Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets

Dr Chang Kim is a leading scientist in the areas of lymphocyte trafficking, mucosal immunology, and follicular T cells. He received his B.S. in Biology at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 1990 and M.S. degree in 1992. Then, he moved to the biotech branch of LG Chem LTD, South Korea before his PhD at Indiana University School of Medicine and his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. He is the section head of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics at Purdue University and serves the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases as a program leader.

Degree in Biology (1997) at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy; PhD in Immunology (2008) at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy Consultant in Immunology (2012-2014) at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy; Research Professor of Immunology and General Pathology at the University of Bari, Bari, Italy, since 2015; Fields of interest: Immunonutrition, mucosal immunology, microbial immunity; Publications listed in PubMed: 55; Editorial Board Member of: Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, Endocrine Metabolic Immune Disorders-Drug Targets, Clinical Immunology Endocrine Metabolic Drugs, Recent Patent in Biotechnology.

Kostas N. Priftis, MD is Associate Professor in Paediatric Pulmonology, at the Children’s Respiratory and Allergy Unit, Third Department of Paediatrics, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Greece. Graduated from the Medical School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1976) and defended his PhD thesis at the University of Athens (1982). Completed his residency training in Paediatrics at the University of Patras (1985) and a research fellowship in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at the Children’s Respiratory Unit, University of Nottingham Medical School, UK (1989). His research focuses on childhood asthma, chronic endobronchial infections, breath sounds and allergy. He has authored more than 160 scientific publications in peer reviewed international journals (h-index 31), edited 5 books or special issues (in English) and his work has received over 3,100 citations. This period serves as chair of Bronchology Group of the ERS Paediatric Assembly.

Dr Vincenzo Triggiani is Adjunct Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases and Coordinator of the 1st Level Degree Course of Dietistic at the University of Bari, Italy. His current fields of interest are dealing with the Impact of Endocrine and Metabolic comorbidities on the development and prognosis of Heart Failure; Thyroid Nodule and Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma; Male hypogonadism; Regulation of the secretion of neuro-hypophyseal hormones, vasopressin and oxitocin. He is author of more than 100 papers and books chapters.

Gholamreza Azizi is an investigator in the Non-communicable Diseases Research Center at Alborz University of Medical Sciences. His research focus is on understanding the immunological mechanisms of immune regulation in patients with primary immunodeficiency and autoimmunity. He received his Ph.D. in biomedical sciences at Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

Dr. Fabrizio Bruschi graduated in 1979 in Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy. Hematology Specialization, University of Pisa, Italy. He obtained the Certificat d'Etudes Superieures in Immunologie et Pathologie Parasitaires at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. Researcher since 1984, confirmed since 1987, then Associate Professor in General Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of Perugia,Italy (1992-1997), then University of Pisa, Italy until 2002. Research interests include: host-parasite relations in a model of helminthic infection such as trichinellosis of which different aspects, both experimental and clinic have been studied. At present he is President of the Società Italiana di Parassitologia He is author or co-author of over 130 publications among which chapters in books from international publishers. Since 2014 he is a member of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine (NSTM), Houston, Texas (U.S.A.).

Dr. George Chrousos is Professor of Pediatrics and Endocrinology and Chairman of the First Department of Pediatrics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Medicine, Athens, Greece. Dr. Chrousos pioneered studies that elucidated the effects of stress on the organism at the behavioral, neuroendocrine, cellular and molecular levels and made fundamental contributions to the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of pituitary, adrenal and stress-related pathologies, i.e., major depression, obesity/metabolic syndrome, and autoimmune/inflammatory, reproductive and sleep disorders. He made seminal observations in the glucocorticoid signaling system and deciphered some of its key clinical implications. Dr. Chrousos is universally regarded as one of the most prominent paediatricians and endocrinologists.

Dr Giovanni De Pergola is specialized in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases (EMD), He has done PhD in EMD, Now he is Associate Professor in Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Bari, Italy. He has contributed to several Italian Guidelines or Consensus for the management and treatment of obesity, Also he has been in the National Board of the Italian Scientific Society of Obesity (SIO) and Diabetes (SID) and has been President of the Apulian section of the same societies. Until May 2019, he has produced 146 articles “in extenso”, published in international journals with referee and impact factor higher than 1.0

Dr. Elmadfa was Trained in Nutritional Sciences (MSc), PhD and Habilitation in Nutritional physiology at JLU Giessen, Germany. Till 1990 he was university assistant, dozent and full professor at the Institute of Nutrition, JLU Giessen and 1990-2011 Founding Director and professor of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Vienna. His research interests covered Nutrient requirements in health and disease (member of WG Dietary Reference Intake Values for Central European Countries), Monitoring of nutrition and health status, Nutrient bioavailability, Immuno-nutrition, Food safety and quality. He was coordinator, partner and work package leader of many nationally and ten EU- funded projects, author of the Austrian Nutrition Report (1998, 20003, 2008, 2012), the European Nutrition and Health Report (2004 and 2009) and over 400 original publications in international scientific journals.

Dr. Asghar Ghasemi is Associate Professor at the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Tehran, Iran) and Director of Endocrine Physiology Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences. He has been interested in evaluating role of nitric oxide in pathophysiology of metabolic disorders especially type 2 diabetes. During the last 10 years, he has been focusing on therapeutic applications of nitric oxide-releasing agents in type 2 diabetes and related complications. He is author of more than 120 peer-reviewed international papers and 3 book chapters. Dr Ghasemi’s scientific contribution is also reflected by several recent review articles about nitric oxide in health and disease.

Dr. Giagulli is head of Outpatient Clinic Unit for Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Conversano Hospital and professor of Endocrinology for nursing degree program at the University of Bari (Italy). Dr. Giagulli was Researcher fellow in Endocrinology of the University of Ghent (Belgium) and Professor of Endocrinology at the Post-Graduate School of Endocrinology in Bologna (Italy). He obtained a Postgraduate in Endocrinology from the University of Bari, a doctorate (Ph.D) in Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases from the University of Bari and Naples and a Master's degree in Andrology from the University of Florence (Italy). He published more than 60 scientific publications and is currently on the Board of Italian AACE (American Association for Clinical Endocrinologists) Chapter.

Dr. Hardy did his medical studies at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada (1979-1984) and a specialization in Pediatrics-Neonatology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada (1985-1994). He continued his training with a doctorate in pharmacology at the University of Montreal, Canada (1995-2000) and a fellowship at the Institute of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering of the University of Philadelphia (2000-2002). His areas of expertise are: angiogenesis, retina, eye, retinopathy, microvesicles, macrophages, retinoblastoma, macular degeneration, and microenvironment. Research of Dr. Hardy field covers the role of the microvesicles of cellular origin on pathological angiogenesis and tumor development and their effects on the modulation of the microenvironment including macrophages. He assesses how the environment within the retinal or tumor tissue changes functions and the phenotype of the macrophages.

Dr. Asiful Islam completed his PhD in genetics of antiphospholipid syndrome from Human Genome Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2018. Currently, he is working as a senior lecturer in the same university under the Department of Haematology. He has published around 34 (Web of Science-indexed) journal articles so far (total impact factor 2018: 107.057 citations: 554; h-index:13; i10-index: 16). He has been working as an academic editor for the journal PLOS ONE. His current major research interest includes haematological malignancies in autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Jacobs studied chemistry and obtained his doctorate (PhD) from the university of Hamburg, Germany. Since then his scientific interests are mainly focused on regulation of T cells during infectious diseases by co-inhibitory molecules and how these molecules contribute to the development of the immune response that can either lead to protection or pathology. 2000 he joined the Bernhard Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg (Germany) as senior scientist. Since 2016 he is head of the newly formed group “Protozoan Immunology” which is mainly working on malaria and chagas disease.

Dr. Khan is the Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacy, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM), Pakistan. In 17 years of professional experience, he has significantly contributed to the teaching and training of pharmacy graduate and pharmacy-related services. Dr. Khan is the member of AWKUM syndicate, executive member of Pharmacy council of Pakistan KP and editorial member of more than 10 journals. He is the author of 150 articles including editorial, review, research and three books. Moreover, several post-graduate scholars are working under his supervision.

Prof. Francesco Marotta has got specialization in Hepato-Gastroenterology. He holds a Japanese Ph.D. granted by Hirosaki University, and Japanese Ministry of Science at National Cancer centre, Tokyo. He has received several international prizes and co- edited 2 successful books on aging- intervention and over 10 book chapters. His skills and expertise are in Antioxidant Activity, Food Analysis, Food and Nutrition, Liver Diseases, and clinical trials. He has contributed more than 250 publications, having citations around 2, 562.

Since 2006 Eduardo Ortega (Doctor in Biology-Immunology by Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; and Professor of Physiology at the University of Extremadura, Spain) is the founder and head of the Immunophysiology Research Group, mainly focused on the modulation of innate and inflammatory cells by stress messengers at physiological concentrations released after different physiological conditions and strategies; also evaluating the potential dysfunctions in the bidirectional interactions between the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems; particularly with regard to the feedback between stress and inflammatory responses and with special emphasis in the well-balanced innate and inflammatory processes.

Jin Tao has received his MD and PhD from Nanjing Medical University, China in 2012. He worked as Research Fellow at National University of Singapore and Postdoctoral Research Associate at Washington University School of Medicine, USA. Currently he works as full Professor at Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Soochow University, China. He is currently Head of the Department, Vice Dean of School of Basic Medicine, and Director of Centre for Ion Channelopathies in Soochow University. His research group is mainly using electrophysiological recording and biochemical approaches for drug discovery against ion channels, understanding the roles of neuropeptides and ion channels in pain regulation. He is the Editorial Board member of Research Journal of Pharmacology, Stem Cell Discovery, and Protein & Peptide letters.

Dr. Wu obtained his medical degree, MS in Physiology, and Ph.D. in Immunology from Jilin University, Bethune School of Medicine, China, and completed his post-doctoral training in the research area of nutritional immunology at Tufts University. He is currently a Scientist I and the Associate Director at the Nutritional Immunology Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, and an Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. He has conducted very productive research and published more than 90 peer-reviewed papers.

Dr. Surajit Pathak is an Indian born research scientist, advisor and an Associate Professor at CHETTINAD ACADEMY OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, Chennai who has multiple expertise encompassing endocrinology, cancer biology, stem cell and regenerative medicine. He started active research in the year 2001 and received his Ph.D. from University of Kalyani, INDIA in 2007.Worked in USA, Italy and Sweden over 10 years with 930 citations. Dr. Pathak has published over 52 papers till date.

Dr. Surajit Pathak is an Indian born research scientist and an Associate Professor at CHETTINAD ACADEMY OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, Chennai who has expertise encompassing cancer biology, stem cell biology. He started active research in the year 2001 and received his Ph.D. from INDIA in 2007. Dr. Pathak Worked in USA, Italy and Sweden over 9 years with 1010 citations. Dr. Pathak has published over 60 peer reviewed papers till date.