Anthony J. Berdis, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biology, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH, USA
Dr. Berdis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease at Cleveland State University. In addition, he is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer for Red5 Pharmaceuticals, LLC. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of the synthesis and biological testing of novel nucleoside analogs as therapeutic and diagnostic agents that target DNA polymerase activity. He has published over 70 research papers and book chapters. His research has been funded by numerous agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the American Cancer Society.
Andreas Bender,
University of Cambridge, Chemistry Department, Cambridge, UK
Dr Andreas Bender is a Lecturer for Molecular Informatics with the Centre for Molecular Science Informatics at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Cambridge, leading a group of about 20 staff. In his work, Andreas is involved with the integration and analysis of chemical and biological data, aimed at understanding phenotypic compound action (such as cellular readouts, and also organism-level effects) on a mechanistic level, ranging from compound efficacy to toxicity. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Cambridge Gates Scholar in 2005 and worked in the Lead Discovery Informatics group at Novartis in Cambridge/MA as well as at Leiden University in the Netherlands before his current post.
Irina Babina
The Breakthrough Toby Robins Breast Cancer Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
Irina’s research career commenced by investigating stem-like properties of aggressive types of breast cancer during Ph.D. studies in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. She continued to address clinically relevant questions during her postdoctoral post in Dr. Turner’s lab, ICR, London, where she investigated combinatorial drug approaches in triple negative breast cancer using screening methods. In the past 18 months she proceeded to explore FGFR2 addiction in gastric cancer, to determine effective therapeutic strategies using patient and PDX material. Irina is currently investigating mechanisms of aquired resistance with the aim to establish better therapeutic strategies for treatment of oncogene-addicted cancer.
Ivana Boljevic
Laboratory for Molecular Genetics, Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia, Serbia
Ivana Boljevic, MSc, works as a research assistant in the Laboratory for Molecular Genetics, Department of Experimental Oncology at the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia. Part of her work is dedicated to molecular diagnostics, while the other part if focused on research, mainly molecular genetics of solid tumors, including lung and ovarian cancer. Currently, she is doing a PhD thesis at The University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology, focused on finding potential biomarkers of epithelial mesenhymal transition (EMT) in ovarian cancer.
Marcel Segura Badia
Hospital del Mar. Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
-Surgical Resident 1976-79.
-Surgical Staff 1980-88.
-Section Head from 1988.
-MD by Autonomous University of Barcelona (1.988).
-Associate Professor in Autonomous University of Barcelona from 1.988.
-More than 160 comunications and 30 publications, and 5 patents.
Better publications are:
Lancet. 1987 Sep 19;2(8560):672-4.
Br J Surg. 1989 May;76(5):461-4.
Ann Surg. 1989 Jul;210(1):56-8.
J Clin Microbiol. 1989 Dec;27(12):2656-9.
J Clin Microbiol. 1990 Nov;28(11):2551-4
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1991 Jul;12(7):407-11.
Clin Nutr. 1993 Apr;12(2):103-7.
Am J Infect Control. 1995 Oct;23(5):310-6. Review.
Ann Surg. 1996 Apr;223(4):363-9.
Nutrition. 1997 Apr;13(4 Suppl):30S-35S.
Cir Esp. 2006;80(2):96-100
Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin. 2011;29(1):14-8
Value Health. 2012;15(6):907-15.
Cancer Genet. 2012;205(4):138-46.
Annelise Carvalho
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Mrs Carvalho obtained her Masters degree in Pharmacy in 2012 at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). She is now pursuing a PhD at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium) with a scholarship granted by CAPES/Brazil. Her research interest encompasses the broad field of drug discovery and development. More specifically, her current project aims at deciphering the mechanism of action of a novel beta-carboline derivative as a protein synthesis inhibitor of cancer cells. She received her first Award from the Belgian Association for Neuro-Oncology for her project in December 2015.
Isolda Romero-Canelón
University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
Isolda joined Warwick from an established academic position in Venezuela. Her research looks into the cellular basis for the mechanism of action of metal-based anticancer agents. This has gained her an international reputation, as shown by the increasing number of invitations to deliver oral contributions in major international conferences. The area of research she has established complements the work carried out in her host group which is directed by Prof. Peter J. Sadler, FRS so it has allowed her to develop an independent network of collaborators within Warwick and beyond. Her research has just secured funding from the Wellcome Trust through the competitive Pathfinder award programme.
Alice Carrier
Inserm – Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale, Paris, France
Alice Carrier (PhD) is Principal Investigator at the Cancer Research Center of Marseille (France). She has a long-standing expertise in the link between oxidative stress and cancer. She is interested since many years in the regulation of pro-tumoral inflammation and associated redox dysregulations, which led her to the study of mitochondrial energetic metabolism, the main cell source of energy and free radicals. She is currently leading a research program aiming at deciphering energetic metabolic alterations in cancer, in particular pancreatic cancer. This knowledge could be used to develop preclinical trials with the hope to improve the prognosis of pancreatic cancer.
Christine Dufes
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Dr Christine Dufès is a Senior Lecturer at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow. Her research interests include the targeted delivery of drugs and therapeutic genes to tumours and cerebral diseases. She has been awarded the Biochemical Journal Young Investigator Award (2009) and the Tom Gibson Memorial Award (2012) for her research, in addition to the Best Overall Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Award 2013 for her teaching. She sits on the editorial boards for 17 journals.
Marc Diederich
Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du Cancer (LBMCC), Hôpital Kirchberg, Luxembourg
Dr. Marc Diederich focused his research on cancer and leukemia cell signaling pathways and gene expression mechanisms triggered by natural compounds with epigenetic-, anti-inflammatory- and cell death-inducing potential. He was appointed associate Professor of Biochemistry at the College of Pharmacy of Seoul National University in 2012. Marc Diederich’s research focuses on the development of novel anti-cancer drugs with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities as novel chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agents.
Germaine Escames
Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Professor of Physiology. She has been working with melatonin and mitochondria for 20 years. She publishes more than 120 papers, and recently she studies the oncostatic effect of melatonin. She has a patent of a melatonin gel in mucositis and a clinical trial with the gel. She is edititorial board of the Journal of Pineal Rsearch
Mark Eccleston
Business Development Director, VolitionRx, United Kingdom
Dr. Eccleston is a biotechnology entrepreneur and has held various roles includind CEO of Vivamer, a spin out from the University of Cambridge focussed on drug delivery, Director of Programmes at Aim listed ValiRx plc. where he managed preclinical development of an epigenetic therapeutics platform. He is currently Business Development Director at VolitionRx. These activities are carried out through his consultancy company- OncoLytika. Mark obtained a degree in chemistry and PhD Polymer Chemistry for Biomedical Applications from the University of Aston in Birmingham, UK. He later obtained an MBA (Entrepreneurship) from Dundee University through the Royal Society of Edinburghs Enterprise Fellowship Scheme.
Beatriz I Fernandez-Gil
Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Biologist holding a Master’s degree in Genetics and Evolution. She is carrying out a PhD in Biomedicine focused on cancer and melatonin research. Her background encompasses a wide range of fields like Microbiology, Forensic Science, Regenerative Medicine, Stem Cells and Cancer.
Olivia Fletcher
Genetic Epidemiology The Institute of Cancer Research, London, United Kingdom
After obtaining a BA in Biochemistry from Oxford University, Olivia moved to the National Institute of Medical Research, London to do her PhD working on regulation of gene expression. During her post-doctoral training she became interested in the genetics of complex traits and took up a position as a lecturer in cancer epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2005 she moved to the Breakthrough Research Centre to continue her work on the genetic epidemiology of breast cancer and to pursue her interest in the identification and characterization of genetic variants that affect levels of gene expression.
Qianqian Fan
Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
EDUCATION
2013.9 M.Sc. in Physiology (excepted in 2016.6) , Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
2009.9-2013.7 B.Sc., College of Life Science, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, China
Ana Guerra-Librero
Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Parque Tecnológico de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Biothecnologist specialized in Immunology. She is working in the Biomedical Research Centre in Granada, doing the PhD studying the effects of melatonin in head and neck cancer. Previously, she did her master thesis in cancer and irradiated mesenchymal stem cells, in the same centre. During her degree, she did a training in the Andalusian Centre of Developmental Biology performing a sub-library of C. elegans.
David Edward Gilham
The University of Manchester, Withington, Manchester, United Kingdom
Dr Gilham received his PhD at the University of Dundee, is currently a Seninor Lecturer at the University of Manchester, UK, and leads the Clinical and Experimental Immunotherapy group based within the Manchester Cancer Research Centre. The groups research interests are primarily upon the basic science and translational development of T cell therapies for cancer.
Hala Gali-Muhtasib
American University of Beirut, Department of Biology, Beirut, Lebanon
Hala Gali-Muhtasib is Professor of Cell Biology at the American University of Beirut (AUB). She received her PhD from Kansas State University in 1990. Her research interests focus on studying the role of natural products in cancer prevention and therapy and identifying the mechanisms of action of anticancer drugs. She is the recipient of several research achievement awards. She is currently the Director of the Center for Drug Discovery at the Faculty of Medicine at AUB, a center that aims to ultimately create developmental paths to new discoveries in the drug discovery field at AUB to help in the advancement of therapies.
Susanne Gabrielsson
Karolinska Institutet, Dept. of Medicine, Translational Immunology Unit, Stockholm, Sweden
Dr. Gabrielsson has after her PhD at Stockholm University and a postdoc at the Curie Institute in Paris, established a group dedicated to exosome research at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. She has been a pioneer in the field of immune effects of exosomes. Dr. Gabrielsson was the first to describe the presence of exosomes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and also in breast milk. Her work has revealed that exosomes are major players in lung diseases such as asthma and sarcoidosis. Her work in animal models is giving new insights into how exosome-based cancer vaccines should be designed.
Nikolaos Georgopoulos
Department of Biological Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
Dr Nik T. Georgopoulos’ research mainly focuses on understanding how epithelial carcinogenesis influences proliferation/growth, differentiation and particularly cell responses to death signals triggered by the TNFR family. The aim is to use such knowledge to design tumour-specific cancer therapies. Nik received his BSc (Biochemistry & Genetics) and his Ph.D. (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) at the University of Leeds. This was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the Cancer Research UK Centre at Leeds and an EPSRC-funded research fellowship in the Jack Birch Unit of Molecular Carcinogenesis group at the University of York. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, where he is the Head of the Cell Death and Cancer group.
Stephen Gregory
The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Dr Stephen Gregory is a NHMRC Senior Postdoctoral Fellow and head of the Cell Division and Cancer laboratory in the Genetics department at the University of Adelaide. He received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Adelaide on transcription control. Dr Gregory spent 5 years as a Post-doc with Nick Brown at the Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, UK, before returning to work on mechanisms of cytokinesis with Professor Rob Saint in Adelaide. He has been running his own lab for seven years and is focusing on the use of Drosophila as a model for chromosomal instability in cancer
David Henry
Vice Chair, Department of Medicine, Clinical Professor of Medicine University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA
David H. Henry, MD is a practicing hematologist/medical oncologist and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he holds the title of Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine. He is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Community and Supportive Oncology.
For the past 25 years, he has had a special interest in supportive oncology and participated in clinical trials using growth factors to treat cancer related anemia with or without IV iron, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and bone metabolism due to bone metastases.
Director of the HIV Malignancy Program and Director of the Austrian Medical Student Program at Pennsylvania Hospital
Ana Misir Krpan
University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ana Misir Krpan, MD. PhD. was educated at University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia. She had residency in oncology at University Hospital Centre Zagreb. In 2008 she got a Master of Science, entitled ‘Combined Influence of Hyperthermia and Chemotherapies on Melanoma B16-F10 Growth in vivo’ University of Zagreb School of Medicine and in 2012. PhD. doctoral thesis entitled ‘Antitumor activity of newly synthesized 2-phenylbenzothiazole derivatives in vitro and in vivo’. In 2015 she was on educational visit in Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Italy. Since 2012 she is working as a specialist of oncology and radiotherapy, Department of Oncology, Clinical Hospital Centre Zagreb and is a deputy team leader for CNS tumours. She is a lecturer in undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Department of Medical Oncology University of Zagreb and University of Applied Health Sciences and author and co-author of professional and scientific papers, chapters in text-books and Croatian clinical guidelines for diagnosing, treating and monitoring of adult patients with gliomas of central nervous system.
Igor Malyshev
Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry, Moscow, Russian Federation
Malyshev Igor is a Head of the Department of Pathophysiology and Head of the Laboratory of Cell Biotechnology, Medical School at the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry; 2. Head of the Laboratory of Stress, Institute of General Pathology and Pathophysiology, Moscow and 3. Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Sciences, University of North Texas Health Science Center, USA. He is a Member of the board of directors of the International Society for Adaptive Medicine and an Editorial board member of Journal of Biosciences and Medicines. He has published 3 books and monographs and 153 full length articles. His scientific interests are immunity, cancer, stress and adaptation.
Masoud H. Manjili
VCU School of Medicine, Richmond, United States
Masoud H. Manjili is an Associate Professor of Immunology at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and Member of Massey Cancer Center. He obtained his PhD in immunology from the University of Sydney, Australia, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in tumor immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York. He has developed an ex vivo protocol for the ex vivo reprogramming of tumor-sensitized immune cells that become refractory to MDSC, and protect the host from cancer development upon adoptive immunotherapy. His research is currently focused on the understanding of cancer dormancy, and developing immunotherapeutic strategies that could control dormant tumor cells and prevent advanced stage cancer.
David Meiri
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
David Meiri is currently an assistant professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He completed his Ph.D. at Tel Aviv University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Ontario Cancer Institute/University of Toronto. After his postdoctoral research, he took a faculty position at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, where he presently heads the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Cannabinoid Research. His research focuses on the therapeutic potential of phytocannabinoids, the unique active compounds of Cannabis. Among other avenues of research, he investigates the anti-metastatic and pro-apoptotic effects of cannabinoids, employing various in vitro and in vivo models.
Bethrand Amaechi Francis NGWU
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Clinical Medicine Ebonyi State University/ Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Nigeria
Dr B.A.F. Ngwu is a senior lecturer and Consultant Pathologist with Ebonyi State University and Federal teaching Hospital Abakaliki Nigeria. He has B.Sc,(Hons), M.Sc.(Medical Microbiology), Ph.D (Virology); MBBS, MWACP, FMC (path). He is the leader of Cancer Research Team, has been head of department and coordinator for 3rd MBBS professional examination.
Gloria Ogechukwu NGWU
Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki Ebonyi State, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Nigeria
Dr. (Mrs) Gloria O. Ngwu is a resident doctor in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Federal Teaching Hospital Abakliki. She is a medical graduate from Ebonyi State University Abakaliki and carried out this study with her consultants in the hospital: DR B.A.F NGWU, and DR (MRS) M.U. AGWU; and Prof G.O. EZEIFEKA and MR E.C.AMADI. She is interested in disease prevention especially, gynaecological oncology. She is married with children.
Nives Pećina-Šlaus
School of Medicine University of Zagreb, Laboratory of Neurooncology, Croatian Institute for Brain Research, Zagreb
Nives Pecina-Slaus is full professor at the department of biology and Head of the Laboratory of neuro-oncology Croatian institute for brain research. She has received her BS in 1990. her MS in 1992. from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Sciences, and her PhD in the field of molecular oncology in 1998. from Medical School. She was trained at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York, and at Georgetown University, Washington DC. She was granted 5 scientific projects. Her resarch has led to more than 100 publications – 54 scientific papers, a book, abstracts and book chapters. Her main fields of reseach are cancer genetics, Wnt signaling pathway, tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes, genetics of brain tumors. She is a member on editorial boards of Frontiers in Bioscience, Acta Clinica Croatica, Cancer Cell International and Croatian Medical Journal. She teaches medical biology and was mentor on numberous theses. She was awarded three scientific awards, by Croatian Medical Association, by Academy of Medical Sciences and in 2011. she received National Science Award.
Bozena Smolkova
Cancer Research Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Dr. Bozena Smolkova has an expertise in the field of genetic epidemiology and epigenetics. She is focused on the analyses of DNA methylation in various materials (FFPE tumour tissues, serum and peripheral blood) with the aim to detect EMT-associated epigenetic biomarkers for early detection of circulating tumour cells in peripheral blood. She is also interested in dynamics of EMT-related epigenetic alterations and possible adverse epigenetic effects of environmental exposures.
Khalid Shah
Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
Dr. Shah is the Director of the Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging program at MGH and also a Principal Faculty at Harvard Stem Cell Institute. In recent years, Dr. Shah and his team have pioneered major developments in the stem cell therapy field, successfully developing experimental models to understand basic cancer biology and therapeutic stem cells for cancer. These studies have been published in a number of very high impact journals like Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, Nature Reviews Cancer, JNCI, Stem Cells and Lancet Oncology. Dr. Shah holds current positions on numerous councils, advisory and editorial boards in the fields of stem cell therapy and oncology. In an effort of to translate the exciting therapies develped in his laboratory into clinics, he has recently founded biotech company, AMASA Technologies Inc. whose main objective is the clinical translation of therapeutic stem cells in cancer patients.
Amanda Tivnan
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Amanda’s research has progressed from gene therapy approaches in paediatric cancer to drug resistant adult brain cancer. She developed microRNA expression vectors for stable inhibition of neuroblastoma gene targets, conducting research at the prestigious St. Jude Children’s Hospital. She was awarded the Barnes Medal Award using anti-GD2-coated nanoparticles for specific miRNA delivery to neuroblastoma tumours in vivo. Amanda relocated to Children’s Cancer Institute Australia carrying out neuroblastoma research and progressed to a Senior Researcher role in the Cure for Life Neuro-oncology Group researching acquired drug resistance in glioblastoma, returning to RCSI to study the role of multidrug resistance in glioblastoma.
Mukesh Verma
Methods and Technologies Branch Program Director. Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
Dr. Mukesh Verma is a Program Director and Chief in the Methods and Technologies Branch (MTB), Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Before coming to the DCCPS, he was a Program Director in the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP), NCI, providing direction in the areas of biomarkers, early detection, risk assessment and prevention of cancer, and cancers associated with infectious agents. Dr. Mukesh Verma holds a M.Sc. from Pantnagar University and a Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University. He did postdoctoral research at Howard University and George Washington University and was a faculty member at Georgetown University. He has published 137 research articles and reviews and edited three books in cancer epigenetics and epidemiology field.
Kaye Williams,
University of Manchester, Manchester Pharmacy School, Manchester, United Kingdom
Professor Kaye Williams is Leader of the Hypoxia and Therapeutics Group within the Manchester Pharmacy School (MPS). Kaye joined MPS in November 1996. Following back-to-back Research Associate and Research Fellow positions funded by the MRC, she gained tenure in January 2006, and was promoted to Chair in Experimental Therapeutics and Imaging in August 2012. Her group focuses upon the tumour microenvironment, investigating therapeutic targets, vascular biology and molecular interactions. Kaye also leads pre-clinical imaging development within the Manchester Cancer Research Centre. Her research is funded via the MRC, BBSRC, EPSRC and CRUK, with commercial funding via collaborations with Pharmaceutical Companies.
Jing Jie Yu
Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States
As Director of Molecular Medicine Core Facility at West Virginia University USA, Jing Jie Yu, MD with extensive experience in molecular genetics supports translational and clinical research to other PIs at the WVU Health Sciences Center. Dr. Yu investigations focus on platinum-drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy, especially enhanced repair of platinum-induced DNA-adduct, one of the major mechanisms of acquired platinum resistance. A new platinum drug, dicycloplatin approved by the Chinese FDA in 2012, is under investigation for a potential clinical trial in the USA.