Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, Ph.D. in organic chemistry (Cambridge University 1968), has 1056 international publications including 210. He won the UNESCO Science Prize and was elected Fellow of Royal Society (London). He was conferred honorary doctorate degrees by many universities including Cambridge University. He was elected Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, and the Austrian government honoured him with its high civil award (“Grosse GoldeneEhrenzeischen am Bande") (2007) .He is Foreign Fellow (“Academician”) of Chinese and Korean Academies of Sciences. The University of Technology Mara, Malaysia UiTM, has established “Atta-ur-Rahman Institute of Natural Product Discovery” in his honour. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the Federal Minister of Science and Technology of Pakistan. He is Chairman UN Committee on Science Technology and Innovation for UNESCAP region covering 62 countries.

Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto is a molecular biologist currently developing his research at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). He is Editor-in-Chief of Current Biotechnology and the book series Grand Challenges in Biology and Biotechnology (Springer). He also serves as Associate Editor, Guest Editor and member of the Editorial Board of several scientific journals in the field of Life Sciences and Biotechnology. In his editorial books and special issues, some of the most distinguished team leaders in the field have published their work, ideas and findings, including Nobel Laureates and several of the highly cited scientists according to the ISI Institute.

Professor Yasuhisa Asano earned his Ph.D. degree (1982) in Applied Microbiology from Kyoto University, Japan. Prof. Asano currently serves as the Director in the Biotechnology Research Center of Toyama Prefectural University. His current research is broadly in the fields of Applied Microbiology, Biochemistry, Molecular Enzymology, and Organic Chemistry. He has also been a pioneer in the development of microscale assays for amino acids and their analogs, and in particular, his rapid and microscale detection of phenylketonuria in newborns is now used routinely in Japan. Prof. Asano has over 220 publications and has 90 patents.

Professor Francis J. Castellino obtained his Ph.D. degree (1968) in Biochemistry from University of Iowa, USA. He currently holds the following positions: (1) Kleiderer/Pezold Professor of Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame (1983-present); (2) Director, WM Keck Center for Transgene Research, University of Notre Dame (1996-present); and (3) Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine (2006-present). The research interests of Prof. Castellino’s laboratory involve the structure, function and activation of proteins that participate in blood coagulation and blood clot dissolution. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 450 articles in various journals, having a very noteworthy number of total citations, i.e. around 13,690.

Professor Thomas Ming Swi Chang, O.C., M.D., C.M., Ph.D., FRCP(C), FRS(C), has been called the “Father of Artificial Cells”. As a student of B.Sc. honours at McGill University, he invented and prepared the first artificial cell (Chang, Hon B.Sc. research report, 1957). He continued this research in medical school and then obtained his Ph.D. (on artificial cells including blood substitutes) from the Departments of Chemistry & Physiology, McGill University. Since 1979, he is Director of Artificial Cells and Organs Research Centre at McGill University. He has now published more than 546 full papers and 29 books, and has since developed artificial cell into a very large area around the world.

Jean-Marie Frère obtained a PhD from the University of Montréal (1969) and, after a one-year post-doctoral position at MIT (Cambridge, Mass, USA), an "Agrégation de l'Enseignement supérieur" from the University of Liège in 1976.

From the beginning, he has worked in the field of enzymology and, after 1970, mainly devoted his attention to the mode of action of beta-lactams and to the enzymes involved in the sensitivity or resistance of bateria to this family of antibiotics, i.e. DD-peptidases (or Penicillin binding proteins) and beta-lactamases.

Dr Ben J J Lugtenberg graduated in Chemistry from Utrecht University and received his PhD in 1971. His studies included (i) mechanisms of action of antibiotics, (ii) structure and biogenesis of bacterial outer membranes, (iii) nodulation and nitrogen fixation by Rhizobium, (iv) plant growth promotion and biocontrol of plant diseases, and (v) bacterial and fungal endophytes. According to the Web of Science he has 238 primary publications, was cited by others over 15,000 times and has a Hirsch index of 70.

Dr. Charles Wyman leads advancement of cellulosic biomass conversion to sugars and other precursors for biological or catalytic conversion to fuels and chemicals. He is Ford Motor Company Chair in Environmental Engineering and Distinguished Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. Prior positions include Queneau Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College and Director of the Biotechnology Center as well as previous positions at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Dr. Wyman is founder of Vertimass to commercialize simple ethanol conversion to fungible fuels and was cofounder of Mascoma Corporation. He is a AIChE and AAAS Fellow.

F. C. Thomas Allnutt, PhD is the CEO/CSO of BrioBiotech LLC, a small business focused on improved health and nutrition for aquacultured and terrestrial animals. He has experience in industrial research and commercialization of the products produced through his research. Expertise in algal and microbial biotechnology with broad knowledge of related areas. Inventor on >17 patents issued or pending and published >45 peer reviewed papers. His previous positions were as Sr. VP R&D at Phycal Inc., Program Director for the National Science Foundation’s SBIR/STTR Program Biotechnology Group, Research Director at Martek Biosciences, and VP R&D at Advanced BioNutrition.

Dr. Ralf Anken obtained his Ph.D. degree (1995) in Zoology (Neurobiology) from University of Hohenheim, Germany. In Mar 2008, he joined as Scientific Employee at German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Division Biomedical Research, Cologne, Germany, and since 2010, he is Head of the Division. He has authored/co-authored more than 75 articles in various journals, having total citations of over 670. Dr. Anken’s academic and professional honors include the following: (1) Promotion to “ausserplanmaessiger Professor” (2008), and (2) Science Award of the Universitaetsbund Universitaet Hohenheim e.V. in appreciation of the habilitation treatise (1999).

Dr. Willem J.H. van Berkel holds personal chair of Molecular Enzymology in the Laboratory of Biochemistry at Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands. He has made major contributions in the biochemistry, biocatalysis and chemical biology of (redox) enzymes. His expertise is in the following: Bionanotechnology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Oxidoreductases, Biocatalysis, Enzymatic cross-linking, Enzymes, Chemical biology, Molecular conformation, Phenolic compounds, Gene discovery, Protein engineering, Protein purification, Proteins, and Proteomics. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 225 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. around 6,800.

Dr. Ben Berkhout, Ph.D., was appointed as professor of Human Retrovirology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) on Sep 1, 2002. Dr. Berkhout studies the HIV-1 virus and AIDS, the development of a vaccine and a new antiviral therapy. The Berkhout research group received twice the AIDS Research Amsterdam award: in 1997 for a contribution to the 'EMBO Journal', and in 1999 for a contribution to the 'Journal of Virology'. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 510 articles in various journals, having a very significant number of total citations, i.e. around 18,575.

Dr. Bruce Alan Bunnell obtained his Ph.D. degree (1990) in microbiology (molecular genetics) from University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, USA. He holds the following key positions: (1) Chair, Division of Gene Therapy, Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA (2002 to present); (2) Director, Center for Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine, Tulane University (2009 to present); and (3) Gratis Faculty, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA, USA (2008 to present). He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 135 articles in various journals (having total number of citations of around 7,120), over 13 book chapters, and 2 books.

Professor Wilfred Chen joined the University of Delaware in January 1, 2011 as the Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering. He obtained his B.S. degree from UCLA in 1988 and his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1993, both in Chemical Engineering. After one-year postdoc in Switzerland, he joined UC Riverside in 1994. He was Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering and the holder of Presidential Chair until 2010. His research interests are in Synthetic Biology and Protein Engineering. Prof. Chen has published more than 220 journal papers and delivered over 70 invited lectures. He serves on the editorial board for seven scientific publications including Applied and Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology and Bioengineering. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Prof. Chen has also received several awards, including NSF Career Award, AIChE Food, Pharmaceutical, and Bioengineering Division 15c Plenary Lecture, Biotechnology Progress Award for Excellence in Biological Engineering Publication, and Daniel I.C. Wang Award for Excellence in Biochemical Engineering.

Dr. Dongsheng Duan obtained his Ph.D. degree (1997) from University of Pennsylvania, USA. Dr. Duan is Margaret Proctor Mulligan Professor in Medical Research (Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Neurology, Bioengineering, and Biomedical Sciences) in the School of Medicine at University of Missouri, USA. His research interests involve Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) transduction biology, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene therapy, Duchenne cardiomyopathy, Canine model of muscular dystrophy, and Free radical in muscle function and aging. Furthermore, his areas of expertise include Virology and Molecular Therapies, Gene Therapy, Neuromuscular biology, and Virology. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 125 articles in various journals, having total number of citations of around 5,085.

Alessandro Giuliani took his Laurea in Biological Sciences at Universita' di Roma "La Sapienza" score 110/110 cum laude (Anno Accademico 81/82) with a specialization in Statistics.. He serves as Senior Scientist at Environment and Health Dept. Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma,Italy (1997- ). He is Professor (on contract basis) at Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome. Dr. Alessandro Giuliani is involved since more than thirty years in the generation and testing of soft physical and statistical models for life sciences. He puts a a special emphasis on the elucidation of mesoscopic complex systems like protein sequence/structure prediction, complex network approaches, QSAR, Systems Biology. He contributed (together with Prof. Zbilut and Prof. Webber) to the development of Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) data analysis technique. He is the author of 278 publications on peer-review journals with an H-index = 38.

Dr. José Manuel Guisan obtained his Ph.D. degree (1979) in Biochemistry from University Autonoma of Madrid, Spain. Dr. Guisan is currently a full Professor at Spanish Research Council (CSIC) since 2001 and a Visiting Professor at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical School. All his research activity has focused on the implementation of enzymes as industrial catalysts. That is, in the development of strategies that allow to overcome the limitations of enzymes (instability, low activity towards non-natural substrates, difficulty of purification, etc.) to be able to use their excellent catalytic properties. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 400 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. around 16,250.

Michael Hust studied biology at the Carl von Ossietzky Universität in Oldenburg, Germany, from 1993-1999. He received his PhD from the Leibniz Universität in Hannover, Germany, in 2002. Since end of 2002 he is working as group leader at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany. In 2011, he finished his professorial dissertation (Habilitation) and was appointed as Privatdozent (PD). In 2014 he was appointed as professor for biotechnology.

He published more than 100 articles (including book chapters and reviews) on antibody engineering and phage display. He is working on the development of human and human-like antibodies for proteome research, diagnostics and therapy with a focus on pathogens and toxins. Another field of interest is the identification of biomarkers of pathogens using phage display. He co-founded two biotech companies, the mAb-Factory GmbH in 2007 and the YUMAB GmbH (www.yumab.com) in 2012.

Dr. Vinod Labhasetwar, Ph.D., is currently a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Cancer Nanomedicine program. His laboratory’s primary research focus over the past 25+ years has been in both basic and translational nanomedicine, with specific interest in cancer imaging and therapy (metastasis, drug resistance), cardiovascular diseases (restenosis, cardiac arrhythmia), and neuroprotective treatments for CNS injuries (stroke, spinal cord and blast-associated traumatic brain injury). He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, editorials, and has given over 100 invited talks. Moreover, Dr. Labhasetwar has over 20 US and International patents.

Alexander M. Seifalian (AMS) is director of Nanotechnology & Regenerative Medicine Commercialisation at the London BioScience Innovation Centre and Professor of Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine. He is Fellow of the Institute of Nanotechnology (FIoN) and Society of Biology (FSB), and has published over 650 peer-reviewed articles, two books and 12 international patents. AMS has a significant track record with regard to generating impact through the translation of technology from the laboratory directly to the clinic and has demonstrated that nanocomposite materials and stem cells are core to the next generation of surgical implants with highly successful outcomes in a number of pioneering projects. This led to the development of the world’s first synthetic trachea, nasal and ear reconstruction, lacrimal duct conduit, and small diameter bypass grafts for coronary artery and vascular replacement, which has entered clinical trials, all of which have been used as first-in-man.

Dr. Peter X Ma received his B.S. in Polymer Chemistry and M.S. in Polymer Materials from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China), and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Rutgers University. He then did his postdoctoral research at MIT and Harvard Medical School on Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan. He is a tenured Full Professor with quadruple appointments in the Department of Biologic and Materials Sciences in the School of Dentistry, the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, and the Macromolecular Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering. He has published around 230 journal articles and book chapters along with 4 books to his credit.

Dr. Datta Madamwar obtained his M.Sc. in Microbiology from Nagpur University, Nagpur, and Ph.D. from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. Since Jun 1998, he is Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar. His major work involves molecular phylogenetic approaches (based on 16S rDNA amplification, RFLP, ARDRA, DGGE, TGGE, etc.) to determine Uncultivable and Cultivable bacterial diversity of heavy metal resistant bacteria and polycyclic aromatic compounds degrading organisms. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 200 articles in various journals, having total number of citations of around 4,715.

Professor Shawn Denton Mansfield obtained his Ph.D. degree (1997) in Forest Products Biotechnology from University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Since Jul 2009, he holds the positions of Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Wood Science at University of British Columbia. The long-term objective of Prof. Mansfield’s research program is directed at understanding the innate differences in fibre composition and morphological characteristics existing in tree lines within species, and elucidating what impacts these phenotypic traits have on wood processing and product quality. He, as an author/co-author, has published more than 200 articles in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. around 7,640.

Graduated in Physics on December 1969, started his scientific career on 1970 as Researcher of CNR becoming successively Director of Research. Since 1991 Prof. Mita has become full professor of Biophysics at the Second University of Naples. His main research activity is focused on the application of the technology of immobilized enzymes in agro-food and pharmaceutical industry, and in the field of ecotoxicology, particularly on the effects of endocrine disruptors in living organisms. Prof. Mita authored 130 papers, several chapters and some patents.

Actually Prof. Mita is Director of the National Laboratory on Endocrine Disruptors of the Interuniversity Consortium INBB .

Ryuichi Morishita, M.D., Ph.D., graduated Osaka University Medical School in 1987, and received Ph. D. from Osaka University in 1991. After postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, he served as an Assistant Professor, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Osaka University Medical School from 1994 to 1998. Then, from 1998 to 2003, he was Associate Professor, Division of Gene Therapy Science, Osaka University Medical School. Then, he became Professor & Chairman of Division of Clinical Gene Therapy, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University Medical School from 2003.

Dr Poonam Singh (Nigam), PhD in Industrial Microbiology (1985), Postdoctoral Research Fellow Germany (1985-1988), joined Ulster University, UK as full time staff in 1990. Qualified as Chartered Biologist (1992), received Post-graduate qualification in University Teaching, UK (1998), the status of Fellow and Senior Fellow - The Higher Education Academy, UK in 2007 and 2014, respectively; Fellow of Royal society of Biology, London UK, Fellow - Centre of Higher Education Research & Practice, UK 2014, Fellow - International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses, France 2014, Fellow - The Biotechnology Research Society India (2013). Google Scholar http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=-Pkpe_cAAAAJ&hl=en

Prof. Pandey received Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India and pursed his post-doctoral research work at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California at Berkeley. Currently, he is working as Professor in the Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Delhi University South Campus. His group’s research interest is to understand the detail mechanistic interplay of signal transduction networks in plants under mineral nutrient deficiency and abiotic stresses. He has published more than 60 scientific publications, edited 7 books/volumes and also has 2 US patents.

Visit his lab web-page for further information about research work: http://www.dpmb.ac.in/index.php?page=girdhar-pandey; https://sites.google.com/site/gkplab/home

Kun Ping Lu, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Chief of the Division of Translational Therapeutics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He discovers a unique phosphorylation-specific proline isomerase, Pin1 that helps protect against Alzheimer’s disease and whose aberrant activation helps promote the development of cancer. Based on these discoveries, his laboratory is working to develop an antibody therapy for the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injury, and Pin1 chemical inhibitors to overcome drug resistance in cancer treatments.

Dr. Guy M. Poppy, did DPhil University of Oxford (1987- 1990). He did BSc, ARCS Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine (1984-1987). He was appointed as Visiting Professor – Imperial College (2010). Since 2011, he is Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Research and Director of University Strategic Research Groups (reporting to PVC Research). He is responsible for coordinating multidisciplinary strategy at the University of Southampton and Leading 11 Grand Challenge cross-faculty groupings securing about £100 million of research income and central to the University Vision and Strategy.

Arthur Ragauskas held the first Fulbright Chair in Alternative Energy and is a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Academy of Wood Science and TAPPI. In 2014, he assumed a Governor’s Chair for Biorefining based in University of Tennessee’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, with a complementary appointment in the UT Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Forestry, Wildlife, and Fisheries and serves in the US Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate, Biosciences Division, at ORNL. His research program is directed at understanding and exploiting innovative sustainable bioresources for biofuels, and bio-based materials and chemicals.

Dr. Daniel Rittschof obtained Ph.D. degree (1975) and M.S. degree from University of Michigan (1970). He was awarded Community Choice Award, Langmuir in 2011 and also awarded Quarterly Journal of Ship Hull Performance in 2011. His areas of focus are: 1) Ecology and behavioral biology of local macroinvertebrates such as blue crabs and mud snails; 2) Barnacle models as they relate to fouling and the prevention of fouling and bioadhesives; 3. Impacts of xenobiotics on behavior and reproduction.

Dr. Badal Saha obtained his Ph.D. in Microbial Technology from Kyushu University, Japan. He is working as Research Chemist at USDA-ARS, Peoria, IL. Dr. Saha has over 32 years of research experience in fermentation and industrial biotechnology. He has authored 181 research publications (including book chapters and review articles), 198 meeting abstracts and 9 patents. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of Fermentation (open access journal). Dr. Saha has served as President of the Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (2010-11). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Professor Peer Schenk graduated from Georg August University in Göttingen and completed his PhD at the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding in Cologne. He heads a large research team at The University of Queensland, Australia where he is finding game-changing solutions from Science and Technology to address Food and Energy Security (www.schenklab.com). His work includes the development of new disease resistant plants and algae for food, feed and biofuel, leading to >180 papers and 7 patents. He developed new commercial crop cultivars, constructed the first Algae Energy Farm in Australia and founded start-up companies Nexgen Plants and Qponics Pty Ltd.

Dr. Ashok K. Shetty, obtained his B.Sc. degree in Zoology, Chemistry and Botany, Mysore University, Mysore, India (1980). He did M.Sc. in Human Anatomy, Mysore University, Mysore, India (1983). Later, he became Ph.D. in Neuroscience, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India (1990). Since 1991, Dr. Shetty is a Medical Research Scientist, Medical Research Service, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. Currently he is also a Professor in Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina. His peer reviewed publications include 89 research articles, 71 original research articles and 18 review articles.

Dr. Straume received a Ph.D. degree in Biophysics from the University of California in 1982, BS and MS from the University of Washington (1973, 1976). Dr. Straume’s present position at NASA includes advancing our understanding of health effects from radiation exposure during deep space exploration missions such as Mars and the development of methods and technologies to mitigate such hazards. His core expertise is radiation science applied to radiobiology, biophysics, and novel radiation detection technologies. He has also pioneered the development of biotechnologies and is inventor or co-inventor of ten patents in the biotechnology field.

Dr. Jeffrey Paul Sutton did his undergraduate studies in Mathematics and Physics, subsequently earning his M.D., M.Sc. and Ph.D. (Theoretical Physics) degrees from the University of Toronto. He completed his postgraduate medical education at Harvard Medical School. He is the Friedkin Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and also the Chairman of the Board of the NASA-supported Translational Research Institute for Space Health. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

Dr. Tomohiro Tamura did both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Major: Nutrition / Sports Sciences) from University of Tsukuba in 1987 and 1989. Later he obtained his Ph.D. degree (Majoring in Molecular Biology) from University of Tokushima in 1993. Since 2014, Dr. Tamura has been a director of Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). Dr. Tamura has also been a Professor in Laboratory of Molecular Environmental Microbiology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University since 2002 . He has around 130 publications in original peer-reviewed articles and 13 in review articles or book chapters.

Jeremy S. Webb obtained his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from University of Manchester, UK in 2000. He was the Director of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences at University of Southampton, UK (2012-2016) and become Professor of Microbiology at University of Southampton, UK (2015-Present). He has published 59 journal articles, 3 book chapters and has filed 2 patents.

Dr. Shang-Tian Yang obtained his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in 1984. He was awarded Outstanding Contribution Award from Chinese Academic and Professional Association in 1992. His research areas include Biotechnology, Bioengineering, and Bioprocessing. His current research program covers two important areas in bioprocessing and bioengineering. The first one is animal cell culture and tissue engineering; the second one is bioprocessing for value-added products. He has published 280 general articles and 24 patents.

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. Rafiq Hasan obtained MBBS (Medicine) degree during 1986 – 1992 from University of London, United Medical and Dental Schools and St Thomas' Hospital Medical School. Dr. Hasan trained as a physician in United Kingdom. After 3 years in clinical practice, he entered the pharmaceutical industry. During the period of 18 years, he gained vast experience in a variety of commercial and clinical roles of responsibility both in the United Kingdom and at international level at Novartis and Bayer. Before joining Bayer (in his present role in 2013), Dr. Hasan was the Global Head of Ophthalmology at Novartis Pharma AG.

Dr. William Kennedy’s received training academic experience is in the areas of structural biology, molecular genetics, protein chemistry, nucleic acid chemistry, developmental biology, pediatrics and infectious diseases. He is a pediatric infectious disease specialist in San Francisco, California. He received his medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years. He is currently Senior Medical Director at Genentech (September 2012 – Present). His professional goals include regenerative medicine, biotech innovation in novel drug platforms, novel biomarkers, translational medicine, infectious disease, autoimmunity, neurobiology and pediatric drug development.

Based on more than 30 years’ experience in chemical industry and bioeconomy he works on regional as well as international bioeconomy strategies. Manfred Kircher’s career milestones are biotechnological research and development (Degussa AG, Germany), production (Fermas s.r.o.; Slovakia), venture capital (Burrill & Company; USA), biotechnology partnering and branding (Evonik Industries AG; Germany) and building the bioeconomy cluster CLIB2021 (Germany). In 2014 he joined KADIB, a company consulting on important aspects of industrial bioeconomy.

Dr. Jesper Lau studied biology and chemistry at the University of Southern Denmark. After his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1990, and a research visitor stay in the group of Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University in California, he joined Health Care Discovery at Novo Nordisk. Jesper Lau possesses long-term expertise within combinatorial chemistry, medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, but since 2002, has been engaged in protein and peptide engineering. The main focus has been establishing technologies to improve the therapeutic properties of endogenous peptides and proteins.

Dr. Stacy R. Lindborg, Ph.D., is a Vice President, Biostatistics, Biogen Idec, where she has been working since 2012. Prior to this, she was at Eli Lilly & Company for 16 years spanning a number of roles, including Sr. Dir., Global Statistics & Advanced Analytics, Director R&D Strategy & Decision Sciences, etc. Dr. Lindborg’s research interests include applications of novel design and analysis methods to solve real world problems in the pharmaceutical industry. Specific areas of interest include Bayesian methodology, Adaptive Designs, Missing Data problems, and Portfolio Productivity. She has 35+ collaborative and methodological manuscripts published in various journals, having a significant number of total citations, i.e. around 2,580 (Scopus accessed on 10-Nov-2017).

Dr. Raju obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry from the University of Mysore, Mysore, INDIA. Dr. Raju also holds a Masters in Chemistry from the University of Mysore. Currently Dr. Raju is a Senior Director and Head of Global Bioassay & Quality at Medimmune. He has published more than 40 scientific publications including several book chapters and is named inventor of several issued U.S and worldwide patents. Dr. Raju is currently serving as the Editorial Board member of several journals.

John leads the clinical research group within Purdue Pharma, Stamford, CT. Prior to joining Purdue, Dr. Renger spent 15 years with Merck where he was a key innovator for Belsomra, a first-in-class dual orexin receptor antagonist for primary insomnia. John was a Merck-MIT Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where his work focused on understanding the genetic, developmental and physiological basis of memory. Before MIT, Dr. Renger worked at the Institute for Chemical and Physical Research, RIKEN, Japan studying the genetic basis of plasticity in the visual system. Dr. Renger earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biology from the University of Iowa.

Dr. Alison Schecter, M.D., completed her Internal Medicine residency at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and her Cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital with a research fellowship at Mount Sinai. She is currently a Vice President of Cardiovascular and Metabolism (CVM) Scientific Innovation at the J&J Innovation Center, Boston. In her role at J&J, Dr. Schecter is responsible for identifying novel product opportunities and technologies, leading cross-functional teams, both internally and externally, and jointly developing deal structures. In a global health role, her NIH-supported academic research focused on chemokine and cytokine signaling in cardiovascular and viral diseases with over 50 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. Bernardo Silva is an Economist and International Affairs professional with experience of over a decade, of global corporate and government affairs, in Latin America, North America and Europe, and has an extensive network of top-level government authorities, international organizations’ officials, and senior executives from the world’s leading corporations. He is currently Executive President at Brazilian Industrial Biotechnology Association (ABBI), Brazil (Jan 2015 to Present). His specialties include International Business Development; Strategic Advice; Partnerships and Community Building; Global Corporate and Government Affairs; Foreign Direct Investments and Trade Promotion; Policy Analysis and Advocacy.

Paul-Peter Tak received his medical degree cum laude from the Free University in Amsterdam and was trained as an internist, rheumatologist and immunologist at Leiden University Medical Center, where he also received his PhD. He served as Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the Academic Medical Centre/University of Amsterdam (AMC) for 12 years. He is currently Chief Immunology Officer and Senior Vice President R&D Pipeline at GSK. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Michael Wagner is currently Director, Head of Peptides, R&TM Diabetes Division, at Sanofi, Frankfurt, Germany (Oct 2012 to Present). He is also Director Medicinal Chemistry / Head of Medicinal Chemistry 3 - R&D Diabetes Division, at Sanofi-Aventis (Apr 2010 to Present). Previously he worked on the following positions at Sanofi: (1) Senior Principal Scientist, Sanofi-Aventis (Jan 2006 to Apr 2010); and (2) Research Scientist, Sanofi-Aventis (Feb 2002 to Dec 2005). This shows that he has been committed to working at Sanofi and has contributed to a large extent in terms of success at this company.

Dr. Wasserman received his M.D., Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Medical School and his B.S., Magna Cum Laude from Haverford College. He completed his postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University.

Currently, Dr. Wasserman is the Vice President, Head of the Cardiovascular and Metabolic Therapeutic Area and Head of the Development Design Center at Amgen. He is responsible for Amgen’s cardiovascular and metabolic strategy through the development and registration of novel cardiovascular and metabolic therapeutics, evaluating and in-licensing external assets, and optimizing and innovating the design of clinical development programs and studies across Amgen.

Dr. Dennis M. Zaller completed his B.S. (1979) in Biology from University at Albany (SUNY), New York, USA. Dr. Zaller then obtained his Ph.D. (1987) in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in the City of New York. He is currently Executive Director at Celgene (Oct 2015 to Present), where he focuses on Alliance Research, Immunology & Inflammation. Previously, he has worked on the following positions: (1) Executive Director, Merck (Sep 1990 to Sep 2015), and (2) Senior Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology (Sep 1987 to Aug 1990).