Kostas Kostarelos is the Chair of Nanomedicine with the Faculty of Medical & Human Science and leads biomedical research and applications of the National Graphene Institute at the University of Manchester. In 2010 he was awarded the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Professorial Fellowship, and has been an invited Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (FRSM) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) of the United Kingdom. Kostas obtained his PhD from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London and performed postdoctoral research at UCSF, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and was Assistant Professor of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical School in the USA. In 2007 he held the first named Chair of Nanomedicine in the United Kingdom and was Head of the Centre for Drug Delivery Research at UCL School of Pharmacy, currently affiliated as Visiting Professor.
Charles Martin graduated with high distinction from the Centre College of Kentucky in 1975. He did his graduate work at the University of Arizona, obtaining a PhD in chemistry in 1980, before moving to the University of Texas at Austin where he was a Robert A. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow. His research interests are in the areas of nanoscience and bioanalytical chemistry. Beginning in the 1980s, his research group pioneered the template method, a powerful and versatile approach for preparing nanomaterials. This method has become a standard procedure for preparing nanomaterials and is used worldwide. As a result of this seminal work, he is listed among the world’s top 20 cited authors in nanotechnology and by ISI as a Highly Cited Author in Materials Science. Currently, Prof. Martin’s research focuses on applications of template-prepared nanotubes and nanotube membranes as well as biosensors and bioseparations: the bio–nano interface. Prof. Martin was the 1999 recipient of the Carl Wagner Memorial Award of the Electrochemical Society and the 2005 recipient of the Florida Award of the Florida Section of the American Chemical Society. He has published over 270 papers, is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and is or has been a member of the editorial advisory boards of Chemistry of Materials, Advanced Materials, Journal of Bionanoscience and Small.
Si-Shen Feng graduated from Peking University in 1968 and obtained his Master Degree from Tsinghua University in 1981, followed by his PhD from Columbia University in 1988. He then completed postdoctoral training in the School of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. He was a research scientist at Northwestern University before joining the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1996, where he now holds a joint appointment of 75% in Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and 25% in Department of Bioengineering. Prof Feng’s research interests include cellular and molecular biomechanics, viscoelastic fluids, biomembranes, tissue engineering, cancer nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine. He recognized and defined chemotherapeutic engineering as a new, emerging engineering principle, which involves applying engineering, especially chemical engineering principles, to solve problems in the chemotherapy of cancers and other diseases, such as cardiovascular restenosis and AIDS. He created a Chemotherapeutic Engineering Laboratory in the Bioengineering Corridor of NUS. He raised an important issue in modern medicine – new-concept chemotherapy – and has been developing nanoparticle technology to demonstrate the philosophy.
Alexander Kabanovgraduated with a MS degree from MV Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) in 1984 before obtaining his PhD (1987) and DSc (1990). He held academic positions in the School of Chemistry, MSU (1987–1997),and was appointed an adjunct professor in 2002 anddirector of a labsupported by a Russian Megagrant in 2010.He isa Mescal S. Ferguson Distinguished Professor, Director, Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery, and Co-Director, Carolina Institute for Nanomedicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2012.Prior to this appointment he served for nearly 18 years at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where he was a Parke-Davis Professor and the founder and first director of the Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine.In 1994, Dr Kabanov co-founded SupratekPharma Inc. and in 2011, Neuronano Pharma Inc.He has conducted pioneering research on polymeric micelles, DNA/polycation complexes, block ionomer complexes and nanogels for delivery of small drugs, nucleic acids and proteins. His work led to first-in-man polymeric micelle drug (SP1049C) to treat cancer.He founded Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Symposium series (since 2003).He has published over 250 scientific papers and been awarded over 100 patents worldwide. He was electedmember ofAcademia Europaea(2013), fellow of American Institute for Medicaland Biological Engineering (2014) and was namedthe Thomson Reuters 2014 Highly Cited Researcher in pharmacology and toxicology, among other distinctions.
Shuming Nie is Wallace H Coulter Distinguished Chair Professor, Emory University School of Medicine and Georgia Institute of Technology. Prof. Nie currently directs the program in cancer nanotechnology and bioengineering in the Winship Cancer Institute and is also a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Hematology and Oncology. He is author of more than 100 papers and inventor of 15 patents. After serving on the chemistry faculty at Indiana University for 8 years, he moved to the Wallace H Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory in 2002. His research interests are primarily in the areas of biomolecular engineering and nanotechnology, with a focus on bioconjugated nanoparticles (including surface-enhanced Raman nanotags) for cancer molecular imaging and profiling, pharmacogenomics and targeted therapy. Prof. Nie has received many awards and honors, including the Rank Prize (London, UK), the Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar Award, the Beckman Young Investigator Award, the National Collegiate Inventors Award and the Distinguished Young Scholar Award (Natural Science Foundation of China). Prof. Nie received his BS degree from Nankai University (China) in 1983, his MS and PhD degrees from Northwestern University (1984–1990) and did postdoctoral research at both Georgia Institute of Technology and Stanford University (1990–1994).
Gang Bao is the Foyt Family Chair of Engineering in the Department of Bioengineering, Rice University. He is the Director of Nanomedicine Center for Nucleoprotein Machines at Rice University. He is a Fellow of the American Association of Advancement in Science (AAAS), a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and a Fellow of Biomedical Engineering Society. Dr. Bao’s current research is focused on the development of nanotechnology and biomolecular engineering approaches for biological and disease studies, including magnetic nanoparticle probes, protein tagging/targeting methods, targeted in vivo drug/gene delivery, and the design and optimization of engineered nucleases including CRISPR/Cas9. Prof. Bao received his BS and MS degrees from Shandong University (China) and his PhD degree from Lehigh University. He did postdoctoral research at both Peking University (China) and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Alberto Bianco received his PhD in Chemistry in 1995 from the University of Padova (Italy). As a visiting scientist, he worked at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) during 1992, at the University of Tübingen (Germany) in 1996–1997, as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow, and at the University of Padova in 1997–1998. He is currently a Research Director at the CNRS in Strasbourg (France). His research interests focus on the development and chemical functionalization of carbon-based nanomaterials and their biomedical applications. Alberto Bianco is member of the American Chemical Society, the French Group of Peptides and Proteins and the European Peptide Society.
Professor Ian Bruce started his academic life as a geneticist, studying at University College London (UCL) where he also gained his PhD (working with David Wilkie). His first postdoc was also at UCL, followed by the Prince Philip’s Research Laboratory (Paediatrics Research Unit), Guy’s Hospital, London (with Francesco Giannelli) and then at PROIMI, Tucuman, Argentina by way of a travelling fellowship from the Royal Society. Ian was then appointed a lecturer and rapidly afterwards professor at the University of Greenwich, London. There, he was responsible for Biosciences and the Biosciences Research Centre. After that, he moved as a professor to the Universita` degli Studi di Urbino, Urbino, Italy, subsequently returning to the UK in 2004 as Professor of Nanobiotechnology at the University of Kent. He was Faculty Director for Research and Graduate Studies from 2005 to 2009. His research group carried out work related to ‘bottom-up’ synthesis of complex nanocomposites, nanoparticle surface activation chemistry, especially involving the use of organosilanes in biomolecule/nanoparticle surface conjugation and gene expression and organisation in bacteria. The group gained over £16m of research income over its lifetime, collaborating with many major industries and academic institutes from Europe, Russia, China and Israel, and its work has been used as an indicator of success in European science all over the world. Ian was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 1995, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2013 and awarded a DSc from the Universita` degli Studi di Urbino in 2007 in recognition of his work and that of his group in the field of nanomaterial applications in biomedicine. Ian retired in December 2011.
Gianni Ciofani is Senior Researcher Tenured at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), where he is Research Director of the Smart Bio-Interfaces Research Line (Pontedera, Italy). He obtained his Ph.D. in Innovative Technologies (with honors) from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy). From January 2010 to August 2013 he was Post-Doc at the IIT, where, from September 2013 to October 2015, he was a Researcher in the framework of the Smart Materials Platform. From October 2015 to October 2019 he was Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Torino (Italy), maintaining at the same time his research activity in IIT, where he is Senior Research Tenured since November 2019. His main research interests are in the field of smart nanomaterials for nanomedicine, bio/non-bio interactions and biology in altered gravity conditions. In 2016 and 2018 he was awarded, respectively, a European Research Council Starting and Proof of Concept Grant.
Bengt Fadeel, M.D., Ph.D., is a Full Professor of Medical Inflammation Research at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. He is Head of the Division of Molecular Toxicology at the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet (since 2009) and he served as Vice Chairman of the Institute of Environmental Medicine from 2009-2013. Dr. Fadeel was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences in the United States in 2012. He is a current or past member or coordinator of several EU-funded projects on nanosafety as well as member of the EU-funded GRAPHENE Flagship Project (2013-2023). He is chair of the scientific panel and member of the steering group of the national nanosafety platform, SweNanoSafe (since 2016). His laboratory is currently focused on hazard assessment of engineered nanomaterials as well as on basic mechanisms of inflammation and cell death.
Howard E. Gendelman is the Larson Professor of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Under Dr Gendelman’s guidance, significant contributions were made in understanding how alterations in mononuclear phagocyte function induce metabolic changes in the brain and ultimately lead to neural cell damage or can effect repair. Nanomedicine strategies were developed for HIV-1 and Parkinson’s diseases and were made possible by developed novel therapeutic designs. Dr Gendelman obtained a Bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College and his MD from the Pennsylvania State University-Hershey Medical Center where he was the 1999 Distinguished Alumnus. He occupied senior faculty and research positions at Johns Hopkins, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences Center, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Henry Jackson Foundation for the Advancement in Military Medicine before joining the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1993. Dr Gendelman has authored over 325 peer-reviewed publications, edited nine books and monographs, holds eight patents and serves on numerous national and international scientific review and federal and state committees. He is the recipient of notable international honors including the Henry L. Moses Award in Basic Science; the Carter-Wallace Fellow for Distinction in AIDS Research, the David T. Purtilo Distinguished Chair of Pathology and Microbiology, the UNMC Scientist Laureate; and the Joseph Wybran Distinguished Scientist Awards. He received the Jacob Javits Neuroscience Research Award from the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Career Research Award in Medicine from UNMC and is listed in the Consumer’s Research Council of America, Top Physicians. He is included among a selective scientific group listed on highly cited.com as being among the top 0.5 percentile cited investigators in his field.
Vasif Hasirci gained his BSc (1971) and MSc (1973) from the Department of Chemistry at METU and his PhD (1976) from the Department of Chemistry, Reading University, UK. He was a Fulbright Fellow in 1982 at Drexel University, Biomedical Science and Engineering Institute (PA, USA) and in 1998 at Northeastern University, Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology Engineering Center (Boston, USA). Currently, he is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences of METU with expertise in biomaterials, biotechnology and bioengineering. He was involved in the establishment and currently is a member of the following Graduate Departments at METU: Micro and Nanotechnology: Biomedical Engineering; Polymer Science and Technology; Biotechnology. Prof. Hasirci is a member of the European Society for Biomaterials. His current research interests lie in tissue engineering of cornea, bone, cartilage, nerve and cardiac tissues. He is also active in the study of biodegradable polymeric devices, such as bone plates, controlled antibiotic and pain relief agent release and nanobiomaterials. Prof. Hasirci is on the Editorial Board of the journals Biomaterials, Journal of Biomaterials Science: Polymer Edition, Nanomedicine.Tissue Engineering and regenerative Medicine. He is the author of more than 120 papers in international peer reviewed journals, received more than 1300 citations in SCI indexed journals and has two US patents on controlled release (antibiotics and analgesics) from biodegradable polyesters. He has served as a member of the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBI.TAK), Basic Sciences Research Group and also as the head of the Agricultural Biotechnology and Food Technology Research Group. In 2008 he has initiated the establishment of the Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Society of Turkey and is currently the President of this society. He is one of the 3 Steering Committee Members of the Turkish Nanobiotechnology Initiative and also a member of the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicne.
KK Jain is a retired neurologist/neurosurgeon and a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in Australia and Canada, as well as a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges, UK. He received graduate training in Europe, Canada and the USA, has held academic positions in several countries and has been involved in the biotechnology/biopharmaceuticals industry since 1989. Prof. Jain founded Jain PharmaBiotech in 1996 for research, consulting work and publishing in several areas of biotechnology. The aim of the company is the integration of new technologies for medicine of the future, particularly personalized medicine. Prof. Jain is the author of over 492 publications, including 35 books and 50 special reports, on topics including genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, biomarkers, gene therapy, RNA interference, nanobiotechnology, drug delivery, neurological disorders and personalized medicine. His recent books include the "Handbook of Nanomedicine", 3rd edition (2017) and "Textbook of Personalized Medicine", 3rd edition (2021). He is currently working on "Handbook of Alzheimer’s Disease" to be published in 2022. He is associate editor of "Medlink Neurology", which is published by the Medlink Corporation (San Diego, CA, USA) for the continuing education of neurologists. He is also the author in charge of the writing and annual updating of 173 articles in this program of 1250 articles, updated yearly by 450 authors.
Keon W. Kang, a nuclear medicine physician, is Associate Professor, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Executive Director, Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University (2007-present). He received his MD degree from Seoul National University College of Medicine (1991) and was trained as an intern and a resident for Internal Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital (1991-1996). He received his PhD in Medical Science at Seoul National University College of Medicine (2001) and has worked as Chief, Department of Nuclear Medicine, National Cancer Center, Korea (2000-2007). He researched molecular imaging under the supervision of Prof. Sam Gambhir as a visiting scientist of Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (2003-2004). His research areas are in vivo molecular imaging of cancer using PET and nanoparticles. He is working on clinical trials using angiogenesis PET for cancer, translational research using multifunctional nanoparticles for optical/PET imaging, in vivo cell trafficking of stem cells or immune cells using bioluminescence, fluorescence and radiolabeled technology, and is testing the biodistribution, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of new drugs using in vivo imaging.
Dr Richard Leapman serves as Director of the Division of Bioengineering and Physical Science at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda (MD, USA). He received his BA degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 1973 and a PhD in Physics from Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory in 1977. After completing postdoctoral fellowships in materials science at the University of Oxford and in applied and engineering physics at Cornell University, Dr Leapman moved to the NIH to develop techniques for nanoscale compositional imaging by combining electron spectroscopy with electron microscopy. He has applied these methods to solve problems in biomedical research at the cellular as well as the macromolecular level. The techniques that he has developed are extremely sensitive with demonstrated detection limits as low as a single atom. Dr Leapman’s current interests include the application of scanning transmission electron microscopy to determine the organization of protein assemblies, the use of electron tomography to image 3D cellular structure and the development of energy-filtered tomography to measure 3D elemental distributions within cells. He has received two NIH Director's Awards and several other national awards for his research contributions and has published more than 100 research papers in the area of nanoscale analysis. Dr Leapman serves on a number of scientific advisory committees and editorial boards.
Sang Bok Lee is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the Director of Maryland NanoCenter and the Deputy Director of the NEES-EFRC (Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage - Energy Frontier Research Center, A DOE supported research center in 2009-2020), University of Maryland (MD, USA). He had a joint appointment as the WCU Professor in 2009-2013 at the Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology, KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology). He received his B.S., M.S., and PhD (1997) in Chemistry from Seoul National University (Korea). He then worked at LG Semicon (now SK Hynix) for two years as a senior research engineer and held a research associate position at the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL, USA), before joining University of Maryland in 2002. He has served as the founding President of the Electrodeposition Division of the Korean Electrochemical Society (KECS) and in the Science Committee of the 44th International Chemistry Olympiad. His research focuses on the fundamental study of heterogeneous nanostructures and the fast electrochemistry of nanomaterials for applications from high power energy storage to electronics to nanomedicine such as supercapacitors, metal ion batteries, ultrafast electrochromic displays, nanoreactors, nanotoxicology and drug delivery.
Kam Leong is currently faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, with a joint appointment in the Division of Experimental Surgery in the School of Medicine. Previously, he was faculty in The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (1986–2005). As the Director of the Bioengineering Initiative at Duke University, he is leading a research initiative on applying nanotechnology to immunotherapy, drug, gene and cell therapy. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT. Dr Leong also directs the Therapeutics & Tissue Engineering Laboratory at the Division of Johns Hopkins in Singapore. His major research interests involve the application of nanostructures to medicine, in using nanoparticles for drug and gene delivery and in applying nanofibers and nanopatterns for stem cell tissue engineering. He has more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and over 30 patents. He was the recipient of the Young Investigator Research Achievement Award of the Controlled Release Society in 1994 and serves on the editorial board of Biomaterials, Molecular Therapy, Acta Biomaterialia, Genetic Vaccines and Therapy, International Journal of Nanomedicine and Journal of Controlled Release.
Dr. Morteza Mahmoudi is an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Precision Health Program at Michigan State University (MSU). Prior coming to MSU, he was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. His specific research interest is in nanomedicine and regenerative medicine. Aside from these fields of expertise, Dr. Mahmoudi is also very active in social sciences and specifically in i) the rising issue of academic bullying and ii) the current gender disparity in the science backyard.
Chris is at the forefront of the emerging field of stem cell and regenerative medicine bioprocessing plus is involved in a numberof committees, working groups and initiatives related to both the academic and commercial advancement of stem cells and tissue engineering. Originally graduating from Imperial College with a degree in molecular biology and St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School with a medical degree, Chris then specialised in surgery. Chris is both a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. In addition, he has a PhD in Biochemical Engineering (UCL), leads the Regenerative Medicine Bioprocess Group at UCL and has broad range of expertise in industrial consultancy. Furthermore, Chris has over 10 years experience at boardroom level of running technology companies and together with Dr. Stephen Minger is co-founder and co-organiser of the London Regenerative Medicine Network.
Phillip Messersmith is an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. He earned his BS degree in biological sciences in 1985 and his PhD in materials science and engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1993. Before coming to Northwestern University, Dr Messersmith was a postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University and was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1994–1997). His research interests include bioinspired synthesis of materials, polymeric biomaterials, tissue engineering, biomineralization, self-assembly and nanostructured materials. His current research projects include studies of muscle adhesive proteins and the design of muscle adhesive protein mimetic polymers, development of novel biomaterials for regenerative medicine and antifouling polymer surfaces. His awards and honors include young investigator awards from the Whitaker Foundation and NIH. Dr Messersmith is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, a member of the editorial board of Biointerphases and is a member of the Biomaterials and Biointerfaces Study Section at NIH.
Chad Mirkin is the Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology and the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Medicine at Northwestern University. He is a chemist and nanomedicine expert well-known for his invention and development of Spherical Nucleic Acids (SNAs) and their use in medicine, biology and the life sciences, among many other contributions. He is the author of over 770 papers and over 1,200 patents (over 350 issued) and he has founded seven companies, among them Nanosphere, AuraSense, and Exicure (Nasdaq: XCUR). Mirkin has been recognized with over 230 international awards, including the Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine, the SCI Perkin Medal, the Wilhelm Exner Medal, the RUSNANOPRIZE, the Dan David Prize and the National Academy of Sciences Sackler Prize in Convergence Research. He served for eight years on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and he is one of very few scientists to be elected to all three US National Academies as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mirkin holds a BS degree from Dickinson College (1986) and a PhD from the Pennsylvania State University (1989). He was a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT prior to becoming a professor at Northwestern University in 1991.
Moein Moghimi is a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Nanomedicine (School of Pharmacy) and Research Professor at the Translational and Clinical Research Institute at Newcastle University (UK); adjoint Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado-Denver Medical Center (CO, USA); and Deputy Editor of Molecular Therapy. Professor Moghimi is co-founder of S. M. Discovery Group Inc. (Colorado, USA) and S. M. Discovery Group Ltd. (UK). His earlier appointments have included Professor and Chair in Pharmaceutics at the School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Health, Durham University (UK) from 2016–2017; Full Affiliate Member/Professor at the Methodist Research Institute, Houston Methodist Hospital Systems (TX, USA) from 2013–2017; visiting Professor at Università Degli Studi Di Padova, (Italy) in 2015; Professor of Nanomedicine (at the School of Pharmacy), Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology at the Nanoscience Center (Cambridge, UK), and Founder/Director of the multi-million dollar Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology and Nanotoxiocology, University of Copenhagen (Denmark) (2008–2016) and Honorary Professor of Nanomedicine at the Multidisciplinary Research Center, Shantou University in China (2008–2010). Prof. Moghimi’s research is centered on fundamental and translational aspects of nanomedicine engineering and performance, with the overall goal of advancing fundamental understanding of biological barriers, particularly the role of the innate immune system, in relation to nanoparticle performance and safety, and within the context of precision medicine applicable to cancer, cardiovascular diseases, immune disorders and disease of the central nervous system.
Dr. Nancy A Monteiro-Riviere is Regents Distinguished Research Scholar and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Toxicology at Kansas State University (KSU) and Founding Director Emeritus of the Nanotechnology Innovation Center of Kansas State (NICKS). She has been Emeritus Professor of Investigative Dermatology and Toxicology at the Center for Chemical Toxicology Research and Pharmacokinetics, North Carolina State University (NCSU) for 28 years. She is also a Professor Emeritus in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC-Chapel Hill/NCSU and Research Adjunct Professor of Dermatology at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She has a Ph.D. in Anatomy and Cell Biology from Purdue University, IN, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in toxicology at CIIT in Research Triangle Park, NC. She is past-President of both the Dermal Toxicology and In Vitro Toxicology Specialty Sections of the National Society of Toxicology (SOT) and Past Chair of the National SOT Board of Publications and was selected to present at the SOT Eminent Toxicologist lecture series. Dr. Monteiro-Riviere is a Fellow in The Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS) and in the American College of Toxicology. She was elected to the ATS Board of Directors, the Awards Committee and Secretary Treasurer and serves on the SOT Endowment Fund Board. She was the recipient of the Purdue University inaugural Distinguished Women Scholars Award, KSU Woman of Distinction, and was elected to attend the National Academy of Sciences special Keck Futures Initiative Conference. She also serves on several national panels, including many in nanotoxicology, such as the National Research Council of the National Academies to Review the Federal Strategy to Address Environmental, Health and Safety Research Needs for Engineered Nanoscale Materials, International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON), EU Commission Appointed Expert to the Risk Assessment and Advisory Structure of Scientific Committees for Consumer Safety and invited expert for the National Nanotechnology Initiative on Nanomaterials. She was on Thomson Reuters’s 2014 list of the top 1% most highly cited researchers in pharmacology and toxicology. She serves on several Editorial Boards in her field and has published over 300 manuscripts in the field of skin toxicology and nanotoxicology and is Editor of the books "Nanotoxicology: Characterization and Dosing and Health Effects", "Toxicology of the Skin (Target Organ Toxicology Series)" and "Nanotoxicology: Progress toward Nanomedicine". Current research interests involve in vivo and in vitro studies of skin absorption, penetration and toxicity of chemicals, nanoparticles, development of novel scaffolds for tissue engineering and novel pharmaceutical drug delivery devices.
Dr Yadollah Omidi is a full professor at Nova Southeastern University College of Pharmacy (FL, USA). He obtained his PhD degree in the field of brain drug delivery/targeting from Cardiff University (UK) in 2003 and completed a 2-year postdoctoral program at Cardiff University School of Pharmacy studying toxicogenomics of nano gene-based medicines. Before moving to the USA, he started his scientific career at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Iran) where he founded the Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology in 2006. He then joined the Ovarian Cancer Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania (PA, USA) to develop multifunctional nanomedicines for targeted therapy of tumor microenvironment. His research is focused on targeted drug delivery systems, multifunctional nanomedicines, bioengineering and biosensing. He is the recipient of several teaching and research awards and listed among "highly cited researchers", ESI-2014. He is the author of over 250 publications and 20 book chapters.
Ketan Patel, PhD is an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at St. John’s University, NY.He holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India.He completed his post-doc fellowship majorly focusing on cancer nanomedicine from Florida A&M university, FL in 2016. Dr. Patel has authored over 75 research papers aimed to investigate novel class of anticancer molecules, tumor targeted nanoparticles, nanoformulation of anti-infectious agents, tumor xenograft studies, 3D printing, vaginal nanoformulations, gene delivery and opioid abuse deterrent formulation technologies. He has been granted/filed 7 US patents on innovative formulation technologies. Dr. Patel received a Melanoma Research Scholar Award from Outrun the Sun, Inc. and a National Institutes of Health grant for his research on development of nanomedicine of Proteolysis Targeting Chimera (PROTAC) for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.
Paras N Prasad, Ph.D. is a State University of New York (SUNY) Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering and Medicine; the Samuel P. Capen Chair of Chemistry; and the Executive Director of the Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). Scientific American named him among the top 50 sciences and technology leaders in the world in 2005. He has authored over 800 publications; four monographs that greatly influenced the fields of (1) organic nonlinear optics, (2) biophotonics, (3) nanophotonics and (4) nanobioengineering and nanomedicine; edited eight books; and holds numerous patents. His many awards for research excellence include the American Chemical Society’s Peter Debye Award, the Morley Medal and Schoellkopf Medal; SPIE’s highest honor, the President’s Gold medal; Optical Society OSA’s Michael Feld Biophotonics award; IEEE‘s Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology; Guggenheim Fellowship; Sloan Fellowship; Western New York Health Care Industries Technology/Discovery Award; SUNY Excellence in the Pursuit of Knowledge award; University at Buffalo’s first Innovation Impact award; University at Buffalo‘s highest honor of President’s Medal. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, Optical Society, SPIE, and IEEE, and is listed among Thompson Reuters “Highly Cited Researchers”. He has Honorary Doctorates from KTH in Sweden, the Aix-Marseille University in France, MEPhI in Russia, and Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil. Globally, his technologies have produced nine spin-off companies, including publicly traded Nanobiotix, now in advanced clinical trials for cancer therapy.
Rui Reis is Associate Professor at the Department of Polymer Engineering and Director of the 3B’s Research Group – Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics – a Research Unit of excellence. His main area of research is the development of biomaterials from naturally originating polymers for a range of biomedical applications, including tissue engineering scaffolding and drug delivery carriers. His group is very interdisciplinary, with work on stem cells, their differentiation and expansion, as well as the in vitro and in vivo assessment of the functionality of the developed constructs. He has been responsible for several cooperation programs with Universities and Companies in UK, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Singapore, USA, Canada and Japan. He is the co-coordinator of 5 major EU research projects, including the only European Network of Excellence on Tissue Engineering: EXPERTISSUES. Dr Reis has also been awarded several prestigious scientific prizes. He is the President of the Portuguese Society for Stem Cells and Cellular Therapies and is on the Board of Governors of the European Society for Artificial Organs, where he coordinates the workgroup on Tissue Engineering. He was on the Board of the European Tissue Engineering Society and, after being involved with the merging with TESI, is on the EU board of TERMIS – Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. He is also the Chair of the Special Interest group on Tissue Engineering of the Society for Biomaterials (USA). Dr Reis has published approximately 140 papers in scientific journals and approximately 100 book chapters.
Dr Sahoo has been a scientist at the Institute of Life Sciences (Bhubaneswar, India) since 2005. He received his MSc degree in 1994 and PhD in 1999 from the University of Delhi (India). He served as a JSPS Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine (Kumamoto University, Japan) from 1999-2001. This was followed by a 4-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Nebraska Medical Centre (NE, USA) from 2001-2005 including a 2-year fellowship from the American Heart Association. Scientific contributions include over 100 peer reviewed research papers, review articles and book chapters in leading scientific journals. Dr Sahoo has been granted two US patents and one EU patent on nanotechnology-based targeted drug and gene delivery. He is an expert in the field of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, mainly in the field of cancer. Dr Sahoo's name featured in the list of most influential researchers of the world released by Clarivate Analytics on the basis of citations in 2019. Only 10 scientists, including Dr. Sahoo, from India, made it to the list of 4000 researchers.
Christine E Schmidt, Ph.D., is the J Crayton Pruitt Family Professor and Department Chair for the University of Florida Department of Biomedical Engineering. Prior to joining the University of Florida in 2013, she was at the University of Texas at Austin in both Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering. Dr. Schmidt received her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. Dr. Schmidt is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE) of the International Union of Societies of Biomaterials Science and Engineering. Dr. Schmidt's research is focused on developing new biomaterials and biomaterial composites such as natural material scaffolds, processed tissues and electronic polymer composites that can be used to physically guide and stimulate regenerating nerves and the healing of other tissues.
Dr Sen is an expert in nano-biomaterials with more than 25 years research experience from laboratory scale development to commercial products. Currently he is working as a Reader in Nanomaterials Chemistry and leading the Nano-biomaterial Research Group (https://senlabs.org) in the University of Central Lancashire, UK. He has published several high impact research articles, reviews and book chapters, and has managed several international research projects as a principal investigator. He has successfully delivered two international workshops, two international symposia as a convenor and has delivered his research as plenary, keynote and invited speakers in several international conferences. He also sat as a panel member of “Nano elated emerging technologies” in April 2016 in Manchester, UK and “Nanomaterials in Clean technology” in May 2016 in Dublin, Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK and a member of the Editorial board of several international high impact peer review journals.
Xiangyang Shi graduated with a Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1998. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Tsinghua University and the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany), and as a visiting scholar in California State University, Los Angeles. From 2002-2008, he worked as a Research Fellow, Research Associate II, Research Investigator and Research Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He then became a full professor in Donghua University in 2008. Since 2010, he has also been jointly appointed as an “Invited Chair in Nanotechnology” at the University of Madeira, Portugal. He has authored or co-authored 385 peer-reviewed journal articles with an H-index of 72, 17 invited book chapters and 92 approved China patents. His current research interests are focused on the development of organic/inorganic hybrid nanoplatforms and microfluidic platforms for sensing, imaging and theranostic applications, in particular for precision cancer imaging and therapy.
Farooq A Shiekh is the Chair of Research and Head of the Department of Biochemistry, Government Medical College & Associated Hospital (Baramulla, India). He is a former Professor of the Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Avalon University School of Medicine (Curacao, Netherlands, Antilles) (2013-2016). He obtained his doctorate degree in biomedical sciences - the biochemical characterization of small particles - from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (Chandigarh, India) in 2005. In order to pursue his great interests in the field of nanoparticles, he joined Mayo Clinic (MN, USA) as a fellow (2007-2009) and trained as senior scientist at the Faculte of de Medecine, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and WHO collaborative center, La Timone Hospital, (Marseille, France) (2010-2012). His area of research is advancing nanocarriers for combined targeted medicine, in order to enhance efficacy of drug delivery to reach untargetable complex tumor sites. Dr. Shiekh is presently working as Associate Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Nanomedicine (IJN) (2020-Present) and is associated with many other scientific organizations. He also served as the consulting editor for the IJN (2015-2019). He has many years of diverse teaching and research experience from renowned medical institutions of world repute.
Gert Storm studied biology, graduating in 1983 and obtained his PhD in 1987 from the Department of Pharmaceutics, also at the University of Utrecht. In 1987 he was also appointed as a faculty member. His research interests are in the fields of biopharmaceutics and drug targeting. From September 1988 until June 1989, Prof. Storm was a visiting scientist at Liposome Technology Inc. in Menlo Park, USA, and visiting assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, USA. From February 1990 until September 1991, he was senior research scientist at Pharma Bio-Research Consultancy B.V. in Zuidlaren, The Netherlands. During this period he contributed to the design, coordination and evaluation of clinical pharmacological studies. In September 1991, he took up his present position. He is author of over 230 original articles, reviews and book chapters in the field of advanced drug delivery/targeting (in particular with liposomal systems). He is member of the editorial board of the J. of Nanomedicine, J. of Drug Targeting, J. of Liposome Research, Eur. J. Pharmaceutical Sciences, S.T.P. Pharma Sciences, and was Special Features Editor commissioning minireviews for Pharmaceutical Research. In 1999, he was appointed adjunct professor at the Department of Pharmaceutics, Royal School of Pharmacy, Copenhagen. In 2000, Prof. Storm was appointed as professor (Drug Targeting chair) at Utrecht University.
Samuel Stupp earned his BS in Chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles and his PhD in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University in 1977. He was a member of the faculty at Northwestern until 1980 and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Chamapaign until 1999. He then returned to Northwestern as a Board of Trustees professor of Materials Science, Chemistry and Medicine and, in 2000, was appointed Director of Northwestern’s Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine. Prof. Stupp is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, World Technology Network and World Biomaterials Congress. His awards include the Department of Energy Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Materials Chemistry, a Humboldt Senior Award, the Materials Research Society’s Medal Award and the American Chemical Society Award in Polymer Chemistry for his work on supramolecular self-assembly. In 2005, Prof. Stupp was listed in the Scientific American 50 Leaders Shaping the Future of Technology. His areas of research include supramolecular self-assembly and biomaterials for regenerative medicine and advanced therapies.
Weihong Tan, V. T. and Louis Jackson Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physiology and Functional Genomics at the University of Florida, earned his PhD (1993) in Chemistry at the University of Michigan. His research interest lies in molecular engineering, bionanotechnology and chemical biology. His group has engineered nucleic acid probes for biosensing platforms and DNA nanomotors. The Tan group has also developed numerous bioconjugated nanostructures for molecular imaging, efficient cell separation and sensitive cell detection. With the development of cell-based SELEX, the Tan group has generated various aptamers for cancer cells as molecular tools for cancer treatment and biomarker discovery.
Steven Toms, MD, MPH, FAANS, FACS, is a professor of Neurosurgery, Medicine and Health Policy at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr Toms is also the Director of the Brain Tumor Program for Lifespan Health System. He obtained his MD at Brown University and his MPH at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.He completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation prior to fellowship in Neurosurgical Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr Toms has held faculty positions at Vanderbilt and Oregon Health Sciences Universities and was the Director of the Section of Metastatic Disease of the Brain Tumor Institute at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He was also the Associate Chief Medical Officer and Chair of the Neurosciences Institute for Geisinger Health System. In addition to an active practice in the surgical management of brain and spinal tumors, Dr Toms’ research focuses upon optical spectroscopy and the use of nanoparticles to improve drug delivery in cancer as well as for tumor imaging and surgical therapeutic feedback.
Istvan Toth PhD, DSc is a chemical engineer and an internationally recognized expert in drug delivery. His major research interests are immunoadjuvants, carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, nucleosides and nucleotides. He is one of the key founders of Alchemia (ASX listed), Implicit Bioscience Pty Ltd, Neurotide Pty Ltd and TetraQ, He has obtained a Business/Higher Education Round Table Award: Outstanding Achievement in International Collaborative R&D. Dr Toth has more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and 44 patents. He is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Queensland Academy of Science and Art.
Haifang Wang received her BS degree and MS degree from Fudan University (China), and her PhD degree from Peking University (China). She held academic position in Peking University (1994-2008). During that period, as a visiting scholar, she visited the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Japan (1996-1997) and Clemson University (2005-2006). Since 2009, Dr Wang has been a professor at the Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University (China). Her research concentrates on the biomedical application (e.g., drug delivery and bio-imaging) and toxicology of nanomaterials. She has published over 140 scientific papers.
Alex Wei is a professor of Chemistry and Materials Engineering at Purdue University, and presently Director of Purdue’s Drug Discovery Training Program. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Harvard University (MA, USA) in 1995, and was a Fulbright Scholar in the University of Strasbourg (France) until 1997. Professor Wei has a multidisciplinary research program that applies organic and materials chemistry to topics with a significant impact on human health, including low-cost sensors for monitoring liquid and gaseous analytes, contemporary topics in drug delivery, and novel materials for bacterial detection and treatment.
