Prof. Dr. Yasmina Mohammed Abd-Elhakim is a Professor in the Forensic Medicine and Toxicology Department in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt. Her major area of expertise is the use of eco-friendly mitigation strategies to combat the hazards of environmental pollutants. Additionally, she has a special interest in the therapeutic uses of arthropods venoms, particularly in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. She has 60 papers in prestigious international journals and 2 book chapters, h-index 19, and more than 1000 citations based on the Scopus database. She reviewed about 870 manuscripts for highly impacted journals in the field of toxicology and environmental pollution based on the Publon database. She has been included in the editorial board of several highly impacted international journals. She received various awards including The Egyptian State Encouragement Award in "Agricultural sciences" in 2019, the Publons peer reviewer award as a Top Reviewers for Pharmacology & Toxicology in 2018 and 2019, and the international publication's award from Zagazig University (2015-2019).
Dr. Nitin Amdare is a Staff Scientist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His primary research interest is to contribute significantly to identifying and characterizing the specific human auto-antigen peptides of potential clinical relevance recognized by HLA-restricted islet-infiltrating CD8 T cells, which could facilitate the development of antigen-specific strategies that identify those most likely to be therapeutic targets and markers of pathogenic autoimmunity.
Dr. Claudio Andaloro is MD at Department of Surgery, Otolaryngology Unit, Latisana-Palmanova Hospital, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale (ASUFC), Udine, Italy. His research interests focus on rhinology, laryngology, pediatric otolaryngology and sleep medicine.
Tanya Camacho-Villegas is a Researcher for Mexico in the Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Unit, CIATEJ, A.C., located in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico (2014-present). She is a member of the Mexican National System of Researchers level I. She works in recombinant protein design, cloning, and production (batch and bioreactor scale). She specializes in phage display for isolating single-domain antibodies such as vNAR´s or peptide isolation with diagnostic applications. Recently, she used the vNAR as an immuno-carrier for NPs for theranostics applications for breast cancer and glioblastomas as models.
She has received a BSc in Biology from the Science Faculty, UABC (2004) and a Marine Biotechnology MSc in CICESE (2007) focusing on the selection and validation of vNARs with anti-cytokines properties as candidates for TNFalpha and VEGF165 neutralizing in humans disorders.
She has received a PhD in Molecular Ecology and Biotechnology from the Marine Science Faculty at UABC (2012). She received a distinction in the Ph.D. dissertation
and fellowships from CONAHCYT for MSc, Ph.D., and Postdoc studies. She was the leader of four projects related to biotechnology companies. She was the author of patents related to vNAR as anti-cytokines or immuno-carriers for drug delivery.
Head of Section, Allergy and Clinical Immunology at National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College and Honorary Consultant Physician in Allergy and Respiratory Medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital London. The immediate Past President of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Member Steering Committee and head of Allergy Consortium, Immune Tolerance Network/NIAID, USA.
I am a biostatistician in the Biostatistics Centre at the University of Otago, a role I have held since 2004. Most of my work involves collaborating on a wide range of research projects in the health sciences, particularly in paediatric obesity, sleep, and physical activity; respiratory epidemiology, mostly asthma and COPD; dentistry; and health systems. I also work on statistical methods research, mostly topics inspired by these collaborations.
Prior to my current position I was a software metrics and machine learning researcher in the Department of Information Science at the same institution.
Jorge Kalil is Professor of Clinical Immunology and Allergy and Director of the Laboratory of Immunology at the Heart Institute (InCor), School of Medicine, University of São Paulo (FMUSP), Brazil. He is Adjunct Professor at the George Washington University, DC, USA, and at the Case Westen University, Cleveland. He represents Latin America in the scientific advisory board of the International Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), an UNO Institution since 2013 and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences since 1995. Since 2001, he coordinates iii-Institute for Investigative Immunology, a National Institute linked to the Ministry of Science and Technology, in Brazil. In addition, he co-chairs the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies - FOCIS Center of Excellence in São Paulo and member of the Council of the USP Pasteur Institute’s board since 2018. He is member of the DSMB/NIH for analyses of phase 3 clinical trials of vaccines anti COVID supported by the US government and board member of COVAX, a WHO/GAVI/CEPI initiative to selecting and buying COVID vaccines to distribute to the world. Kalil graduated in Medicine in Brazil (1977), has a Master’s degree in Immunology and Immunogenetics and is Doctor of Science in Human Biology. He is currently developing vaccines against COVID-19 Streptococcus, HIV, Dengue and Zika in advanced scientific stage.
Main research Interests:
A) Asthma is a major cause of morbidity in the Western world but curative therapies do not exist. Hence, we aim to understand how early life environmental exposures modify lung development development and the risk of developing asthma throughout life. We use animal models of prenatal exposure to tobacco/nicotine products and human samples.
B) The importance of a steady-state balance of resident and non-resident bacterial communities for human health is increasingly appreciated. Yet, factors driving the composition of such microbial communities remain poorly understood. Therefore, we currently investigate the influence of smoke on the structure and functionality of the lung microbiome and its interaction with the lung health.
Currently Funded Projects
2012 – 2016 Chair of COST Action BM1201 “Developmental origins of Chronic Lung Disease” http://www.cost-early-origin-cld.eu/
2013 – 2016 Understanding the role of the lung microbiome for human health and diseases”, HMGU Environmental Health Projects, Co-PI until move to University of Kiel; Project currently continued on a collaborative basis.
Since 2013 – 2018 PI within German Center for Lung Research www.dzl.de
2016 - 2018 Chair of “The lung Microbiota at the Interface between airway epithelium and the environment” funded by the Leibniz Association
Davor Plavec, MD, MSc, PhD, is Professor of Occupational Health and Sports Medicine. Born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1962, Prof. Plavec graduated in 1987, and received his master's degree in 1991, and his doctorate in 1999 at the Medical Faculty, University of Zagreb. In 2004 he specialized in occupational medicine, and in 2009 he became the Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek. In 2013 he specialized in sports medicine, and in 2019 became Full Professor within the Faculty of Medicine in Osijek. Prof. Plavec is Lecturer at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zagreb (study in English) and at the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health in Osijek. Since 2005 he has been working at the Srebrnjak Children's Hospital as an Assistant Director for the quality of health care, and Head of the Research department where his field of work is improving the quality of health care, clinical research, sports medicine, allergy, pulmonology and cardiopulmonary function diagnostics. He is a member of a number of professional societies of the Croatian Medical Association in which he has held or is holding responsible positions for several terms, as well as the European Respiratory Society and the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology. During his scientific and professional work, he has published more than 300 publications, of which more than 110 articles are in peer-reviewed journals with more than 2000 citations.
Vice President and Head of the Division of Allergology, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany. Professor of Food Chemistry, Faculty of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Member of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immonology. Member of the German Chemical Society and the German Food Chemisty Society. Chairman of the International Union of Immunological Societies Allergen Standardization Subcommittee.