4th International Congress on
Biomedical and Bio Instrumentation (ICBBI)

Dr. Prokai-Tatrai is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UNT System College of Pharmacy at Fort Worth, TX where she is an award winning researcher and pharmacy educator. Her primary research interest has been on innovative and multidisciplinary projects focusing on medicinal chemistry-driven drug design and delivery into the central nervous system. Her projects integrates medicinal chemistry, biopharmaceutics, pharmacokinetics, metabolism and drug distribution studies in early-phase drug discovery and the development of neuroactive/neuroprotective agents. She has extensively published in a broad field of medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry. A best testimony of a very recent success of her lab has been published in Science Translational Medicine describing the very first brain-selective delivery of estrogens based on a unique bioprecursor prodrug approach. She has six issued US patents and has been an editorial board member of numerous journals and an academic editor of a successful special issue on neuroprotection.

Medicinal chemistry-based drug design and delivery into the central nervous system using prodrug approaches; neuroprotection based on estrogens, GC/LC-MS-based bioanalytical assay development, mass spectrometry-based proteomics.

David Barnes is a respiratory and sleep physician at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia, and Clinical Professor, University of Sydney. He is past Chairman of the Professional Standards Subcommittee of the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, with a longstanding interest in both the professional and training standards within the specialty. With respect to the latter he has been for some years the Coordinator of Advanced Training in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Australasian College of Physicians. David reviews manuscripts for a number of journals including Chest, Respirology, Thorax, Sleep, and Internal Medicine Journal. He has been appointed to the Editorial Boards of Chest, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Sleep, and Respirology, as well as other journals.His main clinical and research interests are in respiratory infections, lung cancer and sleep disordered breathing, with over 50 publications in peer reviewed journals in these and other areas.

Respiratory infections, lung cancer and sleep disordered breathing

Ken H. Young is a Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Department of Hematopathology. Young completed his MD at Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China in 1984. Dr. Ken primary study of genomic alterations is on TP53 tumor suppressor pathway. His secondary focus is on Myc oncogene. Weblink to MD Anderson SciVal research profile and PubMed list of publication is attached. Ken research team performs several types of hematologic malignancies, with special emphasis on pathogenesis of malignant lymphomas, especially diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). DLBCL is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma which brings together the worst characteristics of both high-grade features and aggressive biology. The disease is incurable in nearly 40% patients. Ken has published over 134 articles in different journals. Dr. Ken has worked as committee member at American Board of Pathology, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and American Board of Hematology. Currently, Dr. Ken is Vice-Chair for IRG Pilot Grant Review Committee at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

Ken H Young goal is to explore and identify genetic and non-genetic biomarkers, including p53, Myc, pTEN, Mdm2, Arf, Bcl-2, Bcl-6 genes, alone or in combination with other abnormalities in DLBCL, that predict cancer prognosis and susceptibility. The central hypothesis is based on the concept that tumor suppressor gene or oncogene is often deregulated in carcinogenesis. The presence of mutations, deletion, insertion and translocation is correlated with a poor response to treatment, rapid disease progression, and short survival in human cancer.

Dr. Jing Xue has received her PhD in Institute for Nutritional Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Currently she is working as postdoctoral scholar in Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Stanford University School of Medicine. Her PhD training is mainly focused on NF-B and hypoxia signaling in tumor development, especially in colorectal cancer and small molecule targeted therapeutic on solid tumors. Her works were published on several peer-reviewed Journals including Gastroenterology, Plos One, Cancer letters, and Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

Study the immune response and molecular mechanisms during progression of pancreas disease, especially acute and chronic pancreatitis. she is also interested in investigating the function of monocyte/macrophage, especially alternative activated macrophage, during pancreatitis and fibrosis development.

Dr. Ankita Thakkar has completed her Ph.D. at the University of Miami, FL. Her thesis work was based on studying of hormone receptors as targeted therapy for the treatment of triple negative breast cancers; an aggressive and highly invasive sub-type of breast cancer. The main focus of this research was on co-targeting of two receptors: androgen receptor and Vitamin D receptor which is co-expressed in 20% of the triple negative breast cancers. The co-treatment of the two receptor specific agonists induced additive decrease in cell viability as well as cancer stem cell population of the tumor cells. Moreover, these specific agonists could also be combined with the current therapies of triple negative tumors such as chemotherapeutic agents. Currently, she is working at Burke-Weill Cornell School of Medicine, as a post-doctoral fellow. Her work is focused on studying the role of mitochondrial enzymes in neurodegenerative diseases using pluripotent stem cells as a model system.

Her research has covered a broad range of topics including Molecular cloning,RNA extraction and qPCR,Cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assays,oncology,neurodegenerative diseases,Immunohistochemistry etc.

Dr. Marlene Shehata has received her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, specializing in Genetics of Cardiovascular Diseases from the University of Ottawa during the period of 2004-2010. Dr. Shehata is also a licensed Ontario Pharmacist practicing in South-western Ontario. Currently, Dr. Marlene Shehata is working as a Clinical Pharmacist Consultant in numerous academic hospitals, nursing homes and community pharmacies in South-western Ontario. She has successfully completed her Administrative responsibilities as a Manager for the Pharmacy and Clinical Services Department. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pharmacology Research, Associate Editor for the Journal of Eco-biotechnology and The Journal of Biotechnology Applications. She sits on the editorial boards of numerous journals including the African Journal of Biotechnology and Hypertension-Open Access. Dr. Shehata has authored 23 research articles, 2 book chapters and 24 abstracts. She is a member of the Canadian Hypertension Society, Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Ontario Pharmacists Association and Ontario College of Pharmacists. She is the 2011 recipient of the Certificate of Excellence by Hypertension Canada and the 2007 Horizon Award recipient by Memorial University of Newfoundland. She was awarded numerous other awards including the Pfizer Canada.

Dr. Marlene Shehata research interest include cellular and molecular medicine, genetics of cardiovascular diseases and pharmacology research.