Current Alzheimer Research

Prof Joël Belmin is head of the geriatric department of a French hospital located near Paris and is responsible for geriatrics and gerontology teaching at the Université Paris 6-Faculté de médecine Pierre et Marie Curie. He has a particular interest in drug use, infectious diseases, cognition disorders, and cardiovascular diseases in the elderly. The scientific work of Prof Belmin is recognized by several scientific publications in high-ranking journals and his team has obtained public funds for research on several occasions from the French ministry of health (Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique, from 1995 to 2009). Prof Belmin is the author of more than 200 publications indexed in Medline database and is the editor of Gériatrie pour le praticien, the main French textbook of geriatrics (Masson/Elsevier Publisher, 2018) and Traité de medicine cardiovasculaire du sujet âgé (Flammarion-Médecine/Sciences, 2007). Prof Belmin is a member of the editorial boards of Drugs and Aging, La Presse Médicale, the Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging, and former Editor-in-chief of la Revue de Gériatrie.

Prof. Alfredo Costa is the Director of the Unit of Behavioral Neurology, IRCCS National Institute of Neurology located in Pavia, Italy and is also a Neurologist. He has a particular interest in neurobiological aspects of neurodegenerative dementias, behavioral neurology. He was the Head of Research Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neurosciences, IRCCS Mondino-University of Pavia. He participated in national and international Congresses as a speaker, poster presenter and chairman.

Dr. Darvesh completed his PhD (organic chemistry) and postdoctoral fellowship (molecular biology) at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. He completed medical training (MD) and residency (Neurology) at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, and a fellowship in Behavioural Neurology, The Baycrest Center for Geriatric Care and the University of Toronto, Canada. He is a Professor and Staff Neurologist, Department of Medicine (Neurology and Geriatric Medicine), Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, Canada, and cross-appointed in the Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University. He has published more than 80 publications and is an inventor of 12 patents and 1 copyright.

Dr. Farlow is Professor of Neurology and Vice-Chairman of Research in the Department of Neurology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He is also Associate Co-Director of the Indiana Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Indianapolis. Dr. Farlow is a member of many professional associations including the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, and the American Geriatrics Society. He is also a founding member in both the American Society of Experimental Neurotherapeutics and the International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology. Dr. Farlow has lectured on the topics of aging, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease at more than 300 meetings, conferences, and hospitals/medical schools throughout the world. He is a reviewer for numerous scientific journals and on the editorial boards of MedLink and Current Alzheimer Research. Dr. Farlow’s research focuses on clinical trials of investigational drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias being the lead investigator for several major studies including; tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine and interests in trial design and safety.

Dr. Greig was trained as a pharmacologist with a background in medicinal chemistry and physiology and gained his Ph.D. from the University of London; specifically, from the Pharmacology Department of the Royal College of Surgeons, England. Leaving the Cancer Chemotherapy Department of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, he joined NIA in 1982. His initial studies focused on optimizing the delivery to and action of drugs within the brain. Leaving NIA in 1989, Dr. Greig was involved in the initiation of the successful California biotechnology company, Athena Neurosciences, now Elan Pharmaceuticals.The company was launched on technology from Dr. Greig's program.

Dr. Schneider, M.D. is a Professor of Psychiatry, behavioural sciences, Neurology and Gerontology at USC Keck School of Medicine and Leonard Davis School of Gerontology of the University of Southern California. He serves as Director of Alzheimer Research and Clinical Center of California at the University of Southern California. His work involves treatment development with novel metabolic and neuroregenerative compounds, outcomes assessment and approaches to modeling and clinical trials simulations. He is editor-in-chief of Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions; senior associate editor for Current Alzheimer Research and Alzheimer’s & Dementia; and an editorial advisor for The Lancet Neurology and the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group. Dr. Schneider won the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry’s prestigious Senior Investigator Award for his research on the clinical neuropharmacology of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Song is the Canada Research Chair in Alzheimer's disease and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UBC. He was trained as a clinical psychiatrist and molecular neuroscientist (http://neuroscience.ubc.ca/people/Song). His lab has made major contribution to the understanding on how BACE1 and γ-secretase regulate APP processing and their role in Alzheimer pathogenesis and drug development. He also investigates the molecular pathways contributing to AD pathogenesis in Down Syndrome. He serves on numerous international grant review panels and journals’ editorial boards. Dr. Song was elected to Fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) in 2012.

Dr. Beyreuther is Director of the Network Aging Research (NAR) of Heidelberg University (since 2007 – present), distinguished senior Professor at Heidelberg University (since 2009) and emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology at the Center for Molecular Biology Heidelberg University (ZMBH). He is Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Hertie Institute of Brain Research, Medical School, Tuebingen University, Germany. Prof. Beyreuther's research interests include the molecular and clinical aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, with special emphasis on Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorders. He has published over 400 papers on these subjects. Prof. Beyreuther is the recipient of several awards. In 2004 his achievements were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Hermona Soreq has a PhD in Biochemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science and is a founding member of the Edmond and Lily Safra Centre of Brain Science at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, where she holds a Slesinger Chair of Molecular Neuroscience. Her major research interests are focused on the cholinergic signalling system and its molecular brain and body regulators, in particular microRNAs.

Dr Nady Braidy is a neuroscientist with a Ph.D. degree that was awarded to him in 2011 from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. Dr. Braidy has international recognition in the field of Alzheimer research and specializes in neural cell therapeutics. Dr. Braidy also holds a graduate certificate in research management (with distinction), Diploma in innovation management (with distinction), M.S. degree in pharmacy, University of Sydney, and B.S. degree in medical science (class I honors in pharmacology and physiology with distinction) University of New South Wales. Dr. Braidy has published over 80 peer-reviewed research papers, 5 book chapters, and 2 books and is an inventor in 1 accepted international patent.

Dr. Alexiou has a BSc in Applied Mathematics, a PhD in Bioinformatics Algorithms and Mathematical Modeling in Biology and a two-years PostDoc Research Fellowship in Neuroinformatics Applications. Nowadays he serves as a Faculty Member of the Novel Global Community Education Foundation in Australia and cooperates with the AFNP Med Company in Austria. His main research field is Biomedical Informatics, with special interests in Medical Decision Support Systems, Algorithms in Neuroinformatics and Computational Biomedicine, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Biomarkers Modeling, and Bioethics.

Dr. Babak Baban is an Associate Professor of Immunology at Departments of Oral Biology and Diagnostic Sciences, Dental College of Georgia, Departments of Neurology and Department of Surgery, Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta University of Augusta GA in the USA. He received his Ph.D. from University of London in United Kingdom followed by completion of his postdoctoral fellowship in molecular immunology at the Medical College of Georgia (currently Augusta University) in the USA. With over 20 years of experience as a translational and clinical immunologist, Dr. Baban’s research is focused on the mechanisms underlying the regulation of acquired and innate immune interactions; pathways by which those responses contribute to inflammatory, immunologic and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition to his academic position and directing immunology/microbiology courses, Dr. Baban is serving as the editor, member of editorial board, and reviewer for several prestigious scientific journals as well as study sections. He is the lead and corresponding author/contributing author of more than 100 peer review published articles, as well as several book chapters. Lastly, Dr. Baban earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Augusta State University in 2008 and his Master of Public Health (MPH) from Augusta University in 2015.

Dr. Sonia Do Carmo holds the position of Research Associate-Charles E. Frost-Merck at the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. She received her Ph.D. from Université du Québec à Montréal followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship at McGill University. With over 15 years of experience as a Molecular Biologist and Neuroscientist, Dr. Do Carmo’s research aims at better understanding the early processes involved in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis using multidisciplinary approaches. She also conducts preclinical studies evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of novel and repurposed compounds. She is serving as Invited Reviewer and Guest Editor for several journals and is a Member of the Scientific Committee for different conferences.

Jolanta Dorszewska, Prof. - a head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology, Department of Neurology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland. Lecturer in National High Medical School in Pila, Polandfrom 2012. She graduated in 1987 from the Poznan University of Medical Sciences; received Ph.D. in neurochemistry (1996) at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences, has got postdoctoral lecturing qualification, Associate Professor at Poznan University of Medical Sciences in 2004 and full Professor in 2016. She has published about 100 publications in journals and books, H-index = 11.

I work at the Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology (CNC) since 1997. In 2007, I concluded my PhD in Biology at the University of Coimbra. Until 2019 I was a Post-Doc Fellow at CNC, with two internships at Lund University (Sweden). Nowadays, I am a Post-Doctoral Researcher at CNC. Currently, I study the mechanisms underlying cardiometabolic, neurodegenerative diseases and reproductive aging, alongside the therapeutic potential of (non-)pharmacological approaches. My goal is to understand the gaps, potential crosslinkers and boundaries of those conditions. For me, this is the way to contribute to Knowledge and Science with Social impact.

Dr. Marc Fakhoury holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (McGill University, Canada), a Master of Biomedical Engineering (McGill University, Canada) and a PhD in Neuroscience (Université de Montréal, Canada). After doing a short postdoctoral research training at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Baltimore, USA), he joined the department of Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiological Sciences of the American University of Beirut (AUB) for a second postdoctoral research training. His research interests lie in the fields of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Psychiatry.

Francesco Fornai, MD, PhD is currently a Full Professor and Chair of Human Anatomy at the University of Pisa. He has expertise in neurodegenerative conditions as witnessed by over 350 peer-reviewed publications. Professor Fornai had been trained at the University of Pisa, Italy and Georgetown University, Washington (D.C.) with brief stages at the University of Washington, Seattle (WA) and Max Planck Institute Goettingen. From the University of Pisa, he completed his M.D. course and received a Ph.D degree in Medical sciences from the SSSUP S.Anna. He was trained as Post-Doctoral Fellow at Georgetown University Washington (D.C.) while finishing the residency in Clinical Pharmacology. He serves as board member in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and Associate Editor for European Journal of Neuroscience. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the newly launched Journal Anatomia (MDPI). His studies demonstrated for the first time an alteration of the autophagy machinery in motor neuron disease and provided innovative methods to explore the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration. He developed novel experimental models to reproduce and comprehend Parkinson's Disease and, in collaboration with the Nobel Prize Dr. Thomas Sudhof, they demonstrated the detrimental effects of the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein in Parkinsonism.

Prof. Roman Maciej Kalina is a full professor and the founder of innovative agonology (cognitive behavioural prevention and therapy of all dimensions of health and enhancement of survival ability). He showed that age, gender, physical fitness, and health for e.g.limb amputations, blindness and eye disorders, morbid obesity, intellectual disability, do not limit the effective learning of safe falls. His 'Rotational Test' is a reliable preclinical tool for diagnosing the efficiency of the nervous system components responsible for maintaining the balance. Since 2005, he has been a founder and editor-in-chief of Archives of Budo, indexed by WoS Core Collection.

Dr. Mohammad Amjad Kamal is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. He is leading a highly productive global collaborative research team based on “Novel Global Community Educational Foundation”, Australia. Dr. Kamal did biochemical research in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, Type 2 diabetes and leukemia and has culminated in more than 600 publications in the internationally reputed journals. Dr. Kamal migrated to Australia in 1998 and was awarded a prestigious U2000 Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2000 by the University of Sydney, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences. Amongst numerous projects, Dr. Kamal also collaborated on the “Linkage of Alzheimer’s disease and Type 2 diabetes” at the University of Technology, Sydney. Moreover, he is serving as a regional/guest editor of several reputed scientific journals such as Seminars in Cancer Biology and Neuroscience Biobehaviour Reviews. He is also serving as a Visiting Professor at the West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China and Department of Pharmacy, Daffodil International University, Bangladesh.

Dr. Giuseppe Lanza is a Senior Academic Researcher and Assistant Professor at the University of Catania, Italy. After graduation with honors in Medicine, he trained at the School of Neurology and got an international PhD. As Clinical Research Fellow, he further trained in Clinical Neurophysiology at Newcastle University, UK. He obtained the Master of Science in Clinical Research and the National Scientific Qualification as a Full Professor. From 2013 to 2018 he worked as a Consultant Neurologist at Oasi Research Institute–IRCCS in Troina, Italy, a WHO Collaborating Center. He authored more than 100 scientific publications and serves as Editor and Reviewer of several Journals.

Dr. T. Moos is a Professor and Head of the Neurobiology Research group at Aalborg University. He obtained his degree in medical science in 2002. He is the Editorial Board Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Ad hoc referee for at least 35 international basic, clinical and neuroscience journals. He is an Elected member of the Academic Council at the Faculty of Health Aalborg University. Dr. Moos has 97 publications in international journals and books with H-index 37 (Web of Science), 39 (Google Scholar) Citations: 4856 (Web of Science), 5001 (Google Scholar).

Vasileios Papaliagkas MD/ PhD, MSc is an Associate Professor of Physiology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the International Hellenic University. His research interests include the study of cognitive functions with neurophysiological markers in patients with neurodegenerative, demyelinating diseases and epilepsy, as well as the search for prognostic biomarkers of the transition of Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer's disease. He has authored 34 scientific papers (329 citations excluding self citations of all authors, h-index 11) and gave more than 90 presentations in international and national conferences. He is a member of the Scientific Panels of 1) Clinical Neurophysiology and 2)Dementia and Cognitive Disorders of the European Academy of Neurology

Fabrizio Vecchio is the Associate Professor of Physiology in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, eCampus University, Novedrate, Como, Italy. His goal is to investigate the neurophysiological mechanisms of the main cognitive processes at various ages and in situations of degenerative pathologies. He is devoted to the study of brain connectivity during the past 20 years within the study of the connectome, as evidenced by the participation in several international panels of experts, for the assessment of physiological and pathological aging.

Ken-ichiro Yamashita, is an Associate Professor and a member of Translational Neuroscience Center, International University of Health and Welfare. His main research interests lie in the fields of functional imaging in dementia patients. In particular, he is interested in the functional connectivity change associated with pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Atwood obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. He has held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and Case Western Reserve University prior to his current appointments as an Associate Professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Medicine, and as a Health Science Specialist within the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Administration Hospital, Madison. He has published more than 150 scientific publications, is an inventor on 8 issued U.S. patents and is a top cited author (h-index =45). He has received a number of awards for his teaching and research, including the Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer’s Association.

I received a Master Degree in Psychology and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences. Since 2012, I am a tenured Associate Professor of Physiology at the Medical Faculty of Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). To date, I lead the Laboratory of Neurosciences of human higher functions the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology "V. Erspamer". My main scientific interest is focused on the neurophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative dementing disorders by the study of resting state electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms, from basic science to clinical trials.

Dr. Barger received a B.A. and the Spessard Award for Biology from Hendrix College and then obtained a Ph.D. in Cell Biology at Vanderbilt University. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Kentucky, he became the first recipient of the Inglewood Fellowship for Alzheimer's research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where is currently Professor in three departments: Geriatrics, Neurobiology & Developmental Sciences, and Internal Medicine. Since 1996, he has been jointly appointed at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Barger has published extensively in the field of neuroscience and neurological disease and has been funded nearly continuously by one or more grants from the National Institutes of Health since 1994. He is active on the editorial boards of five scientific journals. He is also an instructor and a research advisor for graduate students, including serving as course director for “The Basic Biology of Aging.

Dr. Bush, serves as Head of the Oxidation Disorders Laboratory for the Mental Health Research Institute, University of Melbourne. Dr. Bush has authored over 240 publications, with over 17,000 citations, 21 patents and founded 3 biotechnology companies. Dr. Bush is the recipient of several awards including the Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s disease research from the American Academy of Neurology, the Paul B. Beeson Award in Aging from The National Institute on Aging and the American Federation for Aging Research and the Senator Mark A. Hatfield Award for Clinical Research from the Alzheimer’s Association. He is Board Certified Psychiatrist. He earned a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, and did postdoctoral research at Harvard.

Dr. Cantarella obtained her MD degree from the University of Catania Medical School, and her Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Immunopharmacology from the University of Palermo, Italy. She held positions as Visiting Fellow and Visiting Scientist at The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, working with Professor Wallach on the discovery of novel proteins of TNF signaling pathway. Dr. Cantarella was thereafter appointed as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Catania Medical School and rapidly rose through the Academic ranks until appointed as Associate Professor of Pharmacology. Her research focuses on the role of neuroinflammation in neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Shengdi Chen obtained M.D. and Ph.D. in Neurology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Dr. Chen is currently a Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China. His main interests are the studies of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. He has published more than 600 scientific publications papers and received 29 awards in the Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease studies as well as 43 grant supports. Dr. Chen was the founding Editor (2012) and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Translational Neurodegeneration journal, published by BioMed Central.

Dr. Anna Chiarini is Assistant Professor at Verona University Medical School, Italy. After obtaining a BSc in Biological Sciences from Milan University, (Italy) she gained her PhD in Chronic and Degenerative Diseases from Verona University. Her scientific interests are in Alzheimer’s Disease pathogenesis using omics strategies and cellular and biochemical assays. Her research is currently focused on elucidating the human neural calcium-sensing receptors (CaSRs) roles in Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Claassen obtained his MD and PhD in Medicine from Radboud University, the Netherlands. He is a board certified geriatrician, and associate professor at the Radboud University Medical Center. He is also appointed as Principal Investigator at the Donders Institute. His research interests are cerebral hemodynamic regulation in aging and Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension, and syncope. Dr .Claassen has published over 100 scientific publications.

Dr. Combs obtained a doctorate (PhD) in Neurobiology and Anatomy from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. He performed his post-doctoral studies at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Neurosciences in the Alzheimer’s Research Laboratory in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Combs is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Forks, ND. His work has focused on neuroinflammatory aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and microglial activation along with the biology of amyloid precursor protein.

Dr. Counts received his undergraduate degree from Davidson College, concentrating in History and English. After working for several years as a chemist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, he went on to earn his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Emory University in 2000. He was appointed to an Assistant Professor of Neurological Sciences at Rush in 2003. In 2013, Dr. Counts was recruited to Michigan State University as an Associate Professor of Translational Science and Molecular Medicine (primary) and Family Medicine (secondary) at the Grand Rapids campus. His research has been continuously funded since 1998 and he is an author of over 50 papers and book chapters on the molecular pathogenesis of AD. When not in the lab, Scott has enjoyed exploring Grand Rapids and western Michigan with his family.

Prof. Cuello has been trained at the Universities of Buenos Aires U. C. San Francisco and Cambridge. He held research and academic positions in the Department of Cell Biology at UBA and in the Department of Pharmacology at both Cambridge and Oxford. He is a past Chair of the McGill Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and presently holds the Charles E. Frosst Merck Chair within the same Department. He is also currently an Associate Member of the Departments of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University, adjunct Professor of the Scripps Institute (LaJolla) and Visiting Professor at Oxford University. Dr Cuello’s lab is interested in degenerative and regenerative processes in the CNS with particular emphasis on aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related studies.

Prof. Evandro Fei Fang works on the molecular mechanisms of ageing and how ageing affects Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at The University of Oslo, Norway. His team discovered defective mitophagy as a contributor to AD and has been working on the underlying molecular mechanisms and related drug development. He has received several awards including The NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence 2014, 2015, an awardee of the Butler-Williams Scholar on Aging 2016 (USA), a FRIMEDBIO Young Research Talent 2017 (Norway), a finalist in the 2017 ERC Starting grant, and the Norwegian Cancer Society Pink Ribbon 2020 grant.

Dr. Fernández-Blázquez received his PhD in Neuroscience from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Health Psychology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Previously, he headed the Department of Neuropsychology at Fundación Centro de Investigación de Enfermedades Neurológicas (CIEN), where he led several research projects related to healthy and pathological cognitive aging. His research focuses primarily on the very early detection of cognitive impairment, as well as on prevention and protective factors of dementia.

Mr. Flemmig has obtained his PhD on the role of myeloperoxidase during termination of inflammation in 2011. He received several grants to continue his research on innate immunity and heme peroxidase activity. Currently he broadens his research field to also include non-classical heme peroxidase activities. For instance, in a current project he investigates the role of free heme and Aβ-heme complexes at Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Friedland (MD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, 1973) completed a fellowship in brain aging and dementia at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and worked as Chief Neurologist at the Donner Laboratory, University of California Berkeley. His work has focused on multidisciplinary approaches to neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Friedland sees patients with a focus on cognitive/behavioral/geriatric neurology. He is interested in preventive medicine and has been involve in research studies in the Middle East, Africa and Japan. He has authored or coauthored over 200 scientific publications in refereed journals and his work has been cited over 10,000 times. His current approach to the mechanisms of initiation of neurodegeneration developed from a longstanding interest in the biology of brain aging.

Othman Ghribi has completed his Ph.D in Neuropharmacology in 1994 at the University René Descartes, Paris France, and postdoctoral studies from The University of Quebec (1996-1999). Dr Ghribi then joined the Department of Pathology at the University of Virginia (1999-2004) and the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine in 2004. He has published more than 80 papers and is serving on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Current Alzheimer’s disease, and the Journal of Neurodegenerative Diseases. Dr. Ghribi’s current research is funded by the national Institute of Health and focuses on the role of environmental factors (chemical and dietary) and genetic susceptibility in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease.

Ezio Giacobin received his Ph.D. in Cellular Neuropharmacology from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden in 1959. Since July 1995, he is a professor associated with the Dept. of Internal Medicine, Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, University of Geneva Medical School in Geneva, Switzerland and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology, Psychiatry and Neurology at the Southern Illinois School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, USA. His major research interest is in the pre-clinical and clinical development of drug therapy for Alzheimer’s disease. His present research is in the area of a-beta oligomers, their origin, localization, and relation to Alzheimer's pathology and new drug development. He received the lifetime achievement award in Alzheimer’s Disease Research from the Alzheimer Association (USA) at the 8th Int. Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Stockholm, July 2002.

Dr. Ginsberg is a Research Scientist in NKI's Center for Dementia Research (CDR) and a tenured Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry, Physiology and Neuroscience, New York University Langone Medical Center (NYULMC). Dr. Ginsberg’s editorial responsibilities include serving as Academic Editor for PLoS One and Associate Editor for Translational Neuroscience. Steve also currently serves on the Editorial Board of 8 journals. The main goal of the Ginsberg laboratory is to understand the molecular and cellular substrates that regulate selective vulnerability of neurons to degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Down syndrome (DS), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Prof. F.S. Giorgi graduated in Medicine from the University of Pisa and SSSUP Sant’Anna; then he obtained a PhD in Neuroscience and Neurologist Residency diploma in Pisa, and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (New York). Throughout his whole scientific career, he has been studying the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders and epilepsy both in experimental models, and in patients. His interest in Alzheimer’s Disease is mainly focused on the role of subcortical nuclei in modulating neurodegeneration with an emphasis on novel disease biomarkers and precision medicine perspectives. He has authored more than 120 articles in peer-reviewed international Journals.

Dr. Yian Gu obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Epidemiology from New York University, New York. During her postdoctoral training at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, she applied nutritional epidemiology to understand the role of dietary factor in Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive decline in the elderly, as well as many other neurodegenerative diseases. Currently Dr. Gu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York. She has published more than 50 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

Dr. Huang, Yue obtained MBBS degree from Harbin Medical University, China in 1991, trained as a neurologist, and practiced in clinics for nine years. She started her postdoctoral research in neuropathology at Neuroscience Research Australia in Sydney, Australia in 2003, following her PhD completion on neurogenetics (Capital Medical University, Beijing, China) and proteomics (Flinders University, SA, Australia). Her research interest is neurodegenerative disorders. Currently, Dr. Huang, Yue is a conjoint associate professor in UNSW Australia, and an honorary neuropathology consultant in Human Brain Tissue Bank of Peking Union Medical College.

Dr. Christian Humpel is Prof. of Neurobiology at the Medical University Innsbruck, Austria. He is an expert on Alzheimer´s disease and focuses on the role of the vascular system and of blood cells (esp. platelets) on plaque development. He has also more than 15 years of experience using organotypic brain slices, where the elimination of plaques can be studied. He further is keen to find new biomarkers in CSF and blood to diagnose dementia. He has published more than 190 peer-reviewed papers. He supports CAR as an Editorial board member and is Section-Editor for Experimental Gerontology (homepage: http://www2.i-med.ac.at/psychlab/).

Dr. Nibaldo C. Inestrosa is Full Professor of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Director of the Center for Aging and Regeneration (CARE) focused on the study of innovative therapeutic approaches to fight Alzheimer´s Disease and related chronic disorders. Dr. Inestrosa is an expert on the field of Neurobiology with a special interest on Neurodegenerative Diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and its relationship with the Wnt Signaling Pathway. He is also Director of the Center for Cell Regulation and Pathology (CRCP) FONDAP-Biomedicine. He is author of around 170 scientific publications in prestigious scientific journals and directed 16 PhD thesis and 18 undergraduate thesis. His work has been cited on scientific works nearly 4500 times.

Prof. Jia is Senior Physician and Professor in Neurology, Dean of Neurology College，Beijing Capital Medical University, Chairman of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Committee of Chinese Medical Doctor Association, Chairman of China Cognition Disorders Society, President of China Dementia Society, Chairman of the Neurologist Society of Chinese Medical Doctor Association (2003-2013), President of Neurology committee of Chinese Medical Association (2009-2013). Professor Jia research interest includes Alzheimer's disease and its genetic pathogenesis; Clinical trial for cognitive disorders; Multi-center or national epidemiological survey of cognitive disease. Professor Jia is an experienced neurologist, also keen on the education of the medical student. He is the editor in chief of a series of neurology text book including Neurology(6th edition and 7th edition) and resident Neurology in China. He totally published 45 medical books, in which the editor in chief for 25 books.

Dr. Jiang obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Physiology from Qingdao University, China. Currently Dr. Jiang is a tenured Professor in Qingdao University School of Medicine. She was awarded Taishan Scholarship in 2015. She has published more than 60 scientific publications. She is the member of a council, the Chinese Neuroscience Society and Chinese Association for Physiological Sciences.

Professor Kalaria is the lead organiser of the Symposium. He has acted in a similar capacity for Symposia held in 2001, 2007 and 2012. Prof Kalaria is also the liaison officer between the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) and World Federation of Neurology (WFN). He has an international reputation for work on dementia and was instrumental in developing the ‘vascular hypothesis of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease’ and on risk factors of VaD and AD in indigenous populations of developing countries. Most recently, he worked with the Fogarty International Centre to produce (as co-Editor) a series of review articles in the Nature Supplement on Brain Disorders Across the Life Span (Silberberg et al., 2015).

Dr. Lariccia received his Ph.D. degree in Neuroscience from the University “Federico II”, Naples, Italy. He joined as Assistant Professor of Pharmacology the University “Politecnica delle Marche”, following completion of his studies on the regulation of Na-transporters by surface membrane turnover with Dr. Donald W. Hilgemann at the UTSouthwester, Dallas. Dr. Lariccia use electrical and optical methods to investigate the regulatory processes that govern the activity of Na-transporters, recently with a focus on the functional interaction between NCXs and glutamate transporters from EAAT family.

Dr. Lee received B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania both in Chemical Engineering. After completing his postdoctoral training at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he joined the University of Missouri as an assistant professor, and later the University of Illinois at Chicago as an associate professor of Bioengineering. His research focuses on the roles of membrane biophysics and cell mechanics in cellular pathways involved in neurodegenerative diseases and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer's Association. He has published more than 50 scientific peer-reviewed articles.

Dr. Lemere, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Neurology in the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Her research focuses on using the immune system therapeutically for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. She serves on several national and international scientific advisory boards, including the ADPD Scientific Advisory Council, the Brightfocus Foundation Scientific Review Council, the National Alzheimer’s Assocation Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, and the DIAN-TU Therapeutic Evaluation Committee. In addition, she serves as a scientific advisor for several companies.

Dr. Li is a Professor of Neurobiology and Neurogenetics at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. He also serves as deputy-director of Clinical Neuroscience Institute of Jinan University, Guangzhou. He graduated from the Jilin University in Changchun with a BSc in Biochemistry in 1993 and obtained Ph.D. in Molecular Epidemiology from Harbin Medical University in 2004. Dr. Li’s laboratory focuses primarily on identifying genetic variants that modulate the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other neuropsychiatric disorders. For this purpose, his group combines genomic, genetic and bioinformatics approaches to gain predictive insights into these diseases.

Dr. Lombardi is the Research Director of the Nevada Center for Biomedical Research and an Associated Professor of Pathology at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. His current research focus is to understand the contributions of gut mucosal immunity to the pathophysiology of chronic neuroimmune diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Dr. Lombardi received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2007 and has worked in clinical research and laboratory medicine for the past 10 years. He has served as P.I. on NIH and DOD grants to understand neuroimmune diseases including Gulf War Illness and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and has also served on NIH and DOD study sections.

Dr. Carmela Matrone obtained degree in Chemical and Pharmacological Technologies from University of Naples Federico II, Italy. He further obtained Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2004 from the same institution. Dr. Matrone is presently serving as an Associate Professor in Pharmacology at the Dept. of Neuroscience, University Federico II of Naples. Dr. Matrone has contributed more than 40 publications, having citations around 988. Dr. Matrone has also some postdoctoral appointments such as Post doc fellowship in National Research Council in 2010 and Junior Researcher National Research Council (CNR)/European Center in Brain Research (CERC), Rome, Italy.

Daniel M. Michaelson is Professor of Neurobiology at Tel Aviv University. He graduated from the Hebrew university in Jerusalem with a BSc in Physics and mathematics in 1968 and obtained in PhD in Biophysics from UC Berekely in 1973 . His post doctoral training was in neurochemistry at the labortatory of Professor M.A. Raftery at CalTech where he studied the nictonic acetylcholine and it's functional reconstitution He joined the faculty of life science at el Aviv university in 1974 where his research first focused on neurotransmitter release. His current research focuses on AD and the mechanisms underlying the effects of APOE4 the most prevalent genetic risk factor of AD. He is the incumbent of the Lebach chair in molecular Neurodegenration.

Prof. Monastero is an Italian board certified Neurologist, PhD in Neurophysiopathology, with 4-year research fellowship in Neuropsychology at the University of Palermo with specific training in behavioural neurology and neuropsychology. He spent nearly 3 years at the Aging Research Center, Geriatric Epidemiology Section, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, where he obtained a Marie-Curie Post-Doc Fellowship. He is Associate Professor of Neurology at the Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Palermo and coordinate the activity of the Memory Clinic at the Universitary Hospital in Palermo. He has published more than 70 scientific publications. His research focuses on the epidemiology aspects of dementia, pre-dementia syndromes and Parkinson's disease.

Elliot Mufson, PhD, is the director of the Alzheimer’s disease research laboratory at Barrow Neurological Institute. Dr. Mufson’s expertise includes Alzheimer’s disease and neurodegenerative disease. He is a member of the Society of Neuroscience, American Association of Anatomists, International Brain Research Organization and the International Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Mufson received his doctorate from Downstate Medical Center, New York, in biological psychology and he was a research fellow in neurology at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston. Dr. Mufson’s research includes trophic factors in aging and Alzheimer’s disease, central cholinergic systems in Alzheimer’s disease, and neuroanatomy of cortical and limbic areas in primate brain.

Dr. Ohyagi graduated Kyushu University School of Medicine (Japan) in 1985. He is a clinical neurologist as well as neuroscientist in neurobiology and neurochemistry of Alzheimer’s disease. He worked at Case Western Reserve University and Mayo Clinic Florida (USA) from 1994 to 1997. After the professor of Neurological Therapeutics in Kyushu University, he became the professor and chairman of Department of Neurology and Geriatric Medicine in Ehime University (Japan) from 2015.

Dr. Huntington Potter is Professor of Neurology, a member of the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and Director of the University of Colorado Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He studied, researched and taught for 30 years at Harvard University, and then designed and directed the Florida-wide Byrd Alzheimer’s Center & Research Institute. He is author of over 100 scientific articles, books and patents, is a Fellow of the AAAS and the National Academy of Inventors. His electron micrographs of DNA are on permanent exhibit in the Smithsonian Institute.

Bill Rebeck studies genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease using cell culture and animal models. He received his AB in Chemistry from Cornell University (1982) and his PhD in Toxicology from Harvard University (1990). He studied Alzheimer’s Disease on a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Heidelberg (1991) and APOE and Alzheimer’s Disease at Massachusetts General Hospital (1992-2002). In 2003, he joined the faculty of Georgetown University. In 2013-14, he was Interim Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He is a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Neuroscience.

Prof. Reddy is Executive Director & Chief Scientific Officer, Garrison Institute on Aging Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry Adjunct Professor, Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. The focus of his research is on understanding the molecular and cellular bases of aging in age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington. He is an associate/academic editor for eight journals, including the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, PLoS ONE, the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences, BBA-Molecular Basis of Disease, Clinical Practice, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease & Parkinsonism, Journal of Neuroinfectious Disease and an editorial board member for more than 20 journals. He is the author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. In 2003, he was the recipient of the Mentor Appreciation Award from OHSU.

He is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rogers’ laboratory studies iron metabolism and how it impacts on disease process such as anemia and Alzheimer's disease. His scientific focus has been to study the translational regulation of the mRNAs for the Alzheimer's Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) and the subunits of the iron storage protein ferritin. Dr. Rogers has several ongoing collaborative projects including examining whether iron and inflammation regulate ferritin gene expression and translation in liver cells (Dr. K Bridges, Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston) and how thyroid hormone and Thyroid-Releasing Hormone cooperatively increase ferritin gene expression in Pituitary cells (Dr. P. Leedman Univ. Perth Western Australia).

Dr. Salehi (M.D., Ph.D.) is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medical School and the Director of the WRIISC Translational Laboratory at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in California, USA. He studies how optimization of the noradrenergic system can be used to mitigate cognitive deficits associated with Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease. Salehi was recognized as the best junior scientist in the Netherlands in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and has received World Technology Award in the field of Biotechnology. Dr. Salehi is the Clinical Editor of Basic & and among his numerous articles, 7 have been featured on the cover of high impact factor international journals.

Over the last decade, Dr. Sarkar’s research work has been focused on the effects of various neurotoxicants in the brain vasculature and other components of the neurovascular unit. The components of the neurovascular units (pericytes, microglia, astrocytes, and neurons, as well as basal lamina) act as an intricate network to maintain the neuronal homeostatic microenvironment. Thus, disruptions to this intricate cell network due to neurotoxicant exposure can lead to neuronal malfunction and symptoms characteristic of neurological disorders. Dr. Sarkar’s laboratory investigates the role of neurovascular elements, ER stress, and endothelial dysfunction in neurodegenerative disorders with a special emphasis on neuroprotection on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease using rodent models.

Dr. Saykin is the Director of the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center. He is the Raymond C. Beeler Professor of Radiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine and also directs the Indiana University Center for Neuroimaging. He leads an NIH- and foundation-sponsored research program, which focuses on the use of brain imaging and genomic methods to study mechanisms of memory dysfunction and treatment response in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Current projects examine advanced imaging methods for early preclinical detection of Alzheimer's disease (NIA R01 AG19771), the neural basis of cancer chemotherapy-induced cognitive changes (NCI R01 CA101318), and alterations in brain activity and connectivity in schizophrenia (U54 EB005149).

Dr. Squitti, PhD, is the Head of the Laboratory of Biology, at the Fatebenefratelli Foundation – AFaR Division -, of the St John Calibita at Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Rome, Isola Tiberina, Italy. Dr. Squitti was born in Rome, Italy. She received her Master Degree (‘Laurea’) in Biology (25 May 1993) from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’. In 2015 she became Research Director of IGEA Research Corporation, Miami, US. In 2016 she started collaborating with University of Miami, Florida, US as Voluntary Faculty Research Professor. In 2016 she was hired as senior researcher in Molecular Markers Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio- Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy. She has published more than 100 scientific publications and is a named inventor of 2 U.S patents.

Juan Manuel Górriz received the BSc. degrees in Physics and Electronic Engineering from the University of Granada (Spain) in 2000. He then earned the Ph.D. degrees from the Universities of Cádiz and Granada in 2003 and 2006, respectively. He is actually head of the Signal processing and Biomedical Applications (SiPBA) group and a full Professor with the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at the University of Granada. He has coauthored more than 300 technical journals and conference papers, has served as editor and reviewer of several journals and conference proceedings and has been awarded numerous honors including the Spanish National Academy of Engineering Medal. His present interests lie in the field of statistical signal processing in biomedical applications, i.e. the detection of AD,MCI patterns using imaging technologies.

K. J. Tsai received his Ph.D. degree in National Defense Medical Center/Academia Sinica (Taiwan) in 2002 and finished his post-doctoral fellowship at Institute of Molecular Biology in Academia Sinica in 2009. Now he is a Professor in Institute of Clinical Medicine in National Cheng Kung University. The major research of his laboratory is focus on dementia associated neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal lobe degeneration, ischemia stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage…etc., nowadays he is devoted to investigate the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and develop new medical strategies for neurodegenerative diseases. In his laboratory, he makes use of research techniques from molecular biology and cell biology, besides; he also combines physiological methods and disease animal models for my study. He is also interested to investigate and understand the basic functions of genes/proteins in brain and the correlations with neurodegenerative diseases.

Prof. Dr. Hasan Turkez is an internationally-trained and nationally recognized scientist with both research and teaching experience. Dr. Turkez received his undergraduate education at Atatürk University (Turkey) and two different PhDs in Genetics and Pharmacology from the Atatürk University and University "G. d'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara (Italy), respectively. He has a broad-based background in genetics and drug R&D. His main interests are the molecular, pharmacological and nanomedicinal studies of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and related disorders. He published more than 160 international articles, joined more than 120 meetings and received international and national scientific awards.

Dr. Unverzagt is Professor of Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine where he is Training Director for the Clinical Neuropsychology Residency. He serves on the editorial board of Neuropsychology, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, and Current Alzheimer Research. He served as President of the Indiana Psychological Association, Treasurer for the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, and board member for the Association of Post-doctoral Programs in Clinical Neuropsychology. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (Division 40) and the National Academy of Neuropsychology and recipient of the Indiana University Trustee Teaching Award, the Gordon A. Barrows Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in Indiana (Indiana Psychological Association), Janet E. Rafferty Scientist-Practitioner Award (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale), and Distinguished Alumni Award for Career Achievement (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale).

Dr. Venneri is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Sheffield and Honorary Consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. From 2014 she is also the Scientific Director of the IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo, a neurorehabilitation research hospital in Venice, Italy. Her research interests are in early and differential diagnosis of dementia, in the evaluation of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer´s disease with neuroimaging techniques. She is a member of the editorial board of several neuroscience journals. She has published extensively in high impact neuropsychology, neurology and neuroscience journals.

Professor Bengt Winblad, MD, PhD has been involved in the field of dementia research for many years. Since 1987, he is working in Stockholm, Sweden as Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the Karolinska Institute and is co-heading the Clinical Trial Unit at the Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. Professor Winblad was the first Director of the Alzheimer Research Center at Karolinska Institute. He is the Director of the Swedish Brain Power research network. Bengt Winblad’s research interests are experimental and clinical Alzheimer research with a translational approach and focus on early diagnosis and treatment. He was in 2009 ranked the world’s most prolific researcher in the Alzheimer field (J Alzheimer’s Disease 2009).

Dr. Yan completed her Postdoctoral training at the Physicians & Surgeons College of Columbia University in New York. Dr. Yan was a Professor of the Physicians & Surgeons College of Columbia University. Currently, Dr. Yan is a Howard Mossberg Distinguished Professor at University of Kansas. Her research focused on elucidating the cellular and molecular basis of mitochondrial and neuronal degeneration and devising therapeutic strategies to hamper the processes that cause neuronal death. She has published more than 140 scientific publications. Dr. Yan serves on the editorial boards on the scientific Journal and has been a keynote speaker at multiple international professional scientific meetings.

Jingyun Yang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurological Sciences and a Faculty Statistician in the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center. His research interests include the genetic and epigenetic study of complex disorders/diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, gene-, pathway-based and meta-analysis of effects of genetic variants and gene and environmental interactions. Yang has published extensively on genetic studies of various diseases. He is also actively involved in collaborative studies with researchers from a variety of fields. He is committed to a better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Zawia, Ph.D. is the Dean of the Graduate School, University of Rhode Island. His research deals with two aspects: the latent effects of environmental insults on the developing brain, and discovery of a novel class of mechanism-based drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). His research group focuses on lead (Pb) as a model environmental hazard to which early-life exposure reprograms gene expression impacting the neurodegenerative process in the aging brain.

PETRA MARESOVA is since 2016 a head of Department of Economics at Faculty of Informatics and Management (FIM) – member since 2008. In 2015 she was awarded the title of Associate Professor at Mendel University in Brno, Czech republic. She is a principal investigator of several running projects with focus on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia, investment in medical device development udner social and economic consequences. Her work is focused on the health economics, evaluation of qualitative costs and benefits in various fields (biomedicine , knowledge management), public expenditure in healthcare and costs analysis in healthcare. She has a number of cooperation’s throughout the world (e.g. Malaysia, Spain, Latvia, Switzerland, Bosnia, Macedonia, and Brazil.

Dr. Rodolfo Pinto Almazán is an Associate Professor in Medical Sciences, High Specialty Regional Hospital of Ixtapaluca. He has a PhD in Biomedical Sciences, MSc. in Pharmacology and Bachelor's in Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry He is a member of the National Investigation System (SNI) Level I from México. Dr. Almazán has published 15 articles in reputable journals in the fields of Neurobiology and Neuroendocrinology, particularly focused on the effects of oxidative stress and metabolic diseases in the CNS, and on biochemical/molecular functions and action mechanisms of steroid hormones.

Dr. Santangelo obtained his degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University Vita Salute San Raffaele. Later, he obtained the Neurology postgraduate school Certification. His research focuses on the role of CSF biomarkers (in particular Aβ42, total tau and tau-phosphorylated protein) as disease state markers, useful both in the diagnostic work up of dementia and in the prognostic evaluation of mild cognitive impairment. Furthermore, he is interested in validation of potentially new disease progression markers for Alzheimer’s disease, such as Optical Coherence Tomography.

Dr. Zhang is currently an Associate Professor in the Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interest has been focusing on the genetic basis of neuropsychiatric diseases especially Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Zhang has published more than 30 peer review papers in journals including Alzheimer’s Dementia, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, National Science Review, Neuropsychopharmacology, Neurobiology of Aging, Molecular Neurobiology, and British Journal of Psychiatry. Using next generation sequencing and integrative omics approaches, he has identified some notable genes for Alzheimer’s disease, such as C7 (National Science Review 2019), CFH (Neuropsychopharmacology 2016), and YAP1 (Alzheimer’s Dementia 2018).

Prof. Dr. Sasanka Chakrabarti did MBBS from the R.G. Kar Medical College, Calcutta University, in 1978, and MD in Biochemistry from the Institute of Medical Science, Banaras Hindu University, in 1985. He has many years of research experience in neurodegenerative diseases, especially in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease with a focus on mitochondrial functions, oxidative stress, redox-signaling and proteotoxicity. This research work was conducted primarily in the Dept. of Biochemistry, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER), Kolkata where he handled many research projects from Govt. of India over a period of two decades. More than 20 Ph.D. students and 30 MD students were trained under his direct supervision during this period. After retirement from IPGMER, Prof. Chakrabarti joined Maharishi Markandeshwar Deemed University in Mullana, Ambala, India, as the coordinator of Central Research Cell and Prof. of Biochemistry, where he is actively engaged in research on neurodegenerative diseases.

Gong-Ping Liu received his PhD in Labor and environmental health from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. He then received postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Prof. Jian-Zhi Wang during which he focused on the molecular mechanisms and gene therapy for neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Liu joined the Pathophysiology faculty at Huazhong University of Science and Technology as a lecturer in 2008. In 2013, he was hired as a professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology of the Pathophysiology faculty.

Dr. Jin Liu received a degree of PhD of Computer Science from Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China, in 2017. He is currently an associate professor at the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Central South University. His current research interests include medical image analysis, machine learning and bioinformatics. His research has been cited over 1400 times (Google Scholar) with H-index = 16.

Dr. Huafeng Wei is an Associate Professor with Tenure at the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S.A. Dr. Wei completed his medical graduate student education and training in Anesthesiology at Tongji Medical University in 1988. He obtained his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from the George Washington University in 1996 and completed his postdoctoral training at Georgetown University and National Institute of Health (NIH) in 1999. He completed his second resident training in Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the University of Pennsylvania in 2003 and become a standing faculty member thereafter at UPENN. His lab has focused on studying the role of calcium dysregulation in neurodegeneration in various neurodegenerative diseases, especially in Alzheimer’s disease and after various general anesthetics treatments. His lab is the first to demonstrate that dantrolene, a drug for treatment of malignant hyperthermia, can abolish the memory and learning impairment in various animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Wei has been an invited speaker for Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UCSF, Duke, UVA, Imperial College of England, University of Heidelberg in Germany, University of Padova in Italy, as well as speakers for international conferences in more than 10 countries and regions.

Prof. Shengzhou Wu received a degree of bachelor of Medicine from Shanghai Medical University (renamed as Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University in 2000) and obtained a Ph.D degree in Neuroscience from University of Arkansas for Medical Science. After a postdoctoral fellowship in Department of Neurology in Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis he has joined and currently is a professor in School of Optometry and Ophthalmology, Wenzhou Medical University in China. His major scientific interest is focused on neurodegeneration in the central nervous system and in the retina including Alzheimer's disease.