Current Drug Targets

Dr. Azevedo is professor of Biophysics, Bioinformatics, Computational Systems Biology, Machine Learning and Drug Design at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul-Brazil (azevedolab.net). He is Regional Editor for Current Drug Target, member of the Editorial Board for Current Bioinformatics and PeerJ, and Guest Editor for Current Medicinal Chemistry. His research is focused on protein-ligand interactions. He works on the development of computational models to study protein-ligand interactions and their applications to drug design. He has over 170 publications with h-index of 35.

Dr. Urano obtained doctorates (M.D., Ph.D.) from the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan. Dr. Urano finished post doctoral fellow in the University of Notre Dame, USA. Currently Dr. Urano is a vice president and the professor of the department of medical physiology in the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. He has studied in the field of coagulation and fibrinolysis as well as vascular biology, and published more than 180 scientific publications. Dr. Urano is currently the regional editor of this journal (Current Drug Targets), published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Dr. Balsara is a research associate professor at the W. M. Keck Center for Transgene Research, University of Notre Dame. She obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from University of Mumbai, India. Her previous research was focused on the role of fibrinolytic proteins in angiogenesis and cell signaling. Currently, her research is aimed at studying the neurochemistry and neurobiology of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) and their antagonists. Particularly, the mechanisms of ischemia-induced NMDAR-driven pathobiology. Dr. Balsara has edited a special issue of CDT on Wnt signaling in diseases and is also an editorial board member of the neuroscience section of Scientific Reports.

Dr. Bohlson obtained a Masters degree from Washington University with a focus in immunology, and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Biology from the University of Notre Dame. She performed her postdoctoral training in immunology at the University of California Irvine. Currently Dr. Bohlson is an Associate Professor in the Microbiology and Immunology Department at Des Moines University where she also serves as Director of the Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences program. Dr. Bohlson has served on the editorial board for Current Drug Targets since 2007.

Prof Franco Cavaliere is Associate professor of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome (Italy) and serves as the Head of Cardiac Anaesthesia and Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care at Policlinico Agostino Gemelli in Rome. He has published more than 200 scientific publications and is a member of the Editorial Board of Current Drug Targets from 2002.

After trained as a Medical Doctor at the Shanghai Medical School (Fudan University) in 1982, Professor Chen completed PhD in Neuroendocrinology at the University of Bordeaux, France in 1989. He worked in the Department of Analytical Pharmacology, Glaxo Inc., in the U.S.A. and then headed Endocrine Cell Biology at the Prince Henry’s Institute of Medical Research (Melbourne, Australia) till the end of 2007. He has been on the current position since 2008 and is leading Endocrinology and Metabolism laboratory at the St Lucia Campus of the University of Queensland. His work focused on the metabolic and endocrine disorders (particularly in relation to GH, ghrelin, insulin, leptin, etc) as well as ischemic/diabetic cardiomyopathy and endometrial cancer development. He has published over 180 articles/chapters in international scientific journals. His laboratory has established pituitary hormone analysis techniques in mouse, which largely advances our understanding of neuroendocrinology, taking advantage of large number of transgenic mouse models. He has also worked extensively on diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic disorders.

Dr. Cowden Dahl earned her BS in cell and molecular biology at Texas Tech University. Following undergraduate work. Dr. Cowden Dahl completed a PhD in cell and molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation work was conducted with Dr. Celeste Simon on hypoxia signaling in development and cancer. Dr. Cowden Dahl then conducted a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Laurie Hudson at the University of New Mexico. Her studies focused on ovarian cancer metastasis. In 2010 Dr. Cowden Dahl joined the Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend where she continues to investigate mechanisms of ovarian cancer progression.

Dr. Feldman is a world renowned researcher, the Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School, and director of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014, and was honored as National Physician of the Year for Clinical Excellence in 2016. In addition to her practice, she runs a 30-person research lab which focuses on understanding and treating neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases, with an emphasis on ALS and neuropathy, and she is the principle investigator of numerous NIH and foundation grants.

Dr. Flores-Mireles is an Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame. She is leading a translation research lab, focusing in understanding host-pathogen interaction during nosocomial infections with the purpose to develop efficient antibiotic-sparring treatments. She did her PhD in Microbiology and Biochemistry at Cornell University and her postdoctoral research at Washington University School of Medicine. Her postdoctoral research focused in understanding catheter-associated urinary tract infections.

Professor Huber obtained a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Purdue University and carried out postdoctoral research at The University of Chicago. He was a Visiting Fellow at Yale University in 1997 and has been on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame since 1985. His laboratory studies various aspects of RNA biochemistry including RNA-protein interactions and localization of mRNA in Xenopus oocytes. A new area of investigation is the proteomics of early Xenopus development using modern mass spectrometry.

Dr Takayuki Iwaki is currently an Associate Professor at the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Hamamatsu, Japan. He received a PhD in Physiology from the Hamamatsu University School of Medicine in 2001 and also did his M.D. in Obstetrics and Gynecology from the same university in 1996. He has published several articles in distinguished journals and has presented in various conferences as well.

Dr. Lee obtained a B.A. from the University of California Berkeley, and a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Lee completed postdoctoral training at University of California San Diego, and is currently the Monahan Family Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Lee’s lab focuses on host-pathogen dynamics of bacterial infections.

Co-founder of two start-up companies Diatheva SrL (www.diatheva.com) and EryDel SpA (www.erydel.com) is member of different academies and scientific boards. He served as evaluator for different Programmes of the E.U.; The International Science Foundation (U.S.A.); Czech Academy of Sciences; The Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding of Romania; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation), Dutch Cancer Society; Swiss National Science Foundation; Innovation and Technology Commission The Government of Hong Kong, EU Eureka projects. Reviewer for more than 50 journals and Editorial board member in four. With over 500 papers published in international refereed scientific journals (for a complete list see PubMed) and an H index of 54 has interests in drug delivery systems and biologics with 14 patent families in the field.

Professor Marie Ranson (PhD, University of Sydney, 1990) is a tenured Teaching and Research Academic at the University of Wollongong, Australia. She has made major contributions to the field of the urokinase plasminogen activation system in cancer invasion and metastasis and leads several cancer drug projects related, but not limited, to this field. Prof Ranson has published over 78 peer-reviewed journal articles, attracted several competitive grants totalling over $10,000,000, and has been granted patents in her drug development portfolio. She led the preclinical development of chemotherapy Deflexifol, licenced to FivePhusion Pty Ltd, which is completing Phase 1 clinical trials. Prof Ranson is also a PI of the Cancer Institute NSW-funded Translational Cancer Research Centre to build research capacity in targeted therapies and is a member of a number of professional societies.

Dr. Asish Saha is presently serving as a Director of Research and Development at Zone Labs, Inc and working in the dietary supplements, health wellness, and fitness industry. He holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Calcutta University, India. His research interests include how disorders of fuel metabolism cause disease. He has extensive experience with preclinical testing of metabolic pathways targets using in vitro and in vivo models. He was an investigator in a multi-investigator project which provided the first evidence that AMP-activated protein kinase activity is abnormally low in the majority of patients and it improves after bariatric surgery. He demonstrated success as a leading investigator and collaborator of multiple projects with different Biotech companies (Nimbus Therapeutics, L’Oréal, and Pfizer) and with Nimbus the discovery and development of a new class of Acetyl Co-A carboxylase inhibitors for the treatment of NASH and other disorders. He has co-authored 95 publications in international journals.

Martina Sanderson-Smith obtained a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia. Subsequently, she was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship to undertake research at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany. Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer and NHMRC Career Development Fellow at UOW, leading a research team in the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute. Her research to date highlights the important role that interactions with host proteins play in streptococcal infection, and a need to understand the virulence of, and develop strategies to combat, a diverse set of streptococcal serotypes.

My research focuses on developing mass spectrometry techniques for global analysis of proteins and their modifications, and on using these to investigate the mechanisms, biological roles and applications in biotechnology of glycosylation, the most abundant and complex post-translational modification of proteins. I graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering and Science in 2000 from The University of Queensland, after which I joined Proteome Systems, an Australian biotechnology company. In 2004 I moved to the ETH Zurich in Switzerland for my doctoral studies. I then joined the School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences at The University of Queensland where I am currently an NHMRC Career Development Fellow and Senior Lecturer.

Susan S. Smyth, is the Jeff Gill Professor of Cardiology, Chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Director of the Linda and Jack Gill Heart Institute, and Director of the MD/PhD Program at the University of Kentucky. She also has a part-time appointment as a cardiologist and funded investigator at the Lexington VA Medical Center. Smyth received her A.B. in Biology, summa cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Massachusetts), and graduated from the MD/PhD Program at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). After completing training in Internal Medicine, she performed cardiology subspecialty fellowship training at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (New York, New York) and at the University of North Carolina. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of University Cardiologists, a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and a fellow of the American Heart Association.

Dr. Sun obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Biomedical Science from University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She is an Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Missouri School of Medicine. She is a geneticist who is interested in host/pathogen interaction and development of novel antimicrobials. She has a wide range of interest in cardiovascular and infectious disease research. Her main research focus is to understand and explore the roles of hemostatic system in host/pathogen interaction for development of novel antimicrobials.

Tracy Vargo-Gogola received her doctoral degree in Cancer Biology from Vanderbilt University in 2002. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in breast cancer research at Baylor College of Medicine before joining the faculty at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2008. She has research expertise in Rho GTPase signaling in normal and neoplastic mammary gland development. She also collaborates with Dr. Ryan Roeder’s laboratory to assist with the development of cellular and mouse models of breast cancer to investigate the potential of nanoparticle x-ray contrast agents to improve mammographic detection of breast cancer.

Dr. Vetrano is a Ph.D. scientist with a doctorate in Experimental Pathology and Neuropathology obtained from the University of Milan, Milan. Dr. Vetrano is also specialized in Clinical Pathology from the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Rome (Italy). Currently, Dr. Vetrano is assistant Professor in Experimental Biology at the Humanitas University, Milan. She has a wide range of expertise in diseases of the intestinal tract. Her scientific research has been focused particularly on exploring the mechanisms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathogenesis, as reported by several papers published in this field.

Dr. Zhang obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He currently is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. Dr. Zhang has more than 25 years of experience in blood coagulation, immunology, and stem cell biology. Projects in Dr. Zhang’s laboratory range from structure-function analysis, leukocyte trafficking, signal transduction to animal models of cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis, sepsis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ischemic stroke. Dr. Zhang has authored more than 60 manuscripts, 2 patents, and served on various Study Sections at NIH, DOD and AHA.

Dr. Chandi C. Mandal, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, India [2013-to present]; Postdoctoral training from University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas, USA [2006-2012]; Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India [2000-2005]; M.Sc. (Biochemistry) from Calcutta University, India. Dr. Mandal’s academic endeavour is not only reflected in the publication, but his research work has also been highlighted multiple times in Newspaper and reported in Television channels. His research interest is aimed at understanding the cellular signal transduction mechanisms involved in cancer, metastasis and bone remodelling. Dr. Mandal is editorial board member of various journals such as associate editor of Endocrinology-bone research, BMC cancer and academic editor of PLOS ONE.

Dr. Xu is the Associate Professor at Faculty of Chinese Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology. He specializes in researches on pharmacology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and discovery and evaluation of effective components from Chinese Medicines. His research interests mainly include: (1) study of Chinese Medicines on diabetes; (2) effects and mechanism of natural products on cardio-cerebrovascular disease; (3) development and application of alive cell immobilized chromatography on the R&D of Chinese Medicines. He has been awarded prizes including the Second Prize of Science and Technology Invention Award Category of the 2016 Macau Science and Technology Award (the second awardee), and Third Prize of 2011 Science and Technology Award of Jiangsu Province (the seventh awardee), etc. for academic performance.

Dr Dilipkumar Pal received his B.Pharm, M Pharm, and PhD from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. He also obtained his Post Doctorate from “The University of Sydney”, Australia. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guru Ghasidas Viswavidyalaya (A Central University), India. He has won several awards due to his contributions in Science both nationally and internationally. He has published more than 100 research papers, 28 book chapters, 12 review articles, and 112 abstract proceedings in both national and international journals. Besides, he is a Reviewer of 27 scientific journals and an Editorial Board Member of 29 scientific journals respectively.

Luciana Scotti received her Ph.D. in Cosmetology and Molecular Modeling at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She made 3 years of Post-Doctorate in Pharmaceuticals at the Laboratory of Planning and Synthesis of Potentially Active Chemotherapies in Tropical Endemics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, USP. She has experience in Pharmacology Biochemistry and Molecular acting mainly in the following areas: natural products, Molecular Modeling, QSAR, and Chemometrics. She is the professor of the Post-Graduate Program of Bioactive Natural and Synthetic Products of the Federal University of Paraíba, Brazil.

Dr. Shammas is employed as a Lead Scientist in the field of Translational Cancer Research at Harvard (Dana Farber) Cancer Institute, Boston, USA. His research focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying genomic instability and their translational significance in cancer, including Barrett’s esophageal adenocarcinoma. He has developed novel tools/assay systems to study genomic evolution in cancer and has identified key targets and novel drugs to inhibit/reduce genomic evolution, whether intrinsic to cancer cell or that induced/increased by chemotherapeutic agents. These drugs have potential to inhibit tumor growth, overcome/minimize harmful genomic impact of chemotherapy and inhibit/delay progression of cancer to advanced and more aggressive stages. He is a co-author over 60 scientific publications including book chapters and has trained a number of students (undergraduate, graduate), postdoctoral fellows and clinical fellows. He has served and/or serving as Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator and/or Co-investigator on several research grants from the NIH (USA), including R01 grant or even larger grants, including Program Project and Specialized Programs of Research Excellence grants from NIH. He is serving or has served as a Founding Editor, Editor, Lead Guest Editor and/or Guest Associate Editor for several scientific journals, a Grant Reviewer, and as an External Examiner for PhD students for Universities abroad.

Dr. Hilal Zaid is presently serving as a Head of Al-Qasemi Educational Research Center, Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baka, Israel. He completed his M.Sc. from the department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israelin 1996. He further obtained PhD from the same university in 2005. He is also a Management Committee member of European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action N°CA15129, titled "Diagnosis, Monitoring and Prevention of Exposure-Related Noncommunicable Diseases (DiMoPEx)".