Current Drug Delivery

Dr. Jayachandra Babu Ramapuram is currently a Professor and Graduate Program Officer at the Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Madras and master’s and PhD degrees in Pharmaceutics from Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India. His research interests include formulation development of nanoparticle-based formulations for topical and oral delivery, solubility improvement of insoluble drugs, percutaneous penetration enhancement techniques, transdermal drug delivery systems. He has authored and co-authored 150 peer reviewed papers and conference abstracts in several national and international conferences. He has served as a chair and co- chair of scientific sessions at the Annual National Meetings of American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and Society of Toxicology. He serves as an editorial board member for five journals and as a peer reviewer for more than forty journals.

Dr Maria Cristina Bonferoni Graduated in 1984 and got PhD in 1991 in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology. She is associate professor since 2001, at the Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia. The research interests concern pharmaceutical development of conventional and controlled release formulations. Early work involved the study of hydrophilic polymers for oral matrix tablets. Swelling/erosion and diffusion/dissolution processes occurring in hydrophilic matrices have been studied and related to polymer rheological behaviour (viscosity and viscoelasticity) under different conditions of pH and ionic strength. Other research interest involved mucoadhesion mechanisms, development of mucoadhesive dosage forms and of methods to measure mucoadhesion properties. Dr Bonferoni is author of about 140 scientific papers, 12 patents, 12 book chapters.

Dr. Celia graduated in Pharmacy in 2004 from the University of ‘Magna Græcia’ of Catanzaro. In 2008, graduated as Pharm.D., and residence in Hospital Pharmacy at the University of Magna Græcia of Catanzaro. In 2012, Dr. Celia received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Science. Since 2017, he is Associate Professor in the Pharmaceutical Technology. His main research fields are focused on design, synthesis and physical-chemical characterization of vesicular and supramolecular carriers for systemic and topical drug delivery. Dr. Christian Celia carried out his research activity in the Department of Pharmacy, University of Chieti - Pescara “G. d’Annunzio”.

David Jones, Professor of Biomaterial Science at Queen’s University Belfast and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students. He holds BSc (1st class honours) in Pharmacy (1985), a PhD in Pharmaceutics (1988), in 2006, a DSc., all from Queens University of Belfast. More recently (2014) he gained a BA (1st class honours) in Mathematics and Statistics from the Open University. Since 1999 he holds a personal Chair (in Biomaterial Sciences) at the School of Pharmacy, Queens University of Belfast. His research concerns the characterisation, formulation and engineering of pharmaceutical materials/dosage forms and biomedical devices. He is the author of three textbooks, 10 patents and over 400 research papers.

Dr. Xue Xue obtained her Ph.D at National Center for Nanoscience and Technologies, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with her mentor Dr. Xing-jie Liang. From 2012 to 2014, she studied in New York University as a visiting scholar. Then she was an assistant professor with Dr. Hong Zhang at National Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Xue is currently a principle investigator in State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology/College of Pharmacy, and lab chief of Laboratory of Theranostic Nanomedicine in Nankai University. In recent five years, she has authored over 15 SCI-indexed papers with total IF > 150.

Dr. Hosseinkhani has broad experience in the area of life sciences and is an expert in nanotechnology, biomaterials, drug delivery, 3D in vitro systems, bioreactor technology, and bioengineering stem cells technology. His working experience is mainly attributed to academia and industry of biomedical engineering research and development (which includes several years of basic science research experience in a number of premier institutions related to the structure and function of biomaterials, and in polymer-based and mineral-based medical implants development in the medical device industry).

Dr. Pradeep Kumar is currently an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics at Wits’ Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, and a researcher affiliated to the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) Research Unit. He has experience of over 12 years in academic teaching with pharmaceutics as the core subject. His research is focused on molecular pharmaceutics, biomolecular nanomedicine, and tissue engineering for various therapeutic interventions and device development. Dr Kumar’s research findings have been published in over 260 peer-reviewed publications (H-index: 37), 4 editorials, 3 edited books, and 40 book chapters, and he is an inventor on 22 granted patents from six patent families.

Wing‐Fu Lai is an Assistant Professor in School of Life and Health Sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He is also an adjunct assistant professor in Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has edited two books on materials science, and has authored one monograph (published by Academic Press/Elsevier) on the design and engineering of delivery technologies for the development of biogerontological interventions. Till now he has served as an ad-hoc reviewer for more than 30 international journals.

Dr. Wahajuddin is serving as a Principal Scientist and an Associate professor (AcSIR) at Pharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics Division, CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute Lucknow. He had also worked as a visiting scientist at UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, USA in 2013-14 and Humboldt Research Fellow at University of Cologne Hospital's Centre for Pharmacology, Cologne, Germany in 2018-19. He has been elected as a member to Global Young Academy under the aegis of German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Halle Germany, Indian National Young Academy of Sciences and admitted as Fellow of Royal Society of Biology (UK), Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and Higher Education Academy (UK).

Dr. Ajay K Agrawal received his doctorate in Chemistry, and conducted his post- doctoral research in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada and Molecular Cell Pathology, Royal Free Hospital, London on novel targeted cancer drug delivery therapeutics and imaging systems based on pegylation. He has been in the board of directors of several biotech and pharma companies in UK, Europe and USA, including the development board of Buckingham Medical School. Dr. Agrawal has been in the editorial board of number of journals, published by Bentham Science Publishers. One of his invited review articles was cited in the “Current Awareness in Biomedicine: Drug Targeting Bulletin” after being scanned in over 2,500 journals.

Dr. Abdul Ahad is an Associate Professor at Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Ahad did his M. Pharm and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India. He has published various research and review articles in several peer-reviewed journals of international repute. He is on Editorial/reviewer Board of many pharmaceutical peer-reviewed journals. His current research interest lies in lipid based formulations development for oral/transdermal drug delivery and solubility enhancement of insoluble drugs.

Hua Ai received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University in 2002. Following his doctoral studies, he completed his postdoctoral training in Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In June 2005, Dr. Ai joined the National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, as a Professor of Biomaterials. Currently, he also holds a joint appointment at the Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University. His group focuses on the design and application of self-assembly of nanobiomaterials for tumor molecular imaging and drug delivery.

Prof. Dr. Esra Küpeli Akkol was born in Turkey. She got her Bachelor of Science degree in Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, Turkey and got her Ph.D. degree in Pharmacognosy Department from the University of Gazi. She is currently Professor in the Gazi University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy. Sheserved in manycapacities in her field including service on several editorial boards and numerous review committees for journals such as Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Journal of Pharmacy Sciences, The Internet Journal of Herbaland Plant Medicine, International Journal of Genuine Traditional Medicine, Advances in Pharmacological Sciences, Evidence Based Complementary Alternative Medicineand. The Open Pain Journal. She has conducted 41 projects and 11 thesis in Gazi University. She has 158 published articles in SCI International Journals, 13 articles in National Journals and 10 chapters in International books.

Professor Raid Alany’s academic journey spans three continents; namely, Asia, Oceania and Europe. He received his PhD in ocular drug delivery from the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand in 2001; was appointed as a Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, in 2001. He joined Kingston University London as Professor (Chair) of Pharmaceutics in January 2011 and was appointed as Research Director for the School of Pharmacy and Chemistry in December 2013. Dr. Raid is an author on over 200 scientific research publications (papers and abstracts), a book and seven book chapters; he has attracted over $NZ 2M (£GBP 1M) in contestable research and enterprise funding.

Dr. Aljabali received a doctorate degree in Bionanotechnology from the world-leading John Innes Research institution. He was appointed as postdoctoral research fellow at the cardiovascular department- University of Oxford (2011-2014). Currently, He is an Associate professor of nanoscience and biotechnology at the faculty of Pharmacy-Yarmouk University. He authored 50 reviewed publications. He is interested in the development of biocompatible drug delivery vehicles and study their cytotoxic effect in addition to selective molecular imaging, drug targeting and inflammation.

Per Artursson is a professor in Dosage Form Design at the Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Sweden where he heads the Drug Delivery research team. He is also Director for the Uppsala University drug optimization and pharmaceutical profiling platform within Science for Life Laboratories. His research aims at understanding drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADME) at the molecular and cellular level in order to deliver drugs more effectively via the oral route. He also investigates the effects of drug transporting proteins on drug disposition and drug interactions. He has published over 200 research articles and reviews, is highly cited and has received several international awards for his research.

Kofi is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the University of Huddersfield. He completed his PhD at the Medway School of Pharmacy, University of Kent in 2012. His current research interests include UV imaging in pharmaceuticals, drug-clay nanocomplexations, particle engineering, oral controlled release formulations and solubility enhancements (solid dispersions, salts and cocrystals). He has over 50 peer-reviewed research articles, reviews and book chapters and holds a patent in UV imaging. He became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) in 2014. He also successfully collaborates with other Universities and pharmaceutical industries.

Prof. Sanjula Baboota presently working at the Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (SPER), Jamia Hamdard. She has a total experience of about 23 years in teaching and research. She has a list of over 200 publications in high impact factor refereed journals. She has guided several students both at the postgraduate and doctorate level. She has more than 7000 citations and has an h-index of 41 and i10 index of 116 (Source: Google Scholar).

Dr. Heather A.E. Benson leads the Skin Delivery Research Group and has an international reputation for her research in the area of skin biology and drug/peptide delivery. She has published over 100 peer reviewed publications related to drug delivery. Dr. Benson obtained her Pharmacy degree and PhD (Skin Drug Delivery) from Queen's University, Belfast and has held research and academic positions at the University of Queensland and University of Manitoba before joining Curtin University in 2001. Dr. Benson's current research areas are in drug targeting to the skin using physical, chemical and formulation enhancement techniques; delivery of therapeutic peptides by novel formulations/delivery systems including nanosystems.

She is interested in the study of bioactive molecules from plant matrices. Another focus of her research includes the improvement of bioavailability and technological features of drugs and natural products extracts, by using conventional and innovative drug delivery systems. She has a deep knowledge in the analytics and pharmaceutical technology of herbal drugs, herbal drug preparations and herbal medicinal products. The purpose of her studies is to increase the solubility and/or the chemical stability of various natural plant extracts or compounds to improve their bioavailability profile and consequently the effectiveness.

Associate Professor Joanne Blanchfield completed her PhD at The University of Queensland in 1996 and then embarked on a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore working with Prof. Craig Townsend on the discovery of new biosynthetic pathways to β lactam antibiotics. She then worked at the Australian National University with Prof. Lew Mander on the synthesis of novel Gibberellin structures and finally moved to the School of Pharmacy at UQ working with Prof. IstvanToth on drug development and delivery research. She was appointed to the SCMB academic staff in 2003.

Prof. G. Caracciolo is Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome in Italy. In 2007, he joined the Faculty of Medicine of Sapienza as an Assistant Professor of Applied Physics in 2007 and promoted to an Associate Professor in 2010. Dr. Caracciolo specific research interest is controlling nano-bio interfaces to develop new nanotechnologies for detection/treatment of cancer and other diseases. He has a productive track record of extensive multidisciplinary collaborations, so far yielding over 120 publications in high profile journals (e.g., JACS, ACS Nano, Nanoscale, and Trends in Biotechnology) with more than 2,300 citations.

Francesco Cilurzo is an associate professor in drug delivery and regulatory affairs at University of Milan, UNIMI, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (DISFARM), Milano. He is promoting partner and administrator of Pharmafilm Spin-Off of the University of Milan working on the development of transdermal patches and orodispersible films. His research work and fields of interest are based on Drug delivery, Transdemal patches, Bioadhesive dosage forms, PLGA, Permeation Enhancer. He has contributed in the publication of over 104 Research papers.

Nunzio Denora is assistant professor and research scientist in Pharmaceutical Technology at University of Bari, UNIBA, Department of Pharmacy - Drug Sciences. Since 2016, he is heading the Inter-University Consortium CIRCSMB research group of Bari (> 30 scientists) with the aim to develop "Inorganic-based Nano Drug Delivery Systems". His main interests include drug delivery and targeting, nanomedicine, multifunctional pharmaceutical nanocarriers. He has a productive track record of extensive multidisciplinary collaborations, yielding over 100 publications in high profile journals.

Dr. Harish Dureja studied Master in Pharmacy in Pharmaceutics from Punjabi University, Patiala. He earned Ph. D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. He is presently working as a Professor in Pharmaceutics and IQAC Officer, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, M. D. University, Rohtak. He is also holding the position of Director IPR Cell and Director, Professional Consultancy Services at M.D. University, Rohtak. Dr. Dureja has numerous honors, awards and international publications to his credit.

Dr. Nianping Feng is currently full professor and director of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He received his Ph. D. degree from China Pharmaceutical University in June 1997 and was an assistant research professor at the same university prior to joining the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Oct. 1998. Dr. Feng worked as a senior research scientist at Purdue University from Sept. 2012 to Sept. 2013. His research interests include novel drug delivery systems, pharmaceutical nanotechnologies and TCM-based new drug development. Professor Feng has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and holds 11 patents.

Prof. Marianna Foldvari is PhD. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from (Dalhousie University). She is currently working as an Associate Editor, Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine (2006 – Present). Dr. Foldvari's research focuses on the development of intelligent delivery systems and biomolecular devices with the goal of developing new, non-invasive technologies to deliver and target therapeutic agents into the body and to diseased tissues, as well as investigating the fundamental properties of these delivery technologies and the cells they target.

Dr. Ge received his Ph.D degree in biochemical engineering in 2009 from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). After eight-year working at CAS, Dr. Ge joined in Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine as a full professor in 2017. Curently, his research interests inlcude 1) development of novel strategies or techniques for evaluating and improving the drug-like properties; 2) drug disposition and drug-drug interactions. He has published more than 150 articles in SCI international journals, with the H-index of 29. He has also applied for more than 80 patents including 10 international patents, and 30 of them have been authorized.

Khaled Greish is is the Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine, and head of the Nano-research unit, at Princes Al-Jawhara Centre, Arabian Gulf University, Kingdom of Bahrain, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at University of Utah, USA. He Published > 70 peer reviewed papers, and 10 book chapters in the field of targeted anticancer drug delivery. Controlled Release Society (CRS) awarded him the CRS Postdoctoral Achievement award in 2008 and in 2010; he was elected as a member of the CRC College of Fellows in 2014 from the University of Otago.

Prof. Bin He is PhD. in Polymer Chemistry & Physics, from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 2003. Dr. HE is currently a Professor at National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, China. Dr. He was serving as Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University in 2004. His fields of expertise are Biodegradable Polymers, Drug/Gene Delivery, Supramolecular Self-assembly. He was also awarded by National Science Foundation for Excellent Young Scholars, NSFC in 2012.

Ramón C. Hermida is Professor and founder and director of the Laboratory of Bioengineering and Chronobiology at the University of Vigo. He was a researcher granted by the Spanish Association Against Cancer in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Minnesota (USA) for six years, obtaining the Master's degrees in Pathology. , Cronobiology and Applied Statistics, as well as his PhD in Biomedical Engineering. He is currently President of the International Society for Chronobiology and President of the Spanish Society of Chronobiology, Chronotherapy and Vascular Risk. Prof. Hermida is the author of 80 book chapters and 260 articles in scientific journals.

Dr. Iyer is the Director of Use-inspired Biomaterials and Integrated Nano Delivery (U-BiND) Systems Laboratory and an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Dr. Iyer received his PhD in 2008, in Polymer Engineering. Dr. Iyer has authored close to 100 publications in peer reviewed International Journals and books of high repute. He has more than 150 scientific presentations and invited talks at International Conferences and Workshops.

Ankit Jain acquired B. Pharm, M. Pharm. and Ph.D. degree from Dept. Pharm. Sci., Dr. Harisingh Gour Central University, Sagar (M.P.), India. He is a recipient of valuable national and international awards. He has published more than 50 international publications (Hindex = 15 and i10 index = 21) including book chapters in reputed journals to his credit. Currently, he is serving as a guest faculty at Dept. Pharm. Sci., Dr. Harisingh Gour Central University, Sagar (M.P.), India. His research areas of interest include drug delivery, cancer targeting, formulation by design, liposomes, polymeric and lipid-based nanofabrications, bioconjugation and theranostic exploration

Dr. Rehan Khan is working as a Scientist at Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali, India. Currently his area of research is Drug delivery. His main research interest is to develop novel drug delivery system for targeted cancer therapy as well as arthritis and colitis. During his postdoctoral training, by using yeast/drosophila datasets, he was working on to develop synthetic lethal interactors of homologous recombination repair (HRR)-deficient cancer cells for selective killing of cancer cells while sparing normal cells.

Dr. Tae-il Kim is associate professor at Department of Biosystems & Biomaterials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University (Republic of Korea). He obtained his Ph.D. in Department of Chemistry in 2006 from Seoul National University. He was a post doctor in Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Utah, prior to joining Seoul National University in 2010. His research is focused on the development of drug/gene delivery systems, nanomedicine, and biopolymers for biomedical applications.

Dr. Hae-Won Kim received his PhD from the Soul National University, South Korea, in 2002. He was a visiting scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, 2000), and a Postdoctoral Fellow at University College London (UCL) Eastman Dental Institute (2003-2004) and Seoul National University Advanced Materials Research Institute (2004-2005). His research interests include tissue engineering, stem cell engineering, biointerface control and therapeutic scaffolds for muscle, nerve, blood vessel, bone and tooth structures. He is currently a Director of the Institute of Tissue Regeneration Engineering (ITREN), and leads BK21+ Nanobiomedical Science Department. He is currently the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Tissue Engineering. He has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers.

Prof. Jindřich Henry Kopeček, received his Ph.D. in Macromolecular Chemistry from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry and D.Sc. in Chemistry from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Utah. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering (2011). His research interests are focused on biorecognition of macromolecules, bioconjugate chemistry, drug delivery systems, self-assembled biomaterials, and drug-free macromolecular therapeutics. Kopeček is a coauthor of more than 430 scientific papers; his Hirsch index is 85 and his publications have been cited 25,400 times.

Dr. Majella Lane PhD. has completed her post doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin. She is Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at School of Pharmacy, University of London, United Kingdom. Dr. Lane's areas of expertise include membrane transport, biophysical approaches towards the elucidation of drug-drug, drug-excipient and drug-membrane interactions, mechanisms of drug absorption, transdermal drug delivery, topical drug delivery, percutaneous absorption, peptide and protein formulation, ungual drug absorption, buccal drug absorption. Dr Lane's major research interests are in the development of optimal drug formulations for effective delivery of therapeutics, with special reference to skin, nail and to mucus membranes.

Prof. Jun Li completed his PhD. from Osaka University, Japan in 1995. He is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Bioengineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Dr. li has completed his M.Sc., from Osaka University, Japan in 1992. His Research interests involves Design of Novel Biodegradable Polymers and Hydrogels, Self-assembly and Nano-Structures of Novel Macromolecular Systems, Applications of Novel Biomaterials for Drug/Gene Delivery and Tissue Engineering. Dr. Li has published over 149 scientific papers.

Dr Mo Maniruzzaman is currently an Assistant Professor in Molecular Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery at College of Pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin and leads the newly established state-of-the-art ‘Pharmaceutical Engineering and 3D Printing (PharmE3D)’ and ‘3D Printing and Bioprinting (3DpBio)’ Labs at UT Austin. Prior to this, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the University of Sussex, UK. He obtained a PhD from the University of Greenwich with no corrections (RDC/12/M-3/14, UoG) and two accompanying awards including the Vice Chancellor’s Award in 2013 for the outstanding performance in his doctoral research. Dr Maniruzzaman has extensive research experience in pharmaceutical drug delivery, additive manufacturing (e.g. 3D printing), medical implants and pharmaceutical formulations. This is reflected by authorship of more than 50 published papers (in ACS, RSC, and AAPS journals), 4 patents/trademarks (4 ongoing), 3 books and more than 40 conference presentations in the relevant subject matters. He has secured various substantial internal and external grants (as PI) and awards.

Sam T. Mathew is an experienced pharmaceutical research professional who is currently working as a Global Head: Clinical eSubmission and Technical Compliance Delivery at GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines. Also, he has worked with Accenture Pharmaceutical services, Bangalore, India as Process Lead in Medical/Publication/Scientific writing. Prior to this he also served in Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Hyderabad, India as Senior Publication Writer/Senior Scientific Writer. Previously, he worked as a Scientist-Formulation development in managerial grade at Viziphar biosciences, Bangalore, India. He is a doctorate in pharmacy (Pharmaceutics), has the credit of publishing more than 25 academic research scientific research/review articles in peer reviewed international journals. He has presented papers at 3 international and 9 national conferences.

Torben Moos, MD and PhD has a yearlong track in neurobiological research. His research involves preclinical models of the blood-brain barrier and experimental models of metal-toxicity and neurodegeneration. His main research interest derives from structural and physiological studies of metals and metal-binding proteins in the normal brain, drug delivery studies to the brain using targeted delivery to metal transporters, and the roles of metals in neurodegeneration.

Expert in Nano-biotechnology, Encapsulation & Targeting of Bioactive agents with substantial number of publications, 7 Patents, 5 Books & several Book-chapters. Author of the first book on Nanoliposomes; completed many industrial research projects, developed methods (e.g. “Mozafari Method”) for large-scale manufacture of controlled-release systems without using toxic agents. Recently introduced a novel technology for the encapsulation and delivery of bioactive material called "Tocosome".

Dr. Amit Kumar Nayak, PhD., is currently working as Associate Professor at Seemanta Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Odisha, India. Dr. Nayak’s skills and expertise involve in the field of pharmaceutics, especially in the development and characterization of polymeric composites, hydrogels, novel and nanostructured drug delivery systems. Till date, he has authored over 120 publications in various high impact peer-reviewed journals and 34 book chapters to his credit. He has also edited 2 books. He is a life member of Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI).

Prof. Ali Nokhodchi is a professor of pharmaceutics and drug delivery at the University of Sussex. Prof. Nokhodchi has obtained his PharmD from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran (1989) and Ph.D. from Liverpool John Moores University, UK (1996). His ongoing research topics include particle engineering, pulmonary drug delivery, 3D printing, hot melt extrusion, nanotechnology, and dissolution enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs. Prof. Nokhodchi has published over 250 peer-reviewed research articles, a book on pulmonary drug delivery and 6 book chapters in various field of pharmaceutics. He is an associate editor and editorial board member of over 10 international pharmaceutical journals.

Dr. J. K. Patel is currently a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Principal, Nootan Pharmacy College and Dean (Faculty of Pharmacy and R&D), Sankalchand Patel University, Visnagar, Gujarat, India. He has more than 23 years of academic and research experience, has published more than 225 research and review papers in international and national journals and has presented more than 150 research papers at various international and national conferences as author and co-author. Dr. Patel has presented 32 research papers at various international conferences (overseas). Dr. Patel is an author of 12 books and 42 book chapters. Besides, he has guided 37 Ph.D. and 104 MPharm students for dissertation work.

Francesco Peri is a Professor of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. His research focused on the rational design and synthesis of new molecules (mainly glycolipids) capable to interact with innate immunity receptors MD-2 and CD14, thus interfering with the molecular processes of TLR4 activation and signaling. Several generations of TLR4 antagonists were patented and some of these compounds (IAXO molecules, Adipogen) are now commercially available as selective TLR4 blockers. He coordinated the Marie Curie ETN EU project 642157 (2015-2019)– TOLLerant (Toll-Like Receptor 4 activation and function in diseases: an integrated chemical-biology approach), a network consists of 8 academic and 2 industrial full partners, representing 5 countries all across Europe and 3 associate partners, 2 from Europe and one from USA.

Dr. Yvonne Perrie is Chair Person in Drug Delivery within the University of Strathclyde. In 1998, she gained her PhD from the University of London investigating the role of liposomes for drug delivery. Dr. Perrie is an internationally recognised researcher with a strong track-record of high impact publications; with approximately 100 peer reviewed manuscripts and 5 textbooks. Her research is multi-disciplinary and is focused on the development of drug delivery systems to facilitate the delivery of drugs and vaccines, thus providing practical solutions for current healthcare problems.

R. Polt has embraced several relatively diverse scientific disciplines in his career, often running counter to the prevailing wisdom and advice. He studied Chemistry at IUPUI under the direction of Prof. Martin J. O’Donnell, where he was involved in the enantioselective alkylation of masked glycine anion and cation equivalents to produce the first of the “O’Donnell Schiff Bases.” (Ph2C=O + H2NCH2CO2CH2CH3 → Ph2C=NCH2CO2CH2CH3) An NSF Fellowship that took him to Columbia University where he studied with Prof. Gilbert J. Stork where he earned his Ph.D. in 1986, and then on to Prof. Dieter Seebach’s group in Zürich where he studied the alkylation of peptides in addition to glycine equivalents. Robin shifted his interests toward the synthesis and evaluation of glycopeptide drugs at the University of Arizona starting in 1988. His glycosylated neuropeptides showed excellent biological activity, extended stability in vitro and in vivo, and also cross the blood-brain barrier to produce central effects. Presently, Robin is involved in the study of glycolipid surfactants as drug delivery vehicles in addition to the glycopeptide drugs, which also possess surface activity, which is key to their distribution in vivo.

Dr. Laszlo Prokai is the UNT Health Science Center’s first Chair in Biochemistry endowed by the Houston-based Welch Foundation, one of the United States' oldest and largest private funding sources for chemical research. Dr. Prokai has maintained an actively funded research program supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is recognized nationally and internationally for his work on discovery, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology of central nervous system agents, the chemical biology of neuropeptides and proteomics, as well as mass spectrometry. He also serves as Courtesy Professor in the Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Anesthesiology at the University of Florida.

Jianping Qi is currently an associate professor of pharmaceutics at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. His research focuses on fabrication of highly efficient oral drug delivery systems and elucidation of in vivo fate of nanoparticles. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious international journals. He also served as editorial board member of Chinese Chemical Letters, and Committee member of bioparticles of China Particuology Society and committee member of Nanobiotechnology of China Medicinal Biotech Association.

Dr. Michael A. Repka is the Chair of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, and also the Director of the Pii Center for Pharmaceutical Technology, he is also the Professor of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery at School of Pharmacy, THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI , MS, USA. His research interests are “trans” systems, including transmucosal, trans-nail and transdermal drug delivery systems. Many of these systems are directed toward the delivery of poorly soluble drugs via hot-melt extrusion techniques. Polymeric drug delivery design and stabilization of conventional and novel drug delivery systems for natural product compounds such as THC, is a continued focus of research.

Dr. Faiyaz Shakeel received a Master degree (M. Pharm) and a PhD in Pharmaceutics from Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University, New Delhi, India). At Jamia Hamdard. In 2011, he was awarded Young Scientist Award from the Association of Pharmacy Professionals (APP). In March 2016, he has been promoted to Associate Professor at King Saud University. At King Saud University, He also had very good expertise in solubilization of drug molecules using cosolvency models. His research interest lies in the general area of Pharmaceutics and more recently in the development of nanoemulsions and self-nanoemulsifying formulations for therapeutic applications. He is author of over 180 journal articles and book chapter.

Professor Dr. Pornsak Sriamornsak is currently a Senior Professor (Pharmaceutics) at Silpakorn University (Thailand), Secretary General and Executive Board Member of Thai Industrial Pharmacist Association, and Associate Fellow at Academy of Science, Royal Society of Thailand. He serves as editorial board member of several journals such as Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Current Drug Delivery, Journal of Pharmaceutics, etc. He received many research awards, e.g., Nagai Award Thailand for Research, Young Scientist Award Thailand, TRF-CHE-Scopus Researcher Award, FAPA Ishidate Award for Pharmaceutical Research, Thailand Distinguished Polymer Scientist, National Distinguished Researcher Award 2013, Outstanding Pharmacist, etc. His researches focus on drug delivery system and dosage form design, application of biopolymer in pharmaceutics, and pharmaceutical nanotechnology. He published over 160 peer-reviewed publications and has h-index of 36 (Google Scholar) and 32 (Scopus). He actively participated in grant review for a number of funding agencies, and review of papers for many journals.

Jin Sun, principal investigator and Ph.D. supervisor of the Wuya College of Innovation in Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, received his Ph.D. (2002) in Pharmaceutics from Shenyang Pharmaceutical University. During 1999-2001 Jin Sun worked in department of Pharmaceutical Science at Hokkaido Pharmaceutical University as a visiting scholar. Since he joined the department of pharmaceutics at Shenyang Pharmaceutics University in 2002, he has focused on prediction of in vivo pharmacokinetic behavior of drugs via biomembrane partition chromatography, transporter-guided prodrugs and nanoparticles, in vivo pharmacokinetic disposition and metabolism of drugs or nanomedicines, and novel drug delivery systems. In addition, he has been awarded as the Leading scientist of Ten Thousand Talent Program in 2018. Up to now, he has published > 200 papers in prominent international journals such as Nano Lett., J Control Release, J Med Chem, Biomaterials, etc. And these papers have been cited > 3000 times.

Shaobing Zhou received his B.S. degree in polymer chemistry from Sichuan University and Ph.D. degree in Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was promoted to Full Professor at Southwest Jiaotong University. He was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scientists of China. His research interests include drug controlled release system and tissue engineering scaffold. He is the author or coauthor of more than 120 refereed articles, 1 book chapter and 20 Chinese patents/patent applications. He has been cited over 5500 times and has an h-index of 44.

Vladimir P. Torchilin, Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director, Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and Nanomedicine, Northeastern University, Boston, Mass. He graduated from the Moscow University with MS in Chemistry, and also obtained his Ph.D. and D.Sc. in Polymer Chemistry, Chemical Kinetics and Catalysis, and Chemistry of Physiologically Active Compounds in 1971 and 1980, respectively. His main interests include drug delivery and targeting, nanomedicine, multifunctional, stimuli-sensitive pharmaceutical nanocarriers, biomedical polymers, experimental cancer therapy, cancer immunology, novel imaging agents. He has published more than 400 original papers, more than 150 reviews and book chapters, wrote and edited 10 books and holds more than 40 patents.

Ijeoma Uchegbu is Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience within the UCL School of Pharmacy. She obtained her PhD from the School of Pharmacy in 1994 and was appointed to a lectureship in Drug Delivery in 1997 within the University of Strathclyde. She became a senior lecturer in 2000 and a Professor of Drug Delivery in 2002. She then joined the School of Pharmacy as a Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience in 2006 and joined UCL in 2012. In 2010 Ijeoma became cofounder Chief Scientific Officer of Nanomerics Ltd, a specialty pharmaceutical company and spin out from UCL.

Francesca Ungaro is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology at the Department of Pharmacy, School of Medicine of University of Napoli Federico II, Italy. She received her Degree in Pharmacy in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2003. Prof Ungaro’s research activity has been focused on the design and development of innovative drug delivery systems, with a special focus on nano- and micro-particulate carriers. She coordinated and participated to several research projects funded by local institutions, Italian Ministry of research and research foundations. Results are documented by 72 peer-reviewed articles, 1 European patent, 4 book chapters, more than 100 presentations at symposia and 20 oral communications.

Dr. Bhuvaneshwar Vaidya is currently working as an Assistant professor (Research) in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy, Amarillo TX. Dr. Vaidya received his PhD from Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar, India. He has been investigating novel drug delivery approaches for effective delivery of bio-actives for treatment of various disorders including cardiovascular diseases and cancer. He has supervised more than 10 students for their graduate research projects and published his research work in several reputable journals. Dr. Vaidya has numerous publications and honors to his credit.

Professor R.B. Walker completed his Ph.D. degree in Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. He is the former Dean and Head of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Rhodes and is currently the Professor of Pharmaceutics and also the current Chair of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences in South Africa. Prof. Walker has published and presented over 200 scientific outputs and serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals. Professor Walker undertakes research studies in all aspects of drug delivery and product development.

Professor Yuksel is a pharmacist with a research focus on pharmaceutical technology. After graduation, she worked as a pharmacist at Ministry of Health and Social Services, General Directorate of Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacy for one year, then she became a research assistant in Ankara University Faculty of Pharmacy. She got her M.Sc. degree in 1998 and Ph.D. degree in 1995 at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology in Ankara University Faculty of Pharmacy. In 1998, she worked as a postdoc fellow in Industrial Pharmacy Program at the University of Cincinnati Faculty of Pharmacy for one year. She worked as an assistant professor between 1999-2005; obtained the title of Associate Professor in 2005; and she became a Professor in 2010. Her research interests include formulation approaches for enhancing solubility of poorly soluble drugs, development of modified release dosage forms: semisolid matrix into hard gelatin capsules, tablets, polymeric microspheres; and nanoparticulate drug delivery systems including niosomes, proniosomes, polymeric micelles. She has about 45 scientific articles and 35 symposium presentations. She has several research grants from Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council to support her research. She is editorial board member of the journals named “Current Drug Delivery”, “Drug Delivery Letters”, and “The Scientific World Journal”. She currently serves as a member of the advisory committee for generic drug products in Turkey Drug and Medicinal Device Agency.

Dr. Junmin Zhang is currently an associate professor in the School of Pharmacy of Lanzhou University. He received his Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Biology (2017) from Lanzhou University. He then engaged in postdoctoral research at the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine of Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau (S.A.R.), China. He is a member of the Chinese Pharmacological Society and Chinese Chemical Society. His research interests focus on the discovery of small molecules targeting cellular redox systems or protein kinases as potential therapeutic agents and the elucidation of their pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic mechanism.

Shaobing Zhou received his B.S. degree in polymer chemistry from SichuanUniversity and Ph.D. degree in Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was promoted to Full Professor at Southwest Jiaotong University. He was awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scientists of China. His research interests include drug controlled release system and tissue engineering scaffold. He is the author or coauthor of morthan 120 refereed articles, 1 book chapter and 20 Chinese patents/patent applications. He has been cited over 5500 times and has an h-index of 44.

Dr. Giulia Auriemma is an Assistant professor in Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Salerno-Italy. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Science and Technologies for Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Food Industry in 2013. Her research interest has been in the field of micro technologies applied in pharmaceutics, prilling technology for the design and the development of polysaccharide-based DDSs. She also experienced additional micro- encapsulation techniques such as spray-drying and supercritical fluid-assisted, technologies for the production of microsystems for pulmonary, topical and transdermal drug delivery. Recently, her research interest focused on 3D-printing of biodegradable polymers to produce scaffolds and personalized-DDSs.

Dr. Suresh Bandari received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Technology from Kakatiya University, India. Currently, he is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS. He has over 10 years of experience in drug delivery research and has published over 60 peer-reviewed publications in renowned journals. He has co-authored a book chapter, a book and has secured intellectual property. He is an Editorial Advisory Board Member in the renowned AAPS Pharmscitech journal, as well as a peer reviewer for 12 reputed pharmaceutical journals. Currently, he is actively engaged in hot-melt extrusion technology and 3D printing for the development of novel applications.

Dr. Bugrahan Emsen obtained his doctorate in Biology from Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Turkey, in 2015. Currently, Dr. Emsen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University. His research works involve the natural compounds and their therapeutic activities on various cell and tissue types. His skills and expertise mainly lie in the subject areas of genetic toxicology, biochemistry, molecular biology and herbal products. He has contributed in the publication of over 90 research papers.

Dr. Vineet Kumar is currently working as an Assistant Professor (Biotechnology) at the School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, LPU, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. His areas of interest are natural plant product based green synthesis of nanoparticles, nanotoxicity testing of nanoparticles and application of nanoparticles in drug delivery, food technology, sensing, dye degradation and catalysis. He has published many articles on the mentioned topics featuring in reputed peer-reviewed journals. He is also serving as editorial board member and reviewer for international peer reviewed journals. Dr. Kumar has published two books for CRC, Taylor & Francis Group and one book each for Elsevier and Springer.

Mallesh Kurakula is currently working as a research scientist in the department of biomedical engineering, the university of Memphis, TN, USA. Former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bologna, Italy (2016-18), and a research associate at CSIR-Indian Institute of chemical technology (IICT), India (2018-19). His area of expertise is Pharmaceutics, Pharmacology, Nanotechnology, Biomaterials, Medical Devices, and Gene delivery. He is from a multidisciplinary educational background and published research, reviews papers and book chapters in high impact factor ISI indexed journals and even disseminated data at international arenas. He is an invited peer-reviewer; guest editor for books and thematic special issues from Elsevier, MDPI, Frontiers, and Dove press publishers.

Dr. Ashana Puri earned her doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Mercer University, Atlanta in 2019. She is presently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy. Her research interests are largely directed towards development and evaluation of topical and transdermal drug delivery systems, including patches and semi-solid formulations for delivery of drugs and cosmetic actives. During her graduate program, she worked with many pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical companies and published her work in peer-reviewed reputed Journals. She is also the recipient of the New Investigator Award 2020 from American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Professor Munish Garg is presently working as Dean, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India. He has 20 years of experience in academic and research. His research areas involve quality control and standardization of medicinal plants, development of novel drug delivery formulations using phytochemicals for enhanced therapeutic profile and bio-prospecting aspects of medicinal plants for socio-economic development. He has published more than 60 publications in reputed journals, 5 patents in progress, 3 published books and several book chapters published. He has secured financial grants of more than 15 million INR from government agencies. He is a member of several financial grant awarding agencies to screen research projects.

Dr. Luigi Laino is a graduate in Medicine and Surgery and Specialized in Dermatology and Venereology from La Sapienza, University of Rome. He contributed numerous scientific publications in international journals and author of chapters of scientific books. He is currently the Editor of 5 international scientific journals. He has published important scientific research on Lichen sclerosus and Alopecia Areata. He is an expert in Dermoscopy, Dermosurgery, and Dermoncology.

Dr. Jing-an Li is a professor of Zhengzhou University, China, and his research filed include: Drug delivery and biomaterials. So far, he has published more than 40 academic papers on international academic journals as the first author or corresponding author, including ACS Applied Materials & Interface, Applied Surface Science, Biomaterials Science, and Journal of Materials Chemistry B. He has been serving as the editorial board member of repute journals, such as Current Chinese Biotechnology (Section Editor), Recent Patents on Nanotechnology, Biomed Research International (Lead Guest Editor), Genetics and Molecular Research, Current Drug Delivery (Executive Guest Editor). He was also honored with repute awards, such as “China-Korea Young Scientist Award”, “IAAM Scientist Award”, “IAAM Medal”, and “Outstanding Reviewer Award” of repute journals.

Dr. Zhepeng Liu obtained Ph.D. from the University of Fudan, in the field of pharmacy. Dr. Liu is working at the School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. His research areas focus on the new drug dosage forms and new technologies, mainly involving: 1) Drug formulations such as liposome, nanoparticle, nanocrystalline; 2) Formulations technology such as electrospray, electrospinning, microfluidics; and 3) Exploring accurate and orderly controlled release of drugs and the combination therapy in treating tumors.

Letizia Perillo is a full professor and dean of the School of Dentistry, chairman of the NEBEOP Postgraduate Orthodontic Program, and head of the Orthodontic Division, at the Multidisciplinary Department of Medical-Surgical and Dental Specialties of the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples (Italy). She is a visiting professor at the University of Alabama (USA) and at the University of Alexandria (Egypt). She was the elected president of the Italian Society of Orthodontics (SIDO), and member of the WFO, AAO, EHASO, EOS, SIDO and CH Tweed Foundation. She is an editorial board member of several journals. Prof Letizia Perillo graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1986 and specialized in Orthodontics in 1989 from the University of Naples Federico II. She completed her orthodontic training with a postgraduate fellowship from the University of Michigan in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Interceptive Orthodontics from the University of Florence in 1997. She is the author and co-author of several scientific publications, 9 books and 10 chapters of books, speaker at national and international courses and congresses.

Dr. Maria Abdul Ghafoor Raja received his Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Northern Border University, Rafha, Saudi Arabia. Her research interests include Liposomes, Nanoparticles, Gene delivery, Drug delivery, and novel targeting, Cell culture, 3D cell culture, Anticancer Drug Resistance, and Tumor targeted drug delivery. She has published several articles in ISI-indexed Journals with impact factor.

Seyed Jamal Tabatabaei Rezaei received his PhD in 2012 from Shahid Beheshti University, Iran and was a postdoc researcher from 2012 to 2013 at Shahid Beheshti University. At present, he is an Associate Professor at Zanjan University, Iran and specializes in biomaterial and nanomedicine, especially the development of targeted drug delivery systems for cancer therapy. The research ranges from design and synthesis of novel polymeric carriers to mechanistic understanding of delivery barriers and to in vivo studies of relevant tumor models. He has published more than 50 academic papers on international academic journals as the first author or corresponding author, including Polymer, Polymer Chemistry, International journal of pharmaceutics, Journal of colloid and interface science, RSC advances, etc.

Dr. Ayhan SAVASER graduated from Hacettepe University Faculty of Pharmacy in 1988, He received his M.Sc. degree in Pharmaceutical Technology with his thesis on ‘The Studies iNH tablets available on the Turkish drug market’’ in Gulhane Mİlitary Medical Academy. He obtained his Ph.D. degree with ‘‘The Development, in vitro evaluation and bioequivalence of sustained release tablet formulations of diclofenac sodium’’ thesis from the same Academy in 1999. He worked as assistant professor between 2000-2006 and received his Associate Professor title in 2007 and Professor title in 2017. He is currently doing his research work at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Health Sciences, Gulhane Campus, Ankara. Dr. SAVASER served as BA/BE Evaluation Commission member since 2011 and is the writer of 40 scientific articles, 6 book chapters.

Dr. Faiyaz Shakeel received a Master degree (M. Pharm) and a PhD in Pharmaceutics from Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University, New Delhi, India). At Jamia Hamdard. In 2011, he was awarded Young Scientist Award from the Association of Pharmacy Professionals (APP). In March 2016, he has been promoted to Associate Professor at King Saud University. He also had very good expertise in solubilization of drug molecules using cosolvency models. His research interest lies in the general area of Pharmaceutics and more recently in the development of nanoemulsions and self-nanoemulsifying formulations for therapeutic applications. He is author of over 180 journal articles and book chapter.

Dr M. Skwarczynski received a Master degree in biotechnology and a PhD in chemistry from Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland). In 2004 he was awarded Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a grant to conduct research on paclitaxel.His research interest lies in the general area of medicinal chemistry and more recently in the development of nanomaterials for biomedical applications, vaccine delivery strategies, including design, chemoselective synthesis, conformational studies, and immunological properties of lipopeptide and polymer assembled multivalent vaccine candidates. He is author of over 70 journal articles and book chapters.