Regenerative Medicine and Therapeutics

Dr.Clifford E Brubaker is Professor in School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Brubaker completed his B.A and M.A in Physical education from Ball State University and obtained his Ph.D in Physical Education (Physiology) from University of Oregon. He then worked as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in the same university. He also worked as Director of Rehabilitation Engineering Center at University of Virginia, Professor at McGowan Institute Regenerative Medicine and Distinguished Service Professor and Dean Emeritus in School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at University of Pittsburgh.

Professor of Periodontology and Director of Laser Education at Stony Brook University, School of Dental Medicine. He is the founder of the Laboratory for Periodontal-, Implant- and Phototherapy (LA-PIP) at the Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine. He is also Professor (Prof. Dr. med. dent.) for Oral Surgery/Implant Dentistry in Frankfurt/Germany; Fully trained in Periodontics, Prosthodontics and Oral Surgery in Germany and NY; Board Certified in Oral Surgery and Implant Dentistry in Germany; Diplomate by the American Board of Periodontology; Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Stony Brook University (2012-2014); Professor for Clinical Dentistry at the Univ. of Rochester/NY (2007-2012); Professor and Director of Laser Sciences at NYU (2004-2007); Fellow of the American Association for Dental Research, the Academy of Osseointegration, Int. College of Dentists, ICOI, ITI Foundation, American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, Int. Academy for Dental Facial Esthetics. Editorial Board Membership in various peer-reviewed journals; more than 350 publications, 4 books; over 500 presentations worldwide; International scientific collaborations and teaching activities globally; lecturer in more than 50 countries; T.H. Maiman Award Recipient for best Laser Research 2016 by the Academy of Laser Dentistry.

Dr. Michael Hadjiargyrou is a Professor at the Department of Life Sciences at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). Michael Hadjiargyrou received his training in molecular and cell biology at the City University of New York and the California Institute of Technology. Prior to become moving to NYIT, he served as Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University as well as Graduate Program Director and Associate Vice President for Research. He also served as Chair of the Department of Life Sciences at NYIT. Lastly, he is a member of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and serves on the Editorial Board of a number of scientific journals.

Dr. Toshiharu Shinoka is Professor in Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio. He is the Director of Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Program in Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Nationwide Children's Hospital,Columbus. He is also working as a Visiting Professor in Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at University of Tokushima, Japan. Dr. Shinoka received his M.D from Hiroshima University School of Medicine and Ph.D from Tokyo Women’s Medical University. He worked as Associate Professor in Department of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery and The Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering & Science in Tokyo Women's Medical University. He also worked as Associate Professor in Department of Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. He was the Director of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT from 2007-2012. Dr. Shinoka clinical and research interests center on bioengineered tissue for use in surgery. Working with Dr. Christopher K Breuer, he was the first in the world to tissue engineer blood vessels and implant them in human infants. He has many honors recognizing his contributions, including the Blue Ribbon 1st Place Poster from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Meeting.

Ming Pei is an Associate Professor and a Director of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedics, West Virginia University. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in Exercise Physiology and Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. He received his PhD from Beijing University, China in 1999. He has published about 80+ papers and 3 book chapters. He has served as a Member of the Faculty of 1000 for Rheumatology & Clinical Immunology, Musculoskeletal Repair & Regeneration and the F1000 Research Advisory Board. He is a Standing Member (Membership & Bylaw Committee Meeting) in the International Cartilage Research Society (ICRS) for the 2015-2016 term of office. Ming Pei’s research interests include cartilage, bone, intervertebral disc, and meniscus tissue engineering and regeneration; adult stem cell proliferation and differentiation; decellularized stem cell matrix and reconstruction of an in vitro 3D microenvironment; and chondrogenic, osteogenic and adipogenic signaling pathways and epigenetic regulation.

Dr. Aurel is a Professor of Experimental Neurology at the Department of Psychiatry and Head of the Research Laboratory, University of Medicine, Rostock and Professor of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Romania. He is Coordinator of Neuroscience Research Programme at the Medical Faculty, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald; 2010-present Coordinator of the platform "Molecular Imaging in Neuroscience" at the Medical Faculty, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald.Coordinator of two FP7 projects, one focused on "Molecular mechanisms underyling neurorehabilitation after brain injuries" and the other one on "Molecular imaging in aging and neural repair". Expertise: aged animals models of cerebral ischemia; behavioral analysis; recording of EEG and various physiological parameters by telemetric measurements; MRI for small animals; immunohistochemical procedures, proteomics, genomics.

Dr. Adrian Kasaj, DDS, MSc, PhD is a Professor of Periodontology in the Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology at the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany. He became a certified Specialist in Periodontology of the German Society of Periodontology (DGParo) in 2006 and also of the European Dental Association (EDA) in 2007. From 2002-2009 he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology at the University of Mainz. In 2009 he completed his Ph.D. thesis (Habilitation) and became Associate Professor in the Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, University of Mainz. In 2012 he became a Visiting Professor in the Department of Periodontology at Timisoara University, Romania. Since 2016 he is a Professor of Periodontology at the University of Mainz. He has published more than 100 original articles and reviews, lectures extensively in Germany and abroad and serves on several editorial boards and advisory committees. Since 2014 he serves also as the chairman of the "New Working Group in Periodontology" (NAgP). His research interests include the use of soft-tissue substitutes in periodontal plastic surgery, local antimicrobial therapy, and biomaterials in regenerative periodontal therapy.

Dr. Swapan K Ray is Professor in Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology at University of South Carolina School of Medicine of Columbia, USA. Dr. Ray received his Ph.D from University of Calcutta, India and Postdoctoral Fellowship from Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York. He then worked as Assistant Professor in Department of Neurology at University of South Carolina of Charleston, USA. He also worked as Associate Professor in the Department of Neurosciences of same University. The research interests of his laboratory include the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of malignant diseases such as glioblastoma, neuroblastoma, and Ewing's sarcoma and also neurodegenerative disorders such as spinal cord injury (SCI), brain ischemia, traumatic brain injury (TBI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS), epilepsy, glaucoma, Parkinson's disease (PD), and multiple sclerosis (MS) and development of novel therapeutic strategies for their treatments.

Dr. Hani Atamna is a Professor of Biochemistry and Neuroscience at California University of Science and Medicine (CalMed) Colton, USA. Dr.Atamna obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc.in Biochemistry.His Ph.D. in Biochemistry (Biological Chemistry) was awardedin 1997 from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in theUniversity of California at Berkeley from 1997-2000. He then was independent scientistat the Children's Hospital Research Institute (CHORI) at Oakland, CA until 2008. In 2008 Dr. Atamna became afaculty of Biochemistry and Neuroscience at the Commonwealth Medical College (TCMC), rising to the rank of Associate Professorat 2012. His research is directed at understanding the mechanisms of cellular senescence and developing strategies to delay this process. He discovered the anti-senescence activity of diaminophenothiazines, their effect on complex-IV, and mitochondria. Dr. Atamna also studies the mechanism of neurodegeneration of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). He identified the heme-binding domain in Amyloid-ß, which helped explain the cytopathologies of AD (e.g., decline in complex-IV). He is interested in developing novel therapeutic and diagnostic strategies to delay AD and cell senescence with the goal to improve the quality of life with age.

Dr. Felice Achilli is a Chief of Cardiology Unit, Lab Interventional Elettrophysiology, San Gerardo University Hospital.From 2002 to 2005 he directed the Division of Cardiology of S.L Mandic hospital of Merate and from 2005 to 2010 the dipartment of Cardiology of Lecco Hospital, working in the foundation of one of the first Cardiovascular departments arranged for intensity levels of care. During 2010 he was also Chief of Department of Lecco Hospital. In addition to the normal clinical activity, dr. Achilli has actively worked on Cardiovascular Epidemiology, collaborating with a OMS project named MONICA Projet. He is also interested in Heart failure, building a Unit dedicated to Chronic Heart Failure Patients in San Gerardo Hospital. More recently he was also responsable for cardiovascular regenerative therapy, using autologue stem cells in the treatment of myocardial infarction.,becoming one of the responsable of the first Italian clinical study "STEMAMI OUTCOME Trial".

Dr. Eben Alsberg is a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University with a secondary appointment in Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Alsberg is a leader in the fields of tissue engineering, biomaterials and controlled bioactive factor delivery. His scientific contributions have resulted in 23 invention disclosures and 8 granted or pending patents. Dr. Alsberg’s research has been funded by federal and private entities such as the NIH, the DOD, the Ellison Medical Foundation, the AO Foundation, the Musculo-skeletal Transplant Foundation, and the Coulter Foundation, and he reviews grants for many of them as well. He has been recipient of numerous research and teaching awards and honors that include American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) Fellow, Lady Davis Fellowship from the Technion, Crain’s Cleveland Business Forty Under 40 Award and the Case Presidential Research Initiative Award. He has provided extensive service and leadership to numerous organizations over the past decade, such as BMES, SFB, TERMIS and MRS. Dr. Alsberg has mentored and taught hundreds of students in biomedical engineering and has been invited to give seminars all over the world.

Dr. Tomoyuki Kawase is an Associate Professor of Bio engineering at Niigata University (Niigata, Japan). He graduated from Niigata University School of Dentistry and receivedboth a DDS (1985) and a PhD in Dentistry (Pharmacology, Niigata University, 1991). Dr. Kawase was a post-doctoral fellow in Pharmacology and Gerontology/ Endocrinologyat the University of Miami (Miami, Florida, USA; 1991-93). In 2000, he switched his major research interest from study of intercellular signaling pathways to tissue engineering research so as to more directly contribute to clinical practice. It is noteworthy that his study of cultured human periosteal sheetshas developed a promising substitutefor autologous bone grafts, as evidenced by several research awards,the generation of numerous publications, and the awarding of several patents (Japan and US). Dr. Kawase is a councilor of several domestic societies (Tissue Engineering, Periodontology, Pharmacology, Oral Biology, etc.) and an associate editor and editorial board member of a number of international journals. Dr. Kawasehas now authored and co-authored more than 100 publications (including research and review articles, books and book chapters). At present time, Dr. Kawase is frequently invited to speak at international scientific conferences on the use of blood-derived biomaterials, such as PRP.

Dr. Valerio Di Nicola is Lead of the Paediatric Surgery of the Noble’s Hospital- Isle of Man (UK). He was born in Rome, and graduated in Medicine in 1989. From 1989 until 1997 he worked in Policlinico Umberto I in Rome first as Resident during his General Surgery Residency and then, during his PhD in Microsurgery, he worked as Researcher. In the next years he improved his skills in Laparoscopic and Minimally Invasive procedures (Fellowship of ACOI- Italian Surgeons Association) and increased his knowledge in Coloproctology with a Fellowship in Oncological Colorectal Minimally Invasive and Open Surgery. Later he achieved a Master in Coloproctology at the University ‘La Sapienza’of Rome. From 2006 to January 2010 Dr. Nicola was Consultant of the General Surgery Department at San Marco Hospital in Latina, Italy. From January 2010 he was Consultant of General and Colorectal Surgery at the Israelite Hospital of Rome. From Nov. 2010 to June 2013 he had worked as Consultant, at the General Surgery and Emergency Department (DEAI) of the Aurelia Hospital in Rome. On May 2013, he has been appointed Scientific Director of Interbion Foundation for Basic Biomedical Research. Montedato, CH-6595 Riazzino, Switzerland (www.interbion.org). From July, 08, 2013 he has been working at Noble’s Hospital- Isle of Man (UK), in the General Surgery Department, as a Consultant in General and Colorectal Surgery. Since September 2015 he has been the Coordinator for the Wednesday Teaching Surgical meetings for the Noble’s junior Doctors. On December 2015 he was appointed Lead of the Paediatric Surgery of the Noble’s Hospital- Isle of Man (UK). In the last eighteen years parallel with his surgical activities Dr. Nicola has been working on Regenerative Medicine. In the last 15 years he has developed in his own private clinic a new approach to stimulate and activate innate joint stem cells forming a favourable micro-environment in the area of joint degeneration apt to promote tissue regeneration. In his Clinic, he has been studying and treating ultraoctogenarian patients always high surgical risk who have been non-responders to currently adopted conservative therapies.

Dr. Xiaowen Bai is an Associate professor of Anesthesiology and Physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the United States. Dr. Bai received a PhD in Cell Biology from Beijing University in China. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Stem Cells at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Bai's research interests involve the application of stem cells in tissue regeneration, drug screening, and disease modeling. Dr. Bai's research interests involve stem cells, with a particular emphasis on the application of stem cells in modeling diabetic disease to study the protective strategies against the diabetes-induced heart injury and developmental neurotoxicity. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator of an R01 and Stem Cell Core Director of a Program Project Grant. and functions as a co-investigator on another two Projects of the Program Project Grant. Dr. Bai remains a member of several professional societies and she also serves as an editorial board member or a reviewer for a number of journals.

Dr. Shahin S Rad is an Orthopaedic Surgeon at Los Angeles Bone and Joint Institute. He is also an Adjunct Professor in Department of Surgery at Michigan State University. After earning a Master’s Degree in physiology, Dr. Rad earned his MD degree from the Chicago Medical School/Rosalind Franklin University. He graduated Alpha Omega Alpha honour society. He then performed his internship at Brown University in Rhode Island. Dr. Rad then completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at Michigan State University, followed by a fellowship in joint replacement/Adult reconstruction at the University of Southern California. He has a clinical instructor in orthopaedic surgery at the University of Southern California. He has presented my research at local, national and many international meetings. He has also been invited as a guest professor in many foreign universities and institutes. Dr. Rad's Research Interests include Total hip arthroplasty, Total knee arthroplasty, Revision total hip arthroplasty, Revision Total knee arthroplasty, Periprosthetic fractures, Platelet Rich Plasma, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Ramamurthi is an Associate Professor of Molecular Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic with a secondary appointment at Case Western Reserve University (BME). He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering, from Oklahoma State University (1999) and subsequently received an American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship to pursue research at the Cleveland Clinic in developing novel glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-based biomaterials for biomimetic tissue engineering of aortic heart valves (1999-2001). Prior to his appointment at the Cleveland Clinic in 2010, Dr. Ramamurthi was a tenured faculty in the Departments of Bioengineering at Clemson University and Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC. His research program focuses on enabling biomimetic regeneration and repair of extracellular matrix structures, specifically the poorly regenerated elastic matrix component, both in vitro, and in situ at sites of chronic matrix disruption (e.g., abdominal aortic aneurysms or AAAs, and pelvic organ prolapse or POP). Current research projects in the Ramamurthi lab seek to a) develop stem cell and nanomedicine-based, non-surgical treatments for AAAs, POP, and non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), b) identify new mechanistic targets for effecting regenerative matrix repair in proteolytic vascular diseases, c) design new biomaterials to promote endothelialization of vascular grafts, and d) investigate the peritoneal cavity as surrogate in vivo bioreactor systems to study in situ vascular tissue remodeling responses to biomaterial scaffolds. He is a member of several international professional societies in the cardiovascular sciences, biomaterials, and tissue engineering fields, and is a Professional Member of the American Heart Association Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, American Heart Association (national and affiliate centers)and industry, and philanthropy.

Dr. Hongkai Wu is an Associate Professor in Department of Chemistry, affiliated with Division of Biomedical Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China. Dr. Wu received his BSc from University of Science and Technology of China in 1995 and Ph.D from Harvard University, USA in 2002. After working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, he joined the faculty in Department of Chemistry in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 2005 and moved to current university as an Assistant Professor in 2007.In 2012, he was promoted to be an Associate Professor. From 2009 to 2015, he established a satellite laboratory in Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, focusing on developing functional biomaterials. The research interests of his laboratory are focused on the interdisciplinary frontiers of microfluidics, bioanalytical science, biomaterials and tissue engineering.

Dr. Dror Robinson is the Head of Orthopedic Research Unit and Foot and Ankle Service in Hasharon Hospital, Israel. He is also the Medical Manager of Cartiheal Ltd. He obtained his MD and Ph.D degrees from Tel Aviv University and ocology fellowship from Mount Sinai, New York. He then worked as the Consultant Surgeon at Assaf Harofe Medical Center and Chairman of Department of Orthopedics at Hasharon Hospital, Rabin Medical Center. Most of the research has been done in collaboration with Prof. Nevo and centers on the topic of tissue engineering of cartilage. A method of cartilage transplantation developed by Robinson's group, has served as the basis for the Prochon Company cell transplantation activity. Over the last 7 years Dr. Robinson have concentrated on developing a method of acellular scaffold induced osteochondral repair. This method that was initially developed in collaboration with Ben Gurion University is based on the ability of coral to induce migration of stem cells that repair both bone and cartilage.