Medicinal Chemistry

Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Kings College, University of Cambridge (1968), has 1235 international publications in several fields of organic chemistry including, 349 books published largely by major U.S. and European presses. He was elected as Fellow of Royal Society (London) (2006) and won the prestigious UNESCO Science Prize (1999). Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was conferred honorary D.Sc. degrees by many leading world universities including the University of Cambridge and appointed an Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College, University of Cambridge. The Austrian government honoured him with its high civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande") (2007). He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Karachi, Pakistan. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was appointed Academician (Foreign Member) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2015). He won the “Friendship Award of China” (2014) and was conferred the highest scientific award of China, the International Science & Technology Cooperation Award, by President Xi Jinping (2020). He was bestowed with the International Scientific Corporation Award (2014) and the “Einstein Professorship” by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (2013). He was also elected as Foreign Member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology. Research Institutes have been established in his name in China, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Andreas Hilgeroth studied pharmacy in Düsseldorf, Germany, and received his PhD with Professor Uwe Kuckländer in 1994. After a post-doc period he received a fellowship from the German Pharmaceutical Society (DPhG) to work at the institute of pharmaceutical chemistry at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. Since that he is research group leader and develops novel antiretroviral drugs, potential alzheimer therapeutics, multikinase inhibitors and antibacterial agents. Since now his research projects have been supported by several grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the European Union (EU) in various action programs, e.g. COST and Marie Curie support. He has received several prices. His research results have been documented in more than 80 publications in international journals. After he hold several positions as representing professor he was appointed as professor at the Martin Luther University of Halle in 2015.

Dr. Kalász is a Senior Scientific Adviser in the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Kalász also worked at Yale University, and he was a Visiting Professor in the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA and in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE. Dr. Kalász authored about 250. The topics of his original research papers cover isolation of new, biologically active endogenous compounds, theory and practice of HPLC, novel instrumentation for analytical and preparative scale separation as well as distribution of drugs in the body.

Dr. Mohammad Amjad Kamal is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the King Fahd Medical Research Center (KFMRC), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he was full Professor from March 2011 to March 2013, and led a highly productive and collaborative research team. Dr. Kamal's biochemical research has culminated in more than 250 publications in internationally respected journals, and 64 abstracts at international conferences. His research involves ongoing collaborations with numerous international scientific teams and, as an example among many successful projects, was pivotal in supporting the development of novel experimental drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease from conception in the laboratory to the clinic with his longtime collaborator Dr. Nigel H. Greig (Chief, Drug Design & Development Section, Translational Gerontology Branch, NIA, NIH, USA).

Dr. Bin He obtained his PhD degree in Natural Medicinal Chemistry in 2009 from West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, China. From 2009- 2013, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Hening Lin’s lab at Cornell University, USA. In 2013, he joined the faculty of School of Pharmacy at Guizhou Medical University (China) as a professor of Medicinal Chemistry. His lab works on chemical biology, medicinal chemistry and natural product chemistry aiming at discovery and development of first-in- class drugs. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers in high-profile journals and received five issued patents for potential transformation. His work is recognized by the First Prize of Natural Science Award in Ministry of Education (China) in 2017, Guizhou Youth Science and Technology Award in 2018, and the First Prize of Natural Science Award in Guizhou province (China) in 2019.

Gopal L. Khatik is an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Lovely Professional University Punjab. He received his Ph.D. from NIPER Mohali in 2012 and explored heterocyclic compounds as anticancer agents and chiral auxiliary. He has been published 54 research/review articles in indexed journals with high repute from ACS, RSC, Wiley, Springer, Bentham, Elsevier, Thieme, and Taylor & Francis and also served as a reviewer in their journals. He has also edited the guest issue of Current Drug Discovery Technologies from Bentham Science. He has expertise in drug design software and small molecule synthesis. Dr. Khatik's research interests include heterocyclic chemistry, asymmetric synthesis and drug design in the area of cancer and diabetes. He is a lifetime member of IPA, CRSI, IPGA, ISCA, SPER, and ISPOR.

Dr Liu received his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Nanjing University, China in 2011. He has also acted as a Professor for the School of Pharmacy, Anhui Medical University (China), whilst focusing on Medicinal Chemical Biology-Drug design and synthesis and pharmaceutical chemical biology. He has served on numerous academic advisory panels, industry advisory panels and company boards. He also holds more than ten years of experience as professor and researcher with a Hirsch Index H = 22. Currently, he has over 70 publications along with publishing JCR research papers in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He has also supervised over 8 PhD theses and holds 6 patents in Medicinal Chemistry.

Dr. Khondaker Miraz Rahman (KMR) is a Reader in Medicinal Chemistry in School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, King’s College London. He obtained his PhD from the UCL School of Pharmacy in synthetic medicinal chemistry and after working with Cancer Research UK for 4 years, he joined King’s College London in 2012. Dr. Rahman’s research activities are focused on the application of advanced computational chemistry, synthetic medicinal chemistry and chemical biology techniques to the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel drug-like chemical scaffolds as anticancer and anti-infective agents. He is the author of over 80 research publications, inventor of 15 patents and has extensive research experience in medicinal chemistry and biophysical techniques. The Rahman laboratory is funded by grants from industry, charities, and research councils. He has co-founded oncology biotech companies Transcriptogen Ltd (2013) and Femtogenix Ltd (2015), and antibiotic company Nectobiotix Ltd (2020).

Tiziano Tuccinardi is Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy of the University of Pisa. Since July 2016 he is also Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, Temple University’s College of Science and Technology, Philadelphia, PA, USA. He has published more than 130 papers, five patents and he is a scientific advisory board member of the Bio Future Medicine (BFM) start-up. His research interests include drug and lead discovery, with a focus on computer-assisted approaches and medicinal chemistry, including synthesis of small molecules, virtual and biomolecular screening.

Dr. S.J.S. Flora, Scientist ‘G’ (Associate Director) Head, Division of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Regulatory Toxicology at Defense Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, got his Ph.D. in 1985 and was a post doctoral research associate at Utah State University, USA. His most highlighted contribution has been the development of a new drug for therapy of chronic arsenic poisoning which was approved by Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and has finished Phase I human clinical. He has published more than 275 research papers, 75 Review article/chapters in international books, 3 patents and more than 10,000 citations in international literature. He has published three books including the prestigious "Handbook of Arsenic Toxicology" published by ELSEVIER/ Academic Press (USA).

Dr. Wolf-Rainer Abraham is head of Chemical Microbiology at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig, Germany. He holds a Ph. D. in chemistry and has 40 years of experience in the discovery of bioactive natural products from microorganisms and plants. His focus is currently on multi-species biofilms and immune cells where he studies the impact of bioactive compounds on carbon flux in the cell using 13C-labeled compounds over time by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). He published his results in more than 230 peer-reviewed articles and 12 patents.

Dr. Elena Adinolfi is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology at Medical School of the University of Ferrara, Italy, were she recently established her independent research group. She spent the last 20 years investigating the role of extracellular ATP and its receptor P2X7 in oncogenesis and immune modulation. She authored more than 40 manuscripts suggesting a role for purinergic signalling in tumour growth and progression. Doctor Adinolfi holds a PhD in Biotechnologies and an MD in Clinical Pathology. Previous work experience includes positions as EMBO fellow and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sheffield, UK. She is actually secretary and board member of the Italian Purine club.

Dr. Zahir Akhunzada is a PPD Consultant at BMS, where he has been actively involved in the characterization of bio-therapeutics. Before PPD, he worked for SGP/Merck, KACST, and taught at King Saud University. He did his PhD in Chem. (H.E.J. Res. Inst. Pakistan) and Post-Doc in Tubingen, Germany. He is a recipient of several awards and recognition including shining performance awards (SGP/Merck), Certificate of Honor (NYAS), and a nomination for President’s Award for Quality (BMS). He has been invited as a speaker to several national and international conferences. He is an active member of the Editorial Board for Medicinal Chemistry and Mini-Review in Medicinal Chemistry.

Dr. Alves received his B.S. (2002), Master (2004) and PhD (2008) degrees at Federal University of Santa Maria (Brazil) and in 2008 he worked at Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) as a postdoctoral fellow. After that, he holds a position of Adjunct Professor at Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil. The achievements throughout his short academic career should be highlighted, in both teaching and research spheres. Dr. Alves has co-authored more than 100 papers and 2 patents showing the high level of his independent work, which involves the development of efficient, green procedures to prepare organochalcogen compounds with biological activities. The use of atom-efficient reactions (click-chemistry), copper catalysis and green solvents are among the protocols developed by Dr. Alves.

Pier Giovanni Baraldi became Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in 1987 at Bologna University and in 1992 he moved to Ferrara University where he is currently Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. He has published more than 400 scientific papers including about 50 patents and he participated in more than 90 Medicinal Chemistry meetings as plenary speaker. His research interests have been focused on the design and synthesis of minor groove alkylating agents, combretastatin analogs, ligands for Adenosine Receptors, Cannabinoid Receptors, and Transient Receptor Potential channel modulators. He had several scientific collaborations with national and international pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Atul Bhargava completed his M.Sc from H.N.B. Garhwal University, India and Ph.D from National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India. He also served as Research Associate at the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Cytogenetics, University of Delhi. In 2007, he joined Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Lucknow as Assistant Professor (Biotechnology). Currently, Dr. Atul Bhargava holds the position of Associate Professor and Head, Dept of Botany at Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar, India. He has over 19 years of research experience in work on medicinal plants, especially the underutilized crops. He has about 48 research papers in reputed journals, 4 books (SpringerNature, CRC, CABI, Nova Publ.) and numerous book chapters to his credit. Dr. Bhargava is also serving as an editorial board member of several international journals of repute.

Dr. Syed Nasir Abbas Bukhari is an Associate Professor of medicinal chemistry. After completion of the doctor of pharmacy (Pharm.D) from University of Sargodha, he joined the Drugs and Herbal Research Centre, Faculty of Pharmacy, The National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a researcher and completed his Ph.D. and postdoc with the University of Illinois in Chicago, USA. His research interests and work include Synthesis of Novel bioactive compounds, Polymers, Biomaterials, Bioassay, Molecular Modelling, Biological evaluation of Natural products and synthetic compounds, Drug Discovery, Immunology, Anti-tubercular Agents, Ant-inflammatory and Immunomodulatory agents. Dr. Bukhari has published his work in the well-reputed journal and is a reviewer of all renowned journals in his field.

Dr. Canney earned his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at Temple University and received postdoctoral training at Washington University, School of Medicine. He later joined the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Radiology as research assistant professor. Currently, he serves as Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director of Graduate Studies, Temple University, School of Pharmacy. His research interests include the application of medicinal chemistry approaches to structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies involving novel ligands for pharmacologically important receptors. Current work involves a series of lactone-based ligands with nanomolar affinity for several G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) including muscarinic and serotonin subtypes.

Dr. Sebastiano Cavallaro received a medical degree and specialized in Neurology at the University of Catania (Italy). He also obtained a Ph.D. in Anatomy and Cell Biology at Georgetown University. He then worked at the NINDS-NIH (USA) and at the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute. Since 1997, Dr. Cavallaro works at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and today directs the Institute of Neurological Sciences, a research center where clinical services and research activities thrive together. His primary research interests include genomics and neurobiology. During his career he supervised and supported the activity of more than 60 students or post-docs, authoring more than 100 publications.

Dr. Chiba is head of the Clinical Biochemistry Laboratories, professor, senior scientist and lecturer at the Center for Pathobiochemistry and Genetics of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He holds an MD from the University of Vienna. Previously, Dr. Chiba worked at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and the Universities of South Florida and Nijmegen (The Netherlands) as a Fulbright scholar and post-doctoral associate. Dr. Chiba authored more than 100 manuscripts, 2 patents and co-edited “Transporters as Drug Carriers” in the series “Methods and Principles in Medicinal Chemistry”.

Dr. E. Cichero obtained the degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies in 2005 at the University of Genoa. At the same University, in 2009 she received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. From 2014 she is an Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Genoa, Department of Pharmacy (DIFAR) where she teaches Quantitative Analysis of Drugs for the degree in Pharmacy. From more than ten years she has expertise in the area of molecular modeling and computational chemistry strategies devoted to medicinal chemistry. Her research topics include the development of drugs targeting GPCRs, such as cannabinoid receptors, serotoninergic receptors and trace-amine associated receptors (TAARs) and also the rational design and optimization of compounds acting as CFTR modulators. She has authored 60 papers and numerous poster communications.

Dr. Jianguo Cui is a Professor, College of Chemistry and Material Science, Guangxi Teachers Education University, China. He has more than 30 years of experience in the research and teaching of organic chemistry, and nearly 20 years of experience in the drug research aimed to steroid medicines. Previously, Dr. Cui served as the Dean of College of Chemistry and Life Science, Guangxi Teachers Education University in China. During his career, Dr. Cui worked as a visiting Scholar at University of Tokyo in Japan and a visiting researcher at Cleveland University in the United States. Dr. Cui has published more than 170 papers in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry, authored 7 patents in steroid medicines, and co-edited "Modern Steroid Chemistry". Dr. Cui is also an adjunct Professor at Qinzhou University in China.

Dr. Demopoulos is full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry (School of Pharmacy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) where he teaches Organic Pharmaceutical Chemistry to undergraduate and graduate students. He has nearly 30 years of research experience in bioactive new chemical entities aimed to treat long term diabetic complications or CNS disorders. Dr. Demopoulos holds a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products from College of Pharmacy (University of Iowa), and he has post-doctoral experience in organic synthesis (Memorial University of Newfoundland) as well as experimental pharmacology (Slovak Academy of Sciences). Dr. Demopoulos has authored more than 80 manuscripts, 1 patent and supervised 12 graduate theses.

Dr Laurent Désaubry is a CNRS research director in the University of Strasbourg in France and adjunct professor at Tianjin University of Science and Technology (TUST) in China. He received a Ph.D. degree in medicinal chemistry from Strasbourg University in 1992. His research is focused on the medicinal chemistry of anticancer and cardioprotective agents targeting prohibitins and prokineticin receptor 1 (website: http://desaubry.u-strasbg.fr/).

Albena T. Dinkova-Kostova is an Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Dundee, and the Johns Hopkins University (part-time). She obtained PhD in Biochemistry from Washington State University working on the phenylpropanoid pathway in plants, and subsequently became interested in understanding the regulation of cytoprotective responses in mammals. She has co-authored more than 100 publications, some of which have been highlighted in commentaries and attracted nearly 8000 citations. Albena is the recipient of the 2011 Arthur C. Neish Young Investigator Award of the Phytochemical Society of North America. In her current research, which sits at the interface of Chemistry and Biology, Albena remains committed to working towards development of strategies for protection against chronic degenerative diseases.

Dr. Stevan Djuric is head of the global AbbVie Medicinal Chemistry Leadership Team at AbbVie and is also responsible for the Discovery Chemistry and Technology organization The group’s current efforts are focused on initiatives in the areas of high throughput synthesis and purification, hit to lead chemistry, chemical biology including target identification proteomics and new enabling technology identification and development. In 2015 he was named Distinguished Research Fellow. Dr. Djuric has over 180 scientific publications, presentations and patents/applications pending. He is a member of several Editorial Advisory Boards including ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. In addition, he holds an Adjunct Professorship at the University of Kansas.

Prof. Girbes is currently Professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences of the Medicine Faculty of the University of Valladolid (Spain) since 2007. Previously he served as Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Sciences Faculty of the same university for near 22 years. He has more than 30 years of experience in the research and discovery of new proteins and their use as part of constructs for targeted therapy. Prof. Girbes has authored more than 110 papers indexed in JCR-WOS, several patents 3 patents. He carried teaching activities for more than 35 years on “Biochemistry, Biophysics, Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Food Sciences”. He has directed near 30 PhD thesis.

Dr Fedora Grande, after her honours graduation in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology, at University of Calabria, got PhD degree “Metodologie per lo Sviluppo di Molecole di Interesse Farmacologico, XIX ciclo” in 2006. During the PhD course, and after, as Post Doc, she spent several secondments to the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California. Main goals of her research deal with the synthesis and the biological evaluation of small molecules endowed with pharmacological properties. More recently, she expanded her research interests on computer-based techniques toward the design of novel drugs. Since 2010, she is Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, at the Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria.

Brij B. Gupta received a Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India in the area of Information and Cyber Security. In 2009, he was selected for the Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship awarded by the Government of Canada. He published more than 250 research papers in International Journals and Conferences of high repute. Dr. Gupta also received a Young Faculty research fellowship award from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India in 2018. He is also working as a principal investigator of various R&D projects. Moreover, he is serving as an associate editor and reviewer of several reputed journals. At present, Dr. Gupta is working as an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra India. His research interests include Information security, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Web security, Intrusion detection, and Network Performance Evaluation.

K.M. Honório received a PhD in Physical Chemistry from IQSC-University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and post-doctor in Medicinal and Computational Chemistry from IFSC-University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). Currently, associate professor at University of Sao Paulo (USP) and scholarship of research productivity (CNPq). Research interests: medicinal chemistry, computational chemistry, molecular modeling, cannabinoids and cancer. Referee of scientific journals and funding agencies (FAPESP and CNPq). It has more than 70 articles published in scientific journal, papers published in national and international conferences, book chapters and coordination of projects funded by FAPESP and CNPq. She was awarded the prize "For Women in Science", awarded by L'Oreal, UNESCO and Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Hou obtained a doctorate (Ph.D.) in Computational Chemistry from Peking University in 2002 and is currently the professor for College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. His research focuses on development of new methods for computer-aided drug design (CADD) and design of potential lead compounds for important drug targets. He has published more than 260 peer reviewed papers in international prestigious SCI-cited journals, 4 book chapters and 1 multimedia courseware.

Dr. Huq is an associate professor in School of Medical Sciences Sydney Medical School University of Sydney. He leads Cancer Group in Biomedical Sciences. Their research is focused on drug discovery and therapy as applied to ovarian and colorectal cancers. He has over 220 publications in peer reviewed journals. He is also an accomplished poet with over 4800 pieces of poetry.

Prof. Gamal Abdallah Mohamed Hussein was graduated from Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Assiut with general grade excellent with honour in 1997. He worked as teaching assistant at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University from 1997 till 2002 at this time he obtained master degree in pharmaceutical sciences, Pharmacognosy. From 2002 till 2006 he worked as associate lecturer at Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University. He worked as research assistant at Pharmazeutische Biologie Institute der Universität Heinrich-Heine, Düsseldorf, Germany from 2002 till 2005 under supervision of Prof. Peter Proksch. In 2006, he got the PhD degree. From 2006 till 2012 he worked as assistant professor at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University. From 2009 to 2010 he worked at Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Fatah University, Libya. After that he worked as associate professor at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University from 2012 to 2015. Currently, he worked as a professor at the Department of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 2015 till now.

Josef Jampilek completed his Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Charles University (Czech Republic) in 2004. In 2004-2011, he worked in expert and managerial posts in the R&D Division of the pharmaceutical company Zentiva (Czech Republic). In 2009, he became an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (Czech Republic). In 2017, he became a Full Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University (Slovakia) and a Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the same faculty. He is an author/co-author of 32 patents, more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific publications, 7 university textbooks, 18 chapters in monographs and many invited lectures. The research interests of Prof. Jampilek include design, synthesis and structure-activity relationships of heterocyclic compounds as anti-invasive agents and photosynthesis inhibitors.

Dr. Mankil Jung, a professor emeritus of Department of Chemistry, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea has nearly 36 years of experience in the research, teaching in organic chemistry and discovery of drug molecules. Previously, Dr. Jung served as an associate professor of School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi. Dr. Jung holds a D. Phil. in organic chemistry from University of Oxford. Notably, Dr. Jung has discovered daumone, a life extending pheromone from E. coli and authored more than 130 papers and 14 patents.

Prof. (Dr) Poonam Kakkar is a Chief Scientist at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow. She is also teaching at Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR) as Professor of Biological sciences. She has been responsible for setting up the only GLP Test Facility of CSIR for Toxicity Testing and implementing GLP norms as in- charge. Her main research interests are Redox biology, Molecular Toxicology and Safety of Herbal Products. Her research group is involved in unraveling role of redox sensitive transcription factors Nrf2/FOXOs in strengthening antioxidant status under cellular stress/hepatotoxicity/diabetic nephropathy with respect to cellular signaling molecules like PHLPP2/Akt/Fyn kinase, PI3K/Akt/mTOR axis as well as its modulation by phytochemicals. Dr. Kakkar has published 120 research papers in peer reviewed journals; 142 Conference papers; 6 Books and 07 Monographs in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India. Her work has been cited more than 6800 times with h index: 34; and i10 index: 65. Dr Kakkar is an elected Fellow of Society of Toxicology and Fellow-Academy of Environmental Biology.

Dr Konstantinos M. Kasiotis is a Chemist with PhD on Chemistry of Bioactive Compounds from the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA). Currently is an Associate Researcher in the Laboratory of Pesticides Toxicology, in Benaki Phytopathological Institute (Greece). He has strong expertise on the biomedical applications of organic synthesis with emphasis on azaheterocycles’ design, synthesis and biological evaluation. The latter is reinforced by the collaboration with the Laboratory of Professor Haroutounian (AUA). He has been/is involved in several national and European projects and he has published more than 60 research/review articles in scientific journals and conferences.

Dr. Reza Khodarahmi (Professor in Biochemistry) was born in Nahavand-Iran, 1974. He received his Bsc degree in general Biology from the Razi University-Kermanshah and then graduated in Biochemistry (Msc) from the Tarbiat Modarres University-Tehran. He received his PhD degree in 2005 from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran for his studies on the effects of artificial chaperones on protein misfolding and aggregation. Since 2007, he has held a position in the school of Pharmaceutical Sciences (and Medical Biology Research Center), Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. His research interests focus on the in vitro characterization of oxidative events accompanying amyloid aggregation, drug-protein interaction and enzyme inhibition, using both experimental and computational tools.

Kamil Kuca is working for several academic institutes (University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; University Hospital Hradec Kralove, Czech republic; Florida International University, USA; Yangtze University, China; etc.). He is recently rector of the University of Hradec Kralove. He was also technology scout focused on biomedicine in the past. His research interests are toxicology, pharmacology, drug design, technology transfer, pharmacoeconomy, chemical and biological terrorism, etc. He was/is principal investigator on numerous national and international projects (EU, NATO, GACR, IGA MZ, MSMT etc.). He has published more than 350 IF research papers. He is working with several companies as a scientific consultant. He has lots of cooperators throughout the world (e.g. Korea, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, USA, France, Turkey, China, Singapore, Sweden, and Brazil). His Hindex is 36, number of citation in WoS is over 3000.

Dr. Kyle is Vice President, Discovery Research of Purdue Pharma L.P. He has 30 years of experience in the areas of CNS, pain, and inflammation. Previously, Dr. Kyle served as Director in Discovery Research at Nova Pharmaceutical Corporation and Scios, Inc. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Texas Tech University. Dr. Kyle is an inventor on more than 60 issued US patents and has published nearly 200 manuscripts, review articles and abstracts. He serves on the editorial advisory board of multiple journals for chemistry and pharmacology and is a member of the Dean’s CSLA advisory board at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Yonghong Liu received a PhD degree from the Pusan National University, Busan, Korea. He undertook postdoctoral research at Osaka University and New University of Lisbon, currently he is a senior scientist at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has authored more than 200 peer reviewed articles, edited 9 books and monographs (in English), served as editorial board members of 11 international Journals (including SCI journal: Natural Products Research, Medicinal Chemistry) and two Chinese domestic Journal, awarded 6 national and provincial prizes, and held 16 issued patents. He engaged in discovery of new natural products lead.

Prof. Dr. Xinyong Liu received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong Medical University, in 1984 and 1991, respectively. From 1997 to 1999 he worked at Instituto de Quimica Medica (CSIC) in Spain as a senior visiting scholar. He obtained his Ph.D. from Shandong University in 2004. Presently, He is the director of Institute of Medicinal Chemistry, Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University. He is currently serve on editor of the “Journal of Chemistry” and on editorial board members of more than 20 academic journals. In his medicinal chemistry research of antiviral and cardiovascular drugs, he has published more than 300 paper and 6 monographs and granted 34 patents presently.

Gerard Marx is a biochemist with a background in blood coagulation and tissue engineering with blood-derived proteins, notably fibrinogen and albumin. He invented Fibrin Sealants for surgical, fibrin applicators and new materials (Fibrin microbeads (FMB) and haptotactic peptides (haptides)) for wound repair and cancer treatment. Much of his research interest has focused on the effects of various trace metals (copper, manganese, zinc) on physiologic processes, exemplified in blood coagulation. Dr. Marx graduated with a BSc degree in Chemistry from City College, New York, and received a PhD in Organic/Polymer Chemistry from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He worked in a number of medical centers, including Columbia University P&S, Mt Sinai (NY), New York Blood Center, Magen David Adom (MDA) Blood Bank, Beilinson Hospital (Petah Tikva) and Hadassah Medical Center (Jerusalem). He has participated in numerous scientific meetings and lectured in various Seminars and Scientific Conferences. Currently, Dr. Marx is heavily engaged in a collaboration with Professor Chaim Gilon (Hebrew University, Chemistry Institute). Their work is focused on the molecular basis of neural memory, which involves trace metals and neurotransmitters. A spin-off of this is the development of new “memory materials” and biomimetic electrodes. He has lived and worked in the USA Israel and Europe.

Prof. Luisa Di Marzio is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology at the Department of Pharmacy, University “G. D’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the synthesis, development, and physicochemical characterization of colloidal nanoparticles for advanced drug delivery. 9 book chapters, and 65 full papers published on international scientific journals document her scientific activity. The research interests of Prof. Luisa Di Marzio are focused on the study of sphingolipid metabolites, and enzymes involved in their production. She developed new therapeutic strategies to modulate intracellular levels of sphingomyelin catabolites related to the development of pathological disorders. She also studies the preparation and characterization of nanocarriers for therapeutic applications.

Dr. McGeary is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, and an Affiliate Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy at The University of Queensland, Australia. Dr McGeary has authored over 75 publications, as well as 3 book chapters and 11 patents. His research interests encompass the development of new synthetic methodologies, and the design and synthesis of potent inhibitors of metalloenzymes.

Dr. E Millo is Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at DIMES of University of Genova (Italy). He has nearly 20 years of experience in the research area of biochemistry and medicinal chemistry. In particular has expertise in synthesis of molecules with potential pharmacological activities. Graduated in “Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology” and in “Pharmacy”, during his career he held a Ph.D in ” Cellular and molecular biotechnologies applied to the biomedical field” at the University of Brescia (Italy). Dr. E. Millo has authored more than 80 manuscripts and 5 patents. He is also a member at Center of Excellence for Biomedical Research of University of Genova.

Dr. Modica graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Catania. In 1994, she received the PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Since 1997, she is researcher at the Department of Drug Science. As aggregate professor, she taught for the degree on Herbal Science and Scientific Information of Drug. From 2012 to date, she teaches Quantitative Analysis of Drugs for the degree in Pharmacy. Her research topics include the design and synthesis of ligands for the 5-HT1A and the 5-HT7 serotonin, alpha1-adrenergic and endothelin receptors, and of HO-1 and NOs inhibitors. She has published 49 papers, one contribution of a volume for a book, and 5 proceedings.

Rui Moreira is a professor of medicinal chemistry at the School of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. Dr. Moreira received a PhD in medicinal chemistry from the University of Lisbon. In 2013 Dr. Moreira was appointed director of Drug Design Division at the Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), where he is responsible for the chemistry platform. His research interests lies at the interface of chemistry and biology and include the discovery and optimization of anti-infective and anti-cancer agents. Dr. Moreira has authored more de 150 papers and book chapters in the field of medicinal and organic chemistry.

Assoc. Prof. Kamil Musilek is head of Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. He has more than 10 years’ experience in various academic positions and in research and development of novel drug candidates. He is focused on research of Alzheimer´s disease, organophosphorus antidotes and cancer theranostics. He has authored or co-authored over 150 articles, one patent and several book chapters. Within his carrier, he spent thirteen months abroad (France, Germany, UK) and he has numerous international collaborations.

Robert Musioł PhD is adjunct at Institute of Chemistry University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland, where he is lecturer of “Medicinal Chemistry” course. He received PhD in organic chemistry at University of Silesia in 2005 and habilitation in pharmacy at Jagiellonian University of Krakow Poland in 2013. His scientific interests are focused on antimicrobial and anticancer compounds and synthetic organic chemistry. Dr. Robert Musioł is a coauthor of more than 60 publications and 15 patents.

Dr. Norman is President of Scicon Solutions, a scientific consulting and contract research business that provides drug discovery services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He has over 29 years of drug discovery and development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector with Amgen, Glaxo, and Burroughs Wellcome. At Amgen he was a Scientific Executive Director in the Medicinal Chemistry department where he led projects in the areas of oncology, inflammation, metabolic disorders, and neurobiology - resulting in the identification of eleven clinical candidates. Dr. Norman has over 220 publications, presentations, and patents. He is also as an adjunct faculty member at California Lutheran University where he teaches Organic Chemistry.

Prof. Dr. Tomris Ozben, Ph.D., D.Sc. Med. Lab Specialist is the current Treasurer of IFCC and a member of the Board Directors of the IFCC Foundation for Emerging Nations (FEN) and past president of BCLF. Over her tenure at Akdeniz University, Prof. Ozben has been the Director of Central Laboratory, Akdeniz University Hospital, Vice Rector and Chairman of the Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry.She has been Chair or Member in many Scientific Organizations, Societies, Committees and Councils such as IFCC, FEBS, FESCC, Balkan Clinical Laboratory Federation (BCLF). She has received distinguished scientist and outstanding service awards of Akdeniz University. Moreover, Prof. Ozben has been the member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards of Scientific Journals. Prof. Ozben has published over 180 papers, 11 book chapters, edited 4 books and invited to speak at more than 200 international conferences.

Dr. Padrón (Canary Islands) received B.Sc. and Ph.D in Pharmacy from ULL in 1991 and 1996, respectively. His thesis aimed on the synthesis of biologically active substances. He completed post-doctoral work at the VUMC Amsterdam (The Netherlands) studying molecular pharmacology of anticancer drugs. Following a 5-year appointment at the Dutch chemical company DSM, he started at ULL a screening program aimed at the discovery of new anticancer substances. In 2011, he was appointed Tenured Full-Time Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at ULL. In 2013-2015, he was Director of ULL's Technology Transfer Office.

Dr. Portincasa is full professor of Internal Medicine at the “Aldo Moro” University of Medical School, Bari, Italy. During his career, he has gained extensive experience in translational and clinical research. In 2013, he has been awarded with two Laurea H. Causa at the “Iuliu Hatieganu” University in Cluj-Napoca and “Carol Davila” University in Bucharest. He is past President of the European Society of Clinical Investigation (ESCI), President of ESCI Journal Foundation (Eur. J. Clinical Investigation), and member of the Apulian Academy of Science. He is author of over 250 original papers in international journals and 30 international book chapters/books. He is the leader of the research group in Bari recipient of the European grant “Horizon 2020” for the study of basic and clinical aspects of fatty liver.

Prof. K.S. Rangappa is a Vice-chancellor of the University of Mysore. He has research experience of more than 30 years in designing of synthetic small molecules targeting cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. He has authored 03 patents and published more than 400 research articles in internationally reputed journals. His research articles have gained the citations over 4000 with my h-index crossing 33. Prof. Rangappa is the fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, London and Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India. He has guided 53 students for Ph.D degree and credited with many prestigious awards.

Dr. Abdur Rauf, got PhD degree from Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan. His research interest mainly focused on medicinal chemistry and Pharmacology for the discovery of novel therapeutic formulations. The major goals of Dr. Rauf research area are to discover an eco-friendly and the implementation of a cost-effective drug for pharmacotical industries. He published more than 200 scientific articles in reputed journals (>380 impact factor). He is also awarded Research Productivity Award (2016-17) from Pakistan Science Council for Science and Technology and young Scientist award from Directorate of Science and Technology (DoST) KP.

Amélia P. Rauter graduated in Chemical Engineering at Universidade Técnica de Lisboa in 1974. She started her career as Assistant Professor at Technische Universität Graz, where she obtained her Ph.D. in 1982. She was the founder of the Portuguese Society of Chemistry Carbohydrate Group, and the founder and leader of the CQB Carbohydrate Chemistry Group at Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL), where she teaches several subjects. She is member of the Advisory Board of several journals, and Editor of the Royal Society of Chemistry Specialist Periodical Reports Carbohydrate Chemistry – Chemical and Biological Approaches. Author of more than 150 publications and 8 granted patents, her research interests include the development of molecular entities against metabolic (diabetes), degenerative diseases (Alzheimer´s and Prion diseases, cancer) and infection, either isolated from natural resources or accessed through rational design and synthesis.

Dr V. Ravichandran obtained a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Dr H.S. Gour Vishwavidyalaya, India. Currently, he is a Unit Head & Professor at the Pharmaceutical Chemistry Unit, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST, University of Malaysia. His research interests focus on Design, Synthesis & Evaluation of Various Medicinal Compounds, QSAR & Molecular Modeling Studies to Explore structure and Activity Relationships, Phytochemical and Biological Investigation of Medicinal Plants, Green Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Nanoparticles, Development and Validation of Analytical Methods for Pharmaceuticals, and Knowledge, Attitude and Perception (KAP) studies. He has published 136 scientific papers in national and international journals. Besides, he is an Associate Editor of 4 Journals, Advisory Editorial Board member of 4 Journals, and Editorial Board Member of 19 Journals.

Prof. Rizzo is Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Palermo, Italy as well as Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, USA. Prof. Rizzo sits on the editorial board of 9 international journals with Impact Factor. He has been the recipient of national and international fellowships and awards, and acted as reviewer for 100+ scientific international journals. The research work of Dr. Rizzo combines translational research (focus on the effects and mechanisms of action of lipid-lowering and anti-diabetic agents) and basic research (focus on novel cardiovascular risk factors), with 200+ scientific publications with Impact Factor (total Impact Factor: >700. H--‐Index: 42).

Vincent Rotello is the Goessmann Professor of Chemistry and University Distinguished Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He joined UMass in 1993, and received the NSF CAREER, Cottrell Scholar and Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar awards, the Sloan Fellowship, and the Langmuir Lectureship, the RSC Bioorganic Lecturer, and is a Fellow of the AAAS and the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.) He is also the Editor in Chief of Bioconjugate Chemistry. His research program focuses on engineering the interface between hard and soft materials, with > 480 peer-reviewed publications to date.

Dr. A.R. Safa held his PhD in 1980. In 1999, he joined the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine as H.H. Gregg Professor of Cancer Research, and Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Dr. Safa is also Director of the Graduate Program in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Dr. Safa has been investigating the molecular and biochemical mechanisms of intrinsic and acquired resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, apoptosis (cell death) in cancer cells, cancer stem cells, drug discovery and development, and cancer treatment.

Dr. Beatrice Severino received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2003. She further spent a post- doctoral fellowship at the department of Chemistry, CSI, CUNY, New York. She has been working as an Assistant Professor in Medicinal Chemistry at the department of Pharmacy of Naples since 2006. Dr. Severino’s research interest focuses on the design and synthesis of molecule active on several pharmacological targets such as; kallikreins, protease activated receptors (PARs), serotonin receptors ligands, sphingosine-1-phosphate pathway and, more recently, novel pharmacological tools useful for elucidating H2S biological functions. She has contributed more than 76 publications in different international journals.

Dr Anver Basha Shaik is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Medicinal Chemistry Section, NIDA-IRP, USA. He received his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad. He has awarded CSIR-Research Fellowship in 2009 from the government of India. Dr Shaik focused his doctoral research on the design and synthesis of novel pyrazole-based conjugates as potential anticancer agents. His research interests include the design and synthesis of novel and selective dopamine D3 receptor ligands as potential therapeutics for substance use disorders. He is an expert in organic & medicinal chemistry. Besides, he is a part of 6 patents and has published 36 papers in reputed international journals.

Dr. Inder Pal Singh is a Professor of Natural Products Chemistry at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar. He has nearly 25 years of experience in research. His research interests include isolation of bioactive molecules from natural sources, biomimetic synthesis of bioactive natural products and their analogs for therapeutic areas such as HIV, cancer, and leishmaniasis, and standardization of herbal/Ayurvedic formulations using various analytical techniques such as HPTLC, HPLC, and quantitative NMR (qNMR). He has guided nine PhD and more than 50 M.S. (Pharm.) students. He has authored more than 100 peer reviewed publications and one book on stereochemistry.

Dr. Skwarczynski received a PhD in chemistry from Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland). In 2004 he was awarded Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship. In 2008 he moved from Kyoto Pharmaceutical University (Japan) to the University of Queensland (Australia), working on drug, gene and vaccine delivery strategies. In 2010 he received a UQ Strategic Fund Research Fellowship. He is author of over 80 journal articles and book chapters, and one book. He is editor in chief of Biochemical Compounds.

Dr. Sun got his Ph.D. degree in Medicinal Chemistry from China Pharmaceutical University. After postdoctoral research in Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1995-1997), Aachen University (Germany, 1997-1998), and University of Florida (USA, 1998-2001), he joined Metabolex, Inc. as a scientist (2001-2003). Currently, he is "Yangtze River Scholar" Distinguished Professor and Director of Center for Drug Discovery at China Pharmaceutical University. His membership includes Editorial member of “Recent Patents on Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery”, “Drug Discoveries & Therapeutics”, “Medicinal Chemistry” and “Chinese Journal of Medicinal Chemistry”, etc. He has published more than 180 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and is the inventor of more than 30 patent applications. His research interest is mainly focused on target verification and drug discovery for metabolic diseases and cancer. The leading drug candidate developed by Dr. Sun is Vicagrel (an anti-platelet agent in phase I clinical trial).

Dr. Jianjun Tan research interests are Computer-Aided Drug design; Protein-protein and protein-ligand interaction; Precision medicine. He is currently Professor of Bioinformatics, College of Life Science and Bioengineering, Beijing University of Technology. Dr. Tan did his Ph.D. in Hydromechanical from College of Life Science & Bioengineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China in 2007.

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

Biologist, PhD at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Associate Professor Parasitology, Coordinator. General Secretary of the Brazilian Society for Parasitology. Expertise in Parasitology and ultrastructural approaches, with an emphasis on Protozoology, employing electron microscopy and chemotherapy. Currently a senior researcher in Public Health at Gonçalo Moniz Institute FIOCRUZ, CNPq research fellow, heads the Parasite Biology Laboratory, approaching antiparasitic drug combinations. Former vice-president of the Brazilian Society for Microscopy and Microanalysis, having chaired the "Thematic Symposium on Pathogens, Medicinal Plants and Advanced Techniques in Microscopy". Organizes the Advanced Courses Cell Biology of Pathogens (Brazilian-Argentine Center of Biotechnology).

Dr. Laura Zaccaro obtained the degree in Pharmacy and the Master Degree in Hospital Pharmacy- Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Naples “Federico II”. From 2001 she is a researcher at the Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging-CNR in Naples. In 2001-2002 she did experience as external scientist at Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Barcelona-Spain. Over the last years she is mainly focused on 1) design, synthesis, structural and biological characterization of peptides/peptidomimetics selective for integrin receptors and on the functionalized nanostructures for selective targeting to employ in therapy and diagnosis of cancer diseases; 2) Structure-activity relationship studies of zinc finger proteins from prokaryotes and eukaryotes; 3) Synthesis and structural characterization of peptoids and glycopeptides as antimicrobials. She is in the editorial board of Journal of Peptides (Open Access Pub). She is co-author of 50 peer-reviewed publications, numerous proceedings, 2 patents, different lectures and invited key-notes.

Dr. Paul Zarogoulidis is a pulmonary physician with expertise in interventional pulmonology and lung cancer treatment. He is a member of CABIP, ERS, ATS, EABIP. He is an associate editor in 3 journals and editor in 14 journals. He has 250 publications on pub med. He has written 3 chapters in 3 books. He is the president of ``The Society for Diagnosis and Lung Cancer Treatment``. One his main interests is the development of novel inhalational drugs and inhalational delivery systems. He is currently working in the Pulmonary Department-Oncology Unit, ``G. Papanikolaou`` General Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece and 3 different private hospitals.

Over the past years, Prof. Zhang Jian has led the team to focus on the studies of drug discovery on target for major human diseases, especially on precise target identification and ‘First-in-class ‘drug discovery based on clinical samples. In the past five years he opened up a new direction and made a series of new breakthrough in the field of drug discovery. As a corresponding author, he has published more than 70 articles on Nat Chem Biol, Chem Rev, Chem Soc Rev, Am J Hum Genet, Nucleic Acid Res, J Med Chem, Bioinformatics, etc.

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. G.-P. Zhou is currently a Distinguished Professor of Gordon Life Science In-stitute, USA. He is also an Adjunct Professor of several academics in the USA and China. Dr. Zhou received his Ph.D in Biophysics from University of California at Davis, and completed his postdoctoral training at Stanford University and Harvard University, respectively. Dr. Zhou determined the 3D NMR structures of some proteins, protein-DNA complexes, super lipids such as dolichol and other polyisoprenyls, as well as polyisoprenol recognition sequences. Dr. Zhou has successfully introduced the elegant wenxiang diagrams to elucidate the mechanisms of the coiled-coil proteins, protein-lipids, protein-DNA interactions, and prion protein misfolding observed by NMR. Meanwhile, he has also published many papers in Bioinformatics. Dr. Zhou’s current research is focused on investigation into the relationship between the functions and structures of polysialyltransferases.

Dr. Muhammad Zia is faculty member at Department of Biotechnology Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad Pakistan. He is working in the area of medicinal plants; isolation of phytocomponents; bioassays and biological activities; nanobiotechnology and nanotoxicology. He has published more than 100 research and review articles in renowned journals. His current projects involve isolation of phytochemicals from plants, and involvement of phytochemicals in green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles.

Dr. Bilal Khan did his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) and Master of Science (M.Sc) at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Later, he received a Ph.D. degree at TU Kaiserslautern in 2008-2012. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor for Organic Chemistry at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad. He is also a Post-doctoral fellow/ Visiting Scientist at TU Kaiserslautern and Ruhr University Bochum. Besides, he is a Tenured Associate Professor (Organic Chemistry) at the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, AJK, Pakistan.

Dr. Kapil Kumar received his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Mohali, India. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Professor at SVKM’s NMIMS (Deemed to be University) Hyderabad campus, India. His research interests involve synthesis and pharmacological studies on anticancer, anti-diabetic and neglected diseases. His research area focuses on heterocyclic synthesis, methodology development, asymmetric synthesis, green chemistry, total synthesis, computer-aided drug design, nanoparticle-based synthesis, waste utilization, etc. Dr. Kumar has published over 25 peer-reviewed articles. He is in the reviewer panel of many journals also.

Dr. Syed Shoaib Ahmad Shah is currently working in University of Science and Technology of China and also Assistant Professor in The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan. In 2018, he has earned his Ph.D degree from Chongqing University, China. He has credited several peer reviewed published articles in well-known journals like Angew. Chem., Current Medicinal Chemistry, Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry, JPCC, JMCA, Electrochimica Acta, Chemistry-A European Journal etc.. He is also awarded out-standing researcher award from Chongqing University in 2018.

Dr. Shahab Siyamak is presently working at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, International Sakharov Environmental University. His research areas are Organic Chemistry, Theoretical Chemistry, and Medicinal Chemistry. His current projects are: 1) Theoretical investigation on the novel oxadiazole and azomethine derivatives, 2) Development of Polarizer Films for UV, Visible and IR regions of the Spectrum and 3) Antitumor and Antioxidant Properties of New Organic Compounds. He has contributed his valuable publications in different scientific journals.

Dr. Mohammad Amjad Kamal is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the King Fahd Medical Research Center (KFMRC), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he was full Professor from March 2011 to March 2013, and led a highly productive and collaborative research team. Dr. Kamal's biochemical research has culminated in more than 250 publications in internationally respected journals, and 64 abstracts at international conferences. His research involves ongoing collaborations with numerous international scientific teams and, as an example among many successful projects, was pivotal in supporting the development of novel experimental drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease from conception in the laboratory to the clinic with his longtime collaborator Dr. Nigel H. Greig (Chief, Drug Design & Development Section, Translational Gerontology Branch, NIA, NIH, USA).