Dr. Gang Zhang got his Ph. D. from Shandong Normal University and Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, majoring on the study of mouse pronuclear exchange and nuclear transfer in 2005. Then, he worked as a Postdoc Fellow at the Department of Cell and Systems Biology (2005-2007), and then moved to the Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases as a Research Technician II (2008-2012), University of Toronto, Canada. During this period, his research mainly focused on Parkinson disease, which included the differentiation of neural stem cells into dopamine neurons, and the molecular mechanism of Parkinson disease. Particularly, he developed a new method, designated as “Combinatorial Strategy” to clone different plasmid vectors with various clone sites, and also optimized the protocols of lentiviral transduction to establish stable transgene cell lines efficiently. Now, he is a Research Associate at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University.

Gene Engineering, Transgene & Pathology: Lentiviral vector construction, production, titration, transduction, protein function analysis, various molecular cloning and PCR, site-directed mutagenesis, Western blotting, mechanism of Parkinson Disease, etc.

Dr. DasSarma received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA in 1984 and conducted postdoctoral training from 1984-86 at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. He served on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst from 1986 until 2001. During this time, Dr. DasSarma was a pioneered in genetic research on extremely halophilic microorganisms and his group led the first genome project on a halophilic Archaea, Halobacterium sp. NRC-1. In 2001, his group moved to the University of Maryland, where he has continued post-genomic, bioinformatic, and biotechnological investigations of halophilic Archaea. In Maryland, he also founded the PhD Track in Molecular Genetics, Genomics, and Bioinformatics in the Graduate Program in Life Science at the School of Medicine. Dr. DasSarma has published more than 100 papers, edited the Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory Manual, Halophiles, and is currently Co-Editor-In-Chief of the BioMed Central journal, Aquatic Biosystems.

Shiladitya DasSarma research interests include broadly the fields of microbiology, genomics, and biotechnology of Archaea. He utilizes model systems to study fundamental processes, such as DNA replication, transcription, and gene regulation, in order to understand the remarkable ability of Archaea to survive in a wide range of environments, from the human micro biome to novel extreme environments. He also developed bioinformatics tools and databases for genome annotation, comparative genomics, and global gene regulation studies.

Shunyuan Xiao is an associate professor of the Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Research, and the Department of Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland College Park. He received his bachelor (1984), master (1987) and doctor degree (1992) in plant genetics from Huazhong (Central China) Agricultural University. After  postdoctoral research at University of Florida and University of East Anglia, UK, he joined the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute as an assistant professor in 2003. 

The long-term goal of Dr. Xiao′s research is to understand the molecular basis of plant innate immunity and engineer broad-spectrum and durable disease resistance in crop plants.  Current research in his lab is focused on understanding how the broad-spectrum resistance protein RPW8 directs defence to the host-pathogen interface and on engineering interface-focused resistance by using RPW8 as a delivery vehicle. 

As a staff scientist, he has support to a multifunctional, multidisciplinary, biotechnology–based laboratory. His major emphasis is on characterizing the microbial diversity of communities associated with spacecraft outbound from Earth and the clean-room facilities in which they are assembled. He have applied my scientific expertise and bioinformatics knowledge to decipher the microbial ecology of diverse and extreme environmental niches encompassing spacecraft assembly clean rooms, stratospheric air samples, high altitude caves, hydrothermal vents and human gut to name few. He is the main bioinformatician for group at JPL for the generation and curation of a comprehensive sequence database. A significant advantage of this database is its application to industries and disciplines outside of astrobiology in particular, and NASA in general. Instrumental in designing and managing, he is developing a computational model for Predictive risk assessment of spacecraft contamination based on this database.

PMA-Microarray to measure viable bacterial population, Resistance of Spacecraft Isolates to Outer Space for Planetary Protection Purposes, Predictive Risk Assessment of Spacecraft Contamination with Computational Modeling, Genomic inventory of spacecraft associated components of Mars missions: Mars Planetary Protection-JPL.

Aijie Wang, a Professor in State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, is the Director of Joint Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Harbin Institute of Technology, China. She also has an Adjunct Professor position in Oklahoma University, USA. She had received her PhD in Harbin Institute of Technology, China and Post-doc in Michigan State University, USA. By far, she had received 3 National Science & Technology Awards and 6 provincial Science & Technology Awards in the field of wastewater treatment and bioenergy. She is serving as an editorial board member of reputed journals (e.g. Applied & Environmental Microbiology and J. of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology), Guest Editor of International Journal of Environment and Pollution, and reviewer of 7 journals (Environmental Science & Technology, Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Bioresource Technology, Journal of Hazardous Marterial, et al.).

Waste water/waste cascade bioconversion and waste-to-bioenergy, novel technologies and principles for swage/waste water biotreatment, and on-line/ off-line activated sludge reduction and sludge-to-biochar technologies. 

Dr. Dawen Gao is an associate professor at the Northeast Forestry University in Harbin, China. January 2006-2007, he spent a year at Stanford as a visiting scholar in Professor Criddle’s research group. He received his M.S. in Environmental Engineering, and Ph.D. in Municipal Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology. His current research focuses on the fouling of membrane bioreactors (MBRs), including anaerobic and aerobic membrane bioreactors, investigating the relationship between the production of foulants and microbial community structure in MBRs, and the effects of changing bioreactor operational conditions to select against microbial populations that generate membrane foulants.

Wastewater treatment by environmental biotechnology.
Molecular biologic techniques for characterizing environmental microbial community.
Bioprocesses and bioremediation of soils and sediments with POPs.

Genetic improvement of the productivity and activity of the products from microorganisms are the main goals. To achieve such goals, the induction of mutation with physical and chemical mutagens is carried. From different genetic variabilities induced by mutagens, the highly producer isolates more than the originally strain will be selected. Moreover, protoplast fusion is one of the efficient method by which the chromosomal DNA fragment from one cell is transferred to suitable host cell. This technique involves two steps; 1- Successful conversion of the cells into protoplasts by digesting away the cell wall by carbohydrase enzymes. 2- Transferring genetic material to host strain either by PEG/CaCl2 or electroporation. Since protoplast fusion technology has been used in several of biotechnology, this technique will be adopted in order to construct new recombinants contain the genetic constitutions responsible for increasing the product productivity and activity. Finally, genetic engineering protocols are the efficient way to produce genetically manipulated microorganisms when the molecular information about the gene(s) under study is available.

Applied microbial genetics.
Isolation & identification of microorganisms by genetic methods.
Genetic improvement of microorganisms.
Genetic engineering of microorganisms.
Genetic basis of biotransformation by microorganisms.
Genetic basis of biosorption by microorganisms.
Genetic basis of biodegradation by microorganisms.

Dr. Hesham, graduated from Genetics department, Assiut University, He got his M.Sc in microbial genetics from Assiut University, and his PhD degree from Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, CAS in Microbial Genetics and Environmental Meta-Genome Biotechnology. He is Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board member and reviewer of some international journals with high impact factors. He is interested in Molecular Biology, Environmental Meta-Genome Biotechnology, Microbial Ecology, Microbial Genetics (Isolation, identification and sequencing), wastewater treatment, Biodegradation and bioremediation. He is expert in Molecular Genetics and biotechnological techniques (Clone library, RFLP, RAPD, sequencing, phylogenetic, florescent in situ hybridization (FISH), PCR-DGGE, MPN-PCR, reverse transcriptase PCR, real time PCR (RT-PCR) & Monitoring functional catabolic genes and the approaches to link diversity with function in the environment). He has published from 2006-2012 about 25 papers on Biodegradation and Environment Meta-Genomics.

Industrial Microbiology and biofuel.
Soil microbiology and enzyme activity.
Microbial Genetics and molecular biology.
Meta-Genomics and environmental biotechnology.
Biodegradation and catabolic genes.
Wastewater treatment and sludge bulking.

Magdi Ali Ahmed Mousa received B.Sc degree in 1993 on Agriculture Science (Major Horticulture/Vegetables), M.Sc in 1998 on Vegetable Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut Univ, Egypt. Got a joint PhD Awarded in 2004 on Molecular genetics from Horticulture department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut Univ and the Federal Center for Breeding Research in Cultivated Plants (now JKI), Germany.

Plant resistance/Tolerance to abiotic stress, Plant genome/climate change interaction, Utilizing Molecular biology and Tissue culture techniques in plant breeding programs.

Chia-Yuan Chang, an Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Taiwan. He also has an Adjunct Professor position in Wuhan University of Science and Technology, China. He received his PhD from National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan in 1995. His research interests mainly include wastewater treatment, water reuse resource recovery and bio-energy production using membrane and biological technologies, especially membrane bioreactor (MBR). His design and operating protocols of MBR have been applied to full-scale installations for the treatment of industrial wastewaters and water reuse by local and oversea companies. Dr. Chang has published more than 100 articles.

His research interests mainly include wastewater treatment, water reuse resource recovery and bio-energy production using membrane and biological technologies, especially membrane bioreactor (MBR).

Subhash Bhore, PhD: Studied Botany at University of Pune (Pune, India) and Genetics at UKM, Malaysia. In 2009, he was nominated for the AASIO Young Scientist Award. He currently serves as Associate Professor (of Plant Biotechnology) at AIMST University, Malaysia. He has published more than 30 (indexed) papers, and submitted about 11,000 DNA sequences in GenBank, and got more than 8 awards/fellowships. He is actively involved in research as well as teaching and advising of students.

His research interest includes:
•    Plant gene expression and its regulation
•    Genetic engineering of plants
•    Gene annotation and gene bioinformatics
•    Generation of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) to understand gene expression
•    DNA markers and their applications
•    16S rRNA gene based identification of bacteria
•    Plant tissue culture and mass production of plantlets, and
•    Bacterial endophytes and their applications.
 

Luca Galluzzi received his PhD at the University of Urbino (Italy) in 2001 after research experiences at INSERM U409 (Paris, France) and Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN). Since then, he conducted postdoctoral activities at Research Institute for Genetic and Human Therapy (RIGHT), Pavia (Italy) and at the section of Biotechnology, University of Urbino. Since 2009 he is a researcher at the section of Biotechnology of University of Urbino. From 2004 to 2011, he was a contract professor of Molecular and Recombinant Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Urbino, and since 2011 he is a professor of Advanced Biological Technologies at the same Faculty. Dr. Galluzzi has published more than 30 refereed papers, including two book chapters, and he has been a reviewer for several scientific journals, such as Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Harmful Algae, Journal of Applied Phycology, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Applied & Environmental Microbiology, etc.

Current research interests include: 
The development of new molecular methods for the detection and quantification of microalgae (Haptophyceae, Dinophyceae) in environmental samples, and the study of diatoms for biofuel production.
Characterization of cellular/molecular mechanisms of cytotoxicity elicited by new drug molecules or nanomaterials in mammalian cell cultures.

During my career, I have acquired a background that enables me to coordinate interdisciplinary projects. Although my university background has been in population and evolutionary biology, I have started my career with fourteen years at an Institute of Ecological Entomology (IBEAS). After this, I was a Guest Professor for 14 months at the University of California, Riverside in the Microbiology Laboratory of Prof. Brian Federici in an attempt to develop a research programme on the new virus family (Ascoviridae). After returning to France, from 2000 to 2009, I initiated and developed the project of a research unit with support from the CNRS and the University of Tours ((Laboratoire d’Etude des Parasites Génétiques (FRE CNRS 2535, staff of 8 in 2002), subsequently the Unité: Génétique, Immunothérapie Chimie et Cancer (UMR CNRS 6239, staff of 80 in 2009)). During this period, I was led my own team “Cellules usines, Ingénierie des protéines et Bio-informatique”, and coordinated a European project about production of factory cells with non-viral delivery processes for therapy purposes (SyntheGeneDelivery), five national and international AFM projects, a Region Centre project (POKEYMONDE) in vectorology, a CNRS PICS with the University California Riverside and two sequencing projects with the GENOSCOPE in virology. I was also a partner in two ANR projects (“Modulome: décriptage et modélisation de l′organisation structurale des genomes” and “Ingénierie d′un système de ciblage de l′insertion des transgènes chez le riz en utilisant une protéine hybride constituée d′un domaine spécifique d′interaction à l′ADN et de la transposase mariner Mos1, application à l′amélioration qualitative et quantitative de la production de protéines thérapeutiques par le maïs”). From 2004 to 2009, with backing from the Direction de l′innovation et des relations avec les entreprises of the CNRS and France Innovation Scientifique & Transfert (FIST SA), I developed a research team in competitive intelligence (StrateGICC) that have developed its research as part of UMR CNRS 6239 programmes. Since 2010, I have been working with the Head of the UMR INRA-CNRS 6175 Research Unit to set up a new research team working in genomics and epigenetics and involving physiologists and behaviourists.
I have headed a research team for 12 years, and have been involved in fruitful collaborations with French and international collaborators, as demonstrated by publications and patents, have received several grants, organized meetings and had international responsibilities.
 

Non-viral integrative vectors for any gene delivery purposes.
Genotoxic and epigenomic impact of genetic treatments on the host.
Virology of viruses with large double stranded DNA genome.
Gene transfer in invertebrate species.
Genetic targeting.
Biology and molecular biology of class II DNA tarnsposon.
Transposase biochemistry.
 

Spyridon Ntougias received his BSc Degree Dissertation, Laboratory of Food Chemistry-Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens and Ph.D. Degree, University of London, Wye College, Department of Biological Sciences (Supervisor: Professor N. J. Russell, Imperial College).

Dr. Ntougias research interests include the microbial systematics, the molecular identification of microbial communities, the wastewater treatment and the biodegradation of toxic compounds.

Dr. Kamel Ahmed Abd-Elsalam  has received his PhD in Molecular Plant Pathology, Suez Canal University during the period of 2004. Currently, he is working as Researcher in Biotechnology Lab, Plant Pathology Research Institute (PPathRI) Agricultural Research Center (A.R.C). He has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities as Assistant Researcher (Pathological and Biochemical studies on Flax Rust in Egypt). He is a member of Egyptian Phytopathological Society, Egypt.

His primary research interest is in understanding the genetic diversity of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum. Use of molecular methods for analysis of genetic variation and population dynamics of fungal pathogen populations, phylogenetic studies and development of molecular diagnostic tools for detection and diagnosis of fungal pathogens. Techniques such as AFLP, PCR-RFLP, RAPD, UP-PCR, DNA-sequencing. Currently, we are developing fluorescent diagnostic primers and probes with the utilization of Real-Time PCR techniques.

Mohammad Al-Haggar is working as a professor of pediatrics and Neurogenetics at Mansoura University, Egypt.He has mastered the diagnosis and management of congenital syndromes, chromosomal aberrations (numerical and structural) and child dysmorphology with multiple discipline management since 1989 in the outpatient clinics of Mansoura University Children\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\s Hospital and Italian genetic research centers. He is serving as reviewer and editor for many reputed national and international journals. He is holding memberships in many of the reputed international research institutions and has received many awards and honors for research activities. 

Special interest is in the domain of molecular genetics, mutation analysis and biostatistics. 

 Dr Shyam Reddy carriedout his Ph.D. work at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India.Dr Reddy received First Margaret Memorial award, UK to carryout research at NIH. He obtained postdoctoral training in molecular biology at Yale University.Dr Reddy joined Drexel university/ Hahnemann University (1996) as Professor and Director, Division of Cancer Genetics.  He received GCC Distinguished Cancer Scholar award from the Governor of Georgia to carryout this cancer research work.

Function Based Therapeutic Strategies to Human cancers,Study of the Functional Role of ETS-fusion genes in Prostate cancer, Ewing Sarcoma, Breast cancer, Melanoma and leukemias.

 Dr. Alan Prem Kumar earned his Ph.D. from University of North Texas, USA. From his Ph.D. work, he discovered a novel regulatory protein, PyrR for the pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway in Pseudomonas. Because pyrimidine biosynthesis is an essential step in the progression of secondary Pseudomonas infections, PyrR presents an attractive anti-pseudomonal drug target. Dr. Kumar then pursued Postdoctoral training in Cancer Research at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, California, USA. He was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship for his work on the role of nuclear receptors in the transcriptional regulation of human myeloperoxidase, a leukocyte enzyme implicated as causative agent in atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Kumar relocated back to Singapore to join the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore as an independent Principal Investigator to continue on his expertise on nuclear receptor and cancer biology. His current research interest includes the role of nuclear receptors involved in the regulation of target genes and to elucidate mechanism and associated signal pathways. Another area of interest is to have a greater understanding of these nuclear receptors –aimed at developing newer selective PPAR gamma modulators, drugs with more potent activity and less toxicity. Towards this end, Dr. Kumar identified a series of 21 structurally new PPAR gamma activators by computer-aided drug design using a combination of ligand-based and structure-based approaches. In collaboration with GenoMed, Inc, USA, he has recently identified a new tyrosine kinase involved in the progression of ovarian, breast, and prostate cancers. Inhibitors were developed against this kinase using computer-aided drug design. In-silico filters were used to eliminate drug compounds with undesirable absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicological (ADMET) properties. His goal is to use these drugs to demonstrate its effectiveness in a variety of cancer cell lines, mouse xenograft, with intent to a pilot clinical trial here in Singapore. Over the years, Dr. Kumar and his laboratory have forged relationships with scientists in cancer research and with cancer advocacy groups in Singapore.

 My primary research focuses in the areas of signaling by nuclear receptors and oncogenes as well as the development of molecular therapeutics and biomarkers of drug action in human breast cancer. We recently identified a novel oncogene that regulates a key pathway controlling cell proliferation, migration and drug resistance in breast, prostate, gastric, and colon cancers. Current research also focuses on developing therapeutic strategies to target this marker with the ultimate aim of conducting translational studies in patients.

Hiroyuki Tomiyama holds both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees. He serves as an Associate Professor and the Head of Molecular Genetics Team, Department of Neurology and Department of Neuroscience for Neurodegenerative Disorders, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo, Tokyo. Tomiyama has previously served at the First Department of Internal Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.  He serves as editorial board of two international journals.

 His areas of expertise include neurodegenerative disorders, Parkinson\'s disease, genetics, clinical genetics, and genetic counseling.

 Joseph C. Glorioso began his career at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MA, USA (1976–1989), where he became Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. He subsequently moved to the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsvurgh, USA, where he served as Chair and the McElroy Professor of Biochemistry until 2009. He is a former president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and serves as the American Editor of Gene Therapy. Dr Glorioso’s research focuses on molecular genetic aspects of herpes simplex virus (HSV) pathogenesis and the development of HSV gene vectors for treatment of chronic pain, neuropathy and cancer. 

 Dr. Glorioso has spent his career studying the molecular biology of herpes simplex virus (HSV) and the last 20 years developing HSV gene vectors. For example, Dr. Glorioso is a leader in the development of gene vectors for treatment of in vitro and in vivo models of cancer (e.g. glioblastoma multiforme, GBM) and for treatment of peripheral nervous system diseases such as chronic pain. Throughout his career, Dr. Glorioso has many times entered new fields of study successfully moving from HSV immunology into gene therapy and then into cancer and neurobiology becoming expert, for example in pain biology and most recently studies of Huntington disease. 

 Dr Celestial Yap is an Associate Professor in the Laboratory of Cytoskeleton and tumour biology at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore. She has lots of publications in peer reviewed journals. She is a recipient of awards like UK-Singapore Partners in Science Collaboration Award, NUS Overseas Graduate Scholarship etc.

Prof. Ram I. Mahato has received his PhD in Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery, University of Strathclyde Glasgow, UK, during the period  of 1992.Currently,  he is working as Professor and Chair in University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. He has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities as Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis.He is serving as an editorial member of several reputed journals. He has authored 66 research articles and 8 books.

Research is focused on Micelle and Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery; Oligonucleotides, siRNA, miRNA, shRNA and Gene Delivery; Synthesis of Novel Polymers, Lipopeptides, Lipopolymers and Cationic Lipids; Construction of Plasmid and Adenovirus-based Gene and shRNA Expression Systems.