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Yuntao Wu National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases School of Systems Biology George Mason University Manassas, VA USA Biography Biography of Yuntao Wu![]()
Dr. Yuntao Wu is a professor at the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, George Mason University, Manassas, Virginia, USA. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and his postdoctoral training at NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Dr. Wu has studied HIV infection of blood CD4 T cells and macrophages (Science, 2001, ), mainly focusing on the role of chemokine- and HIV-1-mediated G-protein signaling and actin dynamics in HIV infection and pathogenesis (Cell, 2008,; Science Advances, 2019).. Currently, his lab is also studying the mechanisms of PSGL-1 restriction of HIV infection (Nature Microbiology, 2019,).
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Section: Animal Model
Shiu-lok HuDepartment of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmacy University of Washington Seattle, WA USA Biography Biography of Shiu-lok Hu![]()
Shiu-Lok Hu, Ph.D., is currently the Milo Gibaldi Endowed Professor of Pharmaceutics and Head of the AIDS-Related Research Division at the Washington National Primate Research Center. His current research focuses on the design of immunogens and vaccine approaches to broadly stimulate neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1, the use of non-human primate models to evaluate prevention and treatment strategies against primate lentivirus infection and disease, and factors that contribute to the resistance or adaptation of lentiviruses in primate species.
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Section: HIV and Viral Pathogenesis
Paolo LussoNIAID National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, MD USA Biography Biography of Paolo Lusso![]()
Dr. Lusso received his M.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Turin and his Ph.D. from the Ministry of Scientific and Technologic Research, Rome, Italy. He is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine and in infectious diseases. At NIH he worked in the Laboratory of Tumor Cell at the National Cancer Institute. He also created the Laboratory of Human Virology at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan and became associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Cagliari. Then he again joined NIH, where he became chief of the Viral Pathogenesis Section in the Laboratory of Immunoregulation. He is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
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Section: HIV Therapy
Charles MitchellDepartment of Pediatrics University of Miami School of Medicine Miami, FL USA Biography Biography of Charles Mitchell![]()
Dr. Mitchell completed his M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, and his Residency and Fellowship in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases from the University of Minnesota Minneapolis. He then completed a Research Fellowship in Virology from the National Institutes of Health. He is a tenured Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. He has been engaged in research on Pediatric HIV/AIDS and Childhood Tuberculosis for more than 20 years.
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Nafees Ahmad Department of Immunobiology University of Arizona Tucson, AZ USA Biography Biography of Nafees Ahmad![]()
Dr. Nafees Ahmad is a Professor of Immunobiology and Director of Immunity and Infection at the College of Medicine, University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate education from the Aligarh Muslim University, India and doctorate from the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in HIV/AIDS from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. His research has been focused on mechanisms of HIV immunopathogenesis in younger and older HIV-infected patients, including the HIV-mediated aging of the immune system. He is investigating the mechanisms of differential HIV-1 infection in younger and older populations, including the role of viral and host factors and dysregulation of T cell functions. He has authored more than 100 publications and prestigious medical school text book “Sherris Medical Microbiology”.
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Roberto Di Santo Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie del Farmaco Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies "Sapienza" University of Rome Rome Italy Biography Biography of Roberto Di Santo![]()
Dr. Roberto Di Santo is a Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, “Sapienza” University of Rome Italy. He holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry and in Pharmacy from “Sapienza” University of Rome. Prof. Di Santo research is focused primarily on drug design and synthesis of new molecular entities related with biological activities. He devoted particular efforts in the discovery of antimicrobial and antitumor agents. Most part of his scientific activity is focused on compounds active against HIV targets like integrase, ribonuclease H and polymerase functions of the reverse transcriptase, and protease. Dr. Di Santo is author and co-author of books and over 130 publications and patents.
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Chipepo Kankasa Department of Paediatrics The University Teaching Hospital HIV/AIDS Program (UTH-HAP) Lusaka Zambia Biography Biography of Chipepo Kankasa![]()
Dr. Chipepo Kankasa is a Consultant Paediatrician and Director of University Teaching Hospital PEPFAR-supported programme (UTH) HIV/AIDS. Dr. Kankasa received her medical degree from Leningrad Paediatric Medical Institute, Russia and her paediatric speciality training from the University of Zambia – School of Medicine. Dr. Kankasa is the Zambian Investigator of the PROMISE Consortium PMTCT trial. She is the Ministry of Health National Chair of the Paediatric ART Technical Working Group; the Ministry of Community Development Mother and Child Health National Chair of the PMTCT Technical Working Group; and the Director of the Paediatric HIV Centre of Excellence and UTH Family Support Unit Programme for orphans and vulnerable children with HIV/AIDS.
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Yiming Shao Division of Research on Virology and Immunology National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention Beijing China Biography Biography of Yiming Shao![]()
Dr. Shao obtained MD from Qingdao Medical School and Ph.D. from Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, China. Dr. Shao is the Chief Expert on AIDS, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and director of the Division of Research on Virology and Immunology, National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention. Dr. Shao is the founding Editor of Infectious Disease Modelling (2016) and editor of Reviews in Medical Virology and Achieves of Virology. He has co-authored over 600 research papers in English and Chinese journals and got several China’s Science and Technology Awards. He served as chair and vice chair on Chinese virology, Microbiology and AIDS Societies, respectively. He is the member of the WHO’s vaccine and drug resistance advisory committees and the fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.
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Carlos Brites School of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory Federal University of Bahia Salvador Brazil Biography Biography of Carlos Brites![]()
Dr. Brites was graduated in 1982 and received his PhD in Medicine in 1997 from the Federal University of Bahia. In 1998, he became the Visiting Scientist at Harvard School of Public Health. Currently, he is a Professor of Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine of the Federal University of Bahia. He has extensive research experience, especially on HIV, AIDS, HTLV, HIV-HTLV co-infection, arboviruses, and oncovirology. He received several national and international awards for his contribution to the study of human retroviruses. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian Journal of Infectious Diseases from 2009 to 2016.
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Omar Sued Research Department Fundación Huésped Buenos Aires Argentina Biography Biography of Omar Sued![]()
Dr. Omar Sued received his MD in 1995 from University of Cordoba, Argentina. He completed his residence programme on infectious diseases from the Hospital Fernández, Buenos Aires, and then received his Master’s from the University of Barcelona in 2003. In 2004, he attained his ID Specialist title from the University of Buenos Aires, and then finally received his PhD in Acute HIV Infection from the University of Barcelona. He has worked as an infectious diseases doctor in different settings including public and private hospitals, prisons, and primary care centers in Argentina and Spain. During 2009-2012, he served as Regional Advisor in the Treatment and Care for the Pan American Health Organization for Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, he is a Director of Clinical Research at the Fundación Huésped, one of the largest NGO and HIV research agencies in Argentina.
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Section: Anti-HIV drug discovery
Peng ZhanDepartment of Medicinal Chemistry Shandong University Jinan China Biography Biography of Peng Zhan![]()
Peng Zhan obtained B.S. and M.Sc. degrees and a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from Shandong University, China. Then, he joined the research group of Professor Xinyong Liu as a Lecturer. Then, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow funded by JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), Japan. Currently, he is a full professor at the Institute of Medicinal Chemistry, Shandong University. His research interests involve the discovery of novel antiviral, antigout agents based on rational drug design and combinatorial chemistry approaches as well as innovative exploitation of medicinal chemistry methodologies.
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Muktar Aliyu![]() Department of Health Policy Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville, TN USA Biography Biography of Muktar Aliyu![]()
Muktar Aliyu, MBBS, DrPH, MPH is a Professor of Health Policy and Medicine with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. His research interests are in the implementation of scientific approaches to deliver high quality and culturally appropriate HIV care, in order to improvethe outcomes of HIV programs in low and middle-income countries.
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Sunil K. Arora Department of Immunopathology Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) Chandigarh India Biography Biography of Sunil K. Arora![]()
Dr. Arora received his PhD in Immunopathology from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India in 1987 and post-doctoral training from the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas USA. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) since 2004. He is Professor-in-charge of the HIV Diagnosis and Disease Monitoring Center at PGI and his research work focuses on the Immunological aspects of Infectious Diseases mainly HIV, HIV-TB co-infection, HCV and Experimental Leishmaniasis. More recently, his lab started working on the role of cancer stem cells in breast carcinoma and regenerative properties of mesenchymal stem cells in chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorders. He has 157 scientific publications in the peer-reviewed journals of repute. He is the recipient of Indo-US Young Investigator’s award in 1991 and Senior Scientist Oration award in Immunology in 2018.
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Shilpa Buch Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE USA Biography Biography of Shilpa Buch![]()
Shilpa Buch is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center. Her research focuses on understanding the neuropathogenesis of HIV/SIV infection using cell culture, rodents and macaques as model systems. She is the director of the Nebraska Center for Substance Abuse Research, the mission of which is to promote and enhance drug abuse research and mentor trainees in this area.
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Siddappa N. Byrareddy![]() Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neurosciences University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE USA Biography Biography of Siddappa N. Byrareddy![]()
Dr. Siddappa Byrareddy is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neurosciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha with more than 14 years of experience in the field of HIV pathogenesis, cure, infectious diseases in general and has published more than 120 peer-reviewed publications. His research focuses on developing an AIDS vaccine using a non-human primate model of human HIV infection to understand host-virus dynamics. He completed his postdoctoral training for primate biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Byrareddy's recent research focuses on HIV neuroimmunology, CNS reservoirs and substance abuse.
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Gabriella D’ettorre Department of Public Health and Infectious Disease Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy Biography Biography of Gabriella D’ettorre![]()
Gabriella d’Ettorre is Associated Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University Sapienza Rome, Italy. She is the supervisor for the management of about 1000 HIV positive outpatient. Professor d’Ettorre has carried out several original investigations in the field of pathogenesis, innovative treatment and comorbidities of HIV infection. She is the author of over 150 publications in peer- reviewed journals and her major research interest is focused on the study of microbiome in HIV.
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Rita Effros Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine UCLA Los Angeles, CA USA Biography Biography of Rita Effros![]()
Rita B. Effros earned her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania, under the mentorship of Peter Doherty, 1996 Nobel Laureate. Her thesis work on immunity to viruses continues to be her research focus, with special emphasis on telomeres, the regions at the end of chromosomes, which are shortened during cell division. Based on the studies of telomere/telomerase dynamics in human T cells, her laboratory was one of the first to propose that HIV disease may involve accelerated aging of the immune system. She was the 2007 winner of the prestigious Kleemeier Award by the Gerontological Society of America, and she since 2015, she is serving as the President of that organization.
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Guido Ferrari Department of Surgery and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC USA Biography Biography of Guido Ferrari![]()
Guido Ferrari, M.D., is Associate Professor of Surgery and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Ferrari received his M.D. degree from the University of Genoa (Italy) where he also completed his residency in Medical Microbiology. Dr. Ferrari has been working in the field of HIV-1 clinical and basic research since 1985 to characterize the ontogeny and breadth of the immune responses. He has published over 125 scientific manuscripts. His interest focuses on identifying protective epitopes that can be recognized by CD8 T cell and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxic responses and to leverage this knowledge to develop new vaccine and immune therapeutic strategies.
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Tracy Fischer-Smith Department of Neuroscience, Center for Neurovirology School of Medicine Temple University Philadelphia, PA USA Biography Biography of Tracy Fischer-Smith![]()
Dr. Tracy Fischer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Her research focuses on the role of inflammatory changes and immune dysregulation in HIV neuropathogenesis in the cART era and how altered immune function influences the development and maintenance of viral persistence in tissue macrophages, including microglia in brain. To advance our current understanding of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment persistence among infected persons with virus suppression, Dr. Fischer is also exploring how inflammation is sustained in the brain of HIV infected patients under successful pharmacological intervention or without detectable virus production in brain.
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Kathleen M. Frey![]() School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Fairleigh Dickinson University Teaneck, NJ USA Biography Biography of Kathleen M. Frey![]()
Dr. Frey is currently an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in NJ. During her postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University, Dr. Frey designed non-nucleoside compounds targeting HIV reverse transcriptase using a structure-based approach. Currently, Dr. Frey is developing new computational approaches to model and predict resistance mutations in HIV RT. The development of new computational approaches predicting resistance-associated mutations will facilitate the design of new resilient compounds.
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Feng Gao Department of Medicine Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC USA Biography Biography of Feng Gao![]()
Dr. Feng Gao is a professor of Medicine at Duke University and the director of the National Engineering Laboratory for AIDS Vaccine at Jilin University in China. He has a long-standing interest in elucidating the origin, evolution and genetic variation of human and simian immunodeficiency viruses, as well as in studying gene function, pathogenesis and vaccines of HIV/SIV from the evolutionary perspective. He currently studies maturation mechanisms of broadly neutralizing antibodies in humans and non-human primates, impacts of immune escape mutations on viral fitness, development of autoreactivity during neutralizing antibody maturation, and roles of maternal neutralizing antibodies in mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1.
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J. Victor Garcia-Martinez Department of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC USA Biography Biography of J. Victor Garcia-Martinez![]()
Dr. Garcia is currently a Professor of Medicine in the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases (IGHID), and the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also an Oliver Smithies Investigator. Throughout his career, Dr. Garcia has made seminal contributions to the understanding of HIV pathogenesis, specifically the function of Nef, which is an important determinant of HIV pathogenesis and disease progression. More recently, Dr. Garcia’s group has established an outstanding track record in the development, implementation and use of humanized mice. Since their landmark publications describing the humanized BLT TOM and more recent MOM mouse models have been widely used to address key questions of HIV infection, transmission, prevention, and more recently, persistence and cure.
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Howard E. Gendelman Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience University of Nebraska Omaha, NW USA Biography Biography of Howard E. Gendelman![]()
Dr. Gendelman obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences and Russian Studies with honors from Muhlenberg College and his M.D. from the Pennsylvania State University-Hershey Medical Center where he was the 1999 Distinguished Alumnus. He is a physician-scientist with more than 34 years of research experience and occupying senior leadership positions. Currently Dr. Gendelman is the Chairman of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska USA.
Dr. Gendelman has published greater than 400 peer-reviewed scientific publications, edited nine books and monographs, and is named inventor of eight issued U.S. patents. Dr. Gendelman was the founding Editor (1993) and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, published by Springer.
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David Harrich Division of Infectious Diseases Queensland Institute of Medical Research Brisbane Australia Biography Biography of David Harrich![]()
Associate Professor David Harrich is Group Leader of HIV and Molecular Virology at QIMR Berghofer MRI, where he is a Senior Research Fellow. He earned a PhD at UCLA in experimental Pathology and undertook postdoctoral training from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre. He has published more than 70 papers and most of them are on HIV-1 molecular biology and virus replication.
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Dushyantha T. Jayaweera Division of Infectious Diseases University of Miami Miami, FL USA Biography Biography of Dushyantha T. Jayaweera![]()
Dr. Dushyantha Jayaweera received his M.D. degree in Sri Lanka, and trained in medicine in Sri Lanka and Great Britain, and at Loyola University of Chicago, joining the Miller School faculty in 1992. He has been the Executive Dean for Research and Research Education at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine where he had been serving as interim Executive Dean since September 2015. Jayaweera is also a professor of medicine and has more than 20 years of clinical and research experience with HIV. He maintains an active clinical practice, serving as Director of the HIV/HCV co-infection clinic and leading numerous industry-funded trials of medications for patients with viral diseases.
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Tal Kafri Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC USA Biography Biography of Tal Kafri![]()
Dr. Tal Kafri, PhD is a professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Gene Therapy Center. Currently, he is the Director at Lenti Viral Vector Core, Lenti-shRNA Core Facility. His filed of interest include the need to efficiently deliver genetic cargo and to maintain long-term transgene expression in vivo which prompted the development of the HIV-1 based vector system.
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Fatah Kashanchi School of Systems Biology, Laboratory of Molecular Virology George Mason University Manassas, VA USA Biography Biography of Fatah Kashanchi![]()
Dr. Kashanchi is the Director of Research at the George Mason University Biodefense Program in the Washington D.C proper. He obtained more than $13.2 M in funding (NIH, DOD, DOE, and Keck) since his departure from NIH in 2000. He has published 198 peer-reviewed manuscripts with an h index of 53 and served as an editorial board member and reviewer for Retrovirology, JBC, J. Virol, Virology, NAR, 4 PLoS Journals, Cell, Molecular Cell, Nature, Medicine, and Science Translational Medicine. He is also a regular NIH study section member and has served 141 panels since 2000.
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Kamel Khalili Department of Neuroscience Temple University Philadelphia, PA USA Biography Biography of Kamel Khalili![]()
Dr. Kamel Khalili is the Laura H. Carnell Professor and Chair in the Department of Neuroscience at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. He has actively studied the neuropathogenesis of human viruses, particularly HIV-1, for more than 30 years. He has authored more than 427 manuscripts and has been the recipient of more than $80 million in grant funds from federal and non-federal sources. He has made numerous contributions to the field of neurovirology and most recently, Dr. Khalili and his colleagues have pioneered gene editing technology to eradicate HIV-1 from host cell DNA.
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Leondios G. Kostrikis Department of Biological Sciences University of Cyprus Nicosia Cyprus Biography Biography of Leondios G. Kostrikis![]()
Dr. Leondios Kostrikis is a tenured Professor of Biotechnology and Virology at University of Cyprus, Head of Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology and Vice-Chairperson of the Department of Biological Sciences. He received his B.Sc. (1987), M.Sc. (1989), M.Ph. (1990) and Ph.D. (1993) degrees from New York University (NYU), United States. This was followed by post-doctoral research at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center of Rockefeller University (New York) on the molecular virology of human immunodeficiency virus. He joined the faculty of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center as a staff investigator in 1998 and the Rockefeller University as an Assistant Professor in 1999. He received a number of awards. He is an editorial board member for seven international journals, and has served on study sections and committees for European and international grant agencies, charities, and scientific conferences in HIV/AIDS. Dr. Kostrikis has now turned his attention to novel concepts in HIV vaccine development and prevention of HIV-1 transmission.
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Qingsheng Li School of Biological Sciences University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE USA Biography Biography of Qingsheng Li![]()
Dr. Li is a tenured Professor in the School of Biological Sciences and Nebraska Center for Virology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Li obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Virology from the Beijing University, China. Dr. Li has more than 20 years of experience in studying HIV-1 pathogenesis, transmission, microbicide, and vaccine development and his technical expertise includes the use of SIV-rhesus macaque model, human specimens, humanized-BLT (bone marrow liver and thymus) mouse model, and single-cell in situ analyses. Dr. Li has published extensively on HIV/SIV transmission, pathogenesis and prevention, including one paper in Science and two papers in Nature as the lead author.
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Binhua Ling Department of Microbiology & Immunology Tulane University School of Medicine New Orleans, LA USA Biography Biography of Binhua Ling![]()
Dr. Binhua Ling is currently a tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Tulane University School of Medicine, and the Tulane National Primate Center (TNPRC). She obtained her medical degree from Jiangxi Medical College of Nanchang University, and her M. Med. S. and Ph.D. from Peking University Health Science Center in China. She received postdoctoral training at the TNPRC and Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York. Dr. Ling’s research interests are to study HIV tissue reservoirs (i.e. the central nervous system and gut), antiretroviral therapy, HIV/Drug abuse, and HIV/Aging by using the SIV/SHIV-infected nonhuman primate models. Ling’s research is supported by NIH and other sources.
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Paolo Maggi Institute of Infectious Disease University of Bari Bari Italy Biography Biography of Paolo Maggi![]()
Paolo Maggi. MD is the Director of the Day-Hospital of the Institute of Infectious Disease at the University of Bari – Italy, and a professor of the Specialty School Clinic of Infectious Diseases at the University of Bari. He is the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific papers and of 8 chapters of medicine books in the field of clinical parasitology, tropical medicine, viral hepatitis and HIV. His major current research interest is focused on premature ageing, cardiovascular and renal comorbidities in HIV positive people.
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Xuebin Qin Department of Immunology and Microbiology Tulane University School of Medicine New Orleans, LA USA Biography Biography of Xuebin Qin![]()
Dr. Qin’s research focuses on defining the role of innate immunity including complement system and monocyte activation in the pathogenesis of human diseases, such as HIV infection, HIV-associated cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and on developing a novel cell ablation research tool for broad scientific applications. He has extensive expertise in immunology, monocyte & macrophage biology, complement, HIV-1 therapy, and HIV-1-associated atherosclerosis. He has demonstrated that inhibition of the activity of human CD59, a complement regulator may be a novel approach for HIV therapy. He demonstrated the atherogenic role of caspase-1 pathway activation and IDO in HIV-associated CVD. Currently, he is involved in testing the novel therapeutics for treatment of HIV-associated CVD.
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Esaki M. Shankar Department of Life Sciences Central University of Tamil Nadu Thiruvarur India Biography Biography of Esaki M. Shankar![]()
Shankar, an alumni of University of Madras, YRG CARE, Linkoping University & University of Malaya, is working on certain persistently-infecting pathogens such as HIV, TB, melioidosis etc, and immune evasion mechanisms adopted by these agents in the host. Currently, the he is Head in the Department of Life Sciences, Central University of Tamil Nadu. He is also the Editor of PLoS One, BMC Infectious Diseases, Medicine and BMC Immunology. He has active collaborations with global researchers from leading research institutions.
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Hugo Soudeyns![]() Department of Microbiology, Infectiology and immunology Pavillon Roger-Gaudry University of Montreal Montréal, QC Canada Biography Biography of Hugo Soudeyns![]()
Hugo Soudeyns obtained training in microbiology and immunology and has been active in the field of HIV/AIDS research. In January 2000, Dr. Soudeyns opened a research unit devoted to the study of viral immunopathology at Centre de recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine. In collaboration with the Centre maternel et infantile sur le sida (CHU Sainte-Justine), his work led to the identification of important differences in cell-mediated immunity between adults and children, and contributed to the understanding of the pathogenesis of pediatric HIV infection. His primary research interests are mainly focused on mother-to-child transmission of viral diseases.
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Kok-Keng Tee Department of Medical Microbiology University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Biography Biography of Kok-Keng Tee![]()
Dr. Kok Keng Tee is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia. He received his PhD in molecular virology and evolutionary biology in UM and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, and postdoctoral fellowship from the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA. His research is focused on the genomic epidemiology, evolutionary dynamics and transmission network of rapidly evolving viruses including HIV, hepatitis and respiratory viruses. He has published over 85 research articles and served as Editor for PLoS One, Virology Journal and Frontiers in Microbiology.
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Zunyou Wu Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Beijing China Biography Biography of Zunyou Wu![]()
Zunyou Wu is the Director of the National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, China CDC and an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at UCLA. He is a leader in the field of HIV prevention strategies and oversees overall technical implementation of detection, prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in China. He has published over 400 academic papers, 201 of which are published in the international journals, including Science, Lancet etc. Dr. Wu has received many honors and awards, including the 2005 International Rolleston Award for implementing harm reduction in China, “Hall of Fame” of 2006 UCLA School of Public Health's Alumni, and the UNAIDS Gold Medal in 2008.
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Richard Y. Zhao Department of Pathology University of Maryland School of Medicine Baltimore, MD USA Biography Biography of Richard Y. Zhao![]()
Dr. Richard Y. Zhao is a Professor of Pathology, Microbiology-Immunology, Global Health and Human Virology, and the Division Head of Molecular Pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. from Oregon State University, and postdoctoral training at Columbia University. He was on the faculty of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine where he received an endowed chair as the Bernard L. Mirkin PhD/MD Research Scholar. Dr. Zhao’s research interest is to study virus-host interactions, viral pathogenicity and drug resistance as well as antiviral drug development.
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Giancarlo Ceccarelli![]() Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy Biography Biography of Giancarlo Ceccarelli
Dr. Ceccarelli is actively involved in the study and management of persons living with HIV for over 15 years. He is serving in a large Italian University Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, and in the Italian Red Cross. He is the author of over 100 papers on the topics of HIV, STD and infectious diseases in critically ill patients and in special populations, such as migrants.
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Theodore Cory Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Translational Science University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Pharmacy Memphis, TN USA Biography Biography of Theodore Cory![]()
Dr. Cory received a Pharm.D. from Drake University, and a Ph.D. in
Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Kentucky. He is
currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee Health
Science Center College of Pharmacy, in the Department of Clinical
Pharmacy and Translational Science. His research is focused on
identifying strategies to increase intracellular concentrations of
antiretrovirals in myeloid reservoirs of HIV-1.
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Shariq Usmani Department of Medicine Harvard Medical School Boston, MA USA Biography Biography of Shariq Usmani
Dr. Shariq M. Usmani obtained his B.S. in Chemistry and Biology with honors from the Aligarh Muslim University, India and M.S. in Biotechnology from the Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University, India. He also received his PhD in Cell Biology with magna cum laude, from Konstanz University, Germany. Presently, he is working as a Postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Dr. Thorsten Mempel Massachusetts General Hospital, Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases (CIID), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
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