorial board member for several journals.

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Professor Zhang is a faculty member of School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University. He has more than 30 years of research experience in the isolation, identification, structure elucidation, analysis, synthesis and biological evaluation of small molecules of natural products, leading to the publication of more than 160 peer-reviewed papers and dozens of granted patents. His current research interest is focused on drug discovery and development from natural resources, as well as the development of botanical dietary supplements from herbal medicines. Specifically, Professor Zhang is interested in finding natural lead compounds from plants found in the Lingnan region of China, and in developing dietary supplements from traditional herbal medicines against different disease targets and pathogens such as cancer, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),  severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), flu viruses, Ebola/Marburg viruses, athlete’s foot fungi, tuberculosis, dental bacteria and cancer chemoprevention.

Patrick Lam is currently a medicinal chemistry and drug discovery consultant at Lam Drug Discovery Consulting, LLC, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and Adjunct Professor at Drexel University College of Medicine. He retired from a chemistry director position of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Patrick joined DuPont in 1984 and moved to BMS in 2001. Patrick has >30 years of drug discovery experience. His expertise is in innovations in structure-based drug design, ADME-T, focused libraries, molecular recognition and nucleic acid therapeutics to deliver biopharma clinical candidates with novel profiles. Patrick is responsible for a total of eight clinical candidates. He was the group leader/co-inventor responsible for the discovery of Eliquis®/Apixaban, a novel Factor Xa anticoagulant drug. Eliquis® is a transformational “mega block-buster” medicine. It is currently the best-selling small-molecule drug, with ~$14B of annual world-wide sales. In 2015, the Eliquis discovery team received the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Award for a successful commercial product that benefits human welfare. In recent years, he has been involved with antivirals (HBV capsid, surface antigen and cccDNA inhibitors, Dengue Fever inhibitors, HIV-DCSIGN blockers), antithrombotics (FXIa and FXa inhibitors as anticoagulants; P2Y1 and PAR4 antagonists as antiplatelet agents), PCSK9 antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapeutics, prodrugs and carbohydrates. Patrick is internationally known as the co-discoverer of the powerful Chan-Lam Coupling Reaction. This is the copper-promoted oxidative coupling reaction for N/O-arylation with arylboronic acids and is complementary to the Nobel-prize winning Suzuki-Miyaura Coupling Reaction. Patrick has authored 103 papers/reviews/book chapters and is an inventor on 37 patents/patent applications. He has presented >100 invited seminars worldwide. Patrick has received numerous awards including BMS Ondetti-Cushman Innovation Award for FXa inhibitor discovery in 2003; DuPont-Merck Summit Award for the discovery of cyclic ureas as HIV protease inhibitor capable of displacing the “structured water” in 1993. Patrick received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester (Dr. Louis Friedrich) and was a postdoctoral fellow in UCLA (Prof. Mike Jung and the late Prof. Don Cram, 1987 Nobel Laureate in chemistry).

Michael S. Wolfe received his B.S. in chemistry in 1984 from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry in 1990 from the University of Kansas. After postdoctoral stints at the University of Kansas (medicinal chemistry) and the NIH (cell biology), he joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee in Memphis in 1994. In 1999, he moved to Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where his work focused on understanding the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s and related disorders and identifying effective approaches for pharmacological intervention, becoming Professor of Neurology in 2008. He joined the University of Kansas faculty in 2016 as the Mathias P. Mertes Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. Awards for his work include the Sato Memorial International Award in bioorganic and medicinal chemistry from the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (2003), the MetLife Award for Biomedical Research (2008), a Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer’s Association (2008), and the Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology (2009).

Prof. Avi Domb earned B.Sc. degrees in Chemistry (Bar Ilan, 1978), Pharmacy (Hebrew University, 1984) and Law(Hebrew University 2007). He earnedDiplomas in Polymer and Textile Chemistry(Hebrew University, 1980) and Executive business management (Hebrew University, 1997) and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry(Hebrew University, 1985). He had a Postdoctoral Fellowshipat Syntex Research (1984-5), and continued at the Department of Surgery, The Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (1985-6), and the Department of Chemical Engineering, M.I.T(1986-7) . In 1987 he joined the Biological Institute in Nes-Ziona, Israel, and in 1988 he served as head of Drug Delivery Laboratories at Nova Pharmaceutical Corporation, Baltimore, USA. Since 1991 he has been a faculty member at the School of Pharmacy-faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University. Between the years 2012-2017 he took leave tohead the Division of Identification and Forensic Sciences (DIFS), Israelpolice, Rank: Brigadier General. During 2014-2016 he was President of the Azrieli College of Engineering Jerusalem,and from 2018 he has been the head of the School of Pharmacy-Faculty of Medicine of The Hebrew University. In 2021 he joined the Ministry of Science and Technology as Chief Scientist.

Hassan Karimi-Maleh works as professor in the School of Resource and Environment, University of Electronics Science and Technology of China (UESTC). He is a highly cited researcher selected by clarivate analytics 2018 (cross-filed), 2019 (Agriculture field) and 2020 (cross-filed) and Top 1% Scientists in Chemistry and Agriculture simultaneously in ISI Essential Science Indicators. He has published more than 250 research papers with more than 17500 citations and H-index 81 and he works as editorial board of more than 20 international journals such as Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (Elsevier, IF 4.527), journal of food measurement and characterization and etc. He work as guest editor chemosphere, Food and chemical toxicology, environmental research and topics in catalysis. He also works as adjunct Professor in University of Johannesburg, South Africa and top researcher at Quchan University of Technology, Quchan, Iran. His research interest includes development of chemically modified electrodes and DNA sensors for food, biological, pharmaceutical and environmental compounds analysis and investigation of electrochemistry behavior of electroactive materials such as polymers, organic and inorganic compounds. Recently, he focused on synthesis of nanomaterials and application of them in drug delivery and energy storage fields. Recently, his group publish a paper in Science (2021).

Professor Des Richardson holds the position of Alan Mackay-Sim Distinguished Chair of Cancer Cell Biology at Griffith University (Inaugral Chair – First Named Chair at Griffith University in its 50 year history), Nathan, Brisbane, and is a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia Senior Principal Research Fellow. He is a multi-disciplinary medicinal chemist/biochemist/pharmacologist whose career has spanned metabolism,medicinal chemistry, drug design/development/commercialisation, cancer biology, and neurobiology. He has published >450 articles, reviews, patents, chapters etc., over his career with >93% as first, senior or corresponding author (H-index: 98; >40,800 citations over entire career; Google Scholar 3/7/21; with >20,000 citations over the past 5 years and H-index of 63 over the past 5 years; Google Scholar 3/7/21). Professor Richardson is an Executive Editor of BBA-General Subjects and has served on the Ed. Boards of 48 journals, including: JBC, Antioxidants Redox Signaling, Biochem. J., Free Rad. Biology Med., J. Clin. Pathology (Assoc. Ed.), Int. J. Biochem. Cell Biology – Molecules in Focus Ed. (for 10 years), BBA-Mol. Cell. Res., Mol. Pharmacol., Pharmacol. Res., Cancers, BBA-Reviews on Cancer, etc. As a major translational research achievement, he developed the anti-cancer and anti-metastatic drug, DpC, which overcomes P-glycoprotein-mediated resistance and up-regulates the potent metastasis suppressor, NDRG1. This has led to commercialisation of DpC and the international company, Oncochel Therapeutics LLC, USA and its Australian subsidiary, Oncochel Therapeutics Pty Ltd. Notably, DpC entered multi-centre Phase I clinical trials for advanced and resistant cancer. These anti-cancer drugs target the lysosome via the P-glycoprotein transporter.

Francis Johnson received his BSc (1951) and his PhD(1954) from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. He then obtained a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1954-1957) at Boston University in Massachusetts studying under the guidance of Dr. Walter Gensler. Thereafter he joined the Eastern Research Laboratory (Wayland, MA) of the Dow Chemical Company, an industrial research institute where he remained until 1973, when he was invited to participate as Vice Chairman, in the founding of anew Departmentof Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y. He was appointedas Professor of Pharmacological Sciences and Professor of Chemistry. He is currently a member of the Institute for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery at Stony Brook University. He was a Visiting Scientist at Oxford University (1967-1968) and was a Visiting Professor at Brandeis University (1979) and at Glasgow University (1986). He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Inventors, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine given his contributions to the fields of Chemistry and the Medical Sciences. Dr. Johnson’s academic research interests include the total synthesis of natural products, new synthetic methods and strategies, heterocyclic chemistry. stereochemistry and chemical biology. He is the author of the concept of Allylic Strain (the fourth leg of stereochemical theory) which resolved most of the so-called anomalous behaviors of unsaturated organic compounds. His review paper on this topic, is one of the most quoted papers in the history of Organic Chemistry. Principal interests over the past twenty years have been in the area of DNA damage, maihly the synthesis of DNA oligomers containing environmentally-induced carcinogenic lesions. He was the first to devise practical synthetic methods for the site-specific introduction into DNA, of the damage caused by such chemical carcinogens as aminobiphenyl,benzo[a]pyrene, acraldehyde, and the oxidative damages known as 8-0xo-dG, FaPy-dG and FaPy-dA. Recently his research has focused on two areas (a) the chemical biology of Endemic Nephropathy a disease prevalent throughout the Balkans and China, involving the highly nephrotoxic and carcinogenic Aristolochic Acids and (b) the development of a new series of drug substances that temper diseases associated with collagen loss.The latter program has generated a lead compound which has now been licensed to a veterinary company, to treat periodontitis and likely osteo-arthritis, in companion animals.

Bruno Botta was born in 1954 and graduated in Chemistry in 1977 at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". From 1981 to 1992 he was a university researcher at the Catholic University of Rome. From 1984 to 1985 he spent a postdoctoral period in the Chemistry Department of the University of British Columbia (UBC, Vancouver, Canada) working on the synthesis and biosynthesis of anticancer alkaloids of the vinblastine-vincristine family. In 1992 he became Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and since 2001 he is Full Professor. Since 2011 he has been Director of the Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". Since 15 November 2014 he is Pro Rector for Internationalization at the University of Rome La Sapienza. On March 16, 2015 he was appointed Chair of Action Cost 1407 "Challenging organic syntheses inspired by nature - from natural products chemistry to drug discovery". He has been invited to lecture at the following universities: Michigan State University (USA), Wofford College Spartanburg (USA), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla (USA), University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada), Universidad de Montevideo ( Uruguay), Stanford University (USA), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil), Toho University, Chiba, Tokyo (Japan). He is the author of 150 publications, of which 5 patents (2 national and 3 international - USA and Europe). He is also the author of 10 books and editor of two didactic texts on Organic Chemistry for the Edi-Ermes publishing house. Bruno Botta was born in 1954 and got his Laurea in Chemistry in 1977 at "Sapienza" University of Rome. During the years 1984-1985, he was appointed as postdoctoral associate at the Department of Chemistry of the University of British Columbia (UBC, Vancouver, Canada) working on the synthesis and biosynthesis of clinically important anticancer alkaloids of the vinblastine-vincristine family. From 1981 to 1992 he was appointed as assistant professor at the Catholic University of Rome. From 1992 to 2001 he was appointed as associate professor of organic chemistry at "Sapienza" University of Rome (Faculty of Pharmacy) and became full professor at the same University in 2001. Since 2011, He was invited to give lectures in the following universities: Michigan State University (USA), Wofford College Spartanburg (SC, USA), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla (CA, USA), University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada), Universidad de Montevideo (Uruguay), Stanford University (CA, USA), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil), Toho University, Chiba, Tokyo (Japan). He is author of 150 publications, including 5 patents (3 national and 2 international - USA and Europe), and, beside that, he is author and co-author of 10 books. For the Italian publishing house Edi-Ermes he edited 2 text books of Organic Chemistry.

Dr. Farid Menaa is an inter- and multi-disciplinary professional with worldwide reputation. He has three international post-doctoral terms in Oncology, Dermatology, and Hematology; MBA Entrepreneurship and MD candidate. During his ongoing career, he has mainly contributed to the identification and functions of new human disease-causing genes and variants, formulated natural products for anti-aging and developed innovative theranostic strategies against cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and infectious diseases. He has more than 10 years’ experiences either in the academic, hospitals or industrial sectors. As Chief Scientific Officer and Vice-President R&D at Fluorotronics, Inc. he actively participated in the development of the disruptive “Carbon-Fluorine Spectroscopy”. Dr. Menaa collaborates with various organizations worldwide. He is a member of several prestigious medical and scientific organizations and editorial boards in the field of medicine, science, technology and business, including in the nano-segment. He has authored more than 100 articles including research and review articles, books, book chapters, textbooks, proceedings, and has participated to over 200 scientific international events including as co-organizer, keynote speaker, chairman. Dr. Menaa’s worldwide collaborations, holistic point of view and strong expertise in various fields led him to prevent, implement early diagnosis, and develop efficient and safer therapy.

Professor Habib is a leading academic hepatobiliary surgeon, Head of Surgery at the Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Imperial College London and Founder, Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer for MiNA Therapeutics Ltd. His research programme evolved from research in oncogenes to tumour suppressor genes, epigenetic modification, gene therapy, stem cell therapy, RNA, and saRNA and RNA aptamers. Professor Habib is the first to trial a first-in-human and a first-in-class RNA oligonucleotide (MTL-CEBPA) in patients with liver cancer, among other accomplishments. Professor Habib co-founded several biotech companies, including: EMcision (acquired by Boston Scientific), OmniCyte, MiNA Therapeutics, Apterna Therapeutics, Medeva (acquired by Celltech), and Bioenvision (acquired by Genzyme).

Peng Zhan obtained his BS, MS and PhD degrees in medicinal chemistry from Shandong University, China, in 2005, 2008 and 2010. He subsequently joined the research group of Professor Xinyong Liu as a lecturer (2010–2012). From 2012 to 2014, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow funded by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) in Japan. He is currently a full professor in the Institute of Medicinal Chemistry, Shandong University. His research interests involve the discovery of novel antiviral, anti-gout, and neurodegenerative disease-related agents.

Dr. Silvia Gazzola studied chemistry at Insubria University in Como (Italy), where she also obtained her Ph.D. focused on natural product synthesis with Prof. Broggini in 2016. She then moved to Bayer CropScience as Marie Curie post-doctoral researcher, and in 2017 she joined the group of Prof. Riedl in Zurich for optimizing natural product-based antiprotozoal drugs. Since January 2018 she is assistant professor at Insubria University in Como, where she is collaborating with the group of Prof. U. Piarulli for the development of novel integrin-targeted delivery systems for cancer therapy.

Uli Kazmaier, born in 1960, studied chemistry at the University of Stuttgart where he obtained his diploma (1985) and his PhD (1989). Afterwards he joined as a postdoc the research groups of M.T. Reetz (Marburg) and B.M. Trost (Stanford). In 1992, he moved to Heidelberg starting his own scientific work as a habilitand at the Institute of Organic Chemistry. After his habilitation in 1997 he was privatdozent at the same University, and from 1999-2001 a substitute of a chair in Karlsruhe. In 2000 he received a Novartis Chemistry Lectureship and an offer of a full professorship at the University Bayreuth. In 2001 he also obtained an offer of a full professorship at the University des Saarlandes, which he accepted in 2001. In 2006 he received a call for a chair at University of Heidelberg, which he declined. His current research interest extends to new organometallic reagents and reactions especially for amino acid and peptide synthesis. Besides the development of new synthetic protocols, the application of these new reactions towards the synthesis of natural products and other pharmaceutical relevant structures plays a central role. He published more than 250 research papers.

Dr. S.Y. Seong, M.D., Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology, now is a Professor and ExDirector of Wide River Institute of Immunology, Seoul National University College of Medicine. He got Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1995. He got Hamchun Medical Award, award of International Conference on Inante Immunity in Greece, the best poster award of DC 2007 in Germany in 2007, Yuhan Medical Award, Seoul Medical Association in 2012 etc. He is also the member of Korean Society for Microbiology, Korean Society for Immunology, American Society for Microbiology, and American Society for Immunology. He was a president of Korean Society for Dendritic cells and secretary of International DAMPs association. He suggested DAMPs model for the first time on Nature Rev. Immunology in 2004, which brought novel insight of modern innate immunology. He is now working on development of new therapeutics for COVID-19, atopic dermatitis and Alzheimer disease based on DAMPs model. He found that GPCR19 agonists could ameliorate inflammation not only in preclinical models but also in phase 2 clinical trials. He has also worked on development of nanobodies in immuno-oncology fields.

Dr. Maric received her PhD degree at the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and joined IDUN Centre for Oral Drug Delivery at the Technical University of Denmark as a Postdoctoral scientist.Tijana demonstrated excellent research potential throughout her academic career, with broad interest in microsystems, nano and microfabrication, nanotoxicity and biomedical application. Overall, her research area developed is placed in the hot topic of nanotechnology and nanomedicine.Dr. Maric is involved in IDUN Drug research by fabricating and investigating micrometer sized motors for their potential in oral drug delivery.

Dr. Xinguang Cui received bachelor's degree from BUAA, China, master's degree from Tsinghua University, China, and Ph.D. degree from University of Heidelberg, Germany, all in fluid mechanics. He ever worked in Nanyang Technological University and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, USA as a scientific researcher. He joined in the School of Aerospace Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology at 2019 and started the Lab of Aerosol Transport in Biological and Environmental Fluids. Dr. Cui’s Lab is interested in investigating the multi-phase flows in the environmental fluids and biological fluids, and then benefit human health and job/living environment. Presently, the Lab focuses on the field of respiratory dynamics and its interdisciplinary studies with the fields of biomedical engineering, aerospace engineering and atmosphere science.

Dr.Mangalagiu has completed her PhD at the University of Suceava (Romania), and postdoctoral studies to the same university. Presently, she is a senior researcher to Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi and lecturer to University of Suceava. She has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals, about 15 patents and has been serving as an editorial board member of several journals. She was awarded with numerous national and international prizes and honours.

Dr. Carry is a research specialist at Rutgers University. She leads drug discovery efforts targeting GABAA receptor mediated mechanisms for the treatment of anxiety that are safe and effective for those with alcohol and substance use disorder. She has a MS degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Florida and PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Rutgers University. Her dissertation research entitled, “Targeting GABAA receptor positive modulation and inhibition of ethanol-induced GABAA receptor potentiation as a novel mechanism for the treatment of alcohol use disorder” led to the filing of a provisional patent and multiple publications, enabling her to continue pursing this promising area of research. She hopes to become a leader in the development of safe and effective GABAA receptor modulators with significantly reduced polysubstance overdose risks.

Carmela Saturnino is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at University of Basilicata. She was the Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Industry-Servier in Paris and later in the University of Caen, France. She is the co-author of 112 publications and 6 Patents. Her research interest is in Carbazoles, Metalocines, Pyrazoles, suzuki reaction, design, synthesis and biological studies and understanding of the mechanisms of action of new therapeutic molecules for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and antimicrobial agents

Dr. Ariane Athena Vasilatis is a researcher from Rutgers University studying alternative GABA A receptor mediated pathways to aid in anxiety and addiction treatment. Dr. Vasilatis earned her PhD from Rutgers University in the department of Plant Biology where she studied natural products chemistry and explored plant phytochemistry to improve human nutrition, health, and food security. Dr. Vasilatis became involved in GABA A research and addiction later in her graduate career after completing the National Science Foundation funded program Innovation Corps (I-Corps) at Rutgers. She hopes that the continuation of this research will help create new pharmacotherapies to treat anxiety, and symptoms linked to addiction, with increased safety profiles targeting high-risk populations for overdose and drug interaction complications.

Simona Golič Grdadolnik is a senior researcher at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana and a professor at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia. She received her PhD in chemistry from the University of Ljubljana in 1994. She performed her doctoral research at the Technical University of Munich under the supervision of Professor Horst Kessler. In 1996 she was a fellow in the group of Professor Dale Mierke at Clark University, USA. She is co-author of 106 publications (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0873-9593) and has been principal investigator of twenty national and international basic research projects as well as development and industrial projects for the pharmaceutical industry. She is currently investigating the formation of ligand-protein complexes from a structural and dynamic perspective in the context of rational design of new biologically active compounds.

Dr. Mihail Lucian Birsa is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the same university in 1995. He joined the master program at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi in 1995, and in 2000 was awarded a Ph. D. degree in Organic Chemistry. From 2000 to 2002, he was a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Professor Samuel Braverman at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. In 2003 he was selected as a member of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, working with Professor Henning Hopf in TU Braunschweig - Germany. Since then numerous return fellowships were granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Prof. Ivana Cacciatore received her master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology cum laude from the University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) in 1999 and she earned her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science (University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy) in 2002. She became Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) in 2016. In November 2020 she was elected President of the Degree Course in Eco-Sustainable Technologies and Environmental Toxicology of the Department of Pharmacy of the University "G. D'Annunzio "of Chieti-Pescara (Italy). In May 2020 she became co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of the SPIN OFF Company "ALGO BIOTECHNOLOGIES s.r.l." covering the role of Chief Innovation Officer (CIO). Notably, she is responsible for oversight and drive of R&D and innovation of Company strategy. Her scientific studies are mainly focused on the design and development of new molecular entities for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. She is co-author of the European Patent EP 3 495 372 A1 "Boronated derivatives for the treatment of diseases and conditions associated to oxidative stress” (2019). She is Editor-in -Chief for Letters in Drug Design & Discovery (Bentham Publisher). Her research activity is well documented in more than 95 papers published in peer-reviewed international scientific Journals, participation to international and national congresses, and interdisciplinary collaborations with academic institutions and pharmaceutical industries.

Alessandro Bruschi is a fourth-yearresident in orthopaedic surgery at Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, in Bologna (Italy), intern in OrthopedicsOncologydepartment. He gothismedical degree in 2017 in Università Politecnica delle Marche, in Ancona (Italy). His researchareas include actuators for muscle replacement, human-machine interface, and orthopediconcology.

Marcela Dvorakova, received her MSc. as well as Ph.D. degrees in Organic Chemistry both from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2007, she was awarded with EST Marie Curie Fellowship for early-stage researchers at School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom, where she worked on the synthesis of sirtuin inhibitors. Currently, she is a senior researcher at the Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where she focuses on the synthesis of natural product derivatives and inhibitors of inflammatory processes. She is a main investigator of several research projects, author or co-author of about 30 scientific papers and co-author of 5 patent applications.

Dr. Linchen He works as Principal Biostatistician in Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. She received bachelor's degree in Biotechnology from Tongji University, China, master's degree in Biostatistics from Georgetown University, USA, and Ph.D. degree in Biostatistics from New York University, USA. Her current research interestincludes development of innovative statistical methods for translational research with unobserved heterogeneity and high-throughput omics data, and investigation of novel approaches tocancer precision medicine and dynamic precision medicine.

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Dr. Mangalagiu is a professor of organic and medicinal chemistry and Vice-Rector with research to Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania. Previously, prof. Mangalagiu served as Dean, Vice-Dean, Head of Organic Chemistry Department, etc. at Faculty of Chemistry. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the research, focused in the area of Heterocycles Compounds with Biomedical Applications. He has over 150 papers, 15 patents, 4 international chapter books, etc. He was Visiting Professor and/or invited speaker to prestigious foreign universities (Ludwig Maximilianus University Munchen and Technische Universität Braunschweig, University of Florence, Universite D’Angers), awarded with numerous prizes and honours: DAAD and NATO award, Costin D. Nenitescu Medal (Romanian Society of Chemistry), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Award in Research, Special Award of Croatian Association of Inventors, etc.

RichardDenk hasstudied mechanical engineering and did examination on Experts of GMP, Qualification and Validation, Pharmaceutical Auditing, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Quality Control on the University of Applied Sciences in Albstadt/Sigmaringen Germany. Richard Denk is workingat the companySKANAG, headquarteredinAllschwil CH in the positionSenior Consultant Aseptic Processing & Containment. Mr.Denkfounded 12 years ago the expert Containment group CoP of theISPED/A /CH. The ISPE CoPContainmentpublished theISPE ContainmentManual in September 2015. The ISPE Containment Manual does provide a full overview on Containment. Furthermore,Mr.Denkisauthor atMaas&PeitherGMPPublishingoncontainmentandhygienic designandone of the authorsof theISPEOralSolidDosageBaselineGuide Volume 2 and Volume 3 and published several PDA Scientific Documents for Preventing Cross Contamination and Cleaning Limits for non-product contact surfaces and is on the PDA Advisory Board for ATMPs. Mr. Denk is Steering Committee Member of the ISPE CoP SPP, chair of the ISPE Special Interest Group SIG Future Robotics, ISPE European Program Committee Member and Member of the ISPE European Leadership Team.Mr.Denkhas spentmore than 20 yearswith the subject of aseptic production as well as of highly active/highly hazardoussubstancesandhas developedthecontainmentpyramid.

Dr. Emine Erdag was graduated from Near East University, Faculty of Pharmacy in Nicosia (Cyprus) in 2016. She received her Ph.D in pharmaceutical chemistry in 2020. Her Ph.D thesis was entitled “Synthesis and Characterization of New 3-Substituted-2(3H)-Benzoxazolone Derivatives as Cytotoxic and Antimicrobial Agents”. She is currently a medicinal chemistry consultant and lecturer at Near East University, Faculty of Pharmacy. Her research interests include organic synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, molecular modelling and structure based-drug design. In recent years, she has been involved with cytotoxicity studies of Mannich bases, cancer biology and QSAR studies.