Venoms and Toxins

I am a professor from College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, China. I has more than 20 years of experience in the research of animal toxin peptides, involving in cDNA, genome, biological and pharmacological roles (such as anti-virus, anti-tumor, ion-channel-modulating), molecular diversity and evolution. I graduated Ph.D from College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, China in 2004. I was also a visiting scholar of Meharry Medical College, USA from 2014 to 2015. Notably, I has authored more than 100 manuscripts and 12 patents. I was an Excellent Young Scholar of China National Science Fund in 2014 and got Youth Science and Technology Award from Chinese Society of Toxicology in 2016.

Principal Investigator at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. In the past worked at NIH and WFU Medical School, NC. Enzymologist and protein chemist by training with research focused on structure-function relations of enzyme proteins with emphasis on three dimensional structure determination through collaboration. Extensively studied proteins include bacterial α-amino-ɛ-caprolactam racemase, bacterial tryptophan synthase, streptococcal NADH oxidase & NADH peroxidase, and botulinum neurotoxin. Current research is geared towards protein toxins and proteins associated with virulence of disease causing microbes. Search and development of protein function inhibitors with the aim of effective drugs is another interest.

Dr. Ali has over 100 research publications, 10 chapters and 3 books in the area of Biochemistry (protein chemistry/proteomics) with cumulative impact factor of >300 (hi=17). Research interest includes characterization of novel proteins and peptides from diverse origin including microorganism, medicinally important plants and venomous fauna of Pakistan. Thus his research is inherently interdisciplinary integrating ecology, protein biochemistry, proteomics, bioinformatics and other physio/pharmacological approaches to understand protein structure, function and evolution.

Dr Philippe Bulet, PhD: Research Director at CNRS, CR UGA, IAB, Inserm U1209, CNRS UMR5309 (La Tronche, France) and Director of Platform BioPark of Archamps (France). He obtained his PhD in 1984 from University of Lille (France). Between 1990-2002, he had a progressive position of team manager at the laboratory of the Nobel Prize 2011 in Medicine or Physiology, Pr JA Hoffmann (Strasbourg, France). He was Chief Scientific Officer of a Swiss Biotech company specialised in venoms (2002-2008). He has published over 158 scientific contributions in international peer-reviewed journals, including 21 book chapters and reviews (WOS h-index 64, RG 41.23). He was co-founder of NP2D congress. He is the co- founder of two Biotech companies and co-author of 13 patents in the fields of innovative antibiotics. He is Deputy Director of a Research Group (GDR-MuFoPAM) dedicated to the Multi-Function of antimicrobial peptides.

Dr. Chia Ming Chang is currently a Professor at the Environmental Molecular and Electromagnetic Physics (EMEP) Laboratory, Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan. He has around 51 publications and numerous scientific projects to his credit so far.

Dr. Sadegh CHINIKAR is presently a Member of the International Health Regulations (IHR) Roster of Experts of WHO, serving as an expert in Viral Hemorrhagic fever. He was also a head and founder of Laboratory of Arboviruses and Viral Haemorrhagic fevers of Pasteur Institute of Iran. He completed his graduation from Shiraz University at Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1987 and further he completed his Systematic Virology Diploma in 2000 from Paris VII University in Circulation of infectious agents. He has been awarded a degree of PhD on his working on “Comprehensive Phylogenetic Study on Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Virus in Iran”. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and also participated in more than 40 congresses as an invited speaker.

Born in 1965, Alexey Feofanov studied physics at Moscow Engineering-Physical Institute and obtained his Ph.D and Dr.Sci. degrees in biophysics from Lomonosov Moscow State University. He is Professor at Biological Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University and Head of laboratory at Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (Moscow, Russia). He is the author of over 100 refereed journal articles. His research activities in toxinology include: molecular mechanism and structure-function analysis of peptide toxins from animal venoms; development of bioengineered cell-based analytical system for search and study of potassium Kv1- channel blockers.

Hervé Kovacic has been Professor of Biophysics at Aix-Marseille University since 2007. He heads a research team at UMR CNRS 7051 in the Faculty of Pharmacy in Marseille. His work aims to understand the involvement of oxidative stress, cytoskeleton and adhesion molecules in tumor progression. He has participated in more than forty international publications, some of which aim to identify new active ingredients derived from natural products such as toxins and venoms. He also leads a platform specialized in the analysis of drug protein interactions (SPR, Microcalorimetry, Analytical Ultracentrifugation).

Prof Kamil Kuca was working within last ten years for several academic institutes in Czech republic (University of Defense, Faculty of Military Health Sciences; University of Hradec Kralove, Faculty of Science; University Hospital Hradec Kralove; National Institute of Mental Health) as senior researcher, group leader of head. He is/was also Invited professor at following institutes – Florida International University (Miami, USA), Institute of Military Engineering (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil), Yangtze University (Jingzhou, China) or University Technical Malaysia (KL, Malaysia). Recently, he is president of the University of Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic). His research interests are drug development and toxicology, pharmacoeconomy, chemical and biological threats, ICT in biomedicine, etc. He was/is principal investigator on numerous national and international projects (EU, NATO, GACR, IGA MZ, MSMT etc.). He has published more than 400 IF research papers. He is working with several companies as a scientific advisor. He has lots of cooperators throughout the world (e.g. Korea, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, USA, France, Turkey, China, Singapore, Sweden, and Brazil).

He obtained his Ph.D degree in College of Life Sciences, Peking University in 1986, and accomplished the postdoctoral training in Department Chemistry, Boston University in 1990. Since 1992 he has been a professor in Department Biology of Hunan Normal University. In 1999 , he was appointed Chairman of the College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University. He served as vice president of Hunan Normal University during 2000-2007. Since 1991, a major interest in his lab is the study of structure and function of natural peptide toxins. He is the pioneer investigator of spider toxins in China. Another major interest in his lab is the development of the methods of protein chemistry and proteomics. In 2014 he was appointed as the chairman of the IST’s Acia-Pacific Section. He has published over 100 research papers in the scientific journals.

Our laboratory has broad interest in the application of cutting edge ideas and technology to the study of key or emerging pathogen-relevant issues, especially the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Major directions include pathogen and related mycobacteriophages -centered microbiology, molecular immunology, genetics, epigenetics, drug/drug target discovery/screen, signal transduction, functional genomics and proteomics, gene regulation, toxin-antitoxin, T cell receptor repertoire. Clinical issues of interest include tuberculosis-oriented infection and inflammation. We currently rely heavily on single cell genomics, RNA-Seq and iTRAQ analysis, CRISPR/Cas KO in cell line and model animals, clinical patients samples, integrated with canonical means involved in the study of global regulation of transcriptional factors, signal transduction, transcription, protein-interaction and modification, coupled with biological queries to understand the pathogenesis of pathogen and host difference of innate and adaptive immunity between health and diseases.

Dr. Kamran Pooshang Bagheri, PhD. is director of Peptide Engineering Laboratory (PEL) and cofounder of Venom and Biotherapeutics Molecule Lab., biotechnology Dept., Pasteur Institute of Iran. He is interested in finding a solution for eradication of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections, combat against severe pains, treatment of cancers, and stopping massive internal and surface bleeding. In this regard, he is tracing for antimicrobial, anticancer, analgesic, and procoagulant peptides from venomous creatures including honeybees, scorpions, snakes, fishes, and snails. He also focuses on designing and action mechanism of aforementioned peptides using knowledge-based algorithms and bioinformatics analyses.

Michel De Waard, a senior research director at INSERM, acts as a team leader at the institut du thorax in Nantes where he is involved in drug discovery from animal venoms with the purpose to modulate cardiac ion channels. As a commitment to translational medicine, he is the founder of Smartox Biotechnology (https://www.smartox-biotech.com/company/about-smartox) a company dedicated to the discovery, de novo sequencing and chemical synthesis of peptides originating from animal venoms. With over 230 publications (ORCID 0000-0002-2782-9615), he has an important track record of scientific production with about half of the publications related to peptide engineering.

Fengqin Li is the director of laboratory of microbiology, China national center of food safety risk assessment (CFSA). Dr. Li’s major study field is microbiology and bio-toxin detection, especially in isolation and identification of foodborne pathogens and fungi. Dr. Li serves as the members in several committees including a member of Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) (2017-2021), National Expert Committee on Food Safety Risk Assessment, National Expert Committee on Food Quality Risk Assessment, Sub-committee on Food Additives of the National Food Safety Standard Reviewing and Approving Committee, National Expert Committee on Food Safety for Catering and so forth. As the first and corresponding author, Dr. Li published more than 100 papers in international and Chinese journals and jointly published 17 books.

Wensen Liu, male, born in1967 is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the Institute of Military Veterinary Medicine Academy of Military Medical Sciences. With a Ph.D. in preventive veterinary medicine, Liu has been engaged in Plant toxin poisoning mechanism, Immunotoxicology and Toxin drug development. Serving as an executive director of the Veterinary Public Health branch of the Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, he is also a committee member of the Biotoxic Toxicology Branch of the Chinese Society of Toxicology, and an executive director of Jilin Province Society for Human and Animal Diseases.

Dr. McNutt completed a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Princeton University in 2000. After satisfying a U.S. Army obligation, during which he deployed to Iraq from 2005-2006 as part of a team focused on innovative solutions to medical capability gaps, he accepted a position as a DOD research scientist in 2010. Currently he oversees a research program funded through NIH, DOD and industry to develop novel countermeasures for biological toxins and chemical toxicants. He is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, in which capacity he provides subject matter expertise on chemical and biological warfare defense.

Dr. Arturo Ortega attended the National University of Mexico where he earned a B.Sc. in Biochemistry in 1985. From 1986 to 1988 he was enrolled in Cinvestav, the top research center in Mexico, where he completed his M.Sc. studies in Physiology. In that year he was accepted in the PhD program in Neurobiology at The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In 1991, Arturo joined Cinvestav, first as an assistant Professor in the Dept. of Biochemistry (1991-1993), later as Associate Professor in the Genetics Department, He was promoted to the Rank of Professor in 2004 and in 2014 he moved to the Toxicology Department as head of the Neurotoxicology Lab. His current research focuses on glia cells as targets of neurotoxic agents. Glial glutamate receptors and transporters. Translational control of gene expression. Signal transduction mechanisms. He joined the American Society for Neurochemistry in 2012. Since then, he has served as a co-Chair of the Local Committee of the 2013 ISN/ASN Joint meeting, Chair of the Young Latin American Scholars Committee (2016-2018) and chair of the Program Committee (2021).

Professor Yuri N. Utkin (PhD, DSc) is a head of the laboratory of Molecular Toxinology at the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry (Moscow, Russia). The main scientific interests of Prof. Utkin are the isolation of proteins with new structural and pharmacological properties from animal venoms and the investigation of the mechanism of the ligand-receptor interaction. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications in peer reviewed journals and more than 15 chapters in monographs and collections. He is a member of the European Society for Neurochemistry, the International Society on Toxinology, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Prof. Jinglin Wang, received a doctorate in microbiology from Shandong University in Jinan city in 1999, is director of Toxinology Laboratory, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology affiliated to Academy of Military and Medical Sciences in Beijing. His major research areas are detection and identification of bioterrorism agents (mainly toxins and bacteria) using immunoassays, nucleic-acid amplification and mass spectrometry. Toxin vaccine and biodefense strategy are his another research interests. In addition, as one of Chinese public health experts, he went to West Africa two times help against Ebola epidemic in 2014.. He has authored more then 60 peer-reviewed publications in Chinese and English journals.

Dr. Abouelfetouh obtained a Master’s and PhD (2010) from Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Egypt. Since then, she was a bioVision.Nxt fellow in Lyon, a Fulbright Scholar at Loyola University Chicago, a post-doctoral fellow at the MCW, the beneficiary of a Newton-Mosharafa fellowship at UEA and a visiting researcher at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland. She is a RCR fellow (the Fogarty International Center JORDAN Program). Dr. Abouelfetouh is currently an Associate Professor of Microbiology at Alexandria University and a principal investigator studying antimicrobial resistance and genotyping of clinical isolates with over 25 publications and conference presentations.

Dr. Benito Soto-Blanco is currently a Full Professor at the Department of Veterinary Clinics and Surgery, Veterinary School, Federal University of Minas Gerais. He obtained his PhD in Experimental and Comparative Pathology from University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil in 2003. He focused his research on Poisonous Plants and on Animal Toxicology.

Dr. Gerardo Corzo did M.Sc. in Biotechnology from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico in 1993 and PhD in Microbiology from Oklahoma State University (OSU), Stillwater, USA in 1997. Since 2012, he is a Full Professor at the Institute of Biotechnology (UNAM), Mexico. He has around 102 Peer-reviewed publications to his credit for far.

Dr. Ram kumar Dhaked is presently working as Scientist F at Biotechnology Department, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, India. In terms of Research, he is currently involved in handling of instruments like SPR, HPLC, MALDI-TOF, fermenters, real time PCR, PCR, ELISA reader, fluorimeter etc and gain expertise in FRET, cell culture, PAGE, ELISA, western blotting, cloning, expression, purification of proteins, protein-protein interaction, toxicity evaluations etc. In the year 2003, he obtained his PhD (Biochemistry) from Jiwaji University Gwalior, MP.

In the Chemical Ecology of Venoms and Toxins lab, I use an integrated approach to accelerate the discovery of novel peptides, particularly from cone snail venoms, using next generation sequencing technologies and proteomic methods. My research interests encompass the discovery of venom peptides, their precise mode of interaction with targeted receptors and their associated therapeutic potential.

Ziad Fajloun was born in Lebanon, in 1975. He received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology in 2001 and his HDR in 2005 from Aix-Marseille University. He is currently Professor at the Lebanese University and Member of Scientific and Administrative Boards of the Azm Center for Biotechnology Research. Professor Fajloun’s research program has centered on the study of bioactive molecules extracted or synthesized for therapeutic purposes and/or pharmaceutical application. He has developed a specific expertise on the structural determinants of animal toxins and venom deriveded biopeptides that control their activity on specifique receptors. Author of more than 69 articles, h-index = 16.

Carmela Fimognari earned her PhD in Toxicology in 1997 from the University of Bologna, Italy. After training at the GSF-National Research Centre for Environment and Health, Munich, Germany, she focused her research on cancer chemoprevention and therapy by natural compounds and synthetic analogues with cytostatic and cell death-inducing potential. She directs the Laboratory for Molecular and Cellular Toxicology at the Department for Life Quality Studies of the University of Bologna. She was appointed Associate Professor of Toxicology at the University of Bologna in 2014. Carmela Fimognari's scientific production consists in 89 original articles, 13 book chapters, and 2 short communications.

Dr. Fuly holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the Universidade Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (1992), a Masters degree in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry) from the Institute of Medical Biochemistry - UFRJ (1996), a PhD in Biological Sciences at UFRJ (2002), and postdoctoral degree in Biochemistry from UFRJ (2004). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Federal Fluminense University (UFF). Dr. Fully has supervised twenty master or PhD degree students and has completed undergraduate courses (scientific initiation, young talents for science and monitoring). He has experience in the areas of Biochemistry, Toxinology (snake venom proteins), natural bioactive product, coagulation and platelet aggregation, working mainly in the following subjects: toxic activities of snake venoms, elucidating Venoms and Toxins envenoming aspects, studying bioactive natural or synthetic molecules to inhibit the main toxic actions of snake venoms, prospecting these molecules as antivenoms.

I received my BSc from university of Tehran in 1988 and my MSc and PhD from Shiraz university in 1991 and 1995 respectively. I am interested in computational and computer-assisted drug design, molecular modeling and analytical and environmental application of nanomaterials.

Dr. Yanchun Hu, Professor/Doctoral Supervisor of College of Veterinary Medicine at Sichuan Agricultural University in China, Majored by Environmental Hazardous Diseases and poisonous plant toxicology and published some papers on Toxicon, Plos One, Scientif Reports, Oncotarget, Parasitology Research, Experimental Parasitology, Food Control, Journal of Alloys and Compounds, BMC Immunology, Natural Products Research, etc.

He was appointed as professor in the Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1998 and served as director of Key Laboratory for Neurocience, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2002- 2004). He is the current vice-president of Chinese Society for Neurosciences (2008-present), and a standing trustee of Biophysical Society of China (2002-present). He is also Executive Director of Chinese Society for Neurosciences and Associated Editor-in-chief of journal Acta Physiologica Sinica, Editor of journals Acta Biophysica Sinica and CHEMISTRY OF LIFE. His research interests centre on neuropharmacology and neurotoxicology involved with membrane ion channels especially.

Dr. Kashiwagi is a physician scientist who possesses a broad and unique skill set for basic and translational research in the field of bioimaging, immunology, cancer biology and laser medicine.He has a strong background in clinical medicine where he spent more than four years and gained valuable knowledge as an obstetrician in Japan. His laboratory at the Massachusetts General Hospital is currently establishing safe, effective, simple, and affordable immunotherapy for infectious diseases, allergy, autoimmune diseases and cancer using the near-infrared laser technology.

José LUIS is Professor of Biochemistry at Aix-Marseille Université. He is deputy-director of the Department of Biology and supervises and coordinates teaching of biochemistry in the College of Sciences. He headed an INSERM team and acts as an expert for various institutions. He worked for 12 years on the functional characterisation of cell surface receptors before deciphering the mechanisms underlying tumour progression. He isolated and characterised several venom peptides with anti-tumour potential and identified new venom proteins families having anti-integrin activities. He has co-authored 91 original articles and 11 reviews in peer-reviewed journals and 2 patents.

She holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (2000), a Master's degree in Biological Sciences (Genetics) from the Institute of Biosciences of Botucatu (IBB) - UNESP (2005), a PhD in Biological Sciences - UNESP (2008) and postdoctoral degree in Toxicology from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP) - USP (2010). She is currently Assistant Professor of Biophysics at the Federal University of Paraíba. I have already guided five master's degree students and I have 33 completed undergraduate courses (scientific initiation, scientific initiation - high school, young talents for science and monitoring). She has experience in the areas of Biophysics and Biochemistry, with emphasis in Structural Molecular Biology, working mainly in the following subjects: X-ray crystallography - macromolecules (proteins), snake venom proteins, acidic and basic phospholipases (Lys49 and Asp49-PLA2) and biological activities of raw venoms and isolated proteins.

Dr. Márcia Renata Mortari graduated in Biological Sciences (UnB). She obtained her Master's in Animal Biology (UnB) and PhD in Psychobiology (FFCL / RP-USP). She has vast experience in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Neuroscience areas, with emphasis on psychopharmacology. Currently, her research is based on structural identification (biochemical macromolecules) and neuropharmacological activity of new peptides isolated from the venom of animals and Nanoparticles.

Ayse Nalbantsoy graduated from Ege University, Basic and Industrial Microbiology Division, Department of Biology, Turkey in 2000. He received his Ph.D. from Ege University, Biotechnology USA, the Institute of Science and Technology, Turkey in 2008. He is currently working as a Professor at Ege University, Bioengineering, Turkey. His areas of expertise include Immunology, Biology, Microbiology, and Biotechnology. He has more than 30 publications in Indexed Journals.

Dr. Vance Girard Nielsen is currently a Professor at the College of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Arizona. He obtained his B.S./Biology in 1983 from Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California and M.D./Medicine in 1987 from University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. He has numerous honors and scientific publications to his credit.

Professor Ray Norton holds a personal chair at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He obtained his PhD in chemistry from ANU and undertook postdoctoral studies in the US before returning to Australia as a QEII Fellow at the Roche Research Institute of Marine Pharmacology in Sydney. His group at Monash employs a range of biophysical approaches (NMR, SPR, ITC and X-ray crystallography) in studies of peptide and protein toxins and infectious diseases. One of the venom-derived peptides he works has completed Phase 1 clinical trial for autoimmune diseases. He has published over 370 articles, received numerous national awards, and is an inventor on several patents.

Dr. Steve Peigneur is a researcher in the lab of Toxicology & Pharmacology at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). He has published over 120 articles in peer reviewed journals. Since 2013 he holds a permanent position at the KU Leuven. In 2019 he obtained his PhD in Biochemistry at the Federal University of Minas Gerias in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. His research in the field of drug discovery and development mainly focusses on the characterisation of novel ligands for ion channels and receptors, starting from natural sources such as venomous animals and poisonous plants.

Leonid Perelomov, Russian biologist. Achievements include research in Biogeochemistry, Ecology, Soil Chemistry and Toxicology. Perelomov Leonid was born on July 21, 1973 in Tula, Russia. Bachelor of Biology, Tula State Pedagogical University, 1995. Master of Ecological Agrochemistry, Pushchino State University, 1997. Doctor of Philosophy (Biology), Moscow Agricultural Academy, 2001. Researcher at the Institute Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science of Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999—2002. Docent at the Tula State University, 2002-2016. Senior researcher at the TSPU from 2016. Winner of the RFBR and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation grants, holder of the Australian Government, the Cariplo Foundation, DAAD and INTAS fellowship

Dr. Prasad possess about 24 yrs of teaching and research experience in the field of Diagnostics and biomedical research including evaluation of drugsand is currently leading a research team of nine junior researchers. Research projects funded by various Public and Private agencies, on various aspects of Diabetes mellitus including two on evaluation of two drug preparations of indigenous systems of medicine are underway. Dr. Prasad’s group published research papers in peer reviewed National and International journals. He co-authored two text books viz., ‘Molecular Diagnostics: Promises & Possibilities’ published in 2010 by Springer, USAand Microbes: Concepts and Applications published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. The laboratory runs a week end ‘Diabetes clinic’ in association with Ayurvedic physicians.

Prof Loïc Quinton is an Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry since September 2010 and Deputy Director of the laboratory of Mass spectrometry of the University of Liège since October 2018. Loïc Quinton is the Chair Person of Biological Chemistry working for more than 15 years in the mass spectrometric analysis of large and structured biomolecules and since 2018 is in charge of developing MS-based structural chemistry for biomolecule characterization. During his PhD (2003-2006, Ecole Polytechnique, France), Loïc Quinton developed methodologies to analyze venoms and to sequence highly modified and structured toxins by mass spectrometry. Moving to ULiege as a post-doc in 2008, he continued to work on his thematic. His specialist expertise in MS-based toxin and venom characterization was recognized in the European project FP7 ‘Venomics’ where he was appointed as WP leader for venom proteomics.

The main topic of my research has always been ion transport through biological membranes. In a first period I investigated the structure-function relationship of +H-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase using protein intrinsic fluorescence as well as fluorescent analogues of ATP. I later focussed my work on ion channels, in particular the voltage dependent L-type Ca2+ channels and the ryanodine receptors. I investigated the intra and intermolecular interactions that control the coordinated activity of these channels. Finally I investigated the effect of toxins on these channels and currently explore the use of such toxin as potential pharmacological agent in cardiopathies.

C. Roumestand began his research career as NMR spectroscopist within the Department of Protein Study and Engineering at CEA Saclay in 1987, where he solved the structure of many toxins from snake, scorpions and anemone venoms. Notably, he contributes to the engineering of bio-active mini-proteins based on the charybdotoxin scaffold. In 1995, he moved to Montpellier where he got the chair of Structural Biology at the Faculty of Pharmacy. Among other things, he published many works on the interaction of kinases with a new class of oncogenic proteins. His present work focuses on the use of High-Pressure NMR to study protein folding.

Dr. Xing Wang is a nucleic acids biochemist, structural DNA nanotechnologist, and molecular biologist at UIUC. He received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from New York University (2009). He then did his postdoctoral training at Princeton University to explore novel functions of synthetic RNAs in genome editing (2013). Before joining UIUC, Dr. Wang was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2014-2019).

Heike Wulff received her MS degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences and her approbation as Apothecary in 1994 from University of Kiel, Germany. In 1998 she obtained her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry and then joined the laboratory of Dr. K. George Chandy at the University of California, Irvine, in 1999 as a postdoctoral researcher. Dr. Wulff is now a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California Davis, where her research is focused on potassium channel pharmacology and the design of new ion channel modulating drugs and tool compounds. She has authored 160 peer-reviewed publications on voltage- and Ca 2+ -activated K + channels and was ranked in the top 1% of highly cited researchers in her field in the 2018 Clarivate Analysis.

Hanhong Xu is Director of the Key Laboratory of Natural Pesticide & Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education. He has devoted himself to the development of environment-friendly, high-efficiency botanical pesticides in the past 30 years. He registered azadirachtin as an insecticide in China, which has become a leading variety of biopesticide, and promoted the industrialization of other botanical insecticides, such as rotenone and tea saponin. He proposed the concept of “guided pesticides”, and focused on interpreting their uptake, transport, and metabolic pathways. He has also developed several methods to apply pesticides with water, such as package-hanging and drip irrigation, further enhancing the efficiency of agrochemicals.

Dr. Muhammad Hassham Hassan Bin Asad (Asad MHHB) is professionally pharmacist and did his graduation (B. Pharmacy) from B. Z. University in 2006. He was trained for radio pharmacy licensing and worked as radiopharmacist at Multan Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy, Nishtar Hospital Multan. Among research interests following domains are included: snake venom characterization (biochemical characterization); radio labeling of toxin(s); development of enzymatic assays for various enzymes; scientific evaluation of medicinal plants as anti-venom/ other pharmacological activities; search for potent novel enzyme(s) inhibitor from natural resources with their characterization via LC-MS/MS and NMR techniques (bioassay guided fractionation technique); cell culture/cell lines (potentials of exosomes as therapeutic targets to treat cancer).

Fatemeh Kazemi-Lomedasht was born in Isfahan, Iran, in 1985. She received the B.Sc degree in Public health from Iran University of medical science, Tehran, Iran in 2008, the M.Sc. in medical biotechnology from Tabriz University of medical science, Tabriz, Iran in 2010 and Ph.D. degrees in medical biotechnology from Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran in 2015. In 2015, she joined the venom and biotherapeutics laboratory, Biotechnology Department of Pasteur Institute of Iran as assistant professor. Her current research interests include cancer researches, venom and toxin researches, next generation of antibodies, epitope mapping, drug discovery and drug delivery systems.

Dr. Pramod Kumar has an experience in the development of molecular diagnostics for selected bacterial (Vibrio cholerae, Staphylococcus sps etc.) and viral pathogens (HAV, HBV, HCV,HEV and SARS-CoV-2). He has actively participated in the investigation of various outbreaks of cholera, anthrax, COVID-19, viral hepatitis and food poisoning in India. His team's remarkable study revealed a novel allelic form of cholera toxin in V. cholerae O1 strains causing a devastating cholera epidemic in Odisha in 2007. Presently, his lab is involved in large scale diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 and viral genomics during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic in India.

Dr. Sunil S. More areas of expertise are Biochemistry, Enzymology, Protein chemistry, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Immunology, Clinical Biochemistry and Toxinology. He obtained his BSc from Karnataka Science College, Dharwad in 1998 and MSc from Department of Biochemistry (Karnatak University Dharwad) in 2000. Later he received his PhD from Department of Biochemistry (Karnatak University Dharwad) in 2004.

Aida Verdes Gorin received her Ph. D. in Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior, City University of New York in 2018. She has published 18 articles and 8 conference abstracts in well-reputed journals. Currently, she is a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Biology Department at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She has been awarded Lars Brundin Award for Best Oral Presentation and was a Runner-up. XXXVII Annual Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society in 2018.

Dr. Vivek, H.K obtained his Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Mysore. Later he joined Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, and worked on the purification and isolation of taste peptides, and its taste peptide sequence was patented. After completing the project, he enrolled for Ph.D in Applied Science (Biotechnology) from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgium. During his doctoral studies, he was awarded CSIR-Senior Research Fellow, and Ph. D Student Assistantship from TEQIP (Govt of India). In the year 2016, he was awarded Ph. D and joined M/s. Syngene International (ranked as one of the 25 fastest growing companies in India and 4 th rank in Asia) as Senior research associate at the Discovery Chemistry-Analytical Research and Development division. At M/s. Syngene International he worked on various projects from National and International clients, catering various roles to give the best outcome within the stipulated period of the timeline. Dr, Vivek specialized in Venom Biology, Analytical Biochemistry, Medical Chemistry, Enzyme Technology, and Computational Biology. To his credit, he has awarded an intramural major research project worth 4 lakh and he has published 46 research papers (h-13 as of now) and guided more than 30 Master students for their dissertation. He is also working on academic-industry collaboration and consultancy with Nutraceutical Company located in Bengaluru and Mysuru. He is also a reviewer for several international journals published by Elsevier, Bentham Science and Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr. Benito Soto-Blanco is currently a Full Professor at the Department of Veterinary Clinics and Surgery, Veterinary School, Federal University of Minas Gerais. He obtained his PhD in Experimental and Comparative Pathology from University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil in 2003. He focused his research on Poisonous Plants ando n Animal Toxicology.

In the Chemical Ecology of Venoms and Toxins lab, I use an integrated approach to accelerate the discovery of novel peptides, particularly from cone snail venoms, using next generation sequencing technologies and proteomic methods. My research interests encompass the discovery of venom peptides, their precise mode of interaction with targeted receptors and their associated therapeutic potential.