Current Bioactive Compounds

Dr. Adriano Mollica is an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Univ. "G. d' Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, Italy and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Since 2013, he is a member of the Board of the Ph.D. program "Biomol. and Pharm. Sciences" and a Tutor of several Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows. His research interests are focused on opioid peptides, neurodegeneration, treatment of chronic and neuropathic pain, multi-target compounds, and nutraceuticals. He is a co-author of 82 papers published in international journals, one European Patent and one Italian Patent. He is currently the "Editor in Chief" of "Current Bioactive Compounds", and an Editorial Board Member of Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry and of Protein & Peptide Letters.

Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary is a Distinguished National Professor of Organic Chemistry and Director at International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research). He is among the most prominent scientists of Pakistan, recognized for his original contributions in the fields of natural products and bioorganic chemistry. He has written and edited 50 books, most of which have been published in USA and Europe. He is also the author of over 900 research papers and chapters in top international science journals of the West, as well as 43 US patents. The cumulative impact factor of his publications is over 1,750. This is by far the largest number of quality publications from any scientist in Pakistan. He has been among the most cited scientists of Pakistan in last five years with citations exceeding 11,000 (h-Index: 41).

Dr. Fenniri received all his degrees from the Université de Strasbourg, France. After postdoctoral training from the Scripps Research Institute, he moved to Purdue University, where he initiated his independent academic career, and established the Purdue Laboratory for Chemical Nanotechnology in 1999. In 2003, he joined the National Research Council and the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB, Canada) as Professor of Chemistry (2003-2013). Dr. Fenniri is currently a Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA. Dr. Fenniri’s contributions in over 220 publications, 20 patents and patent applications, and over 450 contributed national and international conference papers. Dr. Fenniri has also lectured extensively around the globe and he has been an invited professor at several institutes and universities.

Prof. Dr. Haroon Khan has obtained the degree of B. Pharm in 1999, M. Phil in 2005, and PhD in 2011 from the Department of Pharmacy, University of Peshawar. He started his career as a lecturer from the Gandhara College of Pharmacy, Gandhara University, Peshawar and currently he is a Professor of Pharmacy in the Department of Pharmacy, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan. He has almost 8 to 9 years of experience in pharmacy teaching, research and professional expertise in various fields of pharmaceutical sciences. Dr. Khan has 258 publications, including research, review, and editorial in various national and international reputable journals with considerable impact factor, while several others are submitted or in the process of submission. His research focus is phytomedicines including phytopharmacological and phytochemical investigations of extracts/isolated compounds in collaboration with numerous national and international research groups. He is also holding various editorial positions including Consulting Editor, Associate Editor, Regional Editor and Section Editor of various international journals. Prof. Khan has already edited a book with Elsevier publisher and written numerous book chapters for different international publishers. Additionally, he is supervising many post- graduate scholars in various research projects.

Dr. Peter Langer is a Professor of Preparative Organic Chemistry at the University of Rostock. After graduating from high school in 1988, he studied Chemistry during 1989 to 1993 from the University of Hanover and graduated as a Chemist. This was followed by doctoral studies in 1994–1997, his dissertation was entitled “Regio- and diastereoselective synthesis of nitrogen-containing natural product fragments, supramolecular heterocyclic structures and china alkaloids.” From 1997–1998, he went to the University of Cambridge (England) as a postdoctoral fellow. After being appointed as a Professor at the University of Greifswald in 2001, he became a Professor of Bio-organic Chemistry in Greifswald during 2002 to 2004. Since 2004, he has been a Professor of Preparative Organic Chemistry at the University of Rostock and Head of the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis (LIKAT). His research topics include Natural and active ingredient synthesis, heterocycles, carbohydrates, new cyclization reactions and Organosilicon, and Organofluorchemie.

Ian Macreadie obtained his Ph.D. in yeast genetics and molecular biology from the Monash University followed by a Post-Doc from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas, followed by a 24 year career at CSIRO, Division of Protein Chemistry, Parkville. Currently, he works at RMIT University where he coordinates courses on Industrial Microbiology and Protein Technologies, while continuing research on chemoprevention of Alzheimer’s disease. He is the author of 140 research publications and six patents and has received numerous awards throughout his career. He is the Editor of Microbiology Australia since 2006 and has chaired two international conferences in Melbourne.

Prof. Antonello Santini received his Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the University of Napoli Federico II. He is a Faculty member of the Department of Pharmacy, University of Napoli Federico II, Italy. He teaches Food Chemistry: Food Chemistry and Analysis of Food and Nutraceuticals. His research areas of interests include Nutraceuticals; Food Chemistry; Food contaminants; Mycotoxins and secondary metabolites; Food analysis; Chemistry and food education. Prof. Santini has published more than 110 papers in peer-reviewed reputed international Journals. He is a Referee for many international reputed peer-reviewed Journals. Besides, he has been the Editor in Chief of Food Science and Technology Letters and Journal of Food Research since 2012.

Prof. Ermias Dagne, did PhD in 1972 from the University of California, USA. He is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry. He received a number of prizes and awards, such as Haile Sellasie Prize Trust Scholar, University of California, SF, Long Foundation Teaching Asst. Award, 1970. He received Ethiopian Scientific Society: Faculty Scientific Achievement Award in 1993. He obtained the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship, FRG, during 1982-83 & 1990. He has supervised a number of MSc and PhD students. He was the Coordinator of the Scientific Terms Translation Project from 1982-88 and Chairman of Getachew Bolodia Foundation Board during 1994-2009. He has also been the Director of the African Laboratory for Natural Products. He participated in a number of international conferences and is a member of a number of societies, such as Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA) Chemical Society of Ethiopia, Chemical Society of Ethiopia, African Association for Medicinal Plants Standards (AAMPS) and Ethiopian Academy of Science. He has 98 publications to his credit.

Professor Nour-Eddine ES-SAFI earned his PhD in organic chemistry in 1997 from Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco and postdoctoral studies from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research. He leads the Team of Organic Chemistry and the Physico-Chemical Studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco where he is currently working as deputy director and a full professor. His research focuses on natural products, especially polyphenols, their structural elucidation, their antioxidant activity and their role in food technology and human health. He has published many research papers and he is reviewer for various international scientific journals. He is editorial board member of various scientific journals and is Editor in Chief of the Green and Sustainable Chemistry journal.

Wafaa Salama Hamama graduated from Faculty of Science, Mansoura University where she was awarded the MSc and PhD in Chemistry from Faculty of Science, Mansoura University in 1978 and 1983, respectively. She was awarded Assistant Professor in 1988 then Professor in 2001 until now. She worked in Um-El Koura University in Saudi Arabia from 1990 to 1996. She was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship (DFG) in 2009 with Prof N.Khunert from Jacobs University, Germany. She was awarded the Academic Excellence Award-2018. Her research focused on the development in the synthesis of heterocyclic organic compounds of different classes having pharmacological activity. She has more than105 publications and 25 reviews in impacted refereed journals.

Prof. Dr. K.S. Jain holds a rich academic & industrial research experience of 34 years in the areas of organic synthesis, chemical process development of API. His areas of discovery research work are in the fields of anti-infective, anticancer, antihyperlipid drug research. He has numerous publications, few patents and 15 text books to his credit and has good citation index. He has guided above 50 postgrads and 6 Ph.D.’s in their research work.

Prof. A. Douglas Kinghorn has been Professor and Jack L. Beal Chair in Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy at the College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University (OSU) since 2004. He received Ph.D. (1975) and D.Sc. (1990) degrees from The School of Pharmacy, University of London. He has authored or co-authored over 500 peer-reviewed research articles, review articles, and book chapters. His research interests include the isolation and structural characterization of bioactive natural products from higher plants, particularly potential anticancer agents, antileishmanial compounds, cancer chemopreventives, and taste-modifying substances. In 2016, he received a Distinguished Scholar Award from OSU.

Dr. Ajmal Khan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad. He did Ph. D in Biochemistry from ICCBS, HEJ Research institute of chemistry University of Karachi during 2007-13, M.Sc Chemistry(Bio-chemistry) from University of Peshawar during 2005-06. His research on Enzyme inhibition studies of both natural and synthetic organic compounds for the discovery of lead drugs by using different instruments like Spectrophotometer, NMR, and Mass spectrometer and on the Study of STD-NMR (saturation transfer difference). He has authored /co authored 136 publications, along with 4 patents. He won the RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY AWARD 2011-2012, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 of Pakistan Council of Science and Technology. He is an editorial board member and a reviewer of a number of journals.

Dr. Kyle is the Vice President, Discovery Research of Purdue Pharma L.P. He has 30 years of experience in the areas of CNS, pain and inflammation. Previously, Dr. Kyle served as Director in Discovery Research at Nova Pharmaceutical Corporation and Scios, Inc. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Texas Tech University. Dr. Kyle is an inventor of more than 60 issued US patents and has published nearly 200 manuscripts, review articles and abstracts. He serves on the editorial advisory board of multiple journals for chemistry and pharmacology and is a member of the Dean’s CSLA advisory board at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Michael Krings is curator for fossil plants at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology (SNSB-BSPG) in Munich, Germany, and a professor of plant paleobiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. He also holds an affiliate faculty position at the University of Kansas, USA. He received his PhD in botany from the University of Münster, Germany, and was an Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kansas. Dr. Krings has co-authored two textbooks (2009: Paleobotany. The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants; 2015: Fossil Fungi) and more than 160 research papers. His research focuses on the biology and ecology of microorganisms in late Paleozoic terrestrial ecosystems.

Prof. Kaufman has been a Full Professor of Pharmaceutical Analysis in the Department of Organic Chemistry (FCByF-UNR) since 2011. He is also the Principal Investigator at CONICET; Institute of Chemistry of Rosario (IQUIR, CONICET-UNR) – and Director/Head of the Institute. He has directed a total of 39 research projects. He did Ph. D. in Chemistry in 1987. He did postdoctoral work at The University of Mississippi, USA. He attended 198 meetings and has been involved in a total of 10 patents. He has more than 100 publications, around 3 books and book chapters to his credit. He is the recipient of Konex Award, Science and Technology- 2013, most cited publication during 2004-2007 (Elsevier), 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of 21st century -IBC, 2007 etc.

Dr. Badireenath Konkimalla, is a Reader-F at the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, India. He did Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University, Chennai, India; an M. Tech. in Biotechnology from the Center for Biotechnology (CBT), Anna University, Chennai, India; and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Structural Biology from the University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. His research interests are in the interdisciplinary areas of pharmaceutical biology and drug development. He has been awarded the Mike Price fellowship award in the year 2009 by the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR), and Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) in the year 2012 by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India.

Prof. Nawaz Khan obtained his Ph.D. from University of Madras in 2003 under the guidance of Prof. C. Narayana Pillai, former Head, Department of Chemistry, IIT, Madras. He was a postdoctoral fellow under the supervision of Prof. Yoshinori Yamamoto at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. He had served as a research professor at Korea Institute of Basic Sciences, Busan, South Korea. He was admitted recently as FRSC (London). Prof. Khan’s research activity focuses on organic synthesis and methodologies employing environmentally benign homogeneous catalysts, metal nanocatalysts, and medicinal chemistry and has authored more than 200 publications and graduated 14 Ph.D. students.

Dr. Ara Kirakosyan received B.Sc. in Biophysics (1989) from the Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Biology, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia, a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology (1993) from Russian Academy of Science (Moscow, Russia) in conjunction with Yerevan State University, Armenia, and a Doctor of Science in Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2007) Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia. Currently, he is a Research Investigator in the Department of Cardiac Surgery, The University of Michigan Integrative Medicine Program (UMIM). He generated over 50 peer-reviewed publications, including two books and several chapters dealing with plant biochemistry and plant biotechnology.

Professor Spyridon Kintzios is the founder and Director of the Laboratory of Cell Technology and the Center for Applications of Cell Biological Technologies of the Agricultural University of Athens. He is the author or co-author of 100 peer-reviewed articles in cited international scientific journals and the author and/or editor of eight books. He is the inventor of the Bioelectric Recognition Assay (BERA) and the technology of Molecular Identification through Membrane Engineering (MIME). He is co-founder of the Hellenic Biotechnology Cluster and the Hellenic Society for Nanotechnological Applications in Medicine and Health Science and an elected member of the Hellenic Agricultural Academy.

Dr. Niranjan Koirala, Nepal earned his Ph.D. from South Korea (2016) and double Postdoctoral fellowships from UNAM, Mexico (2018) and UM, Macau SAR (2020). His interest is in the field of pharmaceutical engineering, pharmaceutical/medicinal chemistry, natural products drugs discovery, functional foods, diabetes, metabolic disorders and biofuels. He has published above 30 original articles in reputed peer-reviewed journals and holds 4 Korean patents. He has a cumulative impact factor of 55, global citations of 500 and h-index 12 as of 2020.

Pr. Marie-Aleth Lacaille-Dubois is a full professor in Pharmacognosy at the University of Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France. From 2002 to 2011, she was head of the research team EA 3660, "Molecules of Biological Interest”, and since 2012, she joined the EA 4267. She received several awards and distinctions. Her research focuses on the isolation, structure elucidation and biological assessment of natural compounds from the tropical plant biodiversity. She has co-authored over 180 publications, 1 patent, 8 book chapters, 190 communications, and 60 invited lectures. Furthermore, she served in a variety of advisory and editorial committees of Phytomedicine, Phytochemistry, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Natural Product communications etc.

Roman Lesyk earned his PhD in 1996 and got the habilitation for professorship in 2005 in the field of medicinal and heterocyclic chemistry. He is a professor of pharmaceutical/medicinal chemistry in Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University. During 2004-2014, he occupied pharmaceutical faculty dean’s position. Since 2015 he has been the head of the Department of Pharmaceutical, Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry. His research interests focused on 4-thiazolidinone cores within structure-based drug design, especially in the area of medicinal chemistry of anticancer and antimicrobial agents. He is an author of 350 scientific papers and 50 patents.

Dr. Locatelli is an assistant professor at the University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara in the Department of Pharmacy since 2008, where he teaches “Analytical Chemistry and Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry”, and “Clinical Analytical Chemistry”. He has 12 years of experience in the development and validation of innovative analytical protocols for quantification of drugs, metabolites, natural compounds. He holds master's degree in Chemistry in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry Sciences in 2007. Dr. Locatelli has authored more than 60 manuscripts, more than 80 congress communications, 1 patent subject to approval, guest editor for 4 special issues for international peer-reviewed Journals, and a co-editor of 1 book.

Dr. Gerald Lushington received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of New Brunswick. The author of 181 journal articles, nine book chapters and four patents. Dr. Lushington is currently the Principal Consultant at LiS Consulting, and serves as Adjunct Professor of Food Nutrition Dietetic Health at Kansas State University. With more than 25 years of experience in the application of molecular modeling, simulation and informatics to a diverse range of scientific applications, Lushington's primary areas of focus are in drug discovery and pharmacology.

Dr. James Liang is a Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, and Biological Sciences, Stevens Institute of Technology. Previously, Dr. Liang served as professor at Tsinghua University (Beijing) and Associate Research Professor at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Prof. Liang has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 16 patents. The research interests of Prof. Liang are in therapeutic peptides and drug delivery technology.

Dr. Richard A. Manderville is Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Toxicology Program at the University of Guelph. He received a Ph.D. from Queen’s University (Kingston, Canada) in physical-organic chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Erwin Buncel. After postdoctoral studies with Prof. Sidney Hecht at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), he launched his independent career at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC) in 1995. In 2004 he returned to Canada and continued his research program at Guelph on the structural, biochemical implications of DNA base modification and their potential applications. Dr. Manderville has authored more than 100 manuscripts, including 5 book chapters and currently teaches “Biochemical Toxicology” dealing with mechanisms of toxicity.

Dr. Malhotra is a Professor of Radiation Oncology, and Radiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has nearly 20 years of research experience in organic, medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. His interests focus on the design and discovery of synthetic, and natural product inspired small molecules which can be used as probes for developing understanding of biological phenomena, including protein-protein interactions, modulation of signal transduction pathways, and for translational research in drug discovery, development, imaging and radiation. He has edited five books and authored over 100 research articles.

Dr. Mahady is Associate Professor and Director of the Clinical Pharmacognosy Laboratory in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is an expert in the field of botanical dietary supplements, pharmacognosy, phytomedicines, medicinal plant research and women’s reproductive health including menopause, osteoporosis, estrogen-responsive cancers and infectious diseases. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and six books, including the World Health Organisation’s “Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants”. She is also research faculty within the WHO’s Centre for Traditional Medicine at UIC since 1995.

Dr. Jose Galberto Martins da Costa obtained Doctorate in Chemistry from Universidade Federal do Ceará, UFC, Fortaleza, Brazil. Dr. Jose has been serving as an Associate Professor at Universidade Regional do Cariri since 1994. Dr. Jose has contributed in many publications in different national and international journals. Dr. Jose is an expert in Chemistry of the Natural Products, Pharmacognosy, Organic Synthesis, and Chemistry of Macromolecules.

Dr. Azzurra Stefanucci received PhD from Università degli Studi Gabriele d'Annunzio Chieti e Pescara: Chieti Scalo, Abruzzo, IT. She is also a Post Doc. fellow at the Department of Pharmacy, University "G. d'Annunzio." She has published several papers in well-reputed journals and acquired teaching experience as well.

Maria Stefania Sinicropi is Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences (University of Calabria). The main focus of the research activity concerns: new synthetic methods for the preparation of compounds of pharmaceutic interest, the study of new small molecules as anticancer drugs. All these activities have resulted in the publication of 90 original papers in international journals indexed by Scopus, 2 books, 4 book chapters, 3 international patents and a lot of invited lectures and seminars.

Mansukh C. Wani (Ph.D., chemistry, Indiana University) is Principal Scientist Emeritus at RTI International. Dr. Wani's main areas of research include the isolation and characterization of biologically active natural products and synthesis of anticancer and antifertility agents. In the area of natural products research at RTI, he has been involved in the isolation, purification, and characterization of a wide variety of antineoplastic agents including camptothecin and taxol. He has published extensively with over 200 publications to his credit. Dr. Wani is the recipient of many awards, including the 2000 Charles F. Kettering Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation.

In 1999, Dr. Zhiqiang Yu completed his B.S. in Chemistry and further he got M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In 2002, he was awarded a degree of PhD in Chemistry of Bio functional molecules. He is presently serving as a professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Southern Medical University. His subject areas include Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Materials Science, Chemistry, Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics. He has contributed more than 50 documents, having citations around 1, 227.

Gokhan Zengin PhD is working as Associate Professor at the Department of Biology, Science Faculty, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey. His MSci thesis was regarding the genus Centaurea and PhD thesis was also regarding the genus Asphodeline. He authored more than 170 original scientific papers published in peer reviewed international journals with impact factor (h-index WoS = 22). His current scientific interests include biological properties and chemical characterization of medicinal plants, especially Turkish as well as antioxidant capacity and inhibition of key enzymes linked to global health problems. He is a reviewer for several leading scientific journals.

Dr Pooja Chawla is working as a Professor and the head at the Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, ISF College of Pharmacy Moga, India. She has nearly 13 years of experience in the research, discovery and development of biologically active pharmaceuticals. Dr Chawla holds a PhD degree in Medicinal Chemistry and has published 3 books and more than 40 papers in national/international journals. She is currently serving as a reviewer for international journals of repute. She also presented a poster at FIP in 2011 and CTDDR in 2013 and delivered an oral talk at the World Chemistry Congress, Dubai 2019. She has guided 47 post-graduate projects, and her research team involves 3 master and 2 doctoral research scholars.