Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry

Distinguished Professor Bill Denny holds PhD (synthetic chemistry) and DSc (drug development) degrees from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is Director of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre at the University of Auckland, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Chemical Sciences there. He is an author on about 670 scientific publications and is a named inventor on 50 issued U.S. patents. He was a co-founding scientist of Proacta Inc and of Pathway Therapeutics, and was the recipient of the 2014 Medicinal Chemistry Award from the American Chemical Society.

Dr. Lidia Matesic completed an undergraduate degree in medicinal chemistry and a PhD in chemistry from the University of Wollongong, Australia. She is currently a Radiochemist at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in Sydney, Australia. Her research focusses on the development of new radiopharmaceuticals for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as neurological disorders and cancer.

Dr. Zeng received his Ph.D in Chemistry from the University of Muenster, Germany. He is appointed as a full professor at Central South University in 2008. Currently he serves as the deputy dean of School of Pharmaceutical Science in Central South University. Dr. Zeng has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles. He also served on the Editorial Board of some scientific journals, such as Associated Editor in Anti-cancer Agents in Med Chem, performed peer-review for more than 50 journals, and participated in many grant review panels. His recent research is focused on the design and synthesis of multimodal molecular imaging biomarker platforms for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Hai-Liang Zhu, born in 1965 in China. Achieved his Master degree in 1988, in Department of Chemistry, Lanzhou University, specializing in inorganic chemistry. Worked at Department of Chemistry of Ningxia University as a Lecturer in 1988-1994, Lecturer. Achieved his PhD degree in 1998 at School of Chemistry of Nanjing University, and the research direction is bio-inorganic chemistry. From 1998 to 2002 turned to work at School of Chemistry of Zhongshan University and Department of Chemistry of Philipps-University Marburg in Germany as a postdoc. Started his professorship at School of Life Sciences in Nanjing University from 2004. Now focus his research field at Medicinal Chemistry, and has published more than 600 articles and applied for 160 patents.

Prof Patrick Dallemagne holds a Pharm D and a Ph D in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Normandy, Caen (France). He became Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Caen in 1991 and was received Full Professor in 1999. He is currently head of the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche sur le Médicament de Normandie whose activity is dedicated to drug design in oncology and neurosciences fields. Prof Patrick Dallemagne has authored more than 120 publications and he applied for numerous patents.

Dominique Delmas is Professor in the University of Burgundy at the Inserm Research Center Unit U866 “Lipids, Nutrition, Cancers” in Dijon (France) where he manages a research group entitled “Bioactive Molecules and Health”. The main research objectives of his group are to develop and to coordinate multidisciplinary and translational research from laboratory to clinical applications, including 1) the determination of early biomarkers in response to treatment; 2) the identification of new potential targets within membrane and lipid metabolism, 3) the development of new therapeutic strategies by the use of molecules with low toxicity (i.e. polyphenols). These fields constitute a main part of the recent creation by the French Ministery of the LabEx LipSTIC in Dijon. Dominique Delmas has authored or coauthored over 50 original papers and comprehensive reviews on polyphenols health effects. He has also contributed to over 10 books chapters concerning the molecular mechanisms of polyphenols in tumoral models.

Isao Okazaki, M. D., Ph. D. was born in 1941, graduated from Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. He was and is still an Internist, and the specialist of gastrointestinal and liver, gallbladder and pancreas. He is proud of the first finder of collagenase in the liver (Nature, 1974) and published original papers on MMPs in the recovery from liver diseases. He is also interested in the carcinogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (Cancer, 2014; J Mod Hum Pathol 2016). He is the Professor of Department of Medicine, Sanno Hospital, International University of Health and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan.

Dr. Letizia Polito is an Assistant Professor in General Pathology at the Department of Experimental,Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna. Her PhD was in Experimental Pathology. She carried out her research activity in three main fields; (a) the study of plant toxins, known asRibosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs), (b) the design and the in vitro and in vivo experimentation ofimmunotoxins, in order to obtain toxic pharmacological molecules specifically towards certain Cellular targets responsible for a pathological state; and (c) the study of enzymes that can vary the Cellular REDOX balance. Dr. Polito research has been well published in 75 papers in international journals.

Dr. A. Shtil received his MD degree in Orenburg State Medical Institute and PhD in Moscow Research Institute of Otorhinolaryngology. In 1994-2002 he worked in the University of Illinois at Chicago, Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, studying the mechanisms of multidrug resistance and altered drug response in cancer (with I. Roninson, W. Dalton and K. Scotto). He established a new laboratory of tumor cell death with broad interests in cancer biology. Dr. Shtil has authored 150 scientific papers, review articles and a number of patents. He is member of editorial boards in four international journals.

Dr Adhikari has over 100 research publications in impact factor international journals, and two US patents, in the field of bio-organic and natural products chemistry, with over 600 citations and h-index: 13. His current research interest includes the discovery of new bioactive natural products from plant, fungi, and bacteria. His major focus is on the search of anticancer natural products from plants. Additionally, he is working on nanoparticle fabrication of natural products to increase bioactivity.

The experienced researcher with a demonstrated history of researching in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. Skilled in clinical research, Animal models, Cellular models, Scientific writing & publishing. He has focused on extensive fields of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Natural products, Radiopharmaceuticals, Nanomedicine, Radiation biology, Cancer chemoradiotherapy and other fields of Pharmacy at the Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. He has published many originals and reviews in high-quality journals and selected as a recognized international editor and peer reviewer by famous publishers. In 2019, Dr. Amirhossein Ahmadi certificates for placing in the top 1% of reviewers in Cross-Field on Publons global reviewer database.

I have been working in Anadolu University Faculty of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry for 10 years. I have 70 articles published in international peer-reviewed journals indexed in Science Citation Index (SCI) and SCI-Expanded, 12 articles published in national peer-reviewed journals and 35 research projects. I got 3 rewards from Anadolu University, namely Science and Technology Encouragement Award in 2014, Gold Article Performance Award, and Platinum Article Performance Award in 2016. I have also received an Outstanding Reviewer Award from European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (Elsevier) in 2016 and Encouragement Award from Turkish Pharmacists’ Association Academy of Pharmacy in 2019. My research interest includes the design and synthesis of new carbonic anhydrase (hCA) inhibitors, cholinesterase (ChE) inhibitors, anticancer, antimicrobial, antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory and antidepressant agents.

Dr José Correa Basurto studied the Master Degree in Bioinformatic at Universidad Internacional de Andalucia-Esp aña 2013, he studied PhD in Medicine research 2006, MD in Pharmacology 2004, BS Medicine 2002. He is full professor-research of Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry at ESM-IPN, Mexico. Dr Correa has published 115 articles in JCR journals, 6 in no indexed journal, and 3 book chapters. He had advised 20 postgraduate students (10 are developing their projects of thesis) and Dr Correa had receive 4 posdoctoral fellowships. He has also submitted 3 patents.

Prof. Bei is M.D., Ph.D; Specialist in Medical Oncology and in Clinical Pathology. Currently, he is Full Professor of General Pathology at University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. His teaching activity encompasses General Pathology for School of Medicine, Medical Biotechnology, Pharmacy, Dietician, Residency in Endocrinology, Oncology. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Rec. Pat Infl Allergy Drug Discov, J Liver, MOJ Immunol (Senior Editor), O J Immunol, J Immun Serum Biol, SciTz Nutrition and Food Science, Frontiers in Bioscience, Anti-Cancer Agents in Med Chem. Research interest: Cancer immunotherapy. Nutrition and cancer. He has published about 100 peer reviewed publications: Total IF=375 (ISI), H-index: 29, Citations: 2760.

Dr. Berretta obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Oncology from the University of Catania, Catania (Italy). Dr. Berretta is also Editor in Chief of World Cancer Research Journal, published by Verduci-international. Currently Dr. Berretta is also an Oncologist (MD) at National Cancer Institute of Aviano (PN), Italy. He has published more than 200 scientific publications and 3 books on oncologic topics. Dr. Berretta is the chief of Cancer survivors on solid tumor at Department of Medical Oncology of National cancer Institute of Aviano (PN), Italy.

Dr. Brabec is Head of the Department of Molecular Biophysics and Pharmacology of the Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and professor of biophysics at the Palacky University in Olomouc. His experience in the research is aimed at structure, physical properties and interactions of biomacromolecules including mechanisms underlying activity of anticancer and antimicrobial drugs. Dr. Brabec has authored more than 300 full-length articles published in refereed international journals; these papers have been cited more than 10 000 times (Hirsch‘s index, h = 54), 8 review chapters and is currently member of the editorial board of three foreign international journals.

Dr Cao achieved her Ph.D degree in Analytical Chemistry from Central South University. During her Ph.D study, she studied for two years in Universität Würzburg in Germany as a Joint PhD student (2013-2015). From 2016 to 2018, Dr. Cao worked in University of Macau as a Postdoc on cell metabolism. Now Dr. Cao is a full professor of Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University. Her research is focused on the edible medicinal plant and natural medicine.

Dr. Simone Carradori, after completing graduation in “Drug Chemistry and Technology”, obtained his PhD in “Pharmaceutical Sciences” at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" (Italy). He collaborates with several departments abroad. Currently, he is assistant professor at the Department of Pharmacy of “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy). The scientific activity is mainly focused on the synthesis and characterization of heterocyclic derivatives as well as extraction of natural compounds with potential biological activity, and is documented from several papers in international peer-reviewed journals, one European patent and participations in numerous conferences.

Currently, Dr. Jui-I Chao is professor of the Department of Biological Science and Technology and professor of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Bioengineering, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. Dr. Chao’s studies focused in the molecular regulation of mitotic genes of cancer cell survival and proliferation. His research team has contributed several novel findings of mitotic cancer genes such as survivin and securin in regulating mitosis and tumorigenesis. In addition to mitotic cancer genes, his research group develops nanodiamond, a promising carbon nanomaterial, in molecular and cellular reactions and cancer applications. Dr. Chao’s team has achieved several pioneering findings of nanodiamonds in biomedical applications, such as bio-imaging, labeling and drug delivery.

Dr Chen achieved his Ph.D degree in medicinal Chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was also trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago. Now he is a full professor of Pharmacy of East China Normal University, China. Dr. Chen has published over 40 articles in impact factor international journals, and more than 20 patents in the field of medicinal chemistry, with over 1000 citations and h-index: 18. His current research interest focus on the discovery of novel drug candidates against tumor growth and metastasis.

Dr. Zhen Cheng is an Associate Professor of Radiology and a member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), BioX program, Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection and Stanford Cancer Center. He currently is the Director of the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory at MIPS where he is developing novel molecular probes, non-invasive imaging techniques, and bionanotechnology for multimodality early detection of diseases including cancer, cardiac and neurological diseases. Dr. Cheng has published over 200 articles, and he has served as a reviewer for numerous funding agencies and for over 100 research journals.

John Chirgwin, PhD, is Professor of Medicine at Indiana University, with previous appointments at Washington University and the Universities of Texas and Virginia. Widely cited for the original method of RNA isolation with guanidinium thiocyanate, he has been successively a biochemist, molecular biologist, cell biologist and cancer researcher. His laboratory recently developed high-throughput ex vivo assays for drugs targeting cancer:bone interactions in breast & prostate cancer and multiple myeloma, screening inhibitors of the proteasome, heparanase, FGFs, TGFβ, uPAR, PTHrP and Sema4D. The assays are being extended to fat, muscle and sensory neurons to model cachexia and cancer bone pain.

Dr. Brøgger Christensen got a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the Royal Danish School of Pharmacy, which has now been merged with the University of Copenhagen. He has been an associated professor and later professor with special obligations at this University since 1971. Currently he is aprofessor emeritus. His teaching focuses on natural product and his research has focused on drug development from natural products. Two biotech companies have been founded based on his inventions: Lica Pharmaceuticals and GenSpera, now Inspyr Therapeutics. He has co-authored more than 170 scientific publications. He is co-inventor on 10 patents. His h-index is 44.

Ana Conejo-García was born in Malaga, Spain in 1975. She received the degree in Pharmacy in 1998 from the University of Granada (Spain) and the Ph. D. in Pharmacy from the same University in 2002. She jointed Prof. Schofield's group (2003-2005) at University of Oxford as a postdoctoral Marie Curie Fellow. From 2006 she works as a lecturer in the Department of Medicinal and Organic Chemistry of the University of Granada. She is specialized in studying mechanisms that regulate proliferation, differentiation and cellular apoptosis and searching for new therapeutic strategies based on the rational design of highly selective antitumor agents.

Dr. Bikash Debnath works as a Visiting Assistant Research Scientist in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, College of Pharmacy at University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry in 2005 from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Over the past 15 years Dr. Debnath is actively involved in the discovery of novel anticancer and anti-HIV agents. He has published more than 40 scientific papers.

Alessandro Desideri received the degree in Physics in 1975 from the University of Roma La Sapienza (Italy) and the Ph. D. in Chemistry from Leicester University (UK) in 1982. From 1995, he has been appointed as full Professor of Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Science University of Rome Tor Vergata, where he has set up an interdisciplinary group having both experimental and computational expertise. He is involved in the structural and functional characterization of human topoisomerase I and in its interaction with antitumoral drugs. He is also involved in the development of DNA-based nanostructures for a targeted delivery of anticancer drugs.

I graduated at Medical School on July 3rd 1995 in Catania, my hometown. Afterwards, I had my Residency in General Surgery in Milan at “Niguarda Ca’ Granda Hospital”, and I spent 4 months at the Liver/Gastro Intestinal Transplant Division, Department of Surgery, University of Miami. Since then, my career was mostly dedicated to the surgical oncology of the hepato-pancreato-biliary district and to liver transplantation, with both clinical and translational interests. From 2008 I am Associate Professor at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Modena, Italy), where I currently direct the Hepato-pancreato-biliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation Unit. Robotic surgery, immunosuppressive therapy and regenerative medicine are the research field of interest in our unit.

Mohammed I. El-Gamal, Ph.D. is the author of more than 51 publications in highly reputed journals. He got 3 patents, and presented more than 37 posters and 8 oral presentations in different international conferences. He has peer-review more than 50 articles. And he has been an editorial board member in more than 17 international journals. He has been also a member of the Asian Council of Science Editors (ACSE). Mohammed I. El-Gamal, Ph.D. and his group have developed a new more efficient prodrug of Olmesartan (antihypertensive agent) which has been marketed in the Republic of Korea. And he is interested in anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial drug development.

Anton FICAI obtained his diploma in Organic Chemistry, the masters in Bioengineering and the PhD in Collagen/Hydroxyapatite composite materials. He accomplished the Postdoctoral training in bone substitutes. His research activity is mainly focused on biomaterials for bone healing and treatment. Also, he was involved in some projects dealing with bone cancer treatment and pain management and improving the prosthetic tubular devices, in ligament reconstruction, etc. He has obtained various national and international awards and prizes, including 25 Gold Medals as well as 25 Special Prizes offered by the International Jury of the different countries; including Moldova, China, Hong-Kong, Turkey, and Hungary.

Dr. Folini obtained the Degree in Biological Sciences and the doctorate (Ph.D.) in Biotechnological Applications from the University of Milan, Italy. He is Staff scientist at the Molecular Pharmacology Unit, Department of Experimental Oncology and Molecular Medicine, National Cancer Institute of Milan. He is member of the American Association for Cancer Research and of the EORTC-Pharmacology and Molecular Mechanism group. Dr. Folini has authored 65 manuscript (h-index: 28; total impact factor: 330), guest-edited the thematic issue “Targeting Telomere Maintenance Mechanisms in Cancer Therapy” published by Bentham Science Publishers and is a named inventor of 1 patent (WO/2006/087752).

Dr. Gangjee obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. Dr. Gangjee also holds a BS and MS in Organic Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. Dr. Gangjee is a Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Duquesne University. He has published more than 165 scientific publications and holds 37 patents.

Dr. Roy Golsteyn is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Director of the Cancer Cell and the Natural Product Laboratories at the University of Lethbridge in Canada. He undertook his PhD in biochemistry in Sir Tim Hunt’s laboratory at the University of Cambridge (Nobel Prize 2001). Dr. Golsteyn completed his studies as a post-doctoral fellow at the ISREC in Switzerland, at the Institute Curie in Paris with Dr. Evelyne Friederich and Prof. Daniel Louvard. Prior to joining the University of Lethbridge, he was a senior research scientist in drug discovery in oncology with the pharmaceutical company Servier in Paris, France. He has published more than 80 papers and holds 5 patents.

Dr. Vita Golubovskaya is the Director of Research and Business Development at Promab Biotechnology developing novel anti-cancer immunotherapies including CAR-T therapy. She has more than 20 years of experience in cancer research, oncology and immunology. Previously, Dr. Golubovskaya was Research Associate Professor at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Research Professor at University of Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY. She holds Ph.D from Institute of Cytology, St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. Golubovskaya authored more than 75 manuscripts, 8 patents and several book chapters. She was awarded as a Principal Investigator Susan Komen Grant, NCI NIH grants as Co-Investigator and STTR grant as PI. Dr. Golubovskaya served as a Guest Editor in Frontiers in Bioscience, Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry and Cancers.

Isabel M. Gomez-Monterrey is Associate Professor in the University “Federico II” of Naples with more of 25 years of experience in the academic research. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Extremadura, Spain, and served as postdoctoral researcher at both the University René Descartes of Paris, and the Institute of Medicinal Chemistry (C.S.I.C.) of Madrid. She has published more than 85 scientific publications and one patent. Dr. Gomez-Monterrey is also faculty member of the Biotechnology Center at Naples, where she teaches “Principles of Medicinal Chemistry” for health biotechnology students.

Dr. Goswami possess unique combination of strong scientific background and experimental skills in analytical, medicinal and synthetic chemistry. He completed his PH. D from Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI)-Lucknow, in 2004. He has advance experience in bio analysis and quantitation of xenobiotics in biological matrices utilizing LCMS and HPLC platforms. He Currently holds the position as Senior Scientist at Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health since 2015. He have co-authored 36 research articles and co-invented 8 patents and has expertise in multistep complex organic synthesis, purification & characterization of novel chemical entities for biomedical application.

Dr. Génisson completed his PhD at the ICSN in Gif-sur-Yvette, France, under the supervision of Dr. C. Marzano. After working for two years at Merck Frosst in Montreal, Canada, he joined the CNRS in the group of Dr. A. E. Greene in Grenoble, France. In 1998, he moved to Toulouse, France, where he is now the director of the SPCMIB laboratory. President regional board and vice president of the Organic Chemistry Division of the French Chemical Society, he has co-authored more than 68 publications and 2 patents. His scientific interests lie in the field of chiral ionic liquids and bioorganic chemistry of lipids.

Professor Wing Shing (John) Ho, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Biochemistry Programme of School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He obtained a B.S. from The University of Alberta, and M.A., and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry (1985) from State University of New York at Buffalo. After completing a post-doctoral training in Pediatrics Department at SUNYAB and University of Utah. He was appointed associate professor in the School of Life Sciences at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1994.

Dr. Huang obtained a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in Pharmacy (Medicinal Chemistry) from the University of Regensburg, Germany. Dr. Huang was former dean of School of Pharmacy, and head of the Department of Research and Development in NDMC and director of Department of Pharmacy Practice, Tri-Service General Hospital/NDMC. Currently, Dr. Huang is a Professor in College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University also an Adjunct Professor in NDMC. He has published more than 90 scientific publications and is a named inventor of 30 issued U.S., Taiwan or other countries patents. Dr. Huang is currently the Editorial Advisory Board of this journal, published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Dr. Shile Huang focuses on studying the role of mTOR signaling in tumorigenesis and metastasis. Since 2008, he has been studying how mTOR regulates cell survival, cell motility and lymphangiogenesis; how some small molecules (e.g. curcumin, cryptotanshinone, dihydroartimisinin, and ciclopirox) act as anticancer agents and how the heavy metal cadmium induces neuronal apoptosis. He is an editor-in-chief for "Metals and Neurodegeneration". He serves as ad hoc reviewers for funding agencies (e.g. NIH, DOD, ACS, and AHA) and journals (e.g. Cancer research, Oncogene, JBC, etc.).

Dr. Md. Farhadul Islam is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He has obtained PhD in 2018, in Cancer Molecular Pathology from Schools of Medicine, Griffith University, Australia with distinction. Dr. Islam’s working on cancer biology, drug development and molecular marker development for various cancer. His research focus on cancer genetics, epigenetics, and cancer signalling and drugs developments. Dr. Islam has published more than 40 peer-reviewed research articles and wrote & published more than 5 book chapters on cancer pathogenesis and protocols with reputed publishing outlet e.g. Springer, Elsevier.

PhD Luis Felipe Jave Suarez is a Researcher at the West Biomedical Research Center of IMSS in Mexico. He obtained his degree in biology at the Ricardo Palma University in Peru. He was awarded MSc at CINVESTAV-IPN in Mexico and he earned his PhD at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg, Germany. He has had two postdoctoral fellowships, one in Illkirch-France at the IGBMC; and in Heidelberg, Germany at the German Cancer Research Center. His main research topics are on the role that WNT, HOX and CD95 pathways play in cancer development and in antitumor immune response.

Pawel Kafarski was born in 1949 in Gdańsk. After finishing studies in chemistry at Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 1966 he stays at this university defending doctoral thesis (1977), receiving habilitation (1990) and becoming a full profesor (2000). Now he chairs Department of Bioorganic Chemistry. He was staying for nine months at Marquette University, Milwaukee (Wisconsin, U.S.A.) in 1976/1977 and six months at poste rouge at Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Montpellier (France) in 1989. He promoted 37 PhDs an published over 300 papers, which are cited over 5000 times.

Dr. Kaipparettu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and research member of Dan L Duncan Cancer Center at Baylor. His major research area is mitochondria-nuclear crosstalk in cancer progression and metastasis (https://sites.google.com/site/kaipparettulab/ ). The lab use transmitochondrial cybrid models to compare mitochondria from different sources under a common nuclear background. His lab also focus on the development of nano materials for Bioimaging.

Dr. Masood Alam Khan is an Assistant Professor in the College of Applied Medical Sciences at Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia. He got his Ph.D. degree in 2004 in Biotechnology from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. He got his postdoctoral training (June 2004 to December 2009) in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology from Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA. His research interests include NKT cells and innate immunity, antigen presentation, Viral and Cancer Immunology, Vaccine and Drug delivery.

Dr Khan received his Ph.D degree from The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom where he developed new synthetic methodologies involving C‒H functionalization of inert bonds for the synthesis of carbo- and heterocycles. Later, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the same group for one year. He then spent two years (2016-2018) as a Leverhulme Trust research fellow at Cardiff University, before joining The University of Manchester, United Kingdom in 2018. He has a good contribution towards the scientific and academic community with numerous research publications in highly prestigious international journals and various presentations in both national and international conferences. He has published over 55 peer-reviewed articles and reviews with an impact factor of >220 that have been cited over 1300 times. He is also an editorial board member of EC Pharmacology and Toxicology and Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry. His research interests include the development of novel transition-metal-catalyzed synthetic methodologies for the efficient synthesis of biologically active heterocycles and carbocycles, frustrated Lewis pairs (FLP) chemistry and integrated catalysis.

Jinwoong Kim graduated College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University in 1979, and received master degree in science in the same College. Then he went to USA for doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, graduating with a Ph.D. in Pharmacognosy in 1988. and moved to University of Oklahoma in Norman as postdoctoral fellow. He joined the College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University, his alma mater, in 1989, where he rose to the rank of Professor in 1999. He published about 140 papers in international journals, 10 books or book chapers, and 12 patents including 2 US Patent. He served Korean Society of Pharmacognosy as a President in 2009, and currently works as editorial advisory board members in the international scientific journals such as Planta Medica, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, and Drugs of the Future.

Prof. A. Douglas Kinghorn has been Professor and Jack L. Beal Chair in Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at the College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University (OSU) since 2004. He received Ph.D. (1975) and D.Sc. (1990) degrees from The School of Pharmacy, University of London. He has authored or co-authored over 500 peer-reviewed research articles, review articles, and book chapters. His research interests include the isolation and structural characterization of bioactive natural products from higher plants, particularly potential anticancer agents, antileishmanial compounds, cancer chemopreventives, and taste-modifying substances. In 2016, he received a Distinguished Scholar Award from OSU.

Dr. Gregory Kouraklis obtained an M.D. from the University of Athens, Greece. He had postgraduate education in Greece and USA and he hold the specialty of General Surgery, with special interest in Surgical Oncology. His current position is Chairman of Surgery in the School of Medicine at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. He has published more than 225 scientific publications in peer reviewed international journals, plus 150 in National journals. Dr. Kouraklis is Editor in 2 books, Guest Editor in 3 special issues of Eur Surg Res, Senior Editor in 1 journal and Editorial Board in 20 journals.

Dr. Gaurav Kumar is currently working as a researcher in Natural Product Lab, Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padova, Italy. He has submitted a Ph.D. thesis in the Department of Bioengineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, India in 2019. His core competencies are based on sound knowledge on phytochemical drug screening, based on In vitro toxicity leading to qPCR, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent microscopy-based quantitative and qualitative analysis of gene expression study involved in inhibition of growth and induction of apoptosis of cancer cells. He has also had exposure to the recombinant DNA technology, In vivo model, histopathological and biochemical analysis.

She received her degree in Biology at the University of Milan and conducted her postdoctoral training at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan, where she is currently working as in staff researcher. She has been working in the field of molecular/cellular pharmacology participating in the preclinical development of anticancer drugs. With a specific expertise in molecular targeted therapies, her early research work focused on RET oncogenes and Ret oncoprotein inhibition as a therapeutic approach [1-6]. Recent interests include innovative therapies for sarcomas with a particular focus on agents targeting the tumor and its microenvironment [7-11].

Dr. Dahong Li obtained his doctor degree (Ph.D.) in Medicinal Chemistry from China Pharmaceutical University (2013), China. After that, he became a faculty in School of Traditional Chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. Dr. Dahong's research interests focus on medicinal chmistry and natural product chemistry. He has published more than 100 papers and applied for more than 50 patents.

Feng Liang earned his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 2003 at Wuhan University in China, and took his first faculty position at the same University in 2004. He moved to Arizona State University (USA) in 2006, where he was an assistant research scientist at the BioDesign Institute. In 2012, he joined Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China, where he is currently a ‘‘Xiang-Tao’’ Special Term Professor. His main research interests include: 1) Smart Molecules and Materials for Cancer Theranostics; 2) Bio and Chemical Sensors; 3) Recognition-based Single Biopolymer Sequencing.

Dr. Kyu Lim is currently full Professor (1996- ), Department of Biochemistry, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Korea. Dr. Lim is one of the leading scientists in the field of Omega-3 fatty acids and Cancer research. He has worked to identify novel molecular mechanisms of anticancer action of omega-3 fatty acids in several cancers since 2005. For example, he found that omega-3 fatty acids inhibits wnt/beta-catenin signaling and Cox-2 (Cancer Res, 2008; Mol Cancer Ther, 2009), and induces cell death through autophagy (Autophagy, 2011; BioMed Res Intl, 2013). Additionall, DHA degrades HPV E6/E7 oncoprotein through Ubiquitin/proteasome activation. Recently, he published that DHA suppresses breast cancer cell metastasis by targeting matrix-metalloproteinases (Oncotarget, 2016). He also published several books’ chapter and reviews on Omega-3 Fatty acids and Cancer. In 2010, he organized Korea-EU International Forum on Omega-3 fatty acids and Cancer. Dr. Lim has been invited to speak more than 50 times from International and domestic Laboratories.

Dr. Lu received his PhD degree in Shanghai Institute of Meteria Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009. Since 2012, he joined University of Macau as an Assistant Professor and promoted to be Associate Professor in 2018. Dr. Lu mainly focuses on screening of natural compounds with anti-cancer potential and exploration of the molecular mechanisms. He is also interested in studying the new targets and strategies for cancer therapy. To present, Dr. Lu has published more than 140 scientific papers in the professional journals.

Professor Laurent MARTINY has more than 25 years of experience in the research of molecular mechanisms involved in cancer progression. Laurent Martiny and his team aimed to elucidate the role of matrix macromolecules or peptides able to counteract or to facilitate invasiveness and tumoral dissemination in order to identify novel therapeutic targets or biomarkers leading to alternative therapeutic strategies. Notably, Pr Martiny and colleagues have published more than 65 manuscripts, 5 patents, 9 reviews . Pr. Martiny is also deputy director of UMR CNRS MEDyC (Extracellular Matrix and Cellular Dynamics) in Reims Champagne Ardenne University.

Dr. Vijay Mishra is an Associate Professor at School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara (Punjab), India. Dr. Mishra earned his doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. H.S. Gour Central University, (MP), India. He has been a recipient of several internationally acclaimed fellowships and awards. He has authored more than 40 international publications in reputed journals, 4 book chapters, 3 books and 2 patents (filed). He is serving as a reviewer and Editorial Board Member of various journals of high repute. He is a life member of Indian Science Congress, Kolkata, India. His current research interests encompass cancer, nanomedicine, toxicology, surface-engineered dendrimers, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, carbon dots, siRNA delivery.

Rafat M. Mohareb Professor of Organic Chemistry at Department of Chemistry faculty of Science Giza, Egypt since 1994 till now. He got his Ph D Organic Chemistry on 1984 Cairo .Worked as Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley University State of California USA from 1999- 2002 Visiting Professor At Kuwait University 1995- 1996. He was Humboldt fellows in Germany in 1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2006 and 2009-2012, 2013-2016. Occupied the position Head of Organic Chemistry department Faculty of Pharmacy Modern Sciences and Arts University. He He received the price of encouragement of research work from Egypt 1995. He published more than 190 Scientific publications in International journals. He Supervised more than 30 PhD and 60 MSc Theses.

Faustino Mollinedo received his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1982 (Complutense University, Madrid). He then moved to Dartmouth Medical School in Donald L. Schneider’s laboratory (1982-3), where they identified a novel cytoplasmic granule (tertiary granule) in human neutrophils, and then to New York University Medical Center. In 1986 he obtained a tenure position at the Spanish National Research Council, establishing successively his laboratory in Madrid, Valladolid and Salamanca. Now he has moved to the Center for Biological Research in Madrid (2016). His laboratory has made several important contributions in neutrophil biology, ether lipids’ mechanism of action, and apoptosis as a target in cancer therapy. His laboratory identified the translocation of Fas/CD95 death receptor into lipid raft membrane domains as a new mechanism of apoptosis regulation, unveiling rafts as a new target in cancer therapy.

Professor Mubarak received his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Indiana University, Bloomington, the USA in 1982 under the supervision of Professor Dennis G. Peters. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science at The University of Jordan for several years. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, Bloomington (USA) since 2009. In addition to electrochemistry, Prof. Mubarak’s research program is broadly based on synthetic organic chemistry, especially the synthesis of compounds with expected biological activity, medicinal chemistry, natural products, and drug design and discovery. He is the author and co-author of more than 220 research papers and reviews published in peer-reviewed journals. He has also supervised 40 thesis and dissertations and is an editorial board member of several journals.

Dr. S. Nagini is currently a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India. She did her Masters Degree in Biochemistry from JIPMER, Ph.D. in Cancer Institute, Chennai and postdoctoral research in the University of Liverpool, UK. Prof. Nagini's research focuses on oncogenic signalling pathways, molecular targets for chemointervention and comparative oncology. Prof. Nagini has supervised 16 Ph.D. students, and authored 4 books, 8 chapters in edited research volumes, and 135 international research papers. She has filed 1 national and 2 international patents. She has successfully completed several research projects and was the Coordinator for the Indian side of the Indo-EU Collaborative Project under the 7th Framework programme on FUNCFOOD. In 2002, she received the National Young Woman Bioscientist Award, from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.

Prof. Józef Oleksyszyn has recived his Ph.D. (1974-1977) and D.S. (doctor of sciences, habilitation, 1978-1986) from Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Technology. Currently he is professor of biochemistry at that place. Two postdoctoral scholarship. The first (1982-1984) at Department of Chemistry, Michigen University with prof. Arthur Ashe and the second one at Georgia Institute of Technology with prof. James C. Powers. During the period of 1990-2000 has been working in few biotechnology companies including CORTECH Inc., (Denver,CO), OsteoArthritis Inc., (Boston, MA) and DYAX (Boston, MA), at positions from research scientist to the Director of Chemical Sciences. One of the compounds, inhibitor of human neutrophil elastase, designed and synthesized by him went to the clinical trial (Cortech). He discovered an amidoalkylation reaction of trivalent phosphorus derivatives, named in literature sometimes “Oleksyszyn reaction”. His research resulted in more than 70 publications in reputed journals and more than 50 patents and patents applications, including 8 USA patents.

Neil Osheroff received a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Hobart College in 1974 followed by a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Northwestern University in 1979. Dr. Osheroff moved to the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1980, where he was a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry. In 1983, he moved to the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and he has been on the faculty since that time. Dr. Osheroff currently holds Professorships in the Departments of Biochemistry and Medicine and was endowed with the John G. Coniglio Chair in Biochemistry in 2003. Dr. Osheroff’s research focuses on DNA topoisomerases, essential enzymes that remove knots and tangles from the genome and are targets for several widely prescribed anticancer and antibacterial drugs.

Dr. Dong-sheng Pei earned his Ph.D. degree in biology (2005) from the University of Science and Technology of China. He joined the School of medical biochemistry at Xuzhou Medical University (China). He currently is a distinguished professor at Xuzhou Medical University. Dr. Pei has a record of significant contributions to tumor biology. He has published more than 110 scientific publications. Dr. Pei has extensive experience in cancer cell biology, particularly in carcinogenesis, cancer therapy and prevention and cancer metabolism.

Prof. Raffaele Pezzani is a biologist and a physician with a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Padova, Italy. He has over 50 scientific publications that have more than 640 citations. He has been serving as an editorial board member and as an editor of reputed impacted journals. He is the principal investigator of his research group in Padova, having a long lasting and valid experience (more than 20 years) in biology and medicine.

Dr. Luigi Quintieri completed his undergraduate studies in Pharmacy as well as his PhD studies in Oncology at the University of Padova, Italy. Since 2006 he is Assistant Professor at the same University. His areas of research interest include phase I and phase II metabolism of drugs, and the pharmacological characterization of novel inhibitors of glutathione transferase P1-1 for cancer therapy.

I am Associate professor at the University of Barcelona since 2012. I am the responsible of the Supra- and Nanostructured Systems and we are mainly interested on the synthesis and characterization of novel water soluble supramolecular structures that are luminescent and present different properties, being the formation of gels, vesicles, biological activity and metallic nanostructures among others. We have national and European funding and we are an active group involved in several European COST Actions and regular participation in national and international conferences.

Professor Rawat obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India under the supervision of Dr D Bhakuni. He has 18 years of experience in the field of medicinal chemistry aimed to treat cancer, microbial infections and Parkinson disease. Professor Rawat is a visiting Professor at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan. Professor Rawat has authored more than 118 papers with 2750 citation with 32 H-index. He has nine patents to his credit and co-authored a book on “Bioactive marine natural products”. Professor Rawat is a member of Editorial Board of Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry, Marine Drugs and he is an Associate Editor of RSC Advances.

Dr. Rudolf obtained his Ph.D. in Medical biology from the Charles University, Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove. Currently, Dr. Rudolf is Full Professor and head of Department of Medial biology and genetics in the Charles University, Faculty of Medicine. He has authored more than 70 scientific papers and 7 chapters in books.

Dr Haladhar Dev Sarma MVsc, PhD has been serving Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India for more than two and half decades. His research interest includes development of animal model for pharmaceutical and cancer research, radiopharmaceuticals development and molecular imaging. Globally recognized as one of the pioneering workers for development of 177 Lu-based radiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy. He and his co-workers developed quite a few radiopharmaceutical products for cancer theranostics. Serving as reviewer for about twenty scientific journals and editorial board member for about half of them. Has co-authored more than 250 research publications.

Prof. Daniela Secci, Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Pharmacy and Medicine Faculty of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. The research activity is carried out at the Department of Chemistry and Technologies of Drugs in collaboration with other European Departments. The main fields of interest are: synthesis of inhibitors of human monoaminooxidases (MAO-A and MAO-B), synthesis of inhibitors of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and of Carbonic Anhydrases. Another branch of research concern the synthesis of new compounds with anti-Helicobacter pylori and anti-candida activities. The scientific activity is documented by 100 and more publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

Bachelor's in Farmácia e Bioquímica from Universidade de São Paulo (1980), master's in Biochemistry from Universidade de São Paulo (1985) and PhD in Biochemistry from Universidade de São Paulo (1988). Visiting professor at Oklahoma State University (1993-1995) in Stillwater, OK, EUA. Currently she is Full professor at Federal University of São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Has experience in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology focusing on Proteins, acting on the following subjects: snake venom, disintegrin, metalloprotease, tumor microenvironment, breast cancer, extracellular matrix. Provost for Research at UFSCar from 2012-2016. Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Evolutionary Genetics and Molecular Biology.

Graduate from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Pharmacy and Biochemistry (1988). Has a Ph.D. in Pathologic Anatomy at Campinas State University’s School of Medicine (UNICAMP) for developing a research of high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Her first post-doctorate study was accomplished at the University of São Paulo’s School of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto (FMUSP), After that, she was accepted to a second post-doctoral study in Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, at the Department of Infectious Diseases, She’s spent all her career investigating therapeutic strategies using natural compounds against cancer development, engaging in a great variety of studies, with an emphasis in head and neck cancer, as well as cervical cancer, all associated to HPV infection. She is, presently, Associated Professor of Cytology and Cellular Biology, at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UNESP). She belongs to an officially recognized excellence post-graduation course in Bioscience and Biotechnology Applied to Pharmacy, according CAPES (Brazilian Scientific Foundation to Research)

Prof. Yusuf TUTAR currently continues his research at the University of Health Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Division of Biochemistry- Mektebi Tıbbiye-i Sahane, Turkey. He is also the head of the Molecular Medicine Program. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Oregon State University and Texas Tech University, respectively. He pursued his postdoctoral study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK), USA. His research focuses on Biochemistry, Biophysics, Genetics, and Molecular Biology with specialization in the fields of drug design, protein structure-function, protein folding, prion, microRNA, pseudogenes, molecular cancer, epigenetics, metabolites, proteomics, genomics, protein expression and characterization by spectroscopic and calorimetric methods.

Dr. Velasco-Velazquez is an expert in the development and preclinical evaluation of pharmochemical and biotech drugs. His current research focuses on the generation of new agents for targeting cancer stem cells. He has lectured +40 courses at the National University of Mexico, mainly on Pharmacology and Cancer Cell Biology. He in member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, Mexico.

Pharm.D. (2002); Ph.D. Caen (2005), University of Caen Normandie (France). Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry (2007) in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Caen. Since September 2015, she has assumed the position of Prof. of Medicinal Chemistry. Her research interests include medicinal chemistry in the field of protein-protein interactions, in order to design oligo(het)aromatic foldamers that mimic the ability of proteins to fold into well-defined conformations, such as helices and β-sheets. Since 2012 she has been leading a research program dedicated to the development of foldamers of interest in the treatment of ovarian cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Winum received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Montpellier (France), in 1998. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Chemistry Department of Georgetown University (Washington, DC) and in the Organic Chemistry Department of the University of Geneva (Switzerland). In 1999, he joined the Department of Chemistry of the University of Montpellier, where he is now an Associate Professor. He has published more than 135 scientific papers and is a named inventor of 6 patents. He is also regional editor of Recent Patents in Anti-cancer Drug Discovery, associate editor of Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, and editorial board member of Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents, and Current Organic Chemistry.

Dr. Xiao obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in nutrition science from Okayama Prefectural University (Japan) in 2009 and worked as a Humboldtian in Universität Würzburg (Germany) supported by AvH Foundation. Currently Dr. Xiao is an Assistant Professor in University of Macau and a Distinguished Professor in Fujian Agriculture & Forestry University (China). He has published more than 120 scientific publications and is named a 2016 Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters. Dr. Xiao is currently the Editorial Board Member of Current Drug Metabolism, Frontiers in Pharmacology, Industrial Crops and Products, Phytochemical Analysis, Molecules, Journal of Berry Research, Phytomedicine, and Pharmacognosy Magazine.

Dr. Chao Zhang earned his Ph.D. degree in Polymer Chemistry (2005) from Wuhan University, China, and had been working as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of California, San Diego from 2006 to 2010. In 2010, Dr. Zhang joined the the School of Engineering at the Sun Yat-sen University (China) as an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering; he currently serves as the Associate Dean of the School and the head of the Biomedical Engineering Program. His current research interests include the nano-sized drug carriers, contrast agents for medical imaging, and tissue engineering.

Dr. Zhang has extensive expertise and experiences in translational biomedical research, particularly translational medicine, cancer therapy and prevention, pharmacogenomics and therapeutics. He has published more than 210 papers, 2 books, more than 50 invited reviews/book chapters, and more than 180 meeting abstracts. Dr. Zhang has made more than 200 invited presentations. He is a certified toxicologist by the American Board of Toxicology (D.A.B.T.). He is also an editor-in-chief, associate-editor-in-chief, associate editor, or editorial board member of 25 scientific journals. Dr. Zhang has been elected as a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2009.

Dr. Yingjie obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Medicinal Chemistry from Shandong University, China in 2012. After that, Dr. Yingjie became a faculty member in Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University. Dr. Yingjie’s research interests focus on rational design, synthesis and biological evaluation of compounds targeting histone deacetylases (HDACs), aminopeptidase (AP) and kinds of protein kinases. Dr. Yingjie has published more than 40 scientific publications. Dr. Yingjie is also a teaching member of national excellent open course《Drug Design》.

Graduate at Veterinary Medicine from Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (1986), master's at Patologia Veterinária from Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (1999) and ph.d. at Medicina Veterinária Clínica Médica Jaboticabal from Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (2001). Has experience in Veterinary Medicine, focusing on Animal Clinical Pathology, acting on the following subjects: imuno-histoquímica, cadelas, neoplasia mamária, diagnóstico and cadela.

Dr. Al-Abd has been promoted in the fields of research/academia from research assistant to associate research professor at the National Research Centre of Egypt. He worked for 6 years as an Assistant/Associate Professor at King Abdul-Aziz University and supervised the research activities within the Tissue Culture facility in the Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdul-Aziz University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Gulf Medical University, United Arab Emirates. In addition to his title, he is a visiting scholar in Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, USA.

Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi was born in Bari (Italy) in 1974. She graduated cum laude in Medicinal Chemistry and Technologies in 1998 (University of Bari) and in the same year she got the approbation as pharmacist. Doctor of research (XIV cycle, 1998–2001) in Medicinal Chemistry on “2-(9-Anthryl) and 2-(9-xanthenyl)alcanoic acids, homologues, and derivatives: synthesis and biological evaluation” (University of Bari,), in 2002–2004 she was a post-doctor researcher at Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Bari. In 2005 she won a research grant in Medicinal Chemistry, at the same University of Bari, that lasted in February 2009 when she became Researcher in the same discipline.

Ibrahim Hassan Eissa received his B.Sc. in 2003, Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry in 2009 and a PhD degree in 2012, both from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Since 2017, he has been an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University and was made a manager of QAU in 2018. His scientific activity is focused on design, molecular modelling studies and synthesis of new bioactive compounds with potential anticancer activity against EGFR, VEGFR-2, Topoisomerases, tubulins, Carbonic anhydrases, and thymidylate synthase.

Dr. Sherien El-Daly received her PhD degree in cancer biology in 2012 from the University of Ain Shams and National Research Center, during her PhD she traveled to University of Leicester, UK for practical research work on molecular cancer biology techniques. Her PhD study received best dissertation award from the National Research Centre and published in high impact factor journals. Following her PhD, Dr. El-Daly joined German Cancer Research Centre DKFZ-Heidelberg, Germany as a Postdoc where she investigate a novel suppressing miRNAs network controlling colorectal cancer and their corresponding target genes and pathways critical for the transition from primary tumor to distant metastasis.

Dr. Eldeeb received his B.Sc in Chemistry (with the highest honor) from Cairo University in 2009. He moved to Canada in 2011 to study for his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta. He studied the molecular mechanisms by which the N-end rule degradation pathways regulate cell death in cancer-derived cell lines. In December 2017, he become a lecturer and investigator of Biochemistry at Cairo University. In June 2018, he joined the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which mitochondrial quality control are deregulated in Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Eldeeb has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed articles and has been an ad hoc reviewer for many scientific journals in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology. His research focuses on investigating the molecular mechanisms by which mitochondrial quality control are deregulated in Parkinson’s disease.

Sercan Ergun is working as Asst. Prof. Dr. in Department of Medical Biology, Bacis Sciences Division, Faculty of Medicine, Ordu University. He was included as researcher in a team studying briefly epigenetic changes in disease mechanisms of different types of cancers, including oncogenic/tumor suppressor gene and miRNA expression level changes, cell death mechanism analysis, development of some cancer therapy agents’ efficiencies via miRNAs. Also, He is analyzing some plant extracts and newly designed metal-bound compounds with respect to their anti-cancer potential and their effects on non-coding RNAs. Now, he is part (as a researcher) of a team studying on in silico miRNA and ceRNA analysis, miRNA heterogenetiy, piRNA expression changes in different cancer types , especially urological cancers.

Olga Janoušková has completed her PhD from molecular biology and experimental virology and oncology at the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Praque, Czech Republic. As a postdoc she worked in department of neurodegeneration and prion diseases in 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Praque. She is head of the Department of Biological Models of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences from 2013. Her research is focused on the biological evaluation of medicinal polymers and newly prepared polymeric materials for tissue engineering. The main current research is concentrated on the interaction of various types of polymers as a carrier of anticancer drug/diagnostic agent with cells, changes in cell behavior and characterization of cell to cell interaction and communication.

G. Jiang received a Bachelor’s degree in Clinical Medicine in 2003 and a Master’s degree in Dermatology in 2009 from Xiamen University. He continued his studies in dermatology at Wuhan University and received a doctoral degree in 2015. His current research focus is a novel antitumor approach, specifically nanoscale delivery of chemotherapy drugs. His study has shown that hyaluronic acid-modified carboxylated polyamidoamine loaded with temozolomide and indocyanine green is a promising nanoplatform for melanoma treatment. Besides, his research team continues to explore a new strategy for melanoma treatment and detection.

Dr. Gaurav Kumar is currently working as a researcher in Natural Product Lab, Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padova, Italy. He has submitted a Ph.D. thesis in the Department of Bioengineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, India in 2019. His core competencies are based on sound knowledge on phytochemical drug screening, based on In vitro toxicity leading to qPCR, immunohistochemistry, and fluorescent microscopy-based quantitative and qualitative analysis of gene expression study involved in inhibition of growth and induction of apoptosis of cancer cells. He has also had exposure to the recombinant DNA technology, In vivo model, histopathological and biochemical analysis.

Vesna Rastija graduated biology and chemistry at the Faculty of Education in Osijek in 1994. After the graduation she taught the chemistry and biology in elementary school for a three years. She has been employed 1997 as a teaching assistant of Chemistry on Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek, University of J. J. Strossmayer Osijek. Vesna has made master thesis on the Institute “Rudjer Boskovic” in Zagreb in area of inorganic and structural chemistry, and 2001 earned a Master of Science degree at the Faculty of Science (University of Zagreb). She obtained a doctoral degree in Chemistry at the Faculty of Science (University of Zagreb) 2007 in area of analytical and computational chemistry. She is currently employed as an associate professor of Chemistry at the Faculty of Agrobiotehnical Sciences Osijek.

Dr. Onur received his Ph.D. in Medical Biology and Genetics from the Pamukkale Institute of Medical Sciences in 2017. After completion of his degree he got the Assist. Prof. position in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Pamukkale, Denizli/TURKEY. His interests are focused on cancer genetics and biology. In particular his laboratory is currently working on understanding the role of exosomes in tumorgenesis. Dr. Tokgun has published several research papers in scientific journals

Dr. Junzi Wu received my B.Sc. degrees from Taiyuan Normal University in 2011，MA.Sc degrees from Kunming University of Science and technology in 2014, and Ph.D. degrees from Donghua University in 2017, respectively. After working in Yunnan university of China medicine until now, my research interests mainly focus on drug delivery, targeted therapy for cancer.

Prof. Abrahamse is presently serving as a Director in the Laser Research Center. She has been awarded a degree of PhD in Molecular Biology/Biochemistry from Wits University. Her research interests include photobiology and photochemistry with specific reference to photodynamic cancer therapy, nanotechnology and targeted cancer therapy investigating the intricate mechanisms underlying cancer cell death induced by novel photochemotherapeutic compounds in conjunction with the use of nanoparticles. Her international standing as a researcher of distinction is supported by the fact that she has hosted 3 international conferences and has been invited to present her research at several international conferences. Her publication record is impressive with 154 peer-reviewed accredited journal publications, 19 chapters and 3 books, and a Scopus H-index of 27.

Dr. Ahmadi is an experienced researcher with a demonstrated history of researching in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. He is skilled in clinical research, Animal models, Cellular models, Scientific writing & publishing. His research interest focuses on extensive fields of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Natural products, Radiopharmaceuticals, Nanomedicine, Radiation biology, Cancer chemoradiotherapy and other fields of Pharmacy at the Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. He has published many original and review articles in high-quality journals and selected as a recognized international editor and peer reviewer by famous publishers. In 2019, Dr. Amirhossein Ahmadi was placed in the top 1% of reviewers in Cross-Field on Publons global reviewer database.

Dr. Al-Abd has been promoted in the fields of research/academia from research assistant to associate research professor at the National Research Centre of Egypt. He worked for 6 years as an Assistant/Associate Professor at King Abdul-Aziz University and supervised the research activities within the Tissue Culture facility in the Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdul-Aziz University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Gulf Medical University, United Arab Emirates. In addition to his title, he is a visiting scholar in Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, USA.

Dr. DANCIU CORINA is a Researcher, Pharmacist and the Head of Department of Pharmacognosy in Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy Timisoara. She has been awarded a degree of PhD in 2013. She has contributed her valuable 60 publications in different scientific journals. She is also a member of the editorial board of 6 international journals and co-author of patents. Her research interests include: quantitative and qualitative characterization of vegetal extracts, in vitro and in vivo evaluation of pure natural compounds or total extracts for different types of cancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial effect.

Ibrahim Hassan Eissa received his B.Sc. in 2003, Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry in 2009 and a PhD degree in 2012, both from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. Since 2017, he has been an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University and was made a manager of QAU in 2018. His scientific activity is focused on design, molecular modelling studies and synthesis of new bioactive compounds with potential anticancer activity against EGFR, VEGFR-2, Topoisomerases, tubulins, Carbonic anhydrases, and thymidylate synthase.

Dr. Jingkun Fang received both his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Hunan University in 2005 and 2010 respectively. During his Ph.D. period, he studied at the Okayama University of Science for 2 years under a joint Ph.D. program. After working in Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy for nearly 3 years (2010-2013), he got a position as an associate professor at the Department of Chemistry in Nanjing University of Science and Technology (2013-present). He visited the Australian National University as a visiting scholar for 3 months in 2017. His research interests mainly focus on Organic Synthesis, Medicinal Chemistry, and Organic Functional Molecule.

Prof. Jin-Chul Kim did his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from KAIST. In academic career, he spent more than 15 years in the College of Biomedical Science, Kangwon National University. His research interests include drug delivery systems, colloid & interface science, and polymer science developed to minimize the side effects of drugs and to maximize their efficacy. His researches are focused on the development of efficacious drug carriers, mostly working on carriers that release their contents in response to stimuli such as light, temperature, pH, current flow, magnetic field, and some specific substances. His publication record is impressive with more than 240 SCI-grade papers as the corresponding author.

Dr Mei Lin is a Professor of Medical Science and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine. Her main research areas are nanomedicine, personalized diagnosis and therapy for cancer and tumour molecular imaging. Prof. Mei Lin is the academic leader of Jiangsu Key Clinical Specialty, the clinical laboratory of Taizhou People’s Hospital Affiliated to Nantong University. Her research work focuses on synthesis and characterization of Nano-drug and molecular probe, tumour molecular imaging, drug delivery, targeted therapy for cancer including chemotherapy, gene-therapy, magnetic thermotherapy and nuclide therapy.

Dr. Tânia Morais has been awarded a degree of PhD in Inorganic Chemistry in 2013 from the University of Lisbon. She was honored by the Portuguese Chemical Society in 2014 with the prize “Portuguese Young Chemist Award”. Currently, she is a researcher at Centro de Química Estrutural(CQE) at Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL). Her research focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of Ru, Fe and Cu complexes with targeting molecules (e.g. peptides, carbohydrates, and biomolecules) in their structure for the selective inhibition of the cancer development and metastases. She has 23 papers published in international journals, 3 book chapters and 3 patents.

Dr. Palmiro Poltronieri is presently serving as a researcher at the Agrofood Department of the Italian National Research Council. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Verona University. His research interests include abiotic and biotic stress response in model plants, in bioactives from plants with a beneficial effect on health, in food microbiology and in the application of biocontrol strains for plant health. He is the co-founder of Biotecgen, a Small Medium Enterprise and service company, involved in European projects, such as RIBOREG, NANOMYC, ABSTRESS, and TOMGEM. He is Associate Editor to BMC Research Notes and is editor-in-chief for Challenges, an MDPI journal. He has co-authored 76 publications in international journals, 35 book chapters, and 5 books.

Dr. Onur received his Ph.D. in Medical Biology and Genetics from the Pamukkale Institute of Medical Sciences in 2017. After completion of his degree he got the Assist. Prof. position in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Pamukkale, Denizli/TURKEY. His interests are focused on cancer genetics and biology. In particular his laboratory is currently working on understanding the role of exosomes in tumorgenesis. Dr. Tokgun has published several research papers in scientific journals

Prof. Yusuf TUTAR currently continues his research at the University of Health Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Division of Biochemistry- Mektebi Tıbbiye-i Sahane, Turkey. He is also the head of the Molecular Medicine Program. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Oregon State University and Texas Tech University, respectively. He pursued his postdoctoral study at the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIDDK), USA. His research focuses on Biochemistry, Biophysics, Genetics, and Molecular Biology with specialization in the fields of drug design, protein structure-function, protein folding, prion, microRNA, pseudogenes, molecular cancer, epigenetics, metabolites, proteomics, genomics, protein expression and characterization by spectroscopic and calorimetric methods.

Qiang Yan is a medical doctor, master supervisor, adjunct professor and FACS, Chairman of Department of General Surgery at Zhejiang University Huzhou Hospital, Director of Department of Hepatopancreatic and Biliary Surgery and Department of Surgery Teaching and Research. He is a member of Committees of Biliary Surgeons, Department of Surgeons and Hepatobiliary Minimal of Non-invasive Surgery, Chinese Medical Doctor Association and many other academic associations. He is a Special Reviewer of Journals of Medicine, Oncotarget; Special Member of Editorial Committees of Chinese Journal of General Surgery, Liver Cancer and Chinese Journal of Clinicians, a participant of High Level Talents of Zhejiang Medicine and Zhejiang Province 151 Talents.

Professor Lin Yang has received his B.S. in Clinical Medicine from Westchina Medical University in 1990, M.S. in Surgery from Tianjin Medical University in 2001，and M.D. in Imaging Medicine and Nuclear Medicine from Sichuan University in 2007, respectively. He was employed as a professor of Imaging Medicine and Nuclear Medicine at Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College in 2012. Professor Lin Yang published about 80 journal manuscripts, and seven academic books, respectively. He served as the Member of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE), and Chinese Society of Interventional Oncology; Deputy chairman of Sichuan Society of Interventional Medicine, and Reviewers of J Vasc Interv Radiol, WJG, and Clinics, respectively.