Thomas J. Webster's (H index: 120; Google Scholar) degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh (B.S., 1995; USA) and in biomedical engineering from RPI (Ph.D., 2000; USA). He has served as a professor at Purdue (2000-2005), Brown (2005-2012), and Northeastern (2012-2021; serving as Chemical Engineering Department Chair from 2012 - 2019) Universities and has formed over a dozen companies who have numerous FDA approved medical products currently improving human health. He is currently helping those companies and serves as a professor at Hebei University of Technology, Saveetha University, Vellore Institute of Technology, UFPI, and others. Dr. Webster has numerous awards including: 2020, World Top 2% Scientist by Citations (PLOS); 2020, SCOPUS Highly Cited Research (Top 1% Materials Science and Mixed Fields); 2021, Clarivate Top 0.1% Most Influential Researchers (Pharmacology and Toxicology); 2022, Best Materials Science Scientist by Citations (Research.com); and is a fellow of over 8 societies. Prof. Webster is a former President of the U.S. Society For Biomaterials and has over 1,350 publications to his credit with over 53,000 citations. He was recently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2023).

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.

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).

Sergei Vakulenko is a Research Professor at the University of Notre Dame, USA. His group conducts collaborative, multidisciplinary studies of the molecular mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, with current emphasis on carbapenems. Resistance of Gram-negative bacteria to carbapenems is a major healthcare problem as carbapenems are the drugs of choice for treatment of serious infections caused by pathogens resistant to other antibiotics. The Vakulenko lab is involved in elucidation of kinetic mechanisms and structural architecture of clinically important carbapenemases, enzymes that inactive carbapenems. These studies generate information critical for a rational design of novel antibiotics that resist inactivation by carbapenemases.

Dr Laurent Desaubry is a CNRS Director of Research at the Center of Research in Biomedicine of Strasbourg affiliated to the University of Strasbourg and INSERM. After a Ph.D. degree in medicinal chemistry and postdoctoral internship at SUNY at Stony Brook (USA) he joined CNRS as Research Senior Scientist at the University of Strasbourg. He was promoted CNRS research director (corresponds to full professor) in 2014, and was appointed adjunct professor at Tianjin University of Science and Technology from 2015 to 2019. He is serving as an editorial board member of Frontiers in Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, and International Journal of Molecular Science. He is also a co-founder of the Biotech company Ribonexus that aims at developing new drugs to overcome drug resistance in cancer cells.

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.

Joseph STRAUSS is Full Professor for Genetics and Functional Genomics at the BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Founding Head of the Institute of Microbial Genetics (IMiG) at the Department of Applied Genetics and Cell Biology. His research interests are linked to molecular-genetic and epigenetic regulation of fungal metabolism and secondary metabolite production. His group achieved a major breakthrough in fungal genetics and biology as they identified epigenetic silencing of secondary metabolite gene clusters as the main regulatory step for their biosynthetic activity. Joseph Strauss also leads the "Bioactive Microbial Metabolite"research and infrastructure platform where they use high-throughput technology and epigenetic engineering to identify novel microbial metabolites with agricultural and medical application potential.

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Ines Filipa Janeiro da Silva, PhD student of Doctor in Pharmacy, specialty of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy, is member of Health and Technology Research Center (H&TRC). Expertise in animal model of inflammatory bowel disease in rodents. Lecturer of Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy and Toxicology, in Lisbon School of Health Technology of Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon (ESTeSL-IPL). Bachelor in Pharmacy in ESTeSL-IPL, and Master in Palliative Care, in Medicine Faculty, University of Lisbon.

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 to the 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.

Prof. Orchidea Maria Lecian graduated in Theoretical Physics at Sapienza University of Rome and ICRA- International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics in 2005 ad completed her International Relativistic Astrophysics Phd at Sapienza University and ICRA. She was post-doctoral Fellow at IHES (Bures-sur-Yvette, France), AEI-MPI (Potsdam-Golm, Germany) and Sapienza University of Rome. She has taken part in intensive research programs at AEI-MPI (Potsdam-Golm, Germany) and The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (Toronto, Canada). She has been researcher for SAIA- NS'P (The National Scholarship Programme of the Slovak Republic- National Stipendium Program) as Research grantee and appointed Erasmus Lecturer at Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Theoretical Physics and Physics Education- KTFDF. She has been Assistant Professor at Sapienza University of Rome and is Professor at Sapienza University of Rome. She is was Visiting Professor at Kursk State University, Chair of Algebra, Geometry and Didactics of Mathematics Theory within the Program Education in Russia for Foreign Nationals of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in 2022-2023. She has contributed in national conferences and international conferences. She is member of several Research Consortia. She is author of research papers, conference papers, review papers, invited papers and two books. She is reviewer and editorial-board member of several international Journals.

Dr. Borrell is a senior investigator in the Cardiovascular Program at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona. Prior appointments include a postdoctoral position in the Neurology Department of the Curie Institut, Paris, France studying Huntington's disease. She leads a project based in lipoprotein receptors role in cholesterol metabolism. In the recent years she has been developing a project that analyzes the function of PCSK9 beyond its canonical function in cholesterol lowering. These results have been published in different journals including EHJ, BRIC or CVR and lead to the concession of projects financed by both, the government and the industry

Dr. Leighton J Reynolds. I am a neuro-psychoanalyst in private practice in the greater Los Angeles area and nationwide through telemedicine. I am the author of "The Complex Architecture of Traumatic Brain Injuries", a chapter in "Topics in Surgical Trauma" (In Tech Open, March 2023), I am also the author of the book: “The Complex Architecture and Healing of Traumatic Brain Injuries: Listening To The Brain" (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, August 2023), and the author of the novel series "Moon Over Seaville" in 4 Episodes (2021) (Available on Amazon).

Henrique Faneca obtained a master degree in Cell Biology in 2001 and a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 2005 at University of Coimbra. He is Principal Investigator at Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology (CNC) of the University of Coimbra, since November 2016, leading the research group: Nano systems and targeted antitumor strategies. The activity of his research group is essentially focused on the development and characterization of nano systems that allow an efficient and specific delivery of therapeutic agents to target cells; and in the generation of new multi target antitumor strategies, such as those involving the combination of gene therapy and chemotherapy. Henrique Faneca is author of 51 papers in international peer-reviewed journals corresponding to over 2600 citations and to an h-index of 26.

I joined the laboratory of Pr. Andreas Bikfalvi at the University of Bordeaux (INSERM U1029, France) for my PhD where I identified the chemokine receptor CXCR3-A and its ligand CXCL4L1 as a novel signaling pathway essential for brain tumor progression (Boyé K. et al. Nature Comm. 2017, Boyé K. et al. Sci. report 2017). I developed therapeutical strategies using nanoparticles coupled with CXCR3-A inhibitors. However, intravenous delivery of these nanoparticles, like the vast majority of the potential drugs developed for brain pathologies, could not reach their targets behind the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Therefore, I decided to join the laboratory of Pr. Anne Eichmann at the Yale School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow and focused my research on the mechanisms that control BBB integrity. I identified the endothelial transmembrane Unc5B receptor and its ligand Netrin1 as a novel signaling pathway that regulates BBB integrity (Boyé K. et al. Nature Comm. 2022: Furtado et al. 2023 BioRxiv). Inducible endothelial-specific Unc5B deletion in adult mice leads to reduced Wnt/catenin signaling and BBB leak and i.v. delivery of monoclonal antibodies blocking Netrin1 binding to Unc5B causes reversible BBB opening to bioactive molecules. I was selected as a junior group leader in 2022 at the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center (INSERM U970, France). My group intends to develop an innovative and ground-breaking research project aiming at 1) increasing drug delivery into the diseased CNS via "on-demand" opening of CNS barriers and 2) restoring CNS barrier integrity and normalizing vascular functions in a barrier-damaged CNS.

Vakhtang Barbakadze has his expertise in isolation and structure elucidation of a new series of biologically active plant polyethers. He has received PhD degree in Chemistry and DSci degree in Biology in 1978 and 1999, respectively. He is Head of the Department of Plant Biopolymers and Chemical Modification of Natural Compounds at Tbilisi State Medical University I.Kutateladze Institute of Pharmacochemistry. In 1996 and 2002 he has been a visiting scientist at Utrecht University, Departments of Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Chemistry, Utrecht, The Netherlands, by University Scholarship and The Netherlands organization for scientific research (NWO) Scholarship Scientific Program, respectively. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals. In 2004 he was Georgian State Prize Winner in Science and Technology

Prof. Irena Kostova is one of the World's Top 1% of scientists according to Stanford University's ranking of scientists with the greatest contribution to the development of modern science. She has defended PhD and DSc theses at MU-Sofia where she is currently a full professor. Her research interests include the developmental work in medicinal chemistry. Author of about 200 publications with high impact factor and h-index, several textbooks, education book materials, monographs with around 7000 citations in indexed journals. She has been a lecturer at renowned European universities. Member of the organizing committees of over 40 international conferences. She is an Editor of 7 prestigious international scientific journals and a member of the Editorial Boards of over 25 international journals.

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. His research has influenced others to develop nano materials against HIV and cancer. 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 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, an invited editorial contribution to Nature Biomedical Engineering. Leadership in his field is further evidenced by the award of a prestigious US Moderna Global Fellowship (2023-25).

Ana Maria Brezoiu, Assistant Professor Ana Maria Brezoiu was head of promotion as chemical engineer at University Politehnica of Bucharest, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Sciences (2012-2016) and further continued her studies at the same faculty pursuing a Master degree (2016-2018) in Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Products. Afterwards, she did her PhD (2018-2021) on drug delivery systems based on natural compounds valorization. She continued with postdoctoral research regarding the optimization of natural compounds extraction process to obtain complex organic-inorganic systems. Since 2017, she worked on several research projects comprising natural products extraction and valorization in drug delivery systems. She currently works at National Science and Technology University POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnologies teaching chemical engineering courses and applications.

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.