Current Drug Targets

Dr. Ashrafuzzaman is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is Co-founder (2014-date) of MDT Canada Inc., Alberta, Canada. He did Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Physics from Dhaka University, Bangladesh in 1994 and Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Biophysics from Dhaka University, Bangladesh in 1997. Also, he did Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Biomedical Physics from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2000. Later, he did Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Condensed Matter Physics from Neuchatel University, Switzerland in 2004.

Dr. Maria Grazia Cifone obtained her degree in Biological Sciences in 1978 with marks 110/110 cum laude from the University of L’Aquila, Italy. Dr. Cifone is currently member of the Scientific Committee of Ph.D. Course “Health & Environmental Sciences” of Cycles XXIX-XXXIX at University of L’Aquila. Additionally, she is President of the Education Committee of the Department of Medicine, Life and Environmental Sciences. Her skills and expertise mainly lie in the subject areas/fields of Cell Culture, Cancer Biology, Flow Cytometry, Immunohistochemistry, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Apoptosis, Neuroscience, Cancer Biomarkers, Immunology, Tissue Engineering, etc. Dr. Cifone, as an author/co-author, has published more than 200 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. over 5,310.

Esam Z. Dajani is the Founder and President of IDDC Corporation, a CRO, which provides scientific consulting services for pharmaceutical companies, law firms, and governmental agencies. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology & Toxicology, Purdue University. He is Member of the editorial advisory boards for Clinical Pharmacology: Advances and Application; Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology; Drug Development Research; Journal of the Association for Academic Minority Physicians; Medical Science Monitor; British Journal of Pharmaceutical Research; and Web Med (Scientific Advisory Board/Faculty). Dr. Dajani has published 123 peer-reviewed biomedical articles, book chapters, and patents.

Yanyan Jiang received her B.Eng (2010) and M. Eng (2013) from Shandong University, China and completed her PhD in Prof. Martina Stenzel group at the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2016. She worked for two years in Prof. Itaru Hamachi’s group at Kyoto University under the support of Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship. Since 2018, she has been appointed as a full professor in School of Materials Science and Engineering at Shandong University. Her research interests are in the synthesis of functional nanomaterials serving as anti-cancer drug carriers, biosensors, anti-bacteria, and theoretical studies of the mechanism and properties of these nanomaterials. She has currently published 57 peer-viewed papers in several prominent journals including ACS Nano and Angewandte Chemie, and written 2 bookchapters. She was also awarded the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, the O’Donnell Young Scientist Prize by Polymer Division of Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the like.

Dr. Keeton studied signal transduction driving hepatic gene expression by insulin, both in vitro and in vivo during his graduate studies in the Department of Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). In particular, he studied the transcriptional and translational regulation by insulin, and function of a novel tumor suppressor gene, Mig-6 (ERRFI1), which binds and downregulates ErbB family receptor signaling. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Therapeutics and Cell Biology, Dr. Keeton joined the assay development group at the Southern Research Molecular Libraries Screening Center in 2006. There he adapted cell growth, signal transduction, fluorescence microscopy, and gene regulation methods for high throughput screening automation. In 2011, he was recruited to the USA Mitchell Cancer Institute to design, implement, and manage a new laboratory for automation and high content screening.

Dr. Shiqi Ling is presently serving as Professor of Department of Ophthalmology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, China. He completed his Masters from Department of Ophthalmology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2001. He further obtained PhD from Department of Ophthalmology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2004. He has contributed his valuable publications in different scientific journals.

Dr. Beatrice Macchi is an Assistant Professor at Department of Chemical Science and Technology, University of Rome Tor Vergata. She did her Ph.D in Biological Science from University of Rome “La Sapienza" in 1979. Dr. Macchi has around 46 publications to her credit.

S.K. Muduli is a Senior Post Doctoral Researcher at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, India. He has worked in interdisciplinary field of nanomaterial based energy applications (photovoltaics, solar fuels, LEDs and energy storage). He has been awarded the Best poster award at 2014 INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL on ENERGY CHEMISTRY (ISCEC2014).

Prof. Porro Chiara is an Associate Professor of Human Anatomy at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine - University of Foggia. She received a PhD in “Applied Morphobiology and Cytometabolism of Drugs” from the University of Bari. She was a PhD host at the “Institute d’Hématologie et Immunologie Faculté de Médecine Université Louis Pasteur Strasbourg (France). Her research interests are: Effects of microparticles harbouring Sonic Hedgehog on angiogenesis in vitro and in in vivo study; Isolation and characterization of microparticles from blood and sputum of cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases patients and evaluation of microparticles effects in mice lung; Study of microparticles role in neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer e Parkinson); Study of resveratrol, curcumin, Folic Acid and Vitamin D and their anti-inflammatory action in modulatory response of microglia;She has 35 publications.

Ran Xu is currently working as an Associate Professor of Urology, Department of Urology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central south university, China. He received his degree in Doctor of Surgery from Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. He received Second prize for the video “Advanced laparoscopic radical cystectomy for bladder cancer in female,” Changsha Urology Society annual Meet, Changsha, Hunan, China in 2015. Dr. Xu has published several peer-reviewed articles in well-reputed journals.

Dr Roberta Ottria started the academic experience at Università del Piemonte Orientale (Alessandria) where she graduated in Chemistry. Uno more year of experience in the field of polymer nanocarriers for drug delivery prompt up her to move to Milan to go into biochemistry. In 2009 RO obtained the PhD in Biochemistry at the Università degli Studi di Milano. After some years of post-doctoral experience RO is now Assistant Professor in Biochemistry at Università degli Studi di Milano (Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Cliniche L Sacco) and her scientific interests regard the endocannabinoid system and the implication of its components in cancer and other pathological conditions. In recent years RO has expanded its interests to analytical chemistry as a powerful tool for clinical studies and pharmacological research in the field of drug nanoformulation.

Dr. Sultan Ayesh Mohammed Saghir obtained Master degree in Hematology from University Sains Malaysia. He further obtained PhD in Pharmacology from the same institution. He has twelve year experience in teaching and about eight year experience in research. He has very good skills and experience in teaching, designing and coordinating research projects. He is presently working at the department of Medical Analysis, Princess Aisha Bint Al-Hussein College of Nursing and Medical Sciences, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Ma`an, Jordan. He has contributed his valuable publications in different scientific journals. He has also been recognized with awards such as excellent student and Best Presenter.

Dr Jie Zhang is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Ophthalmology, New Zealand National Eye Centre, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is a translational vision scientist, using her background in biomedical sciences to devise treatments for ophthalmic conditions. Her current research focus is corneal regeneration and replacement using biological scaffolds and stem cells. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters, and patents. Of these journal articles, almost half were published in top 10% cited journals in the field, including: Progress in Retinal and Eye Research and Brain. She has also delivered several invited lectures at international conferences such as the annual Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress. She has supported her research with >$1.8 million in funding including a New Zealand Health Research Council Emerging Researcher First Grant, Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellowship, and a New Zealand Royal Society Marsden Fast Start Grant. She actively supervises honours, masters and PhD students, and reviews for national and international grant funding bodies, journals and conferences. She is a past consulting editor for Clinical Ophthalmology (Dove Press), an editorial assistant for the Asia Pacific Journal of Ophthalmology, and a current section editor for the top-quartile journal, Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.

Bo ZHANG is an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, Weifang Medical University, China. He received his Ph.D. Degree in 2017 in the field of Pharmaceutics from Shandong University, China. His main research interests are currently focused on drug delivery systems, including the preparation and evaluation of novel drug-loaded nanoparticles. 2 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China are currently in research, and 6 peer reviewed journals papers were published.

Dr Hua Zhou is currently a Professor, a Chief of Department of Nephrology and a Vice Chief of Department of Internal Medicine at The Affiliated Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. She obtained her PhD Degree in Medical Science from the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan. Her research interests include Immune-mediated glomerular diseases (focus on lupus nephritis and podocytopathy) and acute kidney injury, Kidney precision medicine: The diagnostic and therapeutic significance of circular RNA/microRNAs in lupus Nephritis and podocytopathy, Clinical speciality: Nephrologist, taking charge of our patients, inpatients, and dialysis unit. She has been honoured with Outstanding Scientists awarded by Liaoning Province Science & Technology Department and has received 7 grants. She has more than 25 international publications and has also been invited to review reputed journals like Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), Kidney International (KI), and The American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.