Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine

James Sherley, graduated from Harvard College (1980) and completed joint M.D./Ph.D. Degrees at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (1988). After post-doctoral studies at Princeton University, beginning in 1991 he started the cancer cell molecular biology research at Fox Chase Cancer Center. In 1998, he began adult stem cell research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 2007 continued at Boston Biomedical Research Institute. In 2013, he founded the Adult Stem Cell Technology Center, LLC, (ASCTC), which he currently directs. ASCTC is developing technologies for mass-producing human tissue stem cells for applications in drug development and transplantation medicine. Honors & Awards 2006 NIH Director's Pioneer Award 2003 Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award in Aging Research 1993 Pew Scholar Award in the Biomedical Sciences

Adult stem cells, adult stem cell expansion, adult stem cell-specific biomarkers, adult stem cell quantification, induced pluripotent stem cell production efficiency, cancer, aging, drug development, immortal DNA strands, non-random segregation, H2A.Z, epigenomics, epigenetics.

Drapeau holds a Bachelor’s degree in Honors Neurophysiology and a Master’s degree in Neurology and Neurosurgery from Canada’s McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with work performed at the Montreal Neurological Institute. His thesis was on epileptogenesis and the role of eicosanoids in long-term potentiation and he completed further scientific training in variable projection microscopy at Bradford Research Institute and in ion-selective microelectrode recordings at St-Anne Hospital in France. Mr. Drapeau has been the Director of Research and Development at Cell Tech International and then Desert Lake Technologies, before co-founding STEMTech HealthSciences and becoming its Chief Science Officer. He is the author of the Stem Cell Theory of Renewal, detailed in his book Cracking the Stem Cell Code.

Dr. Parolini obtained her Biology degree, graduating summa cum laude, from the University of Milan in 1988. In 1994 she completed her Doctorate in Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology in Biomedicine. She worked in the field of primary immunodeficiencies at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, USA (1991-1994) and at the University of Vienna, initially as visiting scientist (1995-1998), before being promoted to Lab Head (1998-2002). In 2002, Dr. Parolini was nominated Director of the E. Menni Research Center (CREM), Fondazione Poliambulanza, Brescia, Italy, where she has pioneered research on human placenta-derived stem cells. The main lines of research at CREM are centred around amniotic and chorionic membrane-derived cells and their conditioned media, with particular focus on immunomodulatory potential in vitro, as well as in vivo assessment of anti-fibrotic effects after transplantation/injection into preclinical animal models of induced fibrosis and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Parolini has been an invited speaker at over 80 international congresses and has been a scientific leader and organizer of several international events. She is the author of over 100 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as several book chapters, and has had one patent issued while two are currently pending. She is a member of several scientific societies and is the President of the International Placenta Stem Cell Society (IPLASS).

Shirwan, Michael and Joan Hamilton Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Disease, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and the Director of the Molecular Immunomodulation Program at the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics. He conducted his graduate studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara, CA and postdoctoral studies at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena CA. He joined the University of Louisville in 1998 after holding academic appointments at various institutions in the United States. Shirwans research focuses on the modulation of immune system for the treatment of immune based diseases with particular focus on type 1 diabetes transplantation and development of vaccines against infections and cancer. Shirwan is widely published lectured at various National/International conferences served on various federal and nonprofit funding agencies and is on the Editorial Board of nine scientific journals He is a member of several National and International societies and the recipient of various awards.

Immunomodulation using proprietary novel recombinant proteins under clinically applicable protocols for therapeutic purposes with major focus on: Type 1 diabetes,Graft rejection,Bone marrow transplantation,Vaccines (cancer and infectious diseases)

Dr. Davis is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and had his postgraduate medical training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the NIH. His academic positions have included Chair, Department of Medicine, Albany Medical College. He has served as President, American Thyroid Association and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine. His scientific interests include molecular mechanisms of actions of nonpeptide hormones, particularly, thyroid hormone. He has co-authored more than 200 original research articles and 30 textbook chapters and he has edited three medical textbooks.

Dr. Davis directs a group of scientists who have defined molecular mechanisms for many nongenomic, plasma membrane-initiated actions of thyroid hormone, including actions on plasma membrane ion transporters, intracellular protein trafficking, phosphorylation of nuclear hormone receptors and of p53 and on transcription of specific genes. They have described the cell surface receptor for thyroid hormone on integrin avb3 and the actions of tetraiodothyroacetic acid (tetrac) and reformulated (nanoparticulate) tetrac initiated at this plasma membrane receptor that are anti-angiogenic and anti-cancer by multiple cell surface and intracellular pathways.

Dr. Xiao is a Professor and the Director in School of Pharmaceutical Science at Dalian University of Technology China and the Functional Genomics and Proteomics Laboratories at the Creighton University School of Medicine, and an internationally recognized expert in the field of genomics and proteomics of cancer and bone disease. Dr. Xiao earns his Ph.D. in molecular biology in Institute of Biophysics at Chinese Academy of Sciences. He had his postdoctoral research trained in Baylor College of Medicine and UCLA, focusing on pharmacokinetics and biochemistry of non-steroid inflammatory drugs, and cell cycle regulation. He has been regular reviewer or ad hoc reviewer for several medical journals, different funding agency and several journal Editorial Board members and senior Editors.

Vasiliki E. Kalodimou is Director of the Flow Cytometry-Research and Regenerative Medicine Department at IASO Maternity-Pediatric and Research Hospital in Athens, Greece. Before her current appointment, Kalodimou served as a haematology associate at General University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, and as an instructor at both the General University Hospital of Heraklion and the Ipokratios Medical- Technical Institute of Athens. Kalodimou received her bachelor’s degree in Human Physiology and her master’s degree in Human Molecular Genetics from the Imperial College at the University of Medicine in London, UK. She completed her PhD at the University of Medicine in Athens, Greece, with an emphasis on stem cells and factors affecting their viability and absolute numbers.

Since 2006, Dr. Kalodimou has studied and working with stem cells from placenta, umbilical cord and adipose tissue, in every day practice and their applications in regenerative medicine and Flow Cytometry. Also is working in the area of human genetics & population genetics. In collaboration with the Hellenic Flow Cytometry Society, Kalodimou has developed quality control schemes for stem cell marker enumeration. The goal of this work is to find helpful new applications for flow cytometry, evaluate the risk factors for stem cell infusion, and improve the clarity and accessibility of measurements by flow cytometry. Her work quantifies and ranks all risks of flow cytometry enumeration to prevent and minimize the false-positive results from different cytometer uses. She is also working to establish combinations of monoclonal antibodies for mesenchymal and adipose tissue stem cell enumeration. In addition to collaboration with state universities and pharmaceutical companies on research projects, Kalodimou frequently publishes her findings. The Greek edition of the book was published in 2010 and has been well-received while in 2013 the English edition of the book was puplished by AABB Press USA. She is a member of two subsections of the AABB Cellular Therapies Section and also an AABB assessor.

Professor and Chair
University of South Florida
USA
Tel:+813-974-6276

Dr. Mahin Khatami immigrated to USA in 1969 after training in Chemistry (BS) and Science Education (MS) in Iran. She received her MA in Biochemistry from SUNY at Buffalo (1977) and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University Of Pennsylvania (UPA, 1980). Her Postdoctoral framings were in physiology, protein chemistry and immunology at UVA, Fox Chase Cancer Center & UPenn. She became A Faculty of Medicine at Dept. Ophthalmology-UPA until 1992; and in collaboration with a team of scientists, under direction and support of John H Rockey, MD, Ph.D., she quickly earned her supervisory responsibilities on two major projects; cell/molecular biology of diabetic retinopathy/maculopathy and experimental models of acute and chronic infl ammatory diseases. As a junior Faculty, she was perhaps a most productive scientist in the country as she published 39 scientifi c articles and over 60 abstracts in conference proceedings in the fi rst decade of her academic career. Since 1998, at NCI/NIH, extension of her earlier discoveries on immunobiology of infl ammatory diseases became closely relevant to her duties as Program Director-HAS for developing concepts for molecular diagnosis ,prevention and therapy of cancer for large clinical Trials ( Prostate-Long-Colorectal- Ovarian) and designs of cohort clinical studies. Dr. Khatami has lectured internationally; served as scientifi c judge; consultant to pharmaceutical companies; research advisor; member of professional societies; editorial member ships & reviewer activities; symposia organizer; president of graduate women In Science, Washington Chapter. Before retiring in 2009, her position title was Assistant Director for Technology Program Development, Offi ce of Technology and Industrial Relations and Program Director-IMAT, Offi ce of Director, NCI/NIH. She is currently Book Editor on Infl ammatory Diseases.

Mary MehrnooshEshaghian-Wilner has over 26 years of research experience in various areas within the field of Computer Engineering. Additionally, she has worked in the area of patent law for several years. She has published numerous scientific papers, including two books, and has handled the prosecution and infringement analysis of many complex U.S. and international patents. Eshaghian-Wilner currently is a Professor of Engineering Practice at the Electrical Engineering-Systems Department at the University of Southern California (USC), and since 2004 has been an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Prior to joining UCLA, she was a tenured full Professor and Department Head at the Computer Engineering Department of Rochester Institute of Technology. Professor Eshaghian-Wilner received her B.S. Degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering (1985), M.S. Degree in Computer Engineering (1985), her Engineers degree in Electrical Engineering (1988), and her Ph.D. in Computer Engineering (1988), all from USC. She holds a J.D. Degree from the Northwestern California School of Law, and has graduated Cum Laude with an LL.M. Degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. She is admitted to the State Bar of California and the Washington, D.C. Bar, and is registered as a Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Computing Architectures and Interconnects: Bio-inspired and Nanoscale Computing, MEMS, Optical Interconnects, VLSI and Reconfigurable chips.Computing Networks and Algorithms: Heterogeneous/Cluster/Grid/Cloud Computing, Mapping and Scheduling paradigms/algorithms/tools. Biomedical Applications: Nanomedicine, Bioinformatics, Sequence Alignment, Image-Processing, Computer Vision. Technology Law: Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, Patent Reform, Digital Rights, Cyber Law/Crimes, Internet Privacy

Dr. Xinghua (Victor) Pan earned his Ph.D. degree with Dr. CC Tan and Z Geng from the Institute of Genetics, Fudan University School of Life Science, Shanghai, China. His thesis research was on the genetic associations between HLA and SLE and myasthenia gravis. He also obtained his M.D. degree (equivalent) from the Southern Medical University (previously called First Military Medical University), Guangzhou, China. Then he got his postdoctoral training at the National Key Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CAMS & PUMC) with Dr. Min WU, identifying a candidate tumor suppressor gene with a grant support from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. Beginning in December 1994, he served as Associate Professor in Genetics in the Department of Biology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China, where he earned a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), with which he established nm23 transgenic mouse and elucidated its effect on hepatocarcinoma. In addition, he studied EBV BHRF1 on nasopharyngeal carcinoma, reconstructed the phylogenetic tree for MHC genes. In 1997, Dr. Pan joined Dr. Sherman Weissman’s laboratory as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Genetics, Yale University School of Medicine, and developed an approach (GADAV) for unconditionally globally scanning of DNA mutations. From 2000 to 2004, he worked with Dr. Roger Lasken for Molecular Staging Inc. as a Research Scientist in Genomics Section and then Enzymology Leader, substantially contributed to the development of a kit for whole-genome-amplification (WGA), REPLIg, which is currently used world-wide and regarded as one of the best WGA technologies.

Dr. Pan’s main interest is functional genomics, focusing on the development and application of functional genomics technologies for analysis of single cells and low quantity of cells. These approaches include whole DNA pool amplification, whole mRNA transcriptome amplification, CpG methylation pattern scanning, DNase hypersensitive and resistant sites profiling, and telomere size analysis. Combining these technologies with second generation sequencing and microfluidic platform, and collaborating with other research teams, his group explores the genomic and epigenomic mechanism for reprogramming and transdifferentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), differentiation of embryo stem cells (ESCs) and adult stem cells (ASC, including hematopoietic stem cells, mesenchymal stem cells), molecular regulation underlying sensory neurons, embryo development and carcinogenesis and translational medicine.

Dr. Olexander L. Kukharchuk was specialized as “medical practioner” at Chernivtsi Government Medical Institute (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). CMSc. (Candidate of Medical Science) defended on 1989 in the session of specialized academy council at Kaunaski Medical Institute (Lithuania). D.M.Sc (Doctor of Medical Science) defended 1996 in the session of specialized academic council at Odessa Governmental Medical University (Ukraine). Associate Professor obtained on 1996, Professor obtained on 2001. 1982-1991: Assistant, Department of Pathophysiology Chernivtsi Government Medical Institute (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). 1991-1994: Senior Tutor, Normal Physiology with course of Pathophysiology at Chernivtsi Government Medical Institute (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). Head of the Central Research Laboratory and Senior Tutor of the Pathophysiology Department at Chernivtsi Government Medical Institute (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). 1994- 1995: Head of Central Research Laboratory, Associate Professor of the Normal Physiology Department at Bucovinian Government Medical Academy (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). 1995-1997: Director of the Centre for Scientific-Medical Investigation at Bucovinian Government Medical Academy (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). 1997- 2002: Head of the Normal Physiology Department at Bucovinian Government Medical University (Ukraine, Chernivtsi). 2002-2005: Research Director of the Centre for Embryonic Cells “EmCell”(Ukraine, Kiev). 2005-2006: Research Director of the Coordination Centre for Transplantation of Organs, Tissues and Cells of the Ukraine Health Ministry (Ukraine, Kiev). 2006-2010: Director of Coordination Centre for Transplantation of Organs, Tissues and Cells of the Ukraine Health Ministry; Chief Specialist of the Ukraine Health Ministry by specialization “Transplantology”; Research Director of Institute of Cell Therapy (Ukraine, Kiev); Director EmProCell Clinical Research Pvt. Ltd. (India, Mumbai)

Research Director of EmProCell Clinical Research Pvt. Ltd
India

Physician/Scientist, and faculty member of the Medical College of Cornell University and The New York Presbyterian Hospital /Cornell University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. He received his M.D Degree from University College London University (1985), and his PhD Degree in molecular biology from London university (1993). He received several clinical and research awards. He has been an invited speaker in several national and international conferences on cancer. He is a member of several national and international societies, organization and foundation of cancer and women health . He is an editor, member of editorial boards and reviewers of several medical journals of Oncology, Gynecology and Gynecological Cancers. He has published 74 articles. He is an editor of a book on ovarian cancer.

Bio markers profile, and screening for ovarian cancer. Mutant BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes profiles in ovarian cancer. Proteomic profiling of metastatic genes of ovarian cancer. Targeted molecular therapy for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Minimally invasive surgery for gynecological cancer.

George G Chen is a professor in the Department of Surgery, Director of Surgical Research Laboratories, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. He is also served as a principle investigator at the Hong Kong Cancer Institute. He has extensive experience in cancer research, particularly in the area of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung caner and thyroid cancer. He has authored or co-authored ~120 papers and has written a number of books or book chapters. He is currently a member of editorial boards or a guest editor of a number of scientific journals and a regular peer-reviewer for several grant agents. He was educated in China and United Kingdom and has MB and PhD degrees.

Apoptosis in cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer and thyroid cancer).

Margarita Glazova, received the Ph.D. (1997) fromSechenovInstitute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Science and postdoctoral fellow of Adj. Professor P.Koskinen, Turku Centre for Biotechnology, University of Turku/Ã…boAkademi, Finland (2001-2003). She was a Research Associate of Prof. A.K.Murashov, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Greenville, NC, USA (2004-2006). She is a Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Comparative Somnology and Neuroendocrinology, Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St.Petersburg, Russia. She has published more than 30 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals

Haval Shirwan is Dr. Michael and Joan Hamilton Endowed Chair in Autoimmune Disease, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Director of Molecular Immunomodulation Program at the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics. He conducted his Graduate studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara, CA, and Postdoctoral studies at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA. He joined the University of Louisville in 1998 after holding academic appointments at various academic institutions in the United States. He is member of several national and international societies and recipient of various awards.

His research focuses on the modulation of immune system for the treatment of immune-based diseases with particular focus on type 1 diabetes, transplantation, and development of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases. He is an inventor on over a dozen of worldwide patents, widely published, organized and lectured at numerous national/international conferences, served on study sections for various federal and non-profit funding agencies, and is on the Editorial Board of a dozen of scientific journals.

Davis is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and had his postgraduate medical training at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the NIH. His academic positions have included Chair, Department of Medicine, Albany Medical College. He has served as President, American Thyroid Association, as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine and he is Co-Head, Faculty of 1000 – Endocrinology. He serves on multiple Editorial Boards of His scientific interests include molecular mechanisms of actions of nonpeptide hormones, particularly, thyroid hormone. He and his colleagues described the cell surface receptor for thyroid hormone on integrin v3 that underlies the pro-angiogenic activity of the hormone and the proliferative action of the hormone on cancer cells. He has co-authored more than 200 original research articles and 30 textbook chapters and he has edited three medical textbooks.

Paul J. Davis's scientific interests include molecular mechanisms of actions of nonpeptide hormones, particularly, thyroid hormone. He and his colleagues described the cell surface receptor for thyroid hormone on integrin v3 that underlies the pro-angiogenic activity of the hormone and the proliferative action of the hormone on cancer cells

Drapeau holds a Bachelor’s degree in Honors Neurophysiology and a Master’s degree in Neurology and Neurosurgery from Canada’s McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with work performed at the Montreal Neurological Institute. His thesis was on epileptogenesis and the role of eicosanoids in long-term potentiation and he completed further scientific training in variable projection microscopy at Bradford Research Institute and in ion-selective microelectrode recordings at St-Anne Hospital in France. Mr. Drapeau has been the Director of Research and Development at Cell Tech International and then Desert Lake Technologies, before co-founding STEMTech HealthSciences and becoming its Chief Science Officer. He is the author of the Stem Cell Theory of Renewal, detailed in his book Cracking the Stem Cell Code.

His interest focuses on basic and clinical research pertaining to adult stem cells, and more specifically the natural role of stem cells in the body and clinical potential of Endogenous Stem Cell Mobilization (ESCM).

Herrera is currently Chair of Pathology and Laboratory Director of LSU Health Shreveport, a position he has held from 1996-2006 and since 2012 until now. He is an internationally renowned nephropathologist with over 35 years of experience in renal pathology. Having received his Doctor of Medicine at the University of Puerto Rico, he has over 30 years of research on renal damage associated with multiple myeloma. Before becoming the Chair of Pathology of LSU Health Shreveport, Dr. Herrera was the Medical Director of Nephrocor, a private renal pathology laboratory. He has served as Professor and Chair at St. Louis University as well as Director of Surgical Pathology at both the University of Alabama and the University of Mississippi. Dr. Herrera is a retired Colonel with the U.S. Army. He is also a Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at LSU Health in Shreveport

Herrera sits on multiple national panels and has been the invited guest lecturer in over 300 domestic and international venues. He has authored more than 280 articles and chapters. His main interest includes understanding of pathogenesis of renal disorders occurring in patients with plasma cell dyscrasias and has engaged in exploring glomerular repair using stem cells. He has received the “Tatiana T. Antovych, M.D. Award” from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology/American Registry of Pathology for contributions to renal pathology. He is the recipient of a grant from the Amyloidosis Foundation to study glomerular repair in AL-amyloidosis using mesenchymal stem cells.

Simon Berkovich received MS in Applied Physics from Moscow Physical-Technical Institute (1960) and PhD in Computer Science from the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1964). He played a leading role in a number of advanced computer systems projects. He has several hundred publications in various areas of physics, electronics, computer science, and biology. In 2002, Professor Simon Berkovich was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences "for an outstanding contribution to computer science and the development of fundamental computational algorithms". In 2014, he won the GWU Technology Transfer Innovation Competition.

He has several hundred publications in various areas of physics, electronics, computer science, and biology. In 2002, Professor Simon Berkovich was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences "for an outstanding contribution to computer science and the development of fundamental computational algorithms". In 2014, he won the GWU Technology Transfer Innovation Competition.

Dennis M. Lox M.D is the Director of the Sports and Regenerative Medicine Centers A Stem Cell Center of Excellence in the Washington D.C. Metro Area and the Tampa Bay Metro Area. Dr. Lox attended the University of Arizona, where he was Phi Beta Kappa studying Liberal Arts. Dr. Lox then completed his medical training at Texas Tech University, followed by his residency program in PM&R at The University of Texas Health Science Centers at San Antonio. Dr. Lox has always pursued Sports Medicine, and this led to a path into Regenerative Medicine.

Lox has always pursued Sports Medicine, and this led to a path into Regenerative Medicine.

Diana Anderson completed her PhD in the Faculty of Medicine University of Manchester, UK. She currently holds the Established Chair in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bradford. She has published over 450 papers and eight books. She has served on 10 editorial boards, has supervised 30 PhD students and is Editor- in- Chief of the Book Series “Issues in Toxicology” for the Royal Society of Chemistry. She has hosted and participated in 56 meetings for the WHO on Chemical Safety. She has been a Vice President of the Institute of Biology.

cancer, oxygen radicals, human biomonitoring, unbalanced precursor pools, dietary imbalance, male-mediated developmental defects, nanotoxicology, general toxicology

Gallicchio earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Hematology at New York University Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in hematology at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Did post--‐graduate training at the University Of Connecticut Health Center. He received his Diploma in internal medicine from the “Vasile Goldis” University of Arad (Romania). He has published more than 160 scientific articles and book chapters and has received ten U.S. patents for discoveries focused on drug development for AIDS and cancer. He has served on the faculty of several American and international universities in Addition to serving as President of Alpha Eta Honor Society, the International Society For Lithium Research, and the International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Science. He currently serves as Vice President, Educational and Research Centers in Trace Elements operated under UNESCO. He is a Fellow of the Association of Clinical Scientists, the Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, and the Royal Society Of the Arts. In 2003, at the 200th anniversary of RSA, because of his long--‐standing effort To educate and train biomedical laboratory scientists from England, Dr. Gallicchio was recognized for his efforts by being presented to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Research interests include experimental drug therapeutics for AIDS and cancer with a focus on compounds that inhibit ribonucleotide reductase and anti-oxidants derived from natural food products; the non-psychiatric clinical uses of lithium, in particular for Alzheimer's disease and viral-induced pathogens; experimantal hematopoiesis, with a particular interest in stem cell biology and the role of stroma/microenvironment in these processes; international education pertaining to biomedical laboratory science.

Georg F. Weber attended medical school in Wuerzburg, Germany. He worked at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School from 1990 through 1999 and is currently on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati. Georg F. Weber has published close to 90 scientific reports, including many in the most respected professional journals, and various monographs, most recently textbooks on molecular oncology and anti-cancer drugs. He holds several patents.

Weber has made contributions to metastasis research by discovering the interaction between the molecules osteopontin and CD44 and by defining the physiologic role of metastasis genes as stress response genes. While he continues to address fundamental questions, he is researching new venues for diagnosis and therapy of cancer progression.

Khalid Shah is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and directs the Molecular Neurotherapy and Imaging Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. He is also the Director of the Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging program in MGH's Center for Translational Research, and is a Principal Faculty at Harvard Stem Cell Institute in Boston. Dr. Shah's recently published works are two books featuring current groundbreaking insights into stem cell therapies for cancer, Stem Cell Therapeutics for Cancer (Wiley-Blackwell 2013), and Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Cancer Therapy (Elsevier 2014). The potential of developing novel cancer therapies by him and his team has been recognized by many cancer alliances and associations. Based on this, he has received the young investigator award from Alliance for cancer gene therapy (ACGT), Research fellow award from American Cancer Society (ACS), Distinguished research award from Academy of Radiology and Innovation awards from James McDonnell Foundation, American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA) and Goldhirsh foundation. Additionally, Dr. Shah has participated in the training of numerous undergraduate, graduate students and residents at MGH and the potential of his mentoring has been recognized by Harvard Medical School, who recently awarded him the Harvard Young Mentor Award.

In recent years, Dr. Shah and his team have pioneered major developments in the cancer research field, successfully developing experimental models to understand basic cancer biology and therapeutic stem cells for cancer, particularly brain tumors. These studies have been published in a number of very high impact journals like Nature Neuroscience, PNAS, Nature Reviews Cancer, JNCI, Stem Cells and Lancet Oncology, validating the use of therapeutic stem cells alone and in combination with clinically approved drugs for cancer therapy.

Xiao is a Professor and the scientific Director in School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology at Dalian University of Technology, and the Director of the Functional Genomics and Proteomics Laboratories at the Creighton University School of Medicine, and an internationally recognized expert in the field of genomics and proteomics of cancer. Dr. Xiao earns his Ph.D. in molecular computational biology at Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Xiao had his postdoctoral research trained in Baylor College of Medicine and UCLA, focusing on pharmacokinetics and biochemistry of non-steroid inflammatory drugs, and cell cycle regulation. He has been regular reviewer or ad hoc reviewer for several medical journals, different funding agency and several journal Editorial Board members and senior Editors.

George G Chen is a professor in the Department of Surgery, Director of Surgical Research Laboratories, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. He is also served as a principle investigator at the Hong Kong Cancer Institute. He has authored or co-authored ~120 papers and has written a number of books or book chapters. He is currently a member of editorial boards or a guest editor of a number of scientific journals and a regular peer-reviewer for several grant agents. He was educated in China and United Kingdom and has MB and PhD degrees.

He has extensive experience in cancer research, particularly in the area of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma, lung caner and thyroid cancer.