Translational Neuroscience Research and Reviews

Dr. Edward Taub received his doctoral degree from New York University in psychology under the supervision of Dr. Edgar E Coons. Dr. Edward Taub is a University Professor in Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. Dr. Neal E. Miller was his main mentor. His research has been primarily in the fields of behavioral neuroscience, behavioral medicine, and neurorehabilitation. Dr. Taub has been President of Section J (Psychology) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), President of the Biofeedback Society of America, a Guggenheim Fellow, a Humboldt Foundation Fellow, and Co-President of the Claude Bernard Club,a research honorary society in the field of applied psychophysiology. He has been on the Board of Directors of four national scientific societies and is a Fellow of four societies.He has received the top awards for his research from three national professional organizations and from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2003, the research from his laboratory was named by the Society for Neuroscience as being one of the 10 leading examples of translational research in the field of neuroscience in the twentieth century. In Dr. Taub's fetal deafferentation research, monkey fetuses were removed from the uterus as early as two-fifths of the way through gestation, operated upon, and then replaced in the uterus for the completion of pregnancy. This was the first work to employ intrauterine surgical techniques to produce specific lesions in the nervous system by direct approach. This type of research might be termed fetal neuropsychology; its purpose was to investigate the prenatal origins of behavior. The neurosurgical procedure was a precursor of what is currently a standard neurosurgical treatment for spina bifida in humans. In 1970, Dr. Taub developed the technique now called thermal biofeedback. (Elmer Green and his co-workers developed a similar technique independently.) It is currently one of the most commonly used biofeedback modalities in clinical practice; it is used for the relief of such painful or life-threatening disorders as Raynaud's disease, migraine headache, hypertension and other stress-related conditions. Dr. Taub has carried out mainly basic research in this area; his clinical research was with Raynaud's disease. Dr. Taub showed that plastic brain reorganization can be harnessed through the use of the neurorehabilitation technique he developed. For example, he found that CI therapy produces an increase in grey matter tissue in motor areas in the cerebral cortex of both hemispheres – a true remodeling of the brain. This occurs in older patients as well as children, indicating that the potential of the brain for plastic change persists throughout the life span. In addition, he found that there is an increase of grey matter in the hippocampus. Since this is the location of a substantial concentration of endogenous neural stem cells, the feasibility arises that the creation of new nerve cells is involved in the therapeutic effect produced by CI therapy.

Dr. Abraham N Lieberman is Professor in Division of Neurology at Barrow Neurological Institute located at Arizona. Dr. Lieberman is Founder for Muhammad Ali Parkinson Clinic at Barrows and also Director for Bob & Renee Parsons Fall Prevention Clinic at Barrows. Dr. Lieberman graduated from the New York University School of Medicine in 1963. He served as Medical Director (2006-2008) in Parkinson Research Foundation (PRF). He authored more than 200 peer reviewed research articles. His Special Expertise includes Alzheimer's Disease, Epilepsy, Migraine Disorders, Multiple Sclerosis (MS). He received several Honors& Awards like Ralph & Barbara Edwards APDA Leadership Award in 1992, Award of Merit from National Parkinson Foundation in 2002, He named One of the Five Most Innovative Physicians in Phoenix, Phoenix Magazine 2010.

Dr. Terry Lichtor received MD and PhD from the University of Chicago. Dr. Lichtor did his internship in General Surgery from Mayo Graduate School of Medicine and his residency in Neurological Surgery from the University of Chicago. He did his research fellowship in Neurobiology, and worked as a Research Associate in Department of Cell and Molecular and Structural Biology. He has been honoured with many prestigious awards; major committee assignments; memberships in Professional Societies, Editorial Boards and Scientific Advisory Boards. His major areas of research interests are Gene Therapy Strategies in the Treatment of Brain Tumors Development of Brain Tumor Vaccines, Development of MRI Technology for Measurement of Intracranial Pressure, Molecular Strategies in the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. Currently, he is working as Associate Professor in Rush University,USA. He is serving as an editorial member of several reputed journals like American Journal of Medical and Biological Research and World Journal of Immunology. He has authored 65 research articles and 4 books. He is a member of American Medical Association. He has honored as America's Top Surgeon. His Research interest's include Gene Therapy Strategies in the Treatment of Brain Tumors, Development of Brain Tumor Vaccines, Development of MRI Technology for Measurement of Intracranial Pressure and Passive Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.

Dr. Fei Du is Assistant Professor and Director of Translational Neuroimaging Research Program in McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He has background in In-Vivo high/ultra-high field MRI/MRS technical development and application. His interest is in better understanding neurobiological mechanisms underlying psychiatric diseases and neuroimaging method development. Towards this goal, the lab uses multimodal neuroimaging approaches (DTI, fMRI, MRS/EEG) and translational animal models.

Dr. Kurt A Jellinger born in Vienna on May 28, 1931, MD study Univ. of Vienna School of Medicine; specialist in neurology, neuropathology, and psychiatry; Ass. Prof. Institute of Neurology Vienna (1966), Full Professor of neuropathology Med. Univ. Vienna (1973), Director Dept. of Neurology, Lainz-Hospital, Vienna (1976-30 September 1997); Director, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Clinical Neurobiology, Vienna (1977-2002); Guest Professor Univ.of Graz & Innsbruck School of Medicine (1998-2000); since May 2002 Chief, Institute of Clinical Neurobiology, Vienna, Austria. Dr. Jellinger research interests include Neuropathology, Brain aging, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Non-Alzheimer dementias, Movement disorders, CNS aging, Neurodegenerative disorders and Vascular dementia, Multiple system atrophy.

Dr. Anne L. Foundas is a Visiting Scholar in Psychology Department at Tulane University. Dr. Foundas served as the Director of the Neurology Residency Training Program from 1995 through 2008, and directed Medical Student Education from 2006 to 2008. She established a world-class research program at Tulane University, where she supervised the training of 50 graduate research students. She was the Vice-Chair of Clinical Research in the Department of Neurology at the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans from 2008 to 2012. She established the Brain and Behavior Program at the Children’s Hospital of Louisiana, and directed the Comprehensive Cognitive and Memory Disorder Program at the Ochsner Healthcare System in New Orleans. She was Chair in Department of Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience from University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Missouri. She was awarded as a Top Doctor in Neurology Department, Missouri (2014-2015). Her clinical practice focuses on patients with cognitive and memory disorders. Her research program studies the neural bases of speech, language, and motor control. She directs clinical programs in the Center for Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the Truman Medical Centers in Kansas City, Missouri. She mentors and teaches medical students, resident physicians, nurse practitioners, and allied health professionals in the practice of neurology. Her research program has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Malcolm Fraser Foundation, the Stuttering Foundation of America, the Charles A. Dana Foundation, and the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Prof. Bing Wang, neonatologist, nutritionist and animal physiologist received her Medical Doctor degree from Tianjin Medical University, China, and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Sydney (USyd), Australia. Currently, Prof. Wang holds an Honorary Associate in the School of Molecular & Biosciences at USyd, is a registered Nutritionist in Australia; and an Adjunct Professor at Xiamen University, P.R. China. Professor Wang has led the Nutritional Neurodevelopment Research programs in both academia and industry before being recruited to Charles Sturt University in December 2012. Her areas of expertise include molecular & cell biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, neuroimaging (MRI & MRS) and cognitive function assessment in both animal and humans. She is well experienced in translating basic science discovery to human clinical trials for the development of functional food products. She has made major contributions to the field of Nutritional Neurobiology and Glycobiology and thus has emerged as an International leader on the nutritional significance of human milk sialoglycoconjugates and brain cognitive development.

Dr. Zuoxin Wang received his BS in Biology from the Beijing Normal University in China, Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and postdoctoral training in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Maryland at College Park. He joined the faculty at Florida State University in 1998, and is now the University Distinguished Research Professor in Psychology and Neuroscience. He is an elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a recipient of the NIH Independent Scientist Award. He has also served as Secretary and Board of Directors for Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Associate Editor for Hormones & Behavior, Review Editor for Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, editorial board members for several other scientific journals, and a grant reviewer for both NIH and NSF. He has also served as an ad hoc grant reviewer for numerous organizations and foundations including The National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Israel Science Foundation, Austrian Science Fund, Italian Ministry of Health, Canada Council for the Arts, and the MacArthur Fellows Program. Dr. Wang's research is devoted to the understanding of the neuronal and hormonal mechanisms of social behaviors. Research from his lab has shown that the neurotransmitters dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin in brain circuitry play important roles in the regulation of pair bonding behavior and its interactions with drugs of abuse. His research has been well supported by multiple NIH grants.

Dr. Hassaan Tohid (CASN) is Professor in California Institute of Behavioral Neurosciences & Psychology. Dr. Tohid is a neuroscientist, public speaker, medical professional, researcher, book editor and a published author. He served as a member of American Neuropsychiatric Association and is currently also a Leadership Council member for American Cancer Society. After graduating from Sindh Medical College, Karachi (Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan) as a medical doctor. He then moved to the US and started his career as a researcher in neurology & psychiatry. He had been affiliated with prestigious institutions like Napa State Hospital, UCLA & the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) and still serves as a visiting neuroscientist at the Center of Mind & Brain (UC Davis). He is also involved in various research projects nationally and internationally in the countries like Australia and England.

Dr. Yun Chen currently serves as the Principal Scientist of BrightstarTech, Inc., Maryland, USA. He received an MD in 1983 and an MS (Master of Surgery) in 1991 from Third Military Medical University, China. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel in 1998. After completed his postdoctoral training in US National Institutes of Health, Dr. Chen worked for US Military Agencies such as USUHS, TAMC, USAMRICD, and MCS. Dr. Chen has proven expertise and experience in neuropsychiatry, neuropharmacology, neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, ischemic stroke, organophosphate-induced brain damage, blast injury, gunshot wound, and wound ballistics. He has published a lot of papers in peer-reviewed journals and been granted five patents in USA and China, respectively.

Dr. Brandon Board certified clinical neuropsychologist and the Chief of Neuropsychology at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami. Dr. Korman earned his doctoral degree from Nova Southeastern University with internship training at the University of Florida Health Sciences Center and a two-year pediatric neuropsychology fellowship at Miami Children’s Hospital. He has presented at numerous scientific conferences and actively publishes on various topics related to pediatric neuropsychology and neuroscience. Recent publications have highlighted cognitive networks and developmental issues in pediatric epilepsy. He maintains a very active clinical practice focused on epilepsy, brain tumors, neurogenetic disorders, and traumatic brain injury. Dr. Korman also supervises neuropsychology students at the doctoral, internship, and postdoctoral levels.

Dr. Michael J Telch completed a post-doctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine after receiving his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1983,and cardiovascular epidemiology in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Disease Prevention at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Telch joined the clinical psychology faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1986 where he is currently Professor and founding director of the Laboratory for the Study of Anxiety Disorders and former Director of Clinical Training. Dr. Telch is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Association for the Advancement of Preventative Psychology. Dr. Telch is internationally recognized for his scientific research on the nature and treatment of panic, phobias and anxiety-related disorders. He has served as a scientific advisor to the National Institute of Mental Health’s Anxiety Disorders Education Program and the National Institute of Mental Health’s Panic Disorder Program. His published work has tackled a broad range of questions related to the nature and treatment of pathological fear across the full spectrum of anxiety disorders, and have utilized multiple research strategies including clinical trials, prospective longitudinal risk studies, experimental psychopathology, and controlled laboratory manipulations of cognitive, behavioral, and pharmacological strategies during exposure therapy. In addition, many of the graduate students that Dr. Telch has trained have gone on to make significant contributions to the field of anxiety disorders.

Prof. Haseeb A Khan is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Prof. Khan is also a Group Leader of Analytical and Molecular Bioscience Research Group and a Chair Professor at Prince Sultan Research Chair for Environment and Wildlife, King Saud University. Before moving to King Saud University, he served as a Senior Scientist at Armed Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He obtained his Ph.D. from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India and received scientific training at USA, UK, Denmark and Finland. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK.

Dr. Silvana Gaetani is working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology from, Sapienza University of Rome. Dr. Gaetani is also Member of the Board of Professors of the Ph.D. Program in Toxicology, Member of the Didactic Committee of the Master Course in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Rome. She completed her Ph.D. in Pharmacology “Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics” (March 2003), University of Bari Italy, School of Medicine; Master of Science in Biological Sciences magna cum laude (March 1998), University of Lecce Italy, School of Biology.

Dr. Steven L Wagner is an Associate Professor in Department of Neurosciences at University of California. Dr. Wagner joined the School of Medicine at the University of California from 2009-2013. Prior to that He co-founded TorreyPines Therapeutics, then named Neurogenetics, in 2000 serving as its Chief Scientific Officer for nine years. Previously, He was the Director of Protein Biochemistry at SIBIA Neurosciences from 1991-1999. He served as the program head of SIBIA's Alzheimer's disease drug discovery collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS). This collaboration resulted in the first gamma-secretase inhibitor for Alzheimer's disease to reach the clinic. Dr. Wagner was a member of SIBIA's Strategic Planning and Drug Discovery Steering Committees and a member of the Joint Steering Committee between SIBIA and BMS. He is an inventor on numerous patents and patent applications and has published over 50 chapters and research papers in the top scientific journals. Prior to leading SIBIA's Alzheimer's disease drug discovery efforts, He was a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California at Irvine where he co-authored the initial purification and identification of the human amyloid precursor protein (APP). He received his B.S. in chemistry from Bellarmine College and received his M.S. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Health Sciences Center at the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

Dr. Adrienne C. Scheck is an Associate Professor at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix Arizona. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and an Associate Investigator in the Cancer Biology Program at the Arizona Cancer Center of the University of Arizona. Dr. Scheck received her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester in NY and her PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. After postdoctoral fellowship in viral oncology at the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania she moved to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to study AIDS-related dementia. She began her studies of brain tumors while at Sloan-Kettering and moved to the Barrow Neurological Institute in 1989. Current work in her laboratory has 2 major goals. The first is to devise novel therapeutic regimens to improve survival and minimize side effects for patients with malignant brain tumors. To this end, her laboratory has been studying the use of the ketogenic diet (KD) for the treatment of malignant brain tumors. Their work has shown that the KD reduces the growth of malignant brain tumors through a variety of mechanisms and it potentiates the effect of radiation and temozolomide chemotherapy. These preclinical studies have led to a clinical trial for patients with glioblastoma multiforme. The second main goal of her research is to identify markers that improve on the current methods of diagnosis and prognosis for this devastating disease. Dr. Scheck has a strong interest in science education. She gives Cancer Biology lectures to area high school and college students and she directs a program that places high school students in research laboratories around the Phoenix area. Her laboratory team includes 7-10 high school students and college undergraduates.

Dr. Chang Soo Nam is currently an Associate Professor of Edward P. Fitts Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University, USA. He is also an associated professor of the UNC/NCSU Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, as well as Department of Psychology. He received a PhD from the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2003. He teaches and conducts basic and applied research in human factors and ergonomics engineering to advance the science of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with a broad prospective on the application of systems and information engineering to human-centered technologies, including brain-computer interface and neurorehabilitation, cognitive neuroscience, and neuroergonomics. His research has been supported by federal agencies including National Science Foundation (NSF), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and National Security Agency (NSA). Dr. Nam has received the NSF CAREER Award (2010), Outstanding Researcher Award (2010-2011), and Best Teacher Award (2010-2011).

Dr. Xiang Yang Zhang is working as an Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences department at The University of Texas Health Science Center, Texas. Dr. Zhang also worked as an Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences department at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. Dr. Zhang received several Awards and Honors: Travel Award, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Hawaii, USA. The Beijing Science and Technology Award, Beijing, China. 65th Who's Who in America Honor (2010), 5th Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare (2004), etc. Dr. Zhang has been taking comprehensive studies in cognition, biomarkers including oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, neurotropins, neuro-electrophysiology and neuroimaging, genetics and clinical psychopharmacology in schizophrenia and drug dependence/addiction research.

Dr. Leyan Xu is Research Associate in Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Xu received his M.D. degree from Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences (Now Jilin University) in 1994 and Ph. D. degree (Major in Medical Image and Nuclear Medicine) in Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) in Peking Union Medical College in 2000. He started research in the biomedicine field in 1994 as a graduate student. Dr. Xu has conducted research on various projects in academia in China (1994-2001), University of Maryland (2001-2003) and The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in USA (2003-Present). Dr. Xu's expertise is in neuroscience including neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, traumatic brain injury, stroke and schizophrenia. Dr. Xu’s contributions and outstanding work are highly recognized and adopted by the independent researchers and experts in his field. He has made progress in stem cell therapy on motor neuron diseases (ALS). His research achievement became the principal foundation upon motor neuron disease clinical human trials for ALS which was approved by FDA. In addition, Dr. Xu managed pre-clinical trial on ALS therapy with umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cells sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. Based on the progress, He was invited to be Scientific Advisory Board Member on Cell-based Therapy in ALS, Johnson & Johnson, 2011. Dr. Xu has received an American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) Travel Scholarship award and an American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair (ASNTR) Travel Award.

Dr. Anna Barbara Cieslicka is Associate Professor at the Psychology and Communication Department, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas. Her main research interests focus on issues related to bilingual language processing, such as cross-linguistic interactions in the mental lexicons of bilingual language users and the mechanisms underlying bilingual figurative language comprehension. She is Principal Investigator at the National Science Foundation grant, which allowed installation of the Biosemi ERP/EEG Active Two Acquisition System in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at TAMIU. Dr. Cieslicka is currently working on a project examining ERP correlates of processing English idiomatic expressions by Spanish-English bilinguals. She is also co-editor of the volume Bilingual Figurative Language Processing (Cambridge University Press) with R.R. Heredia and Methods in Bilingual Reading Comprehension Research (Springer Press) with R.R. Heredia and J. Altarriba.

Dr. Xuejun H Parsons is Professor of Regenerative Medicine in San Diego Regenerative Medicine Institute, San Diego, California. Dr. Parsons received her PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology from Cornell University in 1998, and completed her PostDoc studies as a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Research Fellow at University of California at San Diego in 2002. She has a broad background in biomedical research and life sciences industry, with a great deal of expertise and leadership in the emerging technology of human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) based regenerative medicine, in-depth understanding of hPSC research to the advance of medicine and improvement of human health, and entrepreneurship. Following her postdoc training in the field of molecular biology, she was awarded a NIH mentored research scientist career development award (NIH K01AG024496, titled 'Epigenetic Controls in hESC Dopaminergic Fate') in 2005 for successful transition of her career into the human stem cell field as PI. From 2005-2008, she also served as the key personnel and project leader in one of the NIH exploratory centers for pluripotent human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, and have led the collaborative effort to develop the utility of hESC as a model system for a diverse range of biological and medical problems with her original research and ability to integrate diverse sources of information to develop novel approaches. She is the Co-Founder/CEO of several Regenerative Medicine startups, including San Diego Regenerative Medicine Institute, Xcelthera INC, and PluriStem Biopharmaceutical Ltd. Previously; she was a stem cell scientist and/or faculty at University of California and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.

Dr. Xin-Ming Shen is an Associate Professor in Neurology department from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine at Rochester. Dr. Shen is also working as a Research Scientist and Supervisor in Department of Neurology from Mayo Clinic at Rochester. After he earned his Ph.D. degree, He became interested in neurobiology of neuromuscular junction. Later he investigated the disease mechanisms in the Congenital Myasthenic Syndromes (CMS) for 19 years with multiple techniques such as intracellular recordings of single muscle fiber from patient in vitro, single-channel patch-clamp recordings of acetylcholine receptors at the end plates of patient in vitro, and expression studies of functional consequences of mutant endplate proteins, which includes cloning interested genes into mammal cells to test ability of expression or into bacteria for protein purifications, kinetic analysis of the activation of acetylcholine receptors (AChR) by cluster analysis of the opening and closing dwell times at single channel level, amperometric measurement with carbon fiber electrodes to analyze the effect of SNARE proteins on exocytosis, and biochemistry analysis for enzymatic kinetics of choline acetyltransferase. To further understand the mechanistic consequences of mutations in acetylcholine receptor, He also conducted mutant cycle analyses to explore the energetic interactions between mutant residues and other key residues essential for activation of the receptor. To investigate the energetic couplings of inter-residues of AChR can prove the pathogenicity of the mutation at atomic level but also provide insights into mechanism of receptor activation. He is expert in electrophysiology, molecular biology, and computer sciences enabled me to contribute to unraveling the varied disease mechanism in the CMS.

Dr. Basavaraju G Sanganahalli received his PhD in Neuroscience from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in the year 2004. After his postdoctoral training at the Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine in the areas of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and neurophysiology, he joined the research faculty of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging in the year 2008. He is one of the core scientist in the functional neuroimaging core at Quantitative Neuroscience with Magnetic Resonance (QNMR center). His research interests are in the development and applications of multimodal biomedical imaging methodologies to study brain function in animal models. Dr. Sanganahalli is applying these multimodal imaging tools to understand brain function in healthy as well as psychiatric/neurological disorders (Schizophrenia, Epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer's and Aging) in animal models, and facilitating the translation of basic neuroscience research to various clinical applications.

Dr. Chiba-Falek is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at Duke University School of Medicine and a faculty in the Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). She is also a faculty member in the Duke's Center for Genomic and Computational Biology (GCB), and a faculty in the Division of Human Genetics. Dr. Chiba-Falek received her PhD in Genetics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and post-doctoral training in Neurogenetics at the National Human Genome Research Institute. She joined the faculty at Duke University in 2007. Her research focuses on the genetic factors and molecular mechanisms underlying age-related neurodegenarative diseases, in particular cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, and Lewy body spectrum disorders. Her lab's overarching goal is to identify the precise causal and functional genetic variants underlying GWAS discoveries, and understand their molecular mechanisms of action and the biological pathways through which they exert their pathogenic effects. To this end her lab has developed innovative in silico, in vitro and in vivo approaches to study noncoding variants, specifically structural variants, and their impact on the regulation of gene expression and splicing in the context of neurodegenerative phenotypes. Her research program is translational to inform clinical studies, and for future development of new genetic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Dr. Chiba-Falek is a recognized expert in molecular and human genetics, functional genomics, neuroscience and molecular biology.

Dr. Michelle Melgarejo da Rosa is working as a full-time Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Federal University of Pernambuco UFPE, Brazil. Dr. Michelle Melgarejo da Rosa received her Ph.D in the field of the molecular mechanism of Brain Synaptic Plasticity and Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity, 2016 from Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany. Dr. Michell worked as researcher at the Center for Therapeutic Innovation - NUPIT/UFPE. Dr. Michelle Melgarejo da Rosa is currently working on influence of molecules (natural products, galectinas, lectinas) on memory consolidation and aging.

Prof. Baiyun Liu is Professor, Chief from Department of Neurosurgery in Capital Medical University, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital. Prof. Liu completed his Master of Medicine from Bethune Medical University, Ph.D. from Capital Medical University. His topic mainly focuses on the treatment for TBI, especially decompressed craniectomy and its mechanism analysis, for the aim of promoting the treatment strategy development of TBI and the clinical application of decompressive craniectomy, to better improve the outcomes and prognosis of TBI patients. As the Chairman of Neurotrauma Training Committee of Chinese Medical Doctor Association and Chairman of Chinese Medical Association TBI appropriate technical training base, he is also responsible for the operation training work for young neurosurgeons in China.

Dr. Jian Liu received her Ph.D. in Neurosciences from University of Washington in St. Louis, MO and continued her postdoctoral training with Professor Don Cleveland at UCSD. She has since been devoted her research career to understanding ALS pathogenesis as well as drug discovery and development for therapeutic treatment of ALS. She has made important contributions to the studies of rodent models of SOD1-linked ALS. She started an independent research group at California Pacific Medical Research Center in 2003 working closely with the Forbes Norris MND/ALS Research Center to bridge the basic research with ALS clinic to understand molecular mechanisms of ALS in general. Her group in collaboration with Professor Vishwanath Lingappa discovered that carbonic anhydrase isoform 1 might be playing a role in ALS. In 2009, she joined Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, a new Sino-British Higher Education Institution and continued working on CA1 involvement in ALS pathology.

Dr. Cai Song is Director and Professor in Research Institute for Marine Drug and Nutrition, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China. Dr. Song is also working as Professor for Graduate Institute of Neutral and Cognitive Science, China Medical University, Taiwan. She is also an Adjunct Professor in Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. She completed her MSc in Neurophysiology, the East China Normal University and Chinese Academy Science, Physiology Institute, Shanghai, China, Ph.D. in Psychoneuroimmunology, the National University of Ireland.