6th International Conference on Genomics & Pharmacogenomics September 12-14, 2016 Berlin, Germany

Modern drug discovery using in silico techniques is about sifting through large amounts of data to find signal in a sea of noise, and developing methodologies that do this efficiently. As a molecular evolutionary geneticist, I was used to finding faint signatures of positive selection in a sea of genomic noise. This led me to become involved with large scale genomic, and later proteomic, projects. This has allowed me to extend my knowledge in drug discovery towards chemical information signatures for high-throughput screening of compounds.

Focusing on how evolutionary knowledge can factor into drug discovery, Dr. Wyckoff has been creating and deploying new algorithms for better handling the targets of new chemical entities. The disconnect between proteins involved with disease and those generally targeted by commercially successful drugs is worrisome as drug target selection usually follows disease mapping initiatives. A focus in his career has been translating knowledge into the classroom, especially focusing on non-science majors to get them interested in careers in life and health sciences. His lab deals with aspects of Bioinformatics drug development and study of evolutionary processes at the molecular level.

Hans Lehrach has obtained his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine and the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry in 1974. He has then moved on to Harvard University, Boston (1974-1978) and became Group Leader at EMBL, Heidelberg (1978-1987). He then moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London (1987-1994) to become Head of the Genome Analysis Department. In 1994 he has returned to Germany to become Director at the MPI for Molecular Genetics (1994-2014). He has founded several biotechnology companies such as Sequana Therapeutics, GPC Biotech, Scienion, Prot@gen, PSF Biotech and Atlas Biolabs. He is the Founder of the Berlin-based company Alacris Theranostics GmbH, specializing in the development of new approaches for personalized medicine for cancer patient diagnosis, treatment and drug stratification. In 2010 he founded the non-for-profit research institute Dahlem Centre for Genome Research and Medical Systems Biology

He is the Founder of the Berlin-based company Alacris Theranostics GmbH.

Hans Lehrach has obtained his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine and the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry in 1974. He has then moved on to Harvard University, Boston (1974-1978) and became Group Leader at EMBL, Heidelberg (1978-1987). He then moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London (1987-1994) to become Head of the Genome Analysis Department. In 1994 he has returned to Germany to become Director at the MPI for Molecular Genetics (1994-2014). He has founded several biotechnology companies such as Sequana Therapeutics, GPC Biotech, Scienion, Prot@gen, PSF Biotech and Atlas Biolabs. He is the Founder of the Berlin-based company Alacris Theranostics GmbH, specializing in the development of new approaches for personalized medicine for cancer patient diagnosis, treatment and drug stratification. In 2010 he founded the non-for-profit research institute Dahlem Centre for Genome Research and Medical Systems Biology.

He is the Founder of the Berlin-based company Alacris Theranostics GmbH.

Dr. Martin Falk is Head, Laboratory of Chromatin Function, Damage and Repair, Member of Gregor Mendel Genetical Society (Czech & Slovakia)). Conducting research in cell nucleus and its functional organization, higher-order chromatin structure and its relationship with regulation of fundamental nuclear processes (transcription, DNA repair, replication), epigenetics, chromatin dynamics and interactions.

Radiobiology, Molecular Biology,

Yuri Dubrova grew up in Kiev, Ukraine. He did his undergraduate degree in Biology at Kiev State University (Ukraine), and PhD and DrSci in Genetics at NI Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Moscow. In 1994 he moved to Leicester.

Professor Yuri Dubrova’s research interests focus on the analysis of germline mutation induction in humans and mice following exposure to ionising radiation, chemical mutagens and some anticancer drugs. His recent research has also involved transgenerational genomic instability manifesting in the offspring of exposed parents.

Dr. Feleder was selected by the Italian Ministry of Health to review grant applications for biomedical research. He reviews grants in the fields of neuroscience, immunology, and endocrinology. Dr. Feleder servers as a Principal Investigator at the Albany Center for Computational Nano-Neuroscience at The State University of New York.

Dr. Feleder has a long-standing interest in uncovering the mechanisms underlying the body's response to immune challenges, i.e., how the central nervous system controls the physiologic functions that protect the body from the harmful effects of infectious agents. In 2008, Dr. Feleder was awarded a three year research grant totaling $231,000 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the effects of the spleen in managing fever.

Andrzej Joachimiak is an expert in synchrotron-based X-ray crystallography and structural biology. At Argonne, he has made significant contributions to the high-throughput crystallography using synchrotron radiation and the development of state-of-the-art facilities for macromolecular crystallography. The development and integration of the novel synchrotron beamlines, exploitation of the anomalous signal-based phasing methods in the third-generation environment and integration of hardware and software at the Structural Biology Center beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source contributed very strongly to the enhanced efficiency of such facilities worldwide. In addition to his duties at Argonne, Andrzej is also a Professor at the University of Chicago, Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute and the Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology.

Andrzej’s current research also focuses on proteins and protein-nucleic acid interactions and includes enzymes, transcription factors and molecular chaperones.

Dr. Saikat Nandi is a Senior Research Associate and NCI-NYSTAR Cancer Discovery Fellow at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), New York. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology, Molloy College, New York. Dr. Nandi completed his D.Phil (PhD.) from University of Oxford, U.K. and post-doctoral training from CSHL. He is a member of the editorial board of Journal of Biomedicine and guest editor for Molecular Biology Reports. He is also a core member of Marvel Genomics, a CSHL based startup and scientific advisor for Salus Discovery, LLC., University of Wisconsin-Madison based startup.

Nandi’s present work is focused on the mechanism of genome duplication leading to identification of potential anti-cancer drug targets. This research will facilitate in identification of molecular targets, establishing treatment tailored to the molecular fingerprint of cancer leading to the development of new therapeutic modalities.

Dr. Gopal B. Krishnan completed his Ph.D. from the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi and has worked on early embryonic development and role of Bone Morphogenetic Proteins in his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before joining Promega Corp he worked as the team lead for development of DNA and siRNA transfection reagents at Mirus Bio. Currently Dr. Krishnan is a Global Product Manager of genomics products at Promega Corp, Madison, WI. He has published over thirty peer reviewed articles, chapters and abstracts. In addition he has successfully launched five new life science research products.

Plan and execute the product portfolio pipeline and program management of genomics product lines and technologies. Liaison between sales, operations, technical support, legal and technical product development team to launch and support genomics products. Provide input for the development of tactical plans for established marketing strategies with the Commercialization and Strategic Marketing Manager

PhD in computer sciences and bioinformatics from Manchester University in 2008, Post-Doc at the Vlaams Institute of Biotechnology and the university of Brussels 2009-2012. Founder of a Spin-off company InSilico Genomics in 2012.

Bioinformatics, Genetics, Cancer Research

Tiziana is a neuroscientist and dedicated dedicated her life in understanding the brain, understanding myself, exploring limits of mind and body. She is specialised in neuronal degeneration and mental disorders, always fascinated about the translation of electrical inputs into emotions, perceptions and the related access to reality. Lately exploring the possibility to create new technology to reveal neurological disorders.

Her mission is to take advantage from phone technology, where virtual mazes can be designed to observe our brain in the everyday behaviour.

Farhad Kamali is the Professor of Human Experimental Pharmacology at the Institute of Cellular Medicine Newcastle University, UK. He earned his PhD at Nottingham University, UK. He has published well over 100 articles in peer reviewed journals as well as book chapters. He has more than 20 years of teaching experience Professor Kamali is a member of the British Pharmacological Society clinical section. He serves as a reviewer for a number of peer reviewed journals in the areas of clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenetics. He was awarded the fellowship of the British Pharmacological Society for outstanding achievement in teaching and scholarship in pharmacology. Professor Kamali’s research activities are funded by the Department of Health the National Institute for Health Research UK research councils charities and industry.

Elucidation of the mechanisms of drug-induced toxicity in man. In particular, elucidation of risk factors associated with anticoagulation in the treatment of thromboembolic disease. Assessment of the influence of dietary status, genetic polymorphisms of drug metabolism and pharmacodynamics, contribution of health related quality of life issues to appropriateness of anticoagulation and the impact of patient education about therapy and patient self-management of anticoagulation control in reducing thromboembolism and bleeding.

A knowledgeable scientist and passionate team player, with much hands-on experience and contacts within the pharma and biotech industries. Recent roles have included delivering high end capital equipment and services to diverse range of customers. Highly focused on delivering solutions that match customer requirements and ultimate satisfaction. Currently looking for a challenging permanent role in the pharma or biotech sectors.

NGS and bioinformatics - sequence analysis & instruments Molecular biology process automation

Katherine was awarded a personal Chair in Health Economics at The University of Manchester in August 2010. Katherine is also a registered pharmacist. Between 1990 and 1993, she worked as a hospital pharmacist and has since maintained links with the pharmacy profession to understand the training needs in health economics, in general, and the evaluation of genomic technologies specifically. She has extensive experience working as an academic health economist with different clinical research groups (pharmacy, psychiatry, genetics). Five years ago, Katherine joined the newly established Health Sciences - Methodology Group, which allowed her to develop applied and methodological grants. In 2007, she was awarded an RCUK Academic Fellowship to focus on the evaluation and valuation of genomic technologies including genomic-based diagnostics and pharmacogenetic tests. Based in the Manchester Centre for Health Economics, established in August 2012, she is now leading a research group that focuses on the evaluation and valuation of genomic technologies and stratified medicine.

Katherine has over 20 years experience as an academic health economist and an international reputation for the economics of genetic technologies and services. Katherine has established a number of innovative research collaborations with genetic and other clinical colleagues. Ongoing and recent projects include: evaluation of information provision and models of informed consent in bloodspot newborn screening programmes; identifying and costing pathways of care for people with ataxia; building economic model to identify the most appropriate interval for breast cancer screening; preliminary economic evaluation of high-throughput whole genome sequencing technologies; towards HTA of whole genome sequencing; economic evaluation of risk stratified breast screening programmes; and various economic evaluations of examples of stratified medicines (funded by NIHR HTA; NIHR Research for Patient Benefit; NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research; EU Framework Seven; Department of Health; MRC).

Prof. Gheita is a distinguished Rheumatology consultant at many worldwide hospitals with Joint Commission International IJCI) accreditation. He has authored 100+ publications in top ranked international journals; coeditor of 10+ scientific books internationally published mostly in the field of Rheumatology; supervised on and discussed 25+ MD and MSc theses and was acknowledged by many of his colleagues for his guidance and help in their work. Has actively participated in 100+ regional and international conferences and is considered a notable speaker. Certificates of excellence were awarded for his effort in endorsing the practice of Rheumatology in regional countries, for his outstanding performance on attending many medical convoys and for sharing in lectures for junior MOH physicians all over Egypt.

Prof. Gheita is a member of many specialized societies in the field of Rheumatology, Immunology, Osteoporosis and Orthopedics. He is a member of the Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE), Editorial Board Member of 20+ International Journals (such as the International J of Rheumatic Diseases, European J of Rheumatology, Annals of Pediatric Rheumatology, African J of Rheumatology and is on the review board of 60+ international journals in the field of Medicine, Rheumatology, Clinical Immunology and Pharmacology and reviewed the 6th edition of ‘Rheumatology’ textbook Elsevier. He shared in the scientific and organizing committee of several regional conferences. Attended and successfully passed the courses held by Faculty and Leadership Development center Program (FLDP), Cairo University recognized by the International Board of Certified Trainers (IBCT), The Netherlands. He holds the Platinum BMJ learning high-usage certificate, for successfully accomplishing rheumatology modules. He has acceptable computer skills (ICDL, UNESCO, USA, 2009).

Richard Meehan is a genetics graduate of TCD (Dublin) and has been studying DNA methylation dynamics for over 25 years. Research landmarks include the identification of methyl-CpG binding proteins (MeCP1 and MeCP2), non-catalytic roles for DNMT1 and alternate hypotheses regarding DNA methylation reprogramming in development and disease states. He is currently a Professor at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh and investigating how 5-hydroxymethylcytosine profiling can be used as a cell identifier.

Epigenetic Mechanisms in Development and Disease