Brian Blagg is the Charles Huisking Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Director of the Warren Family Research Center for Drug Discovery and Development at Notre Dame. After earning B.A's in Chemistry and Environmental Studies at Sonoma State University, and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Utah (Dale Poulter), he received an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship and performed research at The Scripps Research Institute with Dale Boger. Blagg started his independent career in medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas in 2002. In the fall of 2017, he moved to the University of Notre Dame wherein his lab continues to focus on chaperone proteins and protein folding in relation to cancer and neurodegeneration. Cancers are inherently more dependent on chaperone proteins because of their constant division and cellular stress. Consequently, Blagg's team works to selectively inhibit chaperone proteins to halt cancer growth. In contrast, his lab also studies the potential for utilizing chaperones to re-fold malfunctioning and/or aggregated proteins for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and glaucoma.Brian Blagg is married to Leah Blagg and has three children, ranging in ages between 11 and 23. When not thinking about science, Blagg can be found with his family and friends.

Doctor-Engineer from Grenoble University (1980) Engineer from ENSC Paris (National School of Chemistry, Paris, France) (1978) Professor at University of Pau and Pays Adour (UPPA), Institute of Analytical Sciences and Physico-Chemistry for Materials and Environment After a position as research engineer with Dowell Schlumberger related to the application of polymers in oil well operations, he joined Grenoble University in 1990 and then UPPA in 2004. His research domain is concentrated on chemical modification of natural polymers and relations between their chemical structure, functional properties and their applications. In the last years his research activities were dedicated to physico-chemistry (interfacial and rheological properties) of modified (especially amphiphilic) polysaccharide solutions, polysaccharide-surfactant interactions, hydrogels and particularly their characterization and their specific applications (biomedical or cosmetics applications, wastewater treatments) as well as new “green processes” applied to bio-sourced materials (microwave irradiation as an example). He authored around 200 publications, 26 book chapters and 10 patents. He is member of advisory board of Cellulose Chemistry and Technology, Carbohydrate Polymers and has teaching activities in physico-chemistry and polymer science. Awards: In 2009 he was appointed "Doctor Honoris Causa" of the Technical University "Gheorghe Asachi" in Iasi (Romania) for his input in Natural Polymer Science. He authored around 200 publications, 26 book chapters and 10 patents. He is member of advisory board of Cellulose Chemistry and Technology, Carbohydrate Polymers and has teaching activities in physico-chemistry and polymer science. Awards: In 2009 he was appointed "Doctor Honoris Causa" of the Technical University "Gheorghe Asachi" in Iasi (Romania) for his input in Natural Polymer Science.

Dr. Seung-Yong Seong, M.D., Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology, now is a Professor and Ex Director of Wide River Institute of Immunology, Seoul National University College of Medicine. He got Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in Seoul National University College of Medicine in 1995. He got Hamchun Medical Award, award of International Conference on Inante Immunity in Greece, the best poster award of DC 2007 in Germany in 2007, Yuhan Medical Award, Seoul Medical Association in 2012 etc. He is also the member of Korean Society for Microbiology, Korean Society for Immunology, American Society for Microbiology, and American Society for Immunology. He was a president of Korean Society for Dendritic cells and secretary of International DAMPs association. He suggested DAMPs model for the first time on Nature Rev. Immunology in 2004, which brought novel insight of modern innate immunology. He is now working on development of new therapeutics for COVID-19, atopic dermatitis and Alzheimer disease based on DAMPs model. He found that GPCR19 agonists could ameliorate inflammation not only in preclinical models but also in phase 2 clinical trials. He has also worked on development of nanobodies in immuno-oncology fields.

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Prof. Stefan Knapp studied Chemistry at the University of Marburg and the University of Illinois. He did his PhD in protein crystallography at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and continued his career at the Karolinska Institute as a postdoctoral scientist (1996-1999). From 1999 to 2004 he worked at Pharmacia Corporation and from 2004-2015 at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) at Oxford University. From 2008 to 2015 he was a Professor of Structural Biology at Oxford University (UK) and between 2012 and 2015 he was the Director for Chemical Biology at the Target Discovery Institute. He joined Frankfurt University in 2015 as a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Since 2017 he is the CSO of the SGC at the University of Frankfurt.

Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D. is a Professor and the Chair ad interim of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC), Houston, Texas, USA. She is also the Hubert L. & Olive Stringer Distinguished Chair in Basic Science, a Distinguished Teaching Professor, director of the CCSG Cancer Biology and Metastasis Program, director of the Functional Genomics Core, and co-director of the Preclinical and Translational Brain Metastasis Research Program, at MDACC. Dr. Yu's innovative translational research on molecular mechanisms of breast cancer initiation, progression, metastasis and therapeutic resistance has led to several successful multi-center phase I/II clinical trials. Over the past three decades, she has performed high impact research and published more than 200 papers (h-Index 74), including papers in Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Communications, Cell, Cancer Cell, Molecular Cell, Cancer Discovery, Cell Res., Science Translational Medicine, JCO., JNCI, etc. Dr. Yu's research interests are focused on the following areas: 1) Decoding brain metastasis and the brain immune microenvironment; 2) Enhancing targeted- and immuno-therapies' responses; 3) Breast cancer immunoprevention: vaccines, nutrient-supplements. Dr. Yu was elected a Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2011 and was honored by many national and international awards. She was elected to serve as the president of Metastasis Research Society (08/18 -10/20), and president of the Society of Chinese Bio-scientists in America (SCBA) (01/14 - 12/15).

Dr. Mikelis is an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Patras, in Greece. Till 2021 he was an Associate Professor at the School of Pharmacy of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, where he keeps an adjunct appointment. He was trained on vascular and cancer biology, with a focus on GPCR signaling at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDRC) at NIH, while his PhD at the University of Patras was focused on angiogenesis. His current research program is focused on investigating the role of small GTPases on endothelial physiology and cellular communication. By utilizing a repertoire of in vitro and in vivo models and innovative approaches his team is trying to elucidate their functional significance in human physiology and vascular-related pathological conditions.

Brandon Lucke-Wold was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO. He graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Neuroscience and distinction in honors from Baylor University. He completed his MD/PhD, Master's in Clinical and Translational Research, and the Global Health Track at West Virginia University School of Medicine. His research focus was on traumatic brain injury, neurosurgical simulation, and stroke. At West Virginia University, he also served as a health coach for the Diabetes Prevention and Management program in Morgantown and Charleston, WV, which significantly improved health outcomes for participants. In addition to his research and public health projects, he is a co-founder of the biotechnology company Wright-Wold Scientific, the pharmaceutical company CTE cure, and was a science advocate on Capitol Hill through the Washington Fellow's program. He has also served as president of the WVU chapters for the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Neurosurgery Interest group, and Erlenmeyer Initiative Entrepreneur group. In addition, he has served as vice president for the graduate student neuroscience interest group, Nu Rho Psi Honor Society, and medical students for global health. He was an active member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He is currently a member of the UF House Staff Council, Positive Culture Committee, Quality Improvement Committee, Board of Directors Alachua County Medical Society, and Accreditation Requirements Review Committee. He is married to Noelle Lucke-Wold and has two children. As a family, they enjoy running with their dogs, rock climbing, and traveling. In his spare time, Brandon frequently runs half marathons and 10ks together with is wife. Brandon also enjoys reading, playing piano, discussing philosophy, and playing chess. He is currently a Pgy5 neurosurgery resident at University of Florida with pursuing endovascular enfolded training and was awarded the Dempsey Cerebrovascular Research Fellowship.

Dr. Domiziana Masci obtained her Ph.D. (with honors) in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Italy) in 2019 working with Professor Romano Silvestri and Professor Giuseppe La Regina on the design and development of antiretroviral HIV-1 agents as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. During her doctoral studies she also joined Dr. Daniele Castagnolo's research group at King's College London as visiting Ph.D. student. Here, she worked on the synthesis of new antitubercular and antibacterial agents as well as on the development of novel compelling green biocatalytic methodologies for the synthesis of drug-like compounds. After completing her Ph.D., in 2020 Domiziana was appointed as Teaching Fellow in medicinal chemistry at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at King's College London where, alongside with her teaching activities, she also carried out her research project related tothe design and synthesis of small molecules targeting bacteria. In 2021 Domiziana was appointed as postdoctoral research associate at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK) in the group of Professor Simon MacKay, where she worked on the identification and development of drug-like candidates targeting IKK1 kinase enzyme in treating prostate cancer. Since January 2022, Domiziana is Assistant Professor in Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Basic Biotechnological Sciences, Intensivological and Perioperative Clinics, at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Rome, Italy), where her research activities are mainly focused on the development of novel drug-design strategies for the identification of new antimicrobial and anticancer agents.

Ahmed Hegazi is currently a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the National Research Center ,Egypt. Prof. Hegazi received his master's degree in 1979, and his PhD in 1981. Hegazi's research work has been focused lately on bee products and their therapeutic effects. Dr. Hegazi awards; First Class Decoration of Excellence, Egypt, 1995, The Senior Scientist Prize of National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt, 1996, The National Scientific Prize In Biological Sciences, Egypt, 1990, The Scientific Prize of The National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt, 1989, The Second Best Research Paper Award, International Congress of Propolis , Bones Aires, Argentina, 2000, Main Speaker Award,10th Academic Conference, PRA and NAS (Nippon Apitherapy Soc.) Japan, 2006, 2 Bronze medals from The International Innovation Fair of the Middle East, Kuwait, 2007 Awarded of Ghazi Wad Allah Salon Prize, 2008. Awarded the Merit Aware of Medical Sciences, The National Research Center, 2016. Dr. Hegazi contributed Chairman of the National Committee for Microbiological Sciences (NCMS) in Egypt, Academy of Science and Technology, Egypt, from 2018.Hegazi organized and contributed to national and international research projects since 1977 and up till now, he has been the principal investigator on multiple research projects within the National Research Center. He Conducted training courses on Clinical Microbiology, National Research Center in 1979. He has 249 articles in national and international scientific journals. Editor in 48 journals, Referee in the 98International Journals, Organizer of 196 International Symposium and conferences, 9 books in English language and 13 books in Arabic language. He has patent No. 28335 at 11/12/2017. and registers for other7.

George Koliakos was born in Thessaloniki Greece at 1956. He is a graduate of Medical School Aristotle University (MD 1979) and has a doctoral degree in Biochemistry from the same school (PhD 1983). He specialized in Nuclear Medicine (1983-1987) He served as a postdoctoral associate at the medical school of the university of Minessota USA (1987-1989) and was a visiting research professor at the university of Miami USA (1993). Since 1989 he is a faculty member of the Medical School Aristotle University serving since 2012 as a professor of Biochemistry. He is since 2019 the director of the Joint postgraduate program of Aristotle University Thessaloniki and Democritus University Thrace "Stem Cell and Regenerative medicine", editor of the "Aristotle Biomedical Journal" and president of the "Hellenic Society for Regenerative Medicine Research". He served as Director of the Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry AHEPA University Hospital (2016-2019), Director of the Laboratory of Biological Chemistry Medical School Aristotle University (2018-2020) Head of the Department of Biological Sciences and Preventive Medicine (2017-2019 and 2020-2021). He also has served as member of the board of the Hellenic Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Member of the board of the Hellenic Society of Nuclear Medicine and coeditor of Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Cofounder and associate manager of Hippocrates Diagnostic Center in Thessaloniki (1991-2006). Currently, founder president and CEO of Biohellenika biotechnology company (since 2006). George Koliakos has co authored 191 peer reviewed papers listed in Pubmed and Scopus with more than 5300 citations and a current Hills Index of 38 (Google Scholar). He was a principal investigator in 17 national research Grants and inventor or coinventor in eight patents.

Professor Dr. Peifeng Li is the Dean of Institute of Translational Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Qingdao, China. His research focuses on the molecular regulation of cardiovascular diseases and cancers. He has published more than 200 papers in reputed journals and also presented his work at many national and international professional meetings. He is an associate editor of Frontiers in Physiology-Redox-Physiology, and Molecular Biotechnology. He has been a reviewer for more than 60 scientific journals.

Dr. Mohammad F. Bayan is working as an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutics at faculty of Pharmacy in Philadelphia University, Amman, Jordan. The major focus of Dr. Bayan's research involves the development of controlled and triggered drug delivery systems using advanced and novel technologies. His work involves organic synthesis, synthesis and characterization of polymeric smart materials and performing drug release studies. Dr. Bayan has done his PhD studies in the area of pharmaceutics and drug delivery under the supervision of Professor Colin McCoy and secondary supervisor, Professor Gavin Andrews in Queen's University Belfast/UK. Dr. Bayan has done his master's research project under the supervision of Professor Rana M. Obaidat as a primary supervisor and the late Professor Bassam M. Tashtoush as a secondary supervisor in Jordan University of Science and Technology. The title of this project was-Preparation of Microparticles for Sustained Release Purposes Using Supercritical Fluid Technology. Educational Qualifications: PhD in Pharmacy, QUB, UK. Master Degree of Science in Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Technology, JUST, Jordan. Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy, Philadelphia University, Jordan.

Dr. Nguyen Hai Nam is Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Hanoi University of Pharmacy. He graduated from the same university with a pharmacist degree in 1995. He obtained master and PhD degrees from College of Pharmacy, Chungnam National University, Korea in 1999 and 2001, respectively. After 3 years working as postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rhode Island, USA, he joined the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Hanoi University of Pharmacy in 2005. He had been Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry from 2008 to 2019, Chairmain of the University Council from 2019 to 2020. In 2021 he was appointed Rector of Hanoi University of Pharmacy. He was promoted associate professor in 2009 and full professor in 2014. He is expertised in organic medicinal chemistry and new drug design and discovery. His research interests include design and synthesis of novel anticancer, antidiabetic and acetylcholine esterase inhibitors. He is also interested in development of novel prodrugs to improve pharmacokinetic properties. He has been awarded 29 international patents and authored more than 100 papers in international peer-reviewed journals. He also authored three books and several other book chapters in drug design, developments and related fields.

Alemayehu Reta completed his MSc at the age of 24 years from Jimma University, Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Pathology. He was the Department head of Medical Laboratory Science for the last two years. He has published more than 14 papers in reputable journals and has been serving as a reviewer, researcher and Assistant Professor of Medical Microbiology.

Dr. Gabriel A. Agbor, holds a PhD in Biochemistry from University of Yaounde I, Cameroon and a Post-doctoral training at the University of Scranton, USA with over 20 years research experience in Phyto biochemistry. He is a Director of Research and Heads the Centre for Research on Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicine at the Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plants Studies. He also Heads the African Network for Drugs and Diagnostic Innovation (ANDI) Centre of Excellence on Traditional Medicine Research. Dr. Agbor was the laureate of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation Award in 2006 and 2015, Fulbright Senior Scholar in 2007. Dr. Agbor is a Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, Member African Scientific Research and Innovation Council (ASRIC), Vice President of the Cameroon Biosciences Society, Senior Fulbright Alumnus and Visiting Professor Catholic University of Central Africa Yaounde Cameroon and Madonna University Elele Nigeria Moreover, he is a resource person for the Cameroon National Committee for Technology Development (CNDT) and the Cameroon Biosecurity Committee (CNB/MINEPDED). He is an Academic Editor of PLOS ONE Journal and Editorial board member of Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Journal where he is also a Guest Editor in a special issue. Dr. Agbor is currently a Guest Editor in a Research Topic in Frontiers in Pharmacology journal. He has coauthored 5 patents and 150 scientific publications, Dr. Agbor won several grants including the 2016 TWAS Unit research grant, OAPI CF No. 52214 and institutional grants in the research and development of phytomedicine against diabetes, obesity, diarrhea and atherosclerosis and also in the capacity building of Traditional Health Practitioners in Cameroon.

Prof. Sechaba Bareetseng Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR); Email address: Sbareetseng@csir.co.za; Tel (office): +27 12 841 2574; Mobile: +27 82 332 8367 Prof Sechaba Bareetseng is currently the CSIR IKS Programme Manager within the Advanced Agriculture and Food Cluster and holds a PhD in Microbiology, Master of Management in Innovation Studies, as well as several certificates, such as advanced intellectual property management and bio entrepreneurship. He is currently managing a portfolio of projects and programs on Indigenous Knowledge Systems research, development and commercialisation, focusing on natural product research on the therapeutic properties of medicinal plant species, funded by the South Africa's national government and its STI agencies and international organizations, such as the UNDP. He has developed working experience in the SADC region through the AUDA NEPAD SANBio as a Programme Manager and was the Technical Advisor to the RSA-Finland BioFISA II on IKS and Access and Benefit Sharing and SADC Secretariat on STI on IKS and Access and Benefit Sharing and SADC, respectively. He is currently the Technical Investigator for the SADC Support to Industrialisation and Product Sectors for the project Application of Indigenous Knowledge for the development and production of remedies to manage HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and Eswatini. In 2018, Bareetseng was a visiting scholar at Kansai University in Japan on Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity; and was part of the fact-finding mission team on behalf of the SA DTIC to China, where he visited and interacted with the reserach institutions and pharmaceutical companies involved in the Chinese traditional medicine R&D and manufacturing. He is currently supervising PhD and Masters' students on IKS, Microbiology and Biological Sciences at South African universities. He participated at international and local conferences and symposiums as invited speaker on R&D, innovation, biodiversity, IKS and Access and Benefit Sharing.

Bio Dr. Saad Sabbar is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Science Department, University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Rustaq, Oman. He has obtained his Master of Science in Microbiology from Osmania University, India and PhD in Pharmacology from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia in 2016. He worked as a research visitor in Alberta University, Canada in 2021. The biology of cancer is the main field of research that fascinated Dr. Saad. He is interested in targeting tumors by inhibiting angiogenesis and understanding other mechanisms that are at play which can influence angiogenesis. Currently his team is developing metastatic xenograft tumor models that can mimic the multistep process of metastasis to various target organs. With such model, he hopes to be able to discover new compounds that may be therapeutically useful during this stage of carcinogenesis. With the wide experience in the biological sciences, he published many articles in Scopus and ISI journals and presented abstracts in many worldwide conferences.

Dr. Ernest Moles is a multidisciplinary investigator with extensive expertise in the fields of precision-nano medicine, immunotherapy and oncology. Through his research at IBEC (Spain, 2010-2017), he developed >20 antibody-nanoparticle conjugates for management of difficult-to-treat paediatric blood diseases. Findings resulted in 12 publications at highly-regarded nano medicine journals (J.Control Release-2015/2016,Biomaterials-2017; 50% as first or corresponding author). His research has influenced others to develop nano materials against HIV and cancer (Biomolecule Chemistry,2020,18,9639-9652, Acta Pharmacologica Sinica,2021,42:1516-1523). Dr. Moles joined CCI in 2017, applying his translational capacity to engineer targeted nano therapeutics for the treatment of high-risk cancers. Through UNSW-RIS 2019/2020 infrastructure funds ($923k), he established nano medicine-dedicated infrastructure, the first of its kind at CCI/UNSW, through which he developed advanced chemo- & RNA-based lipid nano therapeutics for the treatment of aggressive leukaemia (Pharmaceutics,2021,13:1681, Sci Transl Med,2023,15:eabm1262) and paediatric brain cancers (ongoing studies on DIPG & GBM through RNA Institute seed grant and Moderna Global programme). Contributions within the nano medicine field are further evidenced by being cited in reviews of highly-regarded journals (Adv Drug Delivery Reviews,2020,154-155:151-162, Nature Nanotechnology,2021,16:369-384), an invited editorial contribution to Nature Biomedical Engineering (2019,3:248-250). Leadership in his field is further evidenced by the award of a prestigious US Moderna Global Fellowship (2023-25).

Dr. Yun Shi investigated protein-ligand interactions by an interdisciplinary approach that combines computational modeling and wet experiments during his doctoral study at Simon Fraser University. After obtaining his PhD degree in 2015, Dr. Shi started his postdoctoral research at Griffith University. He won a fellowship in 2016 valued at ~ 240k AUD to carry out fragment-based drug design for several potential therapeutic targets. Dr. Shi has since made significant contributions to drug discovery through examining the structure and function of potential therapeutic targets as well as their interactions with small-molecule ligands. His work on fragment-based drug design and an anti-neurodegenerative target have received international acclaim from both the academia and the biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Shi has published over 20 scholarly articles in relevant fields, including high-impact publications in Science, Molecular Cell, and Neuron.