MicroRNA

Dr. Xiaofeng Charles Zhou received his PhD in Biochemistry from Boston University and a M.S. degree in Software Engineering from Brandeis University. He did his Post-Doctoral training in human genetics and second Post-Doctoral training in cancer genomics at Boston University and University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), respectively. He has published more than 90 journal articles, review articles, and book chapters. Dr. Zhou is currently an Associate Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also a Visiting Professor at Sun Yat-sen University, China.

Dr. Songdong Meng obtained Ph.D degree in Microbiology from Shenyang Institute of Applied Ecology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Currently he is a professor in Institute of Microbiology of CAS, and also in College of Life Sciences in University of CAS. He has published more than 40 scientific papers, and is a named inventor of 10 issued China patents.

Dr. Aniello Russo is an Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at Second University of Naples, Caserta, Italy. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1993, at Federico II University of Naples, and Post-Doctoral training at Harvard University, where he was also appointed Instructor. Dr. Russo’s research is dedicated to microRNAs, focusing on their role in human pathologies, such as viral hepatitis, cancer and heart failure. In addition to research and teaching, from 2009 to 2015 he served the Faculty of Sciences of Second University of Naples as President of the Bachelor and Master of Science programs in Biology.

Dr. Saini’s research has provided new insights into miRNA-mediated regulation of apoptosis providing new opportunities for therapeutic interventions. During the last decade her laboratory has identified and characterized several miRNAs that hold immense potential as therapeutics. Currently her laboratory is understanding the regulation of cholesterol metabolism by microRNAs. Simultaneously she is also understanding role of microRNA(s) as regulator of mitochondrial activity/mitochondrial function.

Dr. Wayne Tam received his M.D., Ph.D., degree from the Weill Cornell Tri-Institutional Program and is currently a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is an academic hematopathologist with translational research interests on hematologic malignancies, including scientific investigations in the role of microRNA and other non-coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of lymphoid malignancies and their utility as biomarkers.

Dr. Tang obtained his Medical Doctor Degree and Ph.D. in Pathogen Biology from Tianjin Medical University, and gained postdoctoral training in Harvard University and HHMI. He was a faculty member in Harvard Medical School and Fudan University. Currently Dr. Tang is a Professor and Chair of Tianjin Life Science Research Center and Department of Pathogen Biology, Tianjin Medical University. Dr. Tang has focused on the regulation of non-coding RNA on tumorigenesis and viral proliferation. He has published more than 100 research articles and served as an editor of more than 10 journals.

Dr. Pankaj Trivedi obtained his doctorate from Karolinska Institute, Sweden in 1995. Currently, he is Associate Professor at faculty of Medicine, La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy. Over the last 30 years, his main interest has been to study the role Epstein-Barr virus in pathogenesis of B cell lymphomas. Dr. Trivedi’s research also include the role of cellular microRNA in EBV induced transformation. He has authored over 60 papers in this field.

Yonghua Wang is a full professor in Systems Pharmacology at Northwest A &F University, China and is a visiting professor at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. Prof. Wang has devoted his research to systems pharmacology, particularly developing methods to understand mechanisms of action for herbs and plant-origin drug discovery by systems biology methods. He is the author or coauthor of 135 scientific papers, book chapters and 17 abstracts. He has applied for 9 patents for new drugs and 3 of them have been authorized. He serves as the Associate Editor for the international journal ‘microRNA’ and the member of Journal of Bioequivalence & Bioavailability.He serves as editor of Journal of Bioinformatics, Computational and Systems Biology.

I received M.D and Ph.D from Kagoshima University School of Medicine, Kagoshima, Japan in 1998. I have studied as a Research Fellow and a Research Associate at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. After that I worked as a Research Assistant Professor at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, NY, USA by 2012. Now I am an Associate Professor, Laboratory and Vascular Medicine Kagoshima University, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima, Japan. My publication is more than 50, including research articles, reviews, and chapter books.

Dr. Anke van den Berg is a molecular biologist with a long standing interest in cancer research. She obtained her PhD (cum laude) on “The involvement of chromosome 3 deletions in renal cell carcinoma” in 1996. After her PhD, Dr. van den Berg moved to the field of B cell lymphoma with a special interest in microRNAs. In 2009 she was appointed as professor in Molecular pathogenesis of malignant B cell lymphoma at the Department of Pathology & Medical Biology. She has obtained multiple research grants of the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), NWO, SKOG, Vanderes and others. She has published over 170 papers in international peer reviewed journals.

Roopa Biswas, earned a PhD in Biochemistry from Ohio State University (OSU) in 1997. She continued at OSU as a Research Associate where she studied structural features of RNA by X-ray crystallography and also applied biochemical biophysical structure mapping techniques for RNA-protein complexes. In 2001, she was recruited to the position of Project Scientist in the Department of Immunology at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. At the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, she used her expertise in RNA protein interaction to investigate the mechanisms through which sequences in unstable mRNAs control the process of mRNA degradation in inflammatory systems. She remained at the Cleveland Clinic until July 2005, when she was recruited to the Graduate School of Nursing (GSN), Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS). Subsequently she was recruited to the School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, USUHS in 2013.

Dr. Erson-Bensan graduated from Biological Sciences Department of METU (ODTU), Ankara. She obtained her Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Currently, Dr. Erson-Bensan is a faculty member at METU (ODTU) in Ankara. Her research is focused on understanding the roles of mRNA 3’ UTRs in gene regulation in cancer cells. She has published >20 journal articles and book chapters. Dr. Erson-Bensan received numerous awards, including the AACR-WICR Brigid G. Leventhal Scholar Award, Cancer Research Award by Molecular Cancer Research Association of Turkey (MOKAD) and Research Stimulus Award by the Parlar Foundation.

Dr Gantier obtained his Ph.D. in Medicine from University College Dublin (Ireland) before moving to Australia in 2006. After several years of postdoctoral studies with Prof. Bryan Williams, Dr Gantier was promoted in 2015 to the position of laboratory head, at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. In the past 10 years, Dr Gantier has published more than 40 scientific publications, with a focus on the sensing of nucleic acids by the innate immune system, and its modulation by microRNAs. His laboratory is currently investigating the mechanisms regulating the stability of microRNAs in mammalian cells.

Dr. Zhang, obtained his MS in chemistry from Fordham University and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Columbia University and did his postdoctoral research in RNA field at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Currently he is a professor of RNA chemical biology at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the founder of Guangzhou RiboBio Co. He has published more than 60 scientific papers and more than 20 patents.

Dr. Roger Abounader completed his medical and doctoral degrees at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. After postdoctoral training at McGill University in Canada and the Johns Hopkins University in the USA, he was appointed as assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University. He subsequently moved to the University of Virginia, USA, where he is currently a professor in the School of Medicine and the Arthur and Margaret Ebbert Endowed Chair of Medical Science. His laboratory research focuses on understanding and therapeutically exploiting the molecular basis of brain tumor development and growth, with a focus on cell signaling and non-coding RNAs.

Alexandre Arcaro is a group leader at Bern University Hospital in Switzerland. He graduated in biology at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1992 and obtained a Ph.D. in natural sciences from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in 1995. He was then a postdoctoral fellow at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University College London, United Kingdom, from 1996 to 1997 and at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, from 1998 to 2000. From 2000 to 2003 he was then a lecturer at Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, London, United Kingdom. He was a group leader at the University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, from 2003 to 2009. His research work is focused on the study of receptor tyrosine kinase signaling and PI3K isoforms in human cancer.

Dr. Atreya is the Associate Director for Research for the Office of Blood Research and Review at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), US Food and Drug Administration, USA. He has been with FDA for over 25 years with research and regulatory expertise. Dr. Atreya’s research expertise includes microbiology, cell biology and development of novel pathogen reduction concepts and product safety biomarkers for stored blood cells (platelets and RBC). Dr. Atreya has authored over 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications and wrote several book chapters.

Ben Berkhout obtained his PhD in 1986 at Leiden University, performed postdoctoral research at the Harvard Medical School and at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda (1989-1991). He initiated a molecular virology research line at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam in 1991, became Head of the Laboratory of Experimental Virology and was appointed Professor of Human Retrovirology in 2002. Ben Berkhout has published over 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts on various topics concerning HIV-1 replication, virus evolution, virus discovery, new antiviral therapeutic strategies (RNA interference, CRISPR-Cas) and HIV-1 vaccine design.

Amancio Carnero graduated on Biological Sciences at the University of Granada where he initiated his scientific career in the Department of Genetics. Later, he moved to the Institute of Biomedical Research (CSIC) where he performed the doctoral thesis in the mechanisms of signal transduction mediated by the Ras oncogene, obtaining the title of doctor in sciences by the Department of Molecular Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid in 1994.During this time he worked in the development of new techniques for mammalian genetic research to identify new targets involved in cancer. He based his work on identification and validation of new molecular targets.

Dr. Chen received his Ph.D. degree in Life Science from National Defense Medical Center, Taiwan. Dr. Chen had served as the director of Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Medical Technology, and Research Center for Translational Medicine in National Chung Hsing University. Currently, Dr. Chen is the Distinguished Professor at National Chung Hsing University and also the chairman of Taiwan Genomics and Genetics Society. He has published more than 100 scientific articles and obtained 12 patents. Dr. Chen has dedicated his academic career in interdisciplinary research, spanning mechanisms of cancer metastasis, gene signature discovery, anti-cancer drugs, and bioinformatics.

Dr. Wei J. Chen, a physician (MD, National Taiwan University, 1984) and epidemiologist (ScD, Harvard School of Public Health, 1992), currently is Dean of College of Public Health, National Taiwan University. His research focuses on the epidemiological, clinical, neuropsychological, and molecular genetic studies of mental disorders, using endophenotype-based approaches. In addition, his lab has embarked on the gene expression research and identified a seven-microRNA signature as potential peripheral biomarkers for schizophrenia. He has received several awards, including Outstanding Research Award of National Science Council, and has been Distinguished Professor of National Taiwan University since 2007.

Dr William Cho is a Biomedical Scientist in Queen Elizabeth Hospital. His main research interests have been focusing on cancer studies utilizing high-throughput technologies to discover biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, treatment prediction and prognostication. He is a Guest Professor of a number of Universities. Dr Cho has published over 250 peer-reviewed papers (Lancet Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Clinical Chemistry, Annual Oncology, etc) covering cancer biomarkers, proteomics, microRNAs, Chinese medicine and plenty of books including "MicroRNAs in cancer translational research", "An omics perspective on cancer research", "Supportive cancer care with Chinese medicine", etc. These papers have received >7,000 citations.

Cinzia Di Pietro is Associate Professor of Biology and Genetics at the University of Catania, School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences. She graduated in Biological Science and obtained the PhD in Molecular Biology at Bari University. She is the Head of Laboratory of Biology of Reproduction. Specifically, her group carry on studies on transcriptome alteration of oocytes and somatic follicular cells in relation to female reproductive aging. Her research group purified, for the first time, exosomes from human follicular fluid, identifying their microRNA cargo and, recently, identifying miRNA expression changes in reproductive aging.

Dr. Dua has a thorough knowledge and extensive experience in Pharmaceutics and Biological Sciences with special emphasis on Formulation Development and Chronic Inflammatory Airway Diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Dr. Dua has lecturing and curriculum development experience, which covers 14 years across national and international Universities along with 4 years of industrial experience. The research experience of Dr. Dua includes close to 12 years laboratory-based experience that covers both postgraduate studies and independent research activities during his lecturing tenure(s). He researches in two complementary areas; drug delivery and immunology as evidenced by extensive research and publication record of high quality in the field of drug delivery and pharmacology.

Dr. Kalpana Ghoshal is an Associate Professor of the Department of Pathology at the Ohio State University. She has nearly 30 years of experience in cancer research aimed to understand molecular basis of hepatocellular cancer, the most prevalent liver cancer. Currently, research in my lab focuses on elucidating the role of microRNAs in liver biology and the consequence of their deregulation in various liver disease including cancer.

Dr. Zhaohui Gong completed his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China in 2006. He received numerous awards/honors and published more than 50 academic papers in peer-reviewed journals. Currently, he is working as a Professor of Molecular Oncology and Vice Dean of Medical School of Ningbo University.

Dr. Greene received his Ph.D. degree in Anatomy/Developmental Biology from the University of Virginia, and postdoctoral training in biochemistry/cell biology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Surgical & Hospital Dentistry and Division of Craniofacial Development & Anomalies at the University of Louisville. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed studies dealing primarily with normal and abnormal embryonic development. Laboratory focus is on the action of miRNAs, DNA methylation, and histone modifications as targets of epimutational causes of birth defects.

Andrey Grigoriev is full professor in Department of Biology and Center for Computational and Integrative Biology, Rutgers University (USA). Upon graduating from Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, he developed computer games and won four gold medals for programming logical games at Computer Olympiads. His PhD in molecular biology is from VNIIGenetika in Moscow, followed by postdoctoral training at Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (Berlin). In addition to multiple research manuscripts on computational biology he published ten books on C programming. His laboratory works on a broad range of computational genomics problems including small RNA function.

Dr. Kebin Hu, MD, PhD is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and Department of Medicine at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, USA. His research is to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms of inflammation and tissue fibrogenesis, identify novel signal mediators, and develop therapeutics. He has made seminar contributions to the understanding of the cellular and signaling mechanisms of tissue plasminogen activator, a matrix-degrading protease but promotes fibrosis and inflammation, in response to kidney injury. His laboratory has defined several novel signaling mechanisms in the regulation of macrophage differentiation and functions.

Paul Hurd obtained his PhD from the University of Sheffield and performed post-doctoral research at Kings College London and the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge. He is currently a Principal Investigator, Group Leader and Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Epigenetics at Queen Mary University of London. He has over 20 years of experience in epigenetics and chromatin biology.

Dr. Jiang, who received his PhD in animal science from Purdue University and is currently a professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech, studies the cellular, molecular, and genomic mechanisms that control development and growth in animals, in particular, cattle. Dr. Jiang’s teaching interests include animal physiology and endocrinology.

Jingfang Ju, Ph.D. is the Co-Director of Translational Research Laboratory at Stony Brook University and Professor in Pathology. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular biology from the University of Southern California. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Cancer Center of Yale University School of Medicine. Currently Dr. Ju is leading a translational research program at Stony Brook University School of Medicine focusing on elucidating the molecular mechanism of translational control mediated by microRNAs in cancer and cancer stem cell chemoresistance. He has published over 85 manuscripts and with several patents on microRNAs as biomarker and therapeutic molecules in cancer. The ultimate goal is to improve clinical management of gastrointestinal cancer outcome by using miRNA based precision medicine.

Dr. Koga graduated and received his medical degree from Kumamoto University in 1999. He was trained at the Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Kumamoto University. He performed basic research into invasive pancreatic cancer during postgraduate study at Kumamoto University Graduate School of Medicine; he obtained his PhD. From 2006, he joined the faculty of the Division of Developmental Therapeutics, Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Japan, as a Research Resident and Research Fellow. At NCC he investigated a new method of colorectal cancer screening by gene and miRNA expression assay using colonocytes isolated from feces.

Dr. Min-Liang Kuo is a Professor in the Institute of Biological Chemistry at National Taiwan University. Dr. Kuo’s research mainly focused on elucidating the underlying mechanism of tumor development and progression, including phenotypic intra-tumor heterogeneity and epigenetic alteration in cancer stem cells. He has published more than 150 scientific publications, 5 patents, and sixteen of his publications were cited over 100 times. He also was a visiting professor at the Department of Molecular Oncology of MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2006.

Zhongxing Liang, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Department of Radiology and Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University. Dr. Liang received his Ph. D. degree from the University of the Mediterranean Aix-Marseille II, France. Dr. Liang’s primary research interesting is to investigate the mechanisms of microRNA involvement in multidrug resistance and metastasis of tumor cells. He is interested in drug discovery for targeted molecular imaging and therapy of cancer. Dr. Liang has authored more than 90 publications, 3 patents, and 3 books.

RJL identified the bacterial repetitive rhs elements with Charles Hill at Penn State-Hershey, and developed and characterized yeast pre-mRNA splicing extracts and spliceosome with John Abelson at Caltech and later as assistant professor at UT-Austin. Now as Professor and Associate Dean at City of Hope, his lab discovered catalytic magnesium in U6 snRNA and augmented the RNA-centric view of the spliceosome, identified alternatively spliced variants in breast cancer using oligo-microarray, investigated splicing abnormality caused by mutant myelodysplastic syndrome proteins, generated and characterized microRNA or spliceosome mutations using TALEN and crispr/Cas9, and engineered a microRNA-targeting sgRNA library for functional screening.

Marcos Malumbres received postdoctoral training at the New York University Medical Center in the field of oncogenes. His work initially focused to the molecular biology of Ras oncogenes and its interaction with cell cycle regulators. His research later focused on the analysis of cell cycle kinases and their inhibitors in cell cycle progression and cancer. He has also investigated the role of specific microRNAs in cell proliferation such as microRNAs controlling cancer translocation proteins such as BCR-ABL. Current research interests also include regulatory networks between microRNAs and the cell cycle and its relevance in progenitor cells.

Peng Miao received his BS and MS degrees from School of Life Sciences at Nanjing University. Afterwards, he received his PhD degree from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Biophysics with CAS President’s Award. Currently, he is a professor of Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, CAS. His research is focused on bioanalytical chemistry and microRNA diagnostics.

Dr. Lara Mussolin completed her graduation in Biology (with 110/110) from University of Padua, Italy. Then, she did her Research Doctorate in Oncological Sciences of the Childhood and specialization in Clinical Pathology (with 70/70) from the School of Medicine, University of Padua. From 2001, Dr. Mussolin is responsible for molecular diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphomas for all national AIEOP (Associazione Italiana di Emato-Oncologia Pediatrica) centres in Italy. She is a Member of the European Inter-Group of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Group, and a member of the Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma working Group as well as the Hodgkin lymphoma working Group of AIEOP association. Dr. Mussolin is an author/co-author of over 40 publications in international journals.

Dr. Rama Natarajan is an Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Diabetes Complications and Metabolism at the Beckman Research Institute of city of Hope, California. She is well known for her research pertaining to the molecular mechanisms underlying the accelerated cardiovascular and renal complications of diabetes, with special emphasis on epigenomics and non-coding RNAs, namely microRNAs and lncRNAs. She also evaluates the translational implications of inhibiting microRNAs and lncRNAs in mouse models of diabetic vascular disease, and examines epigenetic variations in human samples. She has over 190 publications and is funded by grants from the NIH (NIDDK and NHLBI).

As a Senior Research Biologist at the US FDA, Dr. Baitang Ning is responsible for leading a research team focused on molecular pharmacology and toxicology in the application of personalized medicine. He has designed, developed and established in silico, in vivo, in vitro and molecular approaches to evaluate genetic and epigenetic mechanisms for pharmacological and toxicological effects involving drug metabolizing enzymes and drug targeting enzymes. The results of his work provide an enhanced mechanistic understanding of drug toxicity and efficacy. Dr. Ning’s research efforts have resulted in 80+ peer-reviewed research articles or book chapters, which have been cited 4000+ times.

Giuseppina De Petro, Full Professor of Applied Biology and Molecular Genetics at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. The main courses are: General Biology and Genetics for Medical Students, Biology and Genetics applied to dentistry for Dental students, Cellular and Tissue Therapies for Medical Biotechnologists; non-coding RNAs and epigenetics for PhD students in Molecular Genetics, Biotechnologies and Experimental Medicine. She is a group leader working at the Division of Biology and Genetics, Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Brescia and developing research lines on RNA interference, microRNAs and epigenetics. Her studies led to the experimental validation of miR-23b as negative coregulator of urokinase and MET; now miR-23b is studied as therapeutic tool for human hepatocellular carcinoma and as biomarker of conventional anticancer treatments.

Dr. Postigo is a ICREA Professor of Life and Medical Sciences at the IDIBAPS Research Institute (Barcelona, Spain). He has over 20 years of research experience. Dr Postigo is also Adjunct Visiting Professor at the J Brown Cancer Center at the University of Louisville (KY, USA). His work focuses on the role of ZEB transcription factors in cell differentiation and cancer.

Dr. Edward Ratovitski obtained his Ph.D. Degree in Molecular Biology and Cancer Biology (1979) from the N.N. Petrov Cancer Research Institute (Leningrad, Soviet Union). Currently Dr. Ratovitski is an Adjunct Professor in the Head and Neck Cancer Research Division of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD, USA) and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, George Washington University (DC, USA). He has published more than 136 scientific publications, and is a named inventor of five issued US patents. Dr. Ratovitski is an Editorial Board Member of the MicroRNA journal published by Bentham Science Publishers.

Dr. Hee-Jeong Im Sampen is a Professor with a primary appointment in the Department of Biochemistry, and joint appointments in the Departments of Internal Medicine (Rheumatology Section) and Orthopedic Surgery. She also holds an appointment at the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center as well as at the Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Dr. Im-Sampen has been employed in academic medicine for the past over 20 years where she has taught extensively, published over 110 full-length peer reviewed papers and book chapters and over 250 research abstracts in the fields of skeletal biology focused on age- or injury-related joint disorder like knee osteoarthritis (OA), intervertebral disc degeneration and associated knee joint pain and low back pain.

Ondrej Slaby is an associate professor of biochemistry at the Faculty of Science at Masaryk University (MU) in Brno and the 1st Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. He also works as research group leader (group Molecular Oncology II) at the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) at MU in Brno and as a scientific secretary at the Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute in Brno. Dr. Slaby has published extensively in the field of non-coding RNAs and solid cancer with special focus on their translational potential in diagnostics and as the therapeutic targets (h-index 27).

Matthias B. Stope (PhD, MD) is a molecular biologist working in the cancer laboratory at the Department of Urology at the University Medicine Greifswald, Germany. He studied chemistry and biology and is a member of several editorial boards of international journals and scientific societies. His research interests include identification and characterization of molecular pathways mediated by microRNAs and heat shock proteins that contribute to cell biology and pathology of cancer to develop new therapeutic and diagnositc strategies based on biological understanding.

I started my own independent research group in 2013, and completed PhD in ncRNAs. During my postdoctoral training, I published my seminal paper on the expression of miRNAs in head and neck cancer (HNSCC). This was the first study to characterise genome-wide expression of mature miRNAs in different subtypes of HNSCC. I designed and lead a study to understand the molecular function of ncRNAs in salivary gland tumors. This expertise has led me to develop two central themes in laboratory: 1) using ncRNAs as biomarkers for early detection of head and neck cancer; 2) understanding their role in cancer development.

Dr. San Ming Wang was trained in Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (M.D.), did his postdoctoral in Northwestern University and University of Chicago. His study is focused on genomics using next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics approaches. He has worked on the areas of transcriptomics, genome structure variation, and genetic predisposition in familial breast cancer.

Dr. Yaguang Xi is the Professor and Vice Chair for Research at the Department of Genetics, Louisiana State University Health Science Center. He received his PhD degree from the Peking University in China and completed his postdoctoral trainings in the International Agency for Research on Cancer (France) and the University of South Alabama Mitchell Cancer Institute. Dr. Xi’s research is focusing on microRNA and cancer biology and cancer chemoprevention. His research programs are funded by the National Health Institutes and American Cancer Society. Dr. Xi has authored over 65 publications and is the inventor for a US patent. He is serving numerous journals and funding agencies as editorial board members and ad-hoc reviewers.

Dr. Yang is the President of National Taiwan University (NTU) and Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, NTU College of Medicine. His major research interests are pulmonary and critical care medicine, molecular and cellular biology, lung cancer genomics and personalized cancer therapy. He is leading the translational research and implementation of precision therapy for lung cancer in Taiwan. His research group identified novel genes and pathways that associated with lung cancer progression. They identified specific gene expression and microRNA biomarkers that might be beneficial for precision therapy of lung cancer patients.

Dr. Je-Hyun Yoon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry of Medical University of South Carolina, USA. Dr. Yoon’s research mainly focuses on understanding the “RNP Code”, that is, the composition and function of RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs bound to mRNAs and long noncoding RNAs. He is interested in elucidating the rules that govern the assembly of RBPs into RNA-containing functional complexes, the influence of signaling events that regulate RNPs, and the impact of specific RBPs and RNAs on RNP activity and ensuing gene regulation. He is particularly studying the consequences of RNPs on celluar senescence and aging.

Dr. Baohong Zhang is currently a full professor in Department of Biology at East Carolina University (USA). Dr. Zhang worked at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences for more than 10 years before he went to US for Ph.D. study. Dr. Zhang has been working on the field of genetic and genomics for more than 30 years. He has published more than 150 SCI papers with more than 10,000 citations, many of them are listed as hot papers and highly cited papers by SCI. He also serves as associated editor and/or guest editor for more than 10 SCI journals, including Scientific Reports, PLOS One, Plant Molecular Biology, Plant Biotechnology Journal and Gene.

Dr. Anton Jan van Zonneveld is professor of Experimental Vascular Medicine at the Department of Medicine at the Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden the Netherlands. A molecular biologist by training (University of Leiden) he received his PhD at the University of Amsterdam (Prof dr. P. Borst, Co-promotor Prof. H. Pannekoek) and postdoctoral training at the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California, USA. Dr. van Zonneveld is currently head of the Einthoven Laboratory for Experimental Vascular Medicine at the LUMC. Dr van Zonneveld has published over 140 peer reviewed papers mostly related to vascular biology and posttranscriptional control of the vascular response to injury.

Eleni Anastasiadou received her Ph.D. from La Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy and focused on the interactions of cellular miRNAs with Epstein Barr Virus latent proteins in lymphoma. Her pioneering work led to identification how viral proteins subvert cellular miRNAs and contribute to cancer. Currently she is examining the role of miRNAs in regulating immune responses to hematological cancers. She has developed 3D microfluidic chip based platforms for drug delivery to test therapeutic potential of miRNAs in cancers and tissue repair. Her principle interest is in identifying novel translational approaches for RNA aided cancer immunotherapy at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Deepak Chitkara received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), SAS Nagar, India. He was an exchange research scholar at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN for one year. After that, he did his post-doctoral training at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE in the area of miRNA therapeutics for cancer. Currently, he is working as Assistant Professor at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)-Pilani, Rajasthan, India. His research interest is in designing polymeric nano-carriers for small molecules and miRNAs with a special focus to achieve a spacio-temporal control over intracellular as well as in vivo delivery of miRNA mimics/antimirs by modifying polymeric carrier properties.

Dr. Sara Tomei is a scientist and core facility manager with 10+ years experience in genomics. Dr. Tomei received her PhD in Molecular Oncology from the University of Pisa Italy. Prior to joining Sidra Medicine, Dr. Tomei was appointed as Research Fellow at the NIH (United States) and at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. As a scientist, her current interest focuses on the development and application of the most recent genomic technologies to improve the diagnosis and therapeutics of cancer and human diseases.