Pieter R. Cullis, Ph.D. Director, Life Sciences Institute, University of British Columbia; Co-Chair, Personalized Medicine Initiative; Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Director, NanoMedicines Research Group, UBC. Dr. Cullis and co-workers have been responsible for fundamental advances in the generation, loading and targeting of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems for intravenous delivery of small molecule drugs and macromolecular drugs such as small interfering RNA (siRNA). This work has contributed to three LNP products that have been approved by regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Europe for the treatment of cancer and its complications and five more that have finished Phase I clinical studies. Dr. Cullis co-founded Lipex Biomembranes Inc., Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, Northern Lipids Inc., and, most recently, Acuitas Therapeutics and Precision NanoSystems. In addition, he co-founded and was Scientific Director of the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) 2004-2010. He has published over 300 scientific articles and is an inventor on over 40 patents. Dr. Cullis has received many awards, including the B.C. Science Council Gold Medal for Health Sciences in 1991, the Alec D. Bangham Award for contributions to liposome science and technology in 2000 and the B.C. Biotechnology Association award for Innovation and Achievement in 2002. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2004, received the Leadership Award of the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 2010 and was awarded the Prix Galien, Canada’s premier prize for achievements in pharmaceutical R&D, in 2011.

Roles of lipids in biological membranes and the use of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems to deliver conventional and genetic drugs. Research interests in LNP systems can be divided into three parts: The delivery of small molecule drugs, particularly those used in cancer chemotherapy, with the aim of increasing efficacy and reducing toxicity. The delivery of LNP encapsulated immunostimulatory oligonucleotides to cells of the immune system, as an adjuvant for the immunotherapy of infectious and malignant disease. The design of LNP systems capable of effectively delivering macromolecules such as nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) to target cells in vivo following systemic administration.

Dr. Mohapatra is a Distinguished Health Professor, Associate Dean at the College of Pharmacy, Vice Chair of Research for Internal Medicine, Director of the Translational Medicine-USF Nanomedicine Research Center at the University of South Florida, and a Research Career Scientist at the James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa, Florida. Mohapatra is recognized nationally and internationally for his expertise in the field of nanoscale biomedical diagnostics and therapeutics in cancers, asthma, viral infections, and traumatic brain injury. His inventions led to several customized cell-targeted nanoparticles with diverse drug payloads and a nano-HIV detection kit. Mohapatra cofounded TransGenex Nanobiotech Inc. (TGN), which specializes in manufacturing these nanoscale products. TGN is also commercializing products for 3D cancer cell culture technology and services for anti-cancer drug discovery and personalized cancer treatment (PCTx) and is establishing a Reference Lab for PCTx to provide guidance for personalized therapy. Mohapatra has received more than $20 million in extramural funds including funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), DOA, ONR, VA Merit Review Award and Florida Department of Health. He received the Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship (Germany) and Pharmacia Allergy Research Foundation Award (Sweden) and is the recipient of numerous awards in biotechnology, the Sigma XI award, TBTF Technology Leadership Award and Global Corporate Award in Nanotechnology in 2014. He has published more than 160 papers, some in journals such as Nature Medicine, and has 22 U.S. patents, 3 foreign patents, and numerous pending patent applications. He is a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Mohapatra was inducted to the Florida Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 2014.

Immunology and inflammation in allergic, immunologic and infectious viral diseases and cancers. The current research programs include: molecular biology and genetics of IgE responsiveness, molecular mechanisms of virus infection, development of prophylactic/therapeutic gene transfer, development of genetic antivirals, molecular basis of genetic predisposition to inflammatory diseases and application of nanotechnology to biomedicine.

Professor Zhou completed his clinical medical training in China in 1989 and obtained his PhD in 2001 from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. He continued his postdoctoral training at the University of Auckland until November 2002. Since 2002, Dr Zhou has served as a faculty member for the National University of Singapore, Queensland University of Technology (Australia), RMIT University (Australia), and now University of South Florida. Professor Zhou has published more than 330 peer-reviewed papers, 16 books and book chapters and more than 310 conference abstracts. His work has been cited more than 8,600 times by other colleagues with a H-index of 46. He has received more than US$22.0 million grants from various funding bodies and industries. To date, he has trained 24 PhD students, 12 MSc/Honors students, 14 postdoctoral fellows and 25 visiting faculty. Dr Zhou serves as an editor-in-chief or editor for 16 journals including Drug, Healthcare and Patient Safety, Drug Metabolism Letters, and Current Drug Metabolism and is the editorial board member of more than 50 medical and pharmacological journals. Dr Zhou is presently a Professor, Associate Vice President of Global Medical Development, Associate Dean of International Research, and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy & Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Dr Zhou’s major research interests are drug discovery/systems pharmacology, drug metabolism/drug transport & pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenomics/pharmacogenetics, nanomedicine and Chinese medicine.

Dr. Gabriel Lopez-Berestein is a Professor of Medicine and Experimental Therapeutics and John Q. Gaines Professor for Cancer Research He also serves as Associate Director, The Center for RNAi and non-coding RNA, MD Anderson Cancer Center and is Professor of Nanomedicine and Biomedical Engineering UT Health. He obtained his MD from the University of Navarra, Spain and completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at the San Juan City Hospital in Puerto Rico. He completed a Fellowship in Developmental Therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1981. He rose rapidly through the ranks and became Professor of Cancer Medicine in 1990. He is internationally known for his research pertaining to development of nanomedical applications that has resulted in more than 350 patents at different stages of development and more than 350 publications. Dr. Lopez has developed more than 10 anticancer and antifungal drugs from bench to clinic with one of them already approved by the FDA. He has received multiple awards and is actively involved in educational activities.

His research efforts concentrate on the monocyte-macrophage biology and on the development of nanoliposomes and nanoparticles for the delivery of siRNA to target major signaling pathways in cancer and cardiovascular diseases. For the last 30 years Dr.Lopez-Berestein has been studying different aspects of the monocyte-macrophage biology, nanomedical applications in cancer in particular delivery of nucleic acids in nanoparticles.

Dr. Lacko is a professor in the department of molecular biology and immunology, and is also a member of the Institute for Cancer Research. Andras completed his education at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and at the University of Washington, Seattle WA, where he obtained a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry in 1968. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, he continued his research at the Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia PA and at Temple University Health Science Center, Philadelphia, PA. In 1975, he took a position of Associate Professor at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine/North Texas State University in Fort Worth/Denton. He has received several awards, including a fellowship and studentship at the National Research Council of Canada Fellowship, a post-doctoral fellowship with the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lacko is a member of several professional societies, including the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Heart Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published over 100 articles and has given numerous presentations at international meetings and Academic institutions around the world. He organized four international meetings on high density lipoproteins and reverse cholesterol transport.

Dr. Lacko’s research has changed to develop and characterize novel reconstituted high density lipoprotein-based drug delivery system. Most of his research has involved the structure/function and metabolism of plasma lipoproteins, key components of cholesterol transport. His research interest has been focused on using synthetic lipoproteins as drug carriers, particularly for cancer chemotherapy.

Dr. Grigoriadis has authored or co-authored over 150 journal and proceeding articles, 3 book chapters, and two books (Actuator Saturation Control, Marcel Dekker, New York, 2003, and A Unified Algebraic Approach to Linear Control Design, Taylor & Francis, 1998). He has organized several invited sessions, workshops and short-courses at national and international conferences, and he has been in the Editorial Board of international journals and international conference committees in the systems and controls area. He is the recipient of several national and university awards including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Society of Automotive Engineers Ralph Teetor Award, a Bill Cook Scholar Award, a Herbert Allen Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Young Engineer and multiple Research Excellence and Teaching Excellence Awards. Currently he is a Professor in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and director of, Aerospace Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Univ. of Houston.

Dr. Grigoriadis research has been focusing on the development of systematic methods for control systems design subject to practical implementation limitations, such as, time delays, controller order, saturation constraints and fault accommodations. He has worked on multiple research projects sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation, NASA, the U.S. Army, and aerospace and automotive companies. Dr. Grigoriadis along with colleugues is working to develop a system that automatically delivers lifesaving medications and fluids to the cardiovascular system for resuscitation after traumatic injury.

Chun Li, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Cancer Systems Imaging at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Research in Dr. Li’s laboratory is primarily focused on two areas: 1) the development of targeted imaging probes for noninvasive characterization of molecular events associated with tumor progression and regression and 2) the development of novel drug-delivery systems for selective delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents. A polymer-drug conjugate (PG-TXL) originated from his laboratory has advanced into clinical phase III trials studies. Dr. Li, who earned his doctorate in chemistry at Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey and his undergraduate degree from Peking University in Beijing, has more than 120 papers published in peer-reviewed journals, 1 edited book, and 28 patents.

Research interest is primarily focused on two areas: 1) the development of targeted imaging probes for noninvasive characterization of molecular events associated with tumor progression and regression and 2) the development of novel drug-delivery systems for selective delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents.

Professor Cai received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1986 and his Masters of Science in Organic Chemistry in 1989 from the South China University of Technology. In 1996 Cai received his Ph.D. from ETHZurich in Carbohydrate synthesis and was awarded with ETH Medal and Prize for Excellent Ph.D. Dissertation. Cai was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Quantum Electronics, ETH – Zurich in 1996-1999. In 2000, he began teaching at the University of Houston as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry and in 2006 he became an Associate Professor in Chemistry and the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston. Professor Cai was honoured with NSF Early Faculty career Award in 2004. Professor Cai is currently Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Co-Director of the Chemical Biology Interdisciplinary Program and Director of the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory in University of Houston.

Research interests include Organic synthesis, dendrimers, organic thin films, surface reactions, AFM, bio-fouling, protein nanoarrays, AFM tip modification, nanoparticles, and biomaterials.

Professor Kumar did his PhD in drug delivery from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (formerly University of Roorkee), India in 2000. He was a postdoctoral fellow at University of Kentucky from 2000-2002 and consecutively an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at Saarland University, Germany for one year. From Sept 2003-Dec 2007 he was an assistant professor with National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali, India. Dr. Kumar served as the Professor of Drug Delivery at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde. Dr. Ravi Kumar is a Recipient of British Pharmaceutical Conference Science Medal by Royal Pharmaceutical Society Great Britain (2009); Tom Gibson Memorial Award by British Society of Plastic Surgeons & the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (2008) and INSA Young Scientist Medal by Indian National Science Academy (2007). Currently he is a professor in the Texas A&M Rangel College of Pharmacy.

Working at the interface of Pharmaceutical and biomaterial sciences at the nano- or macro-scale to prevent, manage or treat diseases using drugs or drug like compounds or their combinations.