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Assessing the Carcinogenic Potential of Low Dose Exposures to Chemical Mixtures in the Environment

This Halifax Project task force focused on "Assessing the Carcinogenic Potential of Low Dose Exposures to Chemical Mixtures in the Environment". 174 scientists from prominent institutions in 28 countries were formed into 12 teams (see below) and they focused on the possibility that complex mixtures of commonly encountered chemicals in the environment may be capable of carcinogenic effects that have yet to be fully appreciated. This project was initiated because we believe that the historical scientific and regulatory emphasis on “mutagens as carcinogens” and the ongoing search for individual chemicals and precisely defined mixtures that are “complete” carcinogens (i.e., can cause cancer on their own) is an incomplete approach that has serious limitations. The last few decades have shown us that cancer can be enabled by a series of key events, while chemical exposure research has shown us that many of these key events can be independently instigated. At the same time, we have discovered that many chemicals have low dose effects that have not been fully appreciated. So this task force looked at the possibility that exposures to mixtures of disruptive chemicals at low doses (in our day-to-day lives) might be contributing to the high rates of cancer incidence that society is currently facing.

From the thousands of chemicals to which the population is now routinely exposed, the scientists selected 85 prototypic chemicals that were not considered to be carcinogenic to humans and they reviewed their effects against a long list of mechanisms that are important for cancer development. Working in teams that focused on various hallmarks of cancer, the group found that 50 of those chemicals support key cancer-related mechanisms at environmentally-relevant levels of exposure. This supports the idea that chemicals may be capable of acting in concert with one another to cause cancer, even though low level exposures to these chemicals individually might not be carcinogenic. This is a paradigm shift in the field of toxicology and the research has now been published in Oxford's Carcinogenesis (click here to see the special issue).

The teams that worked on this effort are shown below.

Angiogenesis

Zhiwei Hu MD, PhD, Ohio State University (United States) - Associate professor in the Department of Surgery of The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Hu is one of first few scientists who proposed to target both the tumor cells and tumor neovasculature for development of novel dual neovascular- and cancer cell-targeted therapy for cancer. Currently his laboratory is focusing on further elucidating the mechanisms of action and improving the efficacy of factor VII-targeted immunotherapy and photodynamic therapy for human cancers. His laboratory is also studying tumor angiogenesis, natural killer cells and cancer stem cells and their interaction in tumor microenvironment.

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Hsue-Yin Hsu, PhD, Tzu Chi University (Taiwan) - Autophagy has been recognized as the major causal factor for the acquired resistance in cancer treatment. Inhibition of autophagy as well as cell survival signaling pathways promotes cell death, whereas autophagy may paradoxically enhance the cell death induced by anti-cancer agents. Prof. Hsue-Yin Hsu is currently at Tzu Chi University, Taiwan, in the Department of Life Sciences. Her primary area of expertise is in tumor angiogenesis, drug resistance and cellular redox homeostasis by using small molecules to develop new strategies for cancer treatment.

Liang-Tzung Lin, Department Of Microbiology And Immunology, Taipei Medical University (Taiwan) - Dr. Liang-Tzung Lin received his undergraduate and graduate training in Canada and previously worked as a postdoc at the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, Halifax, Canada. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at Taipei Medical University, Taiwan. He is interested in the anti-cancer effects of natural products-derived small molecules and is also exploring how certain viruses induce cancers.

Jin-Rong (Joseph) Zhou, PhD, Harvard Medical School (United States) - Associate Professor of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr Zhou's lab is researching bioactive dietary, nutritional and natural botanical components for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases such as cancer, obesity and metabolic syndrome. The lab has an integrated system for identification, efficacy evaluation and mechanism elucidation of bioactive components and then applies a series of clinically relevant animal models for chronic diseases, such as the cancers of prostate, breast, pancreatic and bladder and obesity/metabolic syndrome to evaluate the efficacy of each component. They are also applying cell function-guided extraction, fractionation and purification strategies to identify active components from Chinese herbal medicines for the prevention and therapy of cancer, and they are investigating the roles that nutritional/natural components may play in targeting cancer stem cells. These findings can be translated to clinical practice and provide evidence for dietary guidelines in the prevention of related diseases.

Menghang Xia, PhD, NIH/NCATS (United States) - Dr. Menghang Xia has been a group leader of cellular toxicity and signaling at the NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC, now a part of National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences). Dr. Xia and her research group are currently focused on the target-specific and mechanism-based toxicological studies. She and her colleagues have developed and validated a battery of in vitro toxicological assays using a quantitative high throughput screening platform. With these tools, they have investigated the mechanism of action of chemicals in multiple cellular signaling pathways. Dr. Xia received her Ph.D in pharmacology and toxicology from the State University of New York at Buffalo and did her postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco. Prior to joining NCGC, Dr. Xia identified and validated several targets for drug development as a senior scientist at Merck Research Lab.

Chia-Wen Hsu, PhD, NIH/NCATS (United States) - Postdoctoral fellow in the Tox21 group, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Hsu has extensive experience in assay development and molecular pharmacology. Her main focus is to decipher how environmental chemicals disrupt cell signaling using in vitro toxicity testing, quantitative high throughput screening (qHTS), and chemical genomics. Using the similar approach, she is also interested in identifying new cures for cancer and other human diseases. Prior joining in the NIH, Dr. Hsu received her BS in chemistry from National Taiwan University and PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nicole Kleinstreuer, PhD, ILS/NICEATM (United States) - Dr. Nicole C. Kleinstreuer's research focuses on mathematical and computational modeling of biological systems and their susceptibility to environmental and genetic perturbations that may result in disease outcomes. She developed a multi-scale mathematical model of renal blood flow autoregulation which was used to investigate the effects of hypertension and diminished nitric oxide production on kidney function, and as a member of the National Center for Computational Toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency she analyzed high-throughput data sets on large numbers of environmental chemicals and has developed in vitro bioactivity based signatures from these data for toxicity mechanisms such as embryonic vascular disruption and tumor angiogenesis. She currently works for the National Toxicology Program Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods.

Thierry Massfelder, PhD, HDR, INSERM (France) - Dr. Thierry Massfelder is Director of Research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Strasbourg, France. His team developed innovative approaches to identify new pathways and markers involved in renal and prostate cancer progression and resistance to therapeutics by referring more particularly on awakened developmental pathways.

Valerian Dormoy, PhD, University Of California, Irvine (United States) - Dr. Valerian Dormoy is Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Irvine, USA. He has expertise on oncology, developmental and cell biology and he is focusing on exploring innovative therapeutic strategies in cancer and understanding the cellular mechanisms of cancer progression and resistance

W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, UNC Lineberger (United States) - Dr. Rathmell is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a member of the UNC Curriculum in Toxicology. Her research centers on cancers caused by deregulation of the normal hypoxia response pathway. Her laboratory uses clear cell renal cell carcinoma as a model system because of the prevalent disregulation of hypoxia in these tumors. The goal of the Rathmell lab is to identify strategies to understand the initiating causes of this cancer and to improved the detection and treatment of cancers dependent on hypoxia pathway activation. Research is particularly focused on pathways that regulated angiogenesis, vasculogenesis, hypoxic response signaling, extracellular matrix remodeling, glucose metabolism, and cell cycle signaling. Clinically, Dr. Rathmell specializes in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. She oversees a clinical research program within the multidisciplinary genitourinary oncology group.

Samira Brooks, University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill (United States) - Samira Brooks is a senior level graduate student in the Program in Toxicology at UNC Chapel Hill. She has expertise in chemical admixture contribution to human disease, and is focusing on environmental toxins that alter gene expression in the develoment of cancer.

Deregulated metabolism

R. Brooks Robey, MD FASN FAHA, Dartmouth College & White River Junction VA Medical Center (United States) - Dr. Robey is both Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Founding Chief of the Section of Nephrology at the White River Junction VA Medical Center. He also holds dual academic appointments at The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, where he is an Associate Professor of Medicine and of Physiology and Neurobiology, as well as a faculty member of Dartmouth's Program in Experimental and Molecular Medicine. His scientific interests include the regulation of cellular metabolism and metabolic determinants of cell survival and apoptogenic susceptibility. His laboratory specifically focuses on the regulation and functional contributions of hexokinases.

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Anna C. Salzberg, Penn State (United States) - Senior Bioinfomaticist in Penn State College of Medicine�s Bioinformatics Core. Anna Salzberg has had 15 years experience working in industry as a software-engineer. At Pfizer, she co-developed protein structure computational geometry algorithms to predict target "druggability", which are now used globally, as well as novel graph theoretic algorithms for binding-site-fingerprinting to predict function and small molecule selectivity. At Penn State she is involved in developing algorithms for genomics and proteomics and mining large biological datasets. She is contributing to Dr. Weisz's studies of cancer latency by analyzing gene expression datasets to identify chronic oxidative stress associate molecular changes of potential relevance to carcinogenesis in mammary epithelial cells of young women living in the USA. She will be involved in the analysis of the large datasets generated by the TISTM robotic high-throughput nanoscope, which enables identifying functional protein networks (toponome) in tissue sections by clustering at the pixel.

Elizabeth Ryan, PhD, Colorado State University (United States) - Dr. Ryan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University. Her research is currently focused on mucosal immune modulation and anti-cancer activity of bioactive components in rice bran. She actively evaluates genetically diverse rice cultivars from around the world. In addition to mouse studies and human trials, she is developing the canine cancer model to investigate alternative medicine modalities during cancer treatment as a new scope of research at the CSU Animal Cancer Center. The hope is to expand and develop evidence-based research on phytochemically rich foods in oncology by using highly translational, naturally occurring cancers in companion animals. Phytochemicals from rice bran, beans, and fermented Chinese tea, are currently under investigation for their affects on gut microbiome and for modulating tumor metabolism.

Dustin George Brown, Colorado State University (United States) - Dustin Brown is a Lab Technician in Dr. Elizabeth Ryan's Cancer and Nutrition Lab in the Department of Radiological and Environmental Health Sciences at Colorado State University. He began researching as an undergraduate focusing mainly on dietary intervention in both mouse and canine studies. Following completion of a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences, he began working full time in Dr. Ryan's lab, assisting with human clinical trials and microbiological studies. He hopes to continue researching under Dr. Ryan as he prepares to apply for medical scientist training programs to pursue a career in Research Science.

Ferdinando Chiaradonna, PhD, University Of Milano Bicocca (Italy) - Dr. Ferdinando Chiaradonna is an Assistant Professor in Tumor Biochemistry at University of Milano Bicocca, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, Italy. His research is currently focused on role of oncogenes, in particular K-Ras, in the regulation of cancer cell metabolism and proliferation. His laboratory focuses also on the identification of mitochondria role in the connection between cancer specific metabolic alterations and cell death mechanisms, especially activated upon nutrient deprivation in tumor cells. Leading idea is the identification of metabolic targets or signaling pathways useful in cancer therapy.

Roberta Palorini, PhD, University Of Milano Bicocca (Italy) - Dr. Palorini's main focus is the characterization of mitochondrial metabolism in human cancer cells expressing an oncogenic K-ras protein. Dr. Palorini demonstrated that mitochondria activity in these cancer cells is strongly impaired. However she showed that such mitochondrial derangement is due to a reversible mechanism that can be used as a powerful therapeutic target in cancer.

Francis L Martin, PhD, Lancaster University (United Kingdom) - Prof. Francis L. Martin PhD holds a Chair in Biological Chemistry at Lancaster University (UK). His research interests include biospectroscopy, aetiology of cancer, mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease and low-dose effects of environmental contaminants. Prior to his current post, Prof Martin undertook a 6-y postdoctoral research fellowship in genetic toxicology at the Institute of Cancer Research (UK) and his PhD at University College London (UK). He was awarded the UK Environmental Mutagenicity Society Young Scientist award in 2000.

Graeme Williams BSc, BAppSci, MBBS, MD, University Of Reading (United Kingdom) - Over recent years, Dr Williams has been investigating the effects of endogenous hormones, inflammatory markers and xeno-estrogens, upon the up-regulation of aromatase, and subsequent aberrant ER and GPER signalling, seen in hepato-cellular carcinoma, breast and prostate cancer, with the Dept. of Experimental Oncology, Palermo University. Dr Williams continues his work exploring the molecular and cellular actions of combined low dose endocrine disrupting compound exposures, upon aromatase up-regulation in breast, prostatic, hepatic and stromal fibroblast cell lines, with emphasis upon EDC induced mRNA aromatase transcripts, epithelial and stromal cell transformation, and the tumour micro-environment, in the development of breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Judith Weisz, MB, BChir , Penn State (United States) - Professor in the Departments of OB/GYN at PSU College of Medicine, has a background in medicine and endocrinology. Her research, after a fellowship in steroid biochemistry at the Worcester Foundation, focused first on reproductive physiology and then on the role of catecholestrogens in breast carcinogenesis via their free radical generating potential. Her research focuses now on the latent stages of carcinogenesis and has found that a marker of chronic oxidative stress, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal adducts, can identify in reduction mammoplasty tissues from healthy young women where mammary epithelia cells with molecular changes relevant to carcinogenesis reside. She will apply a TISTM nanoscope, which can provide a map of 100 proteins at 40nm resolution in tissue sections, to track chronic oxidative stress associated molecular changes in breast tissue of women of different ages.

Arthur Berg, PhD, Penn State (United States) - Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and Director of Penn College of Medicine’s Bioinformatics Core, is experienced in utilizing numerous software tools to perform diverse types of statistical analyses. Many of the computational tools he has developed are publicly available via website portals (statgen.psu.edu and Comprehensive R Archive Network), and authored several methodological papers in statistical genetics, statistics, and biostatistics.

Lisbeth E. Knudsen, PhD, University Of Copenhagen (Denmark) - Professor in experimental toxicology in the Faculty Of Health Sciences, Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Dr Knudson's focus is on on test systems and alternatives to animal testing and she is also involved in research in toxicology, genotoxicology, biomonitoring of environmental and occupational exposures, alternatives to animal experiments, ethical aspects of genetic testing and biomonitoring. Dr Knudson was also the National member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the European Centre for the validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM) 2000-2009 and the EU implementation group on biomonitoring 2003-. At the national level Dr Knudson coordinated major biomonitoring studies within occupational health: stainless steel welders 1987, busdrivers and mail carriers 1995.

Nancy B. Kuemmerle, DO, PhD, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, White River Junction, VT And Geisel School Of Medicine At Dartmouth, Hanover, NH (United States) - Staff hematologist/oncologist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, VT as well as a researcher in the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. She holds a dual appointment as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH. She has been investigating the roles of lypolysis, fatty acid synthesis, and endocytosis of lipoprotein particles in tumor metabolism. Her particular interest is the role of diet in tumor progression and metastasis.

Evasion of Anti-growth Signalling

Rita Nahta, PhD, Emory University (United States) - Assistant Professor at the Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, and the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr Nahta focuses on the biological and therapeutic implications of growth factor signaling crosstalk in breast cancer. Significant advances in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer include the development of therapies targeted against specific cancer-causing molecules. However, the success of these mono-targeted therapies is often limited by cross-talk between multiple signaling pathways. Dr Nahta is specifically interested in understanding how cross-talk between HER2 and other growth factor signaling pathways affects the biology of HER2-overexpressing breast cancers, including how signaling cross-talk promotes resistance to targeted therapies.

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Christian Naus, PhD, University Of British Columbia (Canada) - Professor, Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences, Director, Life Sciences Institute and Canada Research Chair in Gap Junctions and Disease. The objective of Dr Naus' research is to explore the role of gap junctions in the etiology and possible therapy of neurological disorders. The lab uses animal models and clinical tissues related to stroke, epilepsy and brain cancer, and has shown that tumour cells engineered to re-establish gap junctional communication show suppression in growth and tumorigenesis. One focus of ongoing research is aimed at determining the mechanisms underlying this tumour-suppressive effect, using genomics approaches to identify some of the links between gap junctions and expression of growth control genes. They are also exploring the repertoire of endogenous molecules which pass through gap junction channels, some of which may be involved in the control of cell growth and differentiation.

Dale W. Laird, University Of Western Ontario (Canada) - Dr. Dale W. Laird completed his PhD in Biochemistry at University of British Columbia in 1988, and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. In 1992 he accepted a faculty position at McGill University, relocating to the University of Western Ontario in 1997 where he is a Full Professor. Dr. Laird has received the Premier's Research Excellence Award, the Medical Research Council Scientist Award, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Faculty Scholar Award, Dean’s Research Excellence Award and the Quality of Life Research Award from the Canadian Institute of Health Research. He has published over 110 peer-reviewed articles in cell and cancer biology and serves as a past or current Editorial Board member for the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Biochemical Journal. Dr. Laird's research encompasses studies of gap junction proteins, connexins, and a related family of channel proteins, pannexins, in health and disease.

Debasish Roy, PhD, The City University Of New York At Hostos Campus (United States) - Dr. Debasish Roy is the Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Hostos Community College of The City University of New York. He received his MS and PhD degrees in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Kolkata University, Kolkata, India. He worked at Biotechnology Research Center of Toyama Prefectural University, Japan. Then he joined at The Center for Radiological Research of Columbia University, New York to work on Radiation Induced Breast Cancer Research Program. Later on, moved to NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York as a Beam Line Research Scientist to involve in NASA’s Radiobiology Program. His pioneer work on differential gene expression help to understand the tumorigenic progression during radiation-induced breast carcinogenesis. He also identify the role of different non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as anti-cancer compounds in radiation-induced breast cancer model.

Gary S Goldberg, PhD, University Of Medicine And Dentistry Of New Jersey (United States) - Dr. Goldberg is an Associate Professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He has worked at major institutes around the world to develop approaches to understand and combat cancer. His research has been published in over 40 peer reviewed papers, several book chapters, and presented at numerous national and international meetings. Dr. Goldberg is investigating how growth factor receptors promote tumor cell growth and motility, and developing ways to target these receptors to prevent and combat cancer.

Gloria M Calaf, PhD, Universidad De Tarapaca, Arica (Chile) - Dr. Gloria Calaf is a full professor at the Instituto de Alta Investigación, Arica, Chile and Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University of New York. She received her MS and PhD degrees in Biological Sciences at Michigan State University, E. Lansing, Michigan. She has worked at Michigan Cancer Foundation in Detroit, Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA and Columbia University in NY. Her research interest is in environmental carcinogenesis, developing in vitro and in vivo breast cancer models to understand initiation, promotion and prevention of breast cancer. She has identified several genes associated with such processes and among them c-Ha-ras, a pivotal one in the transformation process by the effect of environmental substances.

Richard Ponce Cusi, Instituto De Alta Investigación (Chile) - Richard Ponce is a graduate student in Biological Sciences at Tarapaca University, Arica, Chile. He received his B.S. in Biology and Microbiology at the National University Jorge Basadre Grohmann, Tacna, Perú and currently he participated in several projects at his University on Histones H1 and on metagenomic called “Characterization of bioleaching microbe populations isolated from the geisers of the city of Candarave, Tacna, Perú to be applied in Minery- He has participated in two Dr. Gloria Calaf ´s grant on genomic instability.

Jan Vondracek, PhD, Institute Of Biophysics, Academy Of Sciences Of The Czech Republic (Czech Republic) - Senior Scientist, Department of Cytokinetics, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Dr. Vondracek’s primary research interests include the mechanisms of toxic action of organic pollutants (polycyclic and halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons) leading to disruption of cell-cell communication, proliferation and cell death control. The ongoing research is specifically focused on the biology of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and its interactions with inflammatory and developmental signaling pathways, and on the effects of toxicants and chemopreventive compounds on signaling pathways regulating function/fate of stem/progenitor cell populations in development and carcinogenesis.

Karine Cohen-Solal, PhD, The Cancer Institute Of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (United States) - Assistant Professor at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Department of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. My laboratory focuses on the resistance of melanoma cells to TGFβ tumor suppressive activities, usually coupled with the ability of TGFβ to drive the oncogenic process in advanced stage melanomas. My research interests also include melanoma signaling cross-talks involving the transcription factors Smads and how these cross-talks modulate the response to TGFβ and can interfere with the beneficial effects of drugs against melanoma.

Ahmed Lasfar, PhD, Rutgers University (United States) - Assistant Professor at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Rutgers University. Associate Member of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. My laboratory focuses on understanding the mechanisms of IFN-lambda, TGF beta and others factors in tumor suppression and the improvement of cancer immunotherapy. We are also interested in the cross-talks between IFN-lambda, IFN-alpha and TGF-beta in the modulation of NK cell functions in melanoma and other cancer types.

Mark Wade, PhD, Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia (Italy) - Senior Researcher. Dr Wade's experience developing and validating cell-based screening assays convinced him of their utility as discovery biology tools. In setting up the Screening Unit, he aimed to create an infrastructure with the flexibility to grow and to build a team that will contribute significantly to the design, development and execution of screening campaigns. The expertise present within his team facilitates the translation of ideas born on the lab bench into high-throughput homogenous and/or phenotypic assays. The lab is initially siRNA-focused, and are developing in-house projects in addition to collaborative efforts with other life science researchers. Dr Wade's team has a strong basic research interest in proteins involved in ubiquitin signaling, with a particular focus on inflammation and cancer. They are integrating multiple approaches in order to uncover novel links between ubiquitin signaling and human pathologies.

Paola A. Marignani, PhD, Dalhousie University (Canada) - Dr. Paola Marignani is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The goal of the Marignani Discovery Research Laboratory is to identify the molecular events that give rise to disease, namely cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neuropathies (collectively referred to as Metabolic Syndrome). By combining animal models, high throughput screening platforms, molecular and functional imaging, Dr. Marignani is studying the molecular interface between cancer and metabolism, with the objective to identify novel signalling pathways that could serve as targets for improved therapeutics, metrics for diagnosis and a basis for prevention. For more information about the Dr. Marignani's research program, please see http://myweb.dal.ca/pmarigna/

Rafaela Andrade-Vieira, Dalhousie University (Canada) - Rafaela Andrade-Vieira is a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. Marignani. Rafaela joined the Marignani Lab in 2010 from Brazil, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Biology. Rafaela's research project involves understanding molecular events that give rise to metabolic changes in the the cell.

Paul Dent, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University (United States) - Director and Chair, Division of Research, Department of Neurosurgery, Universal Distinguished Professor for Signal Transduction, Massey Cancer Center, and Affiliate Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry. Dr Dent's lab has three main areas of interest. First, to understand the signaling processes which regulate the survival of normal liver cells exposed to toxic stresses such as bile acids and novel therapeutic agents. Second, several translational projects are understanding how radiation and novel signal transduction modulators can alter tumor cell viability and proliferation in colon cancer, prostate cancer and in breast cancer. Third, studies in his lab have shown that the novel cytokine mda-7 / IL-24, administered as either a recombinant adenovirus or as a purified protein radiosensitizes primary human glioma cells and enhances the lethality of novel therapeutic agents which generate ROS in renal carcinoma.

Nichola Cruickshanks, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University (United States) - Research Fellow within the laboratory of Dr. Paul Dent in the Department of Neurosurgery, Massey Cancer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Cruickshanks's research focuses on cell signaling pathways in cancer cells, specifically brain and breast cancer. Her research encompasses the identification of therapeutic biomarkers and targeted anticancer therapeutic drug approaches to cancer treatment. Most recent research has been focused on anoikis resistance and stem cell involvement in cancer metastasis.

Renza Vento, MD, University Of Palermo (Italy) - Full Professor in Biochemistry. Coordinator at the PhD school in Experimental Oncobiology (2010-present); Adjunct Professor at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia; Member of the Governing Council of the Italian Society of Biochemistry (SIB). She has published 117 papers on international scientific Journals with Impact Factor. Current areas of research:- Studies on the apoptosis mechanisms in human cancer cells (retinoblastoma, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, hepatoblastoma, breast cancer cells) in colture; Evaluation of pRb roles; Evaluation of p53 roles; PARP inhibitors and chromatin remodeling; Synergistic effects of proapoptotic drugs in cancer cells; Isolation and characterization of Cancer stem cells; Xenograft studies on athymic nude mice. Employing the human osteosarcoma MG63 cell line, she has recently produced and patented a human embryonal cancer stem cells line.

Riccardo Di Fiore, PhD, University Of Palermo (Italy) - Post-doc fellowship (research project "Analysis of patterns of epigenetic modifications in human tumor cell lines in culture", 2010-present). Current areas of research: Studies on the apoptosis mechanisms in human cancer cells in colture; Evaluation of p53 roles; Synergistic effects of proapoptotic drugs in cancer cells; Isolation and characterization of Cancer stem cells; Xenograft studies on athymic nude mice. Employing the human osteosarcoma MG63 cell line, he has recently produced and patented a human embryonal cancer stem cells line.

Robert Craig Castellino, MD, Emory University (United States) - Assistant professor of Hematology/Oncology in the Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine. Dr Castellino has expertise in Pediatric oncology; brain tumors; p53 signaling; sonic hedgehog signaling, and he researches the aggressive childhood brain tumor, medulloblastoma and the cancer-causing gene WIP1 for a better understanding of how medulloblastomas become aggressive and strategies to treat them.

Sarah Bay, Emory University (United States) - Sarah Bay is a graduate student in Genetics & Molecular Biology at Emory University, in the laboratory of Tamara Caspary, PhD. Her work focuses on the role of Arl13b in transformation to medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood.

Genetic Instability

Andrew Collins, PhD, ScD, University Of Oslo (Norway) - Professor, Nutritional Biology. Dr Collin's early research was focused on molecular mechanisms of DNA repair in mammalian cells, and in particular the manipulation of repair with the use of DNA synthesis inhibitors, which allowed identification of mutant phenotypes and analysis of the kinetics of repair. He then developed an interest in oxidative damage to DNA, and the ability of phytochemicals to protect against this damage, pioneering a molecular epidemiological approach using the comet assay to measure DNA damage in lymphocytes from human subjects. Dr Collins also co-ordinated an international effort (ESCODD) to deal with serious methodological problems in the measurement of DNA oxidation. His lab has also developed high throughput biomarker assays for DNA damage and repair for use in large-scale human trials, in combination with genotyping. Future efforts will emphasize interactions of environment (including nutrition) with DNA repair phenotype and genotype.

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Amaya Azqueta, PhD, From The University Of Navarra (Spain) - Amaya Azqueta Oscoz graduated in Biology in 1999 at the University of Navarra, and concluded her PhD in 2006 in the Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Toxicology at the same university. From 2006 until 2010 she was working as a researcher in the Department of Nutrition of the University of Oslo. She has now returned to the area of Toxicology at the University of Navarra with a contract from the "Juan de la Cierva" programme of the Spanish Government. Her area of research is genotoxicology and she is an expert in the comet assay technique for measuring DNA damage and DNA repair. She has been involved in the development of the technique and its application in different areas including genotoxicity testing of chemicals, oxidative stress, characterization of antioxidants and human biomonitoring.

Amelia K. Charles, PhD, University Of Reading (United Kingdom) - Dr. Charles completed her PhD with Dr Philippa Darbre entitled "The oestrogenic and genotoxic properties of cosmetic chemicals in human breast epithelial cells". She has worked with the parabens, a class of oestrogenically active chemicals, and investigated their ability to contribute to carcinogenic processes of initiation (DNA damage) and promotion (increased proliferation via oestrogen receptor), within target breast epithelial cells with regards breast cancer. A priority of her work was investigating the mixtures of the parabens at low doses. She is interested in the mechanisms of genotoxicity, and toxicity of chemicals, with regard to human health and specifically cancer. She previously worked for the Environment Agency within Human health and Ecosystems, investigating and developing assays to investigate the toxicity and genotoxicity of effluent samples.

Ann-Karin Olsen, PhD, The Norwegian Institute Of Public Health (Norway) - Dr. Olsen's research interests involves DNA damage and repair in male germ cells, effects of low dose single or mulitiple exposures (radiation and chemical insults) on male germ cells and sperm, transferrance of negative effects in male germ cells to offspring, prenatal paternal exposures and their potential effects on the germ cells of males and implications of such insults on the health (i.e. cancer) of the offspring. In her PhD she characterised DNA excision repair pathways in the different cell types of the testicle of humans and rodents, whereas in her Postdoctoral work she focussed on the induction of DNA damage, its repair, and generation of de novo mutations in male germ cells using various mouse models. She is now a senior scientist with interests in effects of low dose exposures to agents such as ionising radiation, in combination with other stressors on male germ cells.

Gunnar Brunborg, PhD, Norwegian Institute Of Public Health (Norway) - Department Director, Brunborg has 30 years of experience from experimental research and regulatory toxicology, mainly within radiation biology, DNA lesion detection and mechanisms of DNA repair, and with special emphasis on male germ cells and consequences of paternal exposure. He has contributed to the understanding of genotoxicity of a number of chemical agents and drugs, including dibromochloropropane, heterocyclic amines, acetaminophen (paracetamol), chlorinated furanones, benzo(a)pyrene, acrylamide, and ionizing radiation, studying effects on mammalian cells and organisms but also on lower eukaryotes (yeast cells). In recent years he has been involved in ecogenotoxicology including analysis of effects of low dose-rate ionizing radiation on earthworm germ cells and reproduction. Brunborg�s research group has a strong interest in transfer of genetic and epigenetic changes in the male and their transfer to the offspring.

Daniel Desaulniers, PhD, Research Scientist, Health Canada, Hazard Identification Division (Canada) - Since 1993, Dr. Desaulniers' laboratory has performed mandated government research to provide data for the risk assessment of priority chemicals. Using various models, he has investigated the potential for exposure to environmental contaminants to induce endocrine disruption and to create predisposition to cancer development. His laboratory is currently testing the effects of metals, organochlorines, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in human hepatic cell lines, and long term effects of perinatal exposure to organochlorine mixtures on the livers of adult rats. Endpoints that are monitored include p450 activities and metabolic assays, gene expression and DNA methylation microarrays, DNA methylation pyrosequencing assays of cancer related genes and DNA repeated elements.

Firouz Darroudi, MD, PhD, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) (Netherlands) - Senior scientist in Radiation Genetics and Chemical Mutagenesis at the Department of Toxicogenetics, Leiden University Medical Centre. Dr Darroudi has 30 years experience in Radiation Genetics and Chemical Mutagenesis, and in classical and state of art cytogenetics. Dr Darroudi has explored the application of different cytogenetic assays for biological dosimetry following acute and chronic exposure in scenarios of accidental and occupational exposure. Dr Darroudi has contributed to the development and application of new FISH assays, such as multi-colour FISH, M-FISH and application of telomeric probe with chromosome painting probes and pancentromeric probes to investigate the origin of radiation induced chromosomal aberrations, mechanisms , spectra, and repair kinetics and to assess biological dosimetry. Moreover, he has been involved in pioneering development and validation of in vitro assays as alternatives to use of vertebrate animals to detect and characterize genotoxic, anti- and co-genotoxic potential of human dietary components.

Gudrun Koppen, PhD, Flemish Institute For Technological Research (Belgium) - Engineer in Chemistry and Agricultural Sciences (University of Ghent, Belgium). Dr. Koppen has completed a post-university degree in School Teaching (University of Ghent) and in Environmental Sanitation (partly in Bochum-Germany via a European Erasmus exchange program). She worked for one year as a researcher on aerosols at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the University of Ghent (1994). Between 1994 and 1999, she completed a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium) on genotoxicity testing in plants. Since 1999 she has worked at the Flemish Institute of Technological Research (VITO, Belgium), in the Environmental Risk and Health unit. She mainly performs project work in the field of "human biomonitoring". Tasks include study design, logistics, data interpretation, statistics and reporting. She is also involved in biomarker development and lab organisation/students supervision in the field of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Luoping Zhang, PhD, University Of California, Berkeley (United States) - Dr. Luoping Zhang is currently an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. Dr. Zhang has been working toward applying FISH to understand the mechanisms of bone marrow toxicity caused by benzene and as a biomarker for childhood leukeumia and other types of cancer. Recently, her research interest has turned to toxicogenomics, leading research efforts to apply gene expression profiling in molecular epidemiology and RNAi in human cell culture studies of chemical exposure.

Mahara Valverde, UNAM-IIB (Mexico) - Dr Valverde´s PhD-research focused on “Factors involved in metals carcinogenicity�? induce by metal-inhalation characterizing exposure and effect biomarkers through the use of systemic-in vivo and in vitro models, conducting her interest to the antioxidant barrier as possible trigger of damage response as postdoctoral work. Her research begins in the genetic toxicology field as pioneer of comet assay employing different kind of human epithelial cells as obtained of nose, oral cavity and eye to be used as exposure biomarkers to xenobiotics. In the last years as researcher of Genomic Medicine and Environmental Toxicology Department at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, has conducted studies related with the mechanisms associates to cell transformation induced by a metals mixture of As-Cd-Pb. Also she is interested to study differential DNA damage susceptibility and repair capacities between cells challenged by several insults (UV radiation, oxidants).

Emilio Rojas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma De México (Mexico) - Dr. Rojas had been working as researcher in the Genomic Medicine and Environmental Toxicology Department at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in genetic toxicology for the last 20 years, principally focused in DNA damage induce by xenobiotics, in different models, including human exposed populations. In the last decade, his interest has focus in the modulation of the gene expression of different pathways related to the genetic instability induced by metals mixtures from a toxicogenomic view. His research in the last years has focused in the epigenetic regulation of DNA damage and repair induced by low concentration of metals mixture.

Micheline Kirsch-Volders, PhD, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) - Professor emeritus and past-director of the laboratory for cell genetics. Dr Kirsch-Volders has 40 years of research and 25 years of management experience in the study of in vitro and in vivo genotoxic effects of chemicals. Her main research topics were the organization of chromosome territories in nuclei, the role of chromosomal changes in hepatocarcinogenesis and skin carcinogenesis in rodents, the mechanisms leading to aneuploidy, the development of adequate tests to detect aneugens with their implementation in the internationally accepted battery for genotoxicity assays, the assessment of thresholds for genotoxicity and the biomonitoring of occupational exposures.More recently her research field was extended to cellular repair phenotyping, assessment of susceptibility of newborns versus adults to mutagens and the potential genotoxicity of nanomaterials.

Nik Van Larebeke, MD PhD, Ghent University (Belgium) - Honorary professor, Retired Director of the Study Center for Carcinogenesis and Primary Prevention of Cancer, Ghent University, Belgium. Promotor-spokesperson of the Flemish Centre of Expertise on Environment and Health 2001-2011. Scientific collaborator of the department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Sabine Langie, PhD, Flemish Institute For Technological Research (Belgium) - Dr Langie's PhD-research on "Nutritional modulation of DNA repair" comprised the full range of studies with cells in vitro, experimental animals as well as human volunteers, and contributed to the field of genetic toxicology since she adapted a modified comet assay for DNA repair phenotyping purposes. Her recent research focused on the modulation of epigenetic modifications and DNA repair in the ageing brain: DNA methylation changes can affect gene transcription and DNA repair capacity, and thus imprint susceptibility to DNA damage. She is interested in early-life exposures to xenobiotic agents and/or specific dietary compounds, and how these can influence the interaction between DNA methylation and oxidative stress/DNA damage plus predispose to pathological diseases later in life. Since November 2012 she has been working at VITO in Belgium on the topic "Allergy: environmental and nutritional programming in childhood".

Sofia Pavanello, University Of Padua (Italy) - Dr. Sofia Pavanello, specialist in Clinical Biochemistry, is working as a researcher at the Occupational Medicine Unit of Hospital-University of Padova (Italy) in genetic toxicology, principally focused on the interaction of environmental/ occupational and genetic / epigenetic factors in disease causation. PhD-research, on Biomonitoring human exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by detection of DNA adduct, has comprised a full range of studies with cells in vitro, animal models, human volunteers and occupational exposed workers. Using different technique she has demonstrated the relationship between DNA adducts formation and exposure to PAHs. More recently her interest has been extended to the study of gene/ epigenetic and environment interactions on disease causation.

Tao Chen, Ph.D., US FDA National Center For Toxicological Research (United States) - Dr. Chen is a research toxicologist in National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. FDA. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology. Dr. Chen serves as an editor or reviewer for a number of journals in Toxicology and has published more than 90 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and books. He has also served as a consultant and reviewer for the World Health Organization and US National Science Foundation. Dr. Chen’s research is related to safety assessment of FDA-relevant drugs and chemicals. Currently, he focuses on development of microRNA biomarkers for assessment of carcinogens and evaluation of genotoxicity assays for assessing nanomaterials.

Taichun Qin, University Of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center (United States) - Dr. Qin received his PhD in Pharmacology and Cancer Biology in May 2008 from University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in Dr. Jean-Pierre Issa’s laboratory, an internationally recognized leader in the field of cancer epigenetics and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in the same laboratory. His research focused on translational study of anti-cancer drugs including screening of compounds for epigenetic reactivation using cell-based technologies and identifying potential targets for epigenetic therapy. He joined in Dr. Isaiah J Fidler’s laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow at the Cancer Metastasis Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center in May, 2010. His research as a project leader was to investigate mechanisms of organ microenvironments on regulating gene expression in cancer metastasis, primarily focusing on brain metastasis. He has published ten first author research papers in academic journals including Blood, Clinical Cancer Research, and PloS One.

Immune System Evasion

H. Kim Lyerly MD, FACS, Duke University (United States) - Professor of Cancer Research at Duke University and a senior member of the Duke global health team. He was, until recently, the director of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2008, Dr. Lyerly was appointed to the National Cancer Advisory Board by President George Bush. He was also named by his peers as one of North Carolina's most outstanding clinical physicians. Dr. Lyerly has been a faculty member of the AACR/ASCO Methods in Clinical Cancer Research, and has served as a faculty member of ACORD Workshops. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation.

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Allen E Silverstone, PhD, SUNY UPstate Medical University (United States) - Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Professor of Pharmacology. Dr Silverstone's research program explores how dioxins, PCBs, and estrogenic compounds affect the immune system at the cellular and molecular level. His lab is using a combination of dioxin receptor (AhR) knock out and conditional knock out mice, Estrogen receptor knock-out mice (ER alpha and beta) and microarrays to identify the specific gene programs activated by these agents in the earliest developing T and B cells.

Emanuela Corsini, PhD, University Of Milan (Italy) - Dr Corsini is Associate Professor of Toxicology at The University of Milan and responsible for the Immunotoxicology and Immunopharmacology Toxlab units. At present, the primary focus of her laboratory centers on the refinement of alternative in vitro tests to identify and discriminate contact allergens from irritants and respiratory sensitizers, based on the use of DC-like cells and keratinocytes, and to classify allergens according to their potency. The other area of research centers on the understanding at the molecular level the mechanism of action of immunotoxic/immunomodulatory compounds (i.e. perfluorinated compounds, pesticides, vegetal extracts) on innate and adaptive immunity. And immunosenescece represents another area of interest of her laboratory. Specifally, studies are being conducted to define the role of RACK-1 and protein kinase C in the decline or remodeling of the immune responses associated with aging, and to identify compounds able to reverse such changes (i.e. DHEA, natural extracts).

Julia Kravchenko, MD, PhD, Duke University Medical Center (United States) - Research Scientist at the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Sciences at the Duke University Medical Center (Durham, North Carolina). Her area of research interests includes cancer epidemiology and population-based biologically motivated models of carcinogenesis. She studies the impacts of environmental factors on cancer and non-cancer disease risks, including the evaluation of health effects of multiple environmental contaminants in the water and air, the effects of ionizing radiation, and identification of populations at highest health risk from environmental exposures. She also develops the predictive population models of carcinogenesis under exposure to various environmental factors: they include a population-based analysis of cancer risks, cancer survival and mortality; biologically motivated mathematical modeling of mechanisms of human carcinogenesis (with incorporation into the model the barrier mechanisms based on hallmarks of human carcinogenesis); and modeling of prognosis of cancer risks and outcomes (progression and survival).

Marc A. Williams, PhD, US Environmental Protection Agency (United States) - Dr. Williams is an applied immunologist and lung biologist, with expertise in cellular and lung immunology, molecular toxicology and allergic inflammation. He studies environmental exposures to pollutants and contaminants that might provoke immune system dysfunction, immune suppression and chronic inflammatory disease pathways. Dr. Williams has an extensive publication record reporting possible associations between environmental chemical exposures and bioindicators of disease pathways. Dr. Williams has contributed research efforts that have made significant contributions in understanding many human diseases including respiratory and allergic airways diseases, autoimmunity and the molecular, cellular and functional basis of disease. Dr. Williams serves on The Faculty of 1000, Section on Immunology, is a fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, an Associate Editor of both the Journal of Innate Immunity and Stem Cells and Development, and is the current Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Environmental Immunology and Toxicology (JEIT).

Masoud Manjili, DVM, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University (United States) - Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at VCU School of Medicine, Member of Massey Cancer Center. Dr. Manjili's research focus is on understanding tumor immunoediting and relapse in order to develop immunotherapeutic strategies for breast cancer dormancy. His projects cover three major areas which include: i) epigenetic modulation of cancer cells during dormancy and relapse, ii) tumor-induced immune suppression mediated by myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), and iii) reprogramming tumor sensitized immune cells for adoptive immunotherapy of breast cancer.

Takemi Otsuki, MD, PhD, Kawasaki Medical School (Japan) - Professor of Department of Hygiene, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki, Japan. The research focus of our department is the immunological effects of fibrous and particulated substances, particularly silica and asbestos. Regarding silica, the mechanisms to make people exposed silica complicate with dysregulation of autoimmunity. Furthermore, we consider that asbesotos, the mineral silicate, also affect immune system. If you think from complications found in asbestos-exposed population, the occurrence of malignancies such as mesothelioma and lung cancer is the most important. The asbestos exposure seems to reduce the capacity of host-tumor surveillance involving NK cells, CD4+ T cells, Treg and CTL functions according to our experimental results and data based on specimens obtained from asbestos-exposed patients. To clarify the relationship between the asbestos-exposed immune system and alteration of mesothelioma cell characteristics for the development of improved prevention and clinical therapy for this disease will be needed.

William K Decker, PhD, Baylor College Of Medicine (United States) - Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Immunology. Dr Decker's research has focused upon dendritic cell regulation of the Th-1 immune response, and his work has demonstrated that dendritic cells possess the ability to compare MHC class I and class II antigenic sequences via a novel regulatory complex involving tRNA molecules and their associated tRNA synthetases. He has also focused upon the soluble signaling mediators used by these so-called "Th-1" dendritic cells to mediate cellular immune responses. He is currently engaged in translating these basic discoveries into viable therapeutic regimens for the treatment of neoplastic disease

Replicative Immortality

Amancio Carnero Moya, PhD, Institute Of Biomedicine Of Sevilla (Spain) - Dr Carnero leads the Molecular Biology of Cancer Lab at the Biomedical Institute of Seville (IBIS/CSIC). In the past, his research interests have focused on the ras signal transduction pathway, the cell cycle, senescence and cellular immortalization. His lab is currently focused on the identification and characterization of genes with therapeutic relevance in cancer; establishing causality in the initiation and progression of the tumoral process; and the validation of new therapeutic targets that could form the basis for the identification of new anti-tumor compounds

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Carmen Blanco Aparicio, PhD, CNIO (Spanish National Cancer Research Center) (Spain) - Head of Biology Section in the Experimental therapeutics Programme. Blanco Aparicio's group is devoted to the biochemical, cellular and in vitro /in vivo pharmacological characterisation of compounds synthesised by the division's Medicinal Chemistry Section. During the past year we have been working on inhibitors of proto-oncogene serine/threonine- protein kinases (PIM) and Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3- related (ATR), and developed dual PIM/Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitors.

Hemad Yasaei, PhD, Brunel University (United Kingdom) - Dr. Yasaei is research fellow at Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics and Pharmacogenomics. He is currently working on developing a novel human-based in vitro cell transformation assay to screen carcinogenicity potential of chemicals. His other research interests are to understand the mechanism of telomerase re-activation in human breast cancer and telomere regulation and maintenance.

Hiroshi Kondoh, MD, PhD, Kyoto University Hospital (Japan) - Assistant professor at the Department of Geriatric Medicine, Kyoto University Hospital. Dr. Kondoh was a clinician for cardiovasucular medicine, internal medicine, and geriatric medicine. He first worked in yeast genetics and cell cycle research for his PhD degree. For the past ten years, he has been working on glycolysis and senescence research in mammalian cells.

John P Wise Sr, PhD, University Of Southern Maine (United States) - Professor of Toxicology & Molecular Epidemiology. Dr. Wise is the Principal Investigator of the Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicology. He is a Professor of Toxicology and Molecular Epidemiology in the Department of Applied Medical Sciences, and Director of the Maine Center for Toxicology and Environmental Health. Dr. Wise's research interests are in the areas of cancer mechanism, metal toxicology, marine toxicology, and cell culture.

Sandra S. Wise, University Of Southern Maine (United States) -

Juan F M Leal, PhD, Cell Biology Department, Pharmamar SA, Madrid, Spain (Spain) - Dr Leal leads the Mechanism of Action Group within the Cell Biology Department at Pharmamar. The main research focus is to shed light on the mechanism of action of the new antitumoral compounds developed by the company. Previous work interests were environmental genotoxicology, transcriptional response to oxidative stress, biology of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, senescence as an anticancer mechanism and development of antitumoral protein kinase inhibitors.

Matilde Esther LLeonart Pajarin, MD, Institut De Recerca Hospital Vall D'Hebron (Spain) - Dr. LLeonart leads the Oncology and Pathology Group at the Institut de Recerca Hospital Vall d'Hebron. Her laboratory performs basic research with a special focus on the clinic. Her research focuses on the identification of novel genes/microRNAs in primary cells by means of high throughput genetic/microRNAs screens. The genes identified are further examined in human tumorigenesis, and additional research is also undertaken to characterize the extraribosomal functions of ribosomal proteins in senescence, proliferation and cancer.

Resistance to Apoptosis

Hyun Ho Park, PhD, Yeungnam University (Korea South) - Assistant professor at the Yeungnam University. Dr. Park's group studies protein-protein interactions involved in the intracellular signaling that are closely linked to human health and disease, with an emphasis on cancer. Their main targets are cell death signaling pathways (apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy), using X-ray crystallography in conjunction with other biochemical and biophysical methods to elucidate the interaction mechanism and protein-protein interface (PPI) at the atomic level. The ultimate goal of Dr Park's research team is to develop chemical or peptide drugs that can regulate targeted signaling pathways.

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A. Manaf Ali, PhD, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (Malaysia) - Professor in cell biotechnology at the Institute of Biotechnology, Sultan Zainal Abidin University, Malaysia. Dr. Ali's research interest is in the discovery of cytotoxic natural product compounds from local medicinal plants that induce apoptosis in cancer cells. He is currently evaluating goniothalamin a cytotoxic natural product compound and Newcastle disease virus local strains as antileukemia agents.

Barry Barclay, PhD, Director R & D Planet Biotechnologies Inc Edmonton Alberta (Canada) - A molecular biologist and senior executive currently Director of Research and Development at Planet Biotechnologies Inc. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and a Director at NatraShade Ppy Ltd , Adelaide Australia, Dr. Barclay previously held academic appointments as Professor, and Co-ordinator of the Post-degree program in Environmental Health at Concordia University College of Alberta, and faculty appointments at Thompson Rivers University, The University of Alberta, The Cross Cancer Institute, Brock University, York University, and the Department of Biochemical Pharmacology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Barclay's research interests include thymine nucleotide stress as a common molecular endpoint for environmental carcinogens and a causal role for mitochondrial DNA damage in carcinogenesis

Michael J Gonzalez Guzman, University Of Puerto Rico (United States) - Dr. Michael J. Gonzalez is Professor at the Nutrition Program, School of Public Health in the Medical Sciences Campus, University of Puerto Rico. Dr. Gonzalez is a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, and has authored over 150 scientific publications. He has serve as a member on several scientific journal Editorial Boards, and served as consultant for several companies. He has obtained several research awards for his work on Nutrition and Cancer. Doctor González is a leader in the development of non-toxic chemotherapy treatments for cancer. His group published the first Phase I clinical study utilizing Intravenous Vitamin C in terminal cancer patients in 2005, and also published the most comprehensive review on Vitamin C and Cancer. He has developed many new concepts such as the Bioenergetic theory of carcinogenesis, the systemic saturation phenomenon of intravenous vitamin C, the metabolic correction concept for disease treatment and prevention.

Clement Yedjou, PhD, Jackson State University (United States) - Dr. Yedjou is currently a Professor at Jackson State University. He has a strong concentration in the field of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Cellomics and Toxicogenomics Research Laboratory and Molecular Toxicology. His current research focuses on the preclinical assessment of physiologic doses of ascorbic acid in combination with pharmacologic dose of arsenic trioxide (Trisenox) for the management of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and other malignancies; basic and translational studies of ascorbic acid and arsenic trioxide effects on tumor metastasis; the role of host immune system in ascorbic acid treatment; the mechanisms of action of ascorbic acid when combined with arsenic trioxide for the treatment of APL patients; the preclinical assessment of vernonia amygdalina leaf extracts as anti-cancer agent in the management of human breast cancer.

Edward Ratovitski, PhD, DSc, Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine (United States) - Edward A. Ratovitski. PhD. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (United States) - Professor of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Ratovitski studies effect of cisplatin-induced phosphorylation of tumor protein p63 on the transcriptional network of mRNAs and microRNAs involved in cell cycle, apoptosis, autophagy and epigenetic regulation. He employs various molecular approaches including protein-protein interaction analysis, microRNA analysis, metabolomics to address the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of p63- and p53-dependent targets that are closely linked to chemoresistance of human cancers.

Kannan Badri Narayanan, PhD, Yeungnam University (Korea South) - International Research Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, Yeungnam University, South Korea. Dr. Narayanan obtained his Ph.D. degree in Biotechnology from Pondicherry University, India. He has been the recipient of Fellowships offered by various agencies such as University Grants Commission (UGC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of Government of India. His research interests are in the fields of bioactive molecules and nanoparticles, nanobiotechnology, protein biochemistry, and genetic engineering.

Maria Fiammetta Romano, MD, Federico II University Of Naples (Italy) - Maria Fiammetta Romano works as aggregate professor, group leader at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, Federico II University, Naples, Italy. She is involved in studying apoptosis regulation in normal and tumour cells, with focus on mechanisms of apoptosis defects in cancer sustained by NF-kappaB transcription factors, and strategies to overcome resistance. Very recently, her research studies disclosed an essential role for the immunophilin FKBP51 in resistance to apoptosis, in malignant melanoma and human leukemia and a function for this protein as transcriptional co-regulator of melanoma stemness markers, namely ATP binding cassette transporters (ABC). ABC, responsible for multidrug resistance.

Simona Romano, PhD, Federico II University Of Naples (Italy) - Simona Romano (master degree in Medical Biotechnology) has achieved a PhD in Molecular Oncology and Endocrinology and actually she covers a post doc position at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, Federico II University of Naples, Italy. She accumulated significant experience and knowledge in the fields of apoptosis and cancer biology, in quality of principal investigator of relevant research articles in these fields.

Paramita Ghosh, PhD, University Of California Davis (United States) - My chief topic of research is the elucidation of signal transduction pathways leading to the development of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Currently, I am engaged in studying signal transduction pathways both upstream and downstream of Akt. Upstream of Akt, I am studying the effect of receptor tyrosine kinases and their effects on both the PI3K and the MAPK cell signaling pathways, while downstream of Akt, I am studying the cross-talk with the androgen receptor pathway, and the effects of aging on the development of prostate cancer. At present, our targets of investigation include the erbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases, the andogen receptor, the cytoskeletal scaffolding molecule Filamin A which is known to be an androgen receptor coregulator and components of the signal transduction pathways downstream of Ras (including the mitogen activated protein kinases) and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), including p70 S6 kinase, 4E-BP1 and e1F-4G.

Leandro S D'Abronzo, University Of California Davis (United States) - Leandro D'Abronzo is a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Paramita Ghosh in the University of California Davis within the Comparative Pathology Graduate Group. He is pursuing his Ph.D. and has just passed his qualifying examination which makes him eligible for candidacy. Leandro was awarded his Bachelor’s of Science degree with emphasis in molecular biology from the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Leandro joined Dr. Ghosh’s laboratory in 2010, where he has been trying to elucidate the molecular mechanistic leading to the development of resistance to mTOR pathway targeted therapies in advanced prostate cancer patients.

Po Sing Leung, PhD, The Chinese University Of Hong Kong (China) - Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Leung is currently also the Theme Chief of Reproduction, Development and Endocrinology. His major research is to focus on Pancreatology which involves the study of the pancreatic islet cell biology and diabetes; pancreatic stem cell research and islet transplantation; natural products as an alternative to treating pancreatic cancer. In the past decade, he has made continuous efforts to develop new treatments for diabetes and pancreatic cancers as well as elucidating the underlying mechanisms involved.

Lin Li, PhD, The Chinese University Of Hong Kong (China) - Lin Li is Doctor of Philosophy in Physiology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the mentorship of Prof. Po Sing Leung. She has been investigating on natural products or herbs for pancreatic cancer treatment and prevention, as well as revealing the molecular mechanisms involved. She was awarded her Master of Philosophy degree in Phytochemistry from Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Bachelor degree in Pharmacy from Sichuan University, China. She has knowledge on medicine chemistry, traditional Chinese medicine, pharmaceutics and pharmacology.

Qiang (Shawn) Cheng, PhD , Southern Illinois University Carbondale (United States) - Associate Professor of Computer Science, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Dr. Cheng's research interests include pattern recognition, machine learning theory, computational biology and bioinformatics, signal and image processing, and their applications to medicine and healthcare. Recently he has been working on data mining for knowledge discovery from large scale or high dimensional data sets including developing new big data analytics, fast algorithms for biomarker identification and modeling for biological/medical data.

Ranjeet Kumar Sinha, PhD, The Scripps Research Institute (United States) - Dr. Ranjeet Kumar Sinha is a senior research associate at the Department of molecular and experimental medicine, The Scripps Research Associate, San Diego, USA. He is investigating cytoprotective role of blood protease, Activated Protein C, in endothelial cells and therapeutic potential in cancer. He is involved in engineering the Activated Protein C for its enhanced therapeutic potential. APC cleaves PAR1, a GPCR family receptor, and generate a tethered ligand. He is designing the peptides which enabling PAR1to provide biased signaling and its drug efficacy. Previously, he was investigating the role of lipid/protein kinases in T cell activation and development. He deciphered how a natural product, EGCG, modulates phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases.

Rita Dornetshuber, Department Of Pharmacology And Toxicology, University Of Vienna (Austria) - Mag. Dr. MSc Rita Dornetshuber-Fleiss is a postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Vienna, Austria. She is handling the Hertha Firnberg Project “Evaluation of the natural cyclohexadepsipeptidic Fusarium metabolites Beauvericin and Enniatin as novel anticancer drugs�? in cooperation with the Institute for Cancer Research, Department of Medicine I; Medical University Vienna. Natural products are good candidates for the discovery of new anticancer drugs. So far, data obtained with several naturally occurring cyclodepsipeptides in vitro as well as in vivo imply a promising new approach in the discovery process of these drugs from nature. In order to successfully establish novel anticancer therapeutics in the clinics a broad knowledge on the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of activity is essential. Thus, Dornetshuber-Fleiss aims to judge the pharmacological potential of these cyclic peptides as lead compounds in cancer therapy.

Tae-Jin Lee, PhD, Yeungnam University (Korea South) - Dr. Tae-Jin Lee is an associate professor of Yeungnam University, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine from 2008. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Microbiology of Kyungpook National University, South Korea in 2000. He had a postdoctoral training at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center. After relocation to Korea in 2005, he worked on 1) mechanisms of novel TRAIL sensitizers, 2) role of c-FLIP in apoptotic pathways. Currently, he studies on the molecular mechanisms regulating apoptosis-related genes by miRNA in cancer and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).

Yon Rojanasakul, West Virginia University (United States) - Dr. Rojanasakul is Robert C. Byrd Professor at West Virginia University Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center. His research is in the areas of cancer cell biology and nanotechnology with an emphasis on cellular and molecular mechanisms of lung carcinogenesis induced by engineered nanomaterials and heavy metals.

Suidjit Luanpitpong, PhD, West Virginia University (United States) - Dr. Luanpitpong is Research Assistant Professor at West Virginia University Health Sciences Center. Her research is in the areas of free radical biology and molecular carcinogenesis.

Sustained Proliferative Signalling

Wilhelm Engstrom, MD, Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden) - Professor of Pathology in the Department of Biosciences and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Engstrom's research has primarily been focused on cell cycle regulation and growth factor gene transcription control. His most recent research has focused on fibrous proteins and the relationship between protein structure and biomechanics, as well as epigenetic regulation of growth factor gene expression. He is Chairman of The European Cell Proliferation Society, and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala and the Royal College of Pathologists (UK).

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Tove Hultman, Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden) - BVet, assisting reseasrcher of my laboratory

Andrew Ward, PhD, University Of Bath (United Kingdom) - Reader in Cell and Developmental Biology - interested in the regulation of fetal growth to understand how correct body size and proportions are attained, and how altered fetal growth can influence health in later life, including predisposition to cancer, obesity and diabetes. His lab also studies the function and regulation of key genes that influence these processes, particularly a small group of genes regulated by genomic imprinting (which are unique because they are expressed predominantly, or exclusively, from only one of their two parental copies). This is a form of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in that the two gene copies have essentially identical sequences but can be programmed to behave differently as they pass through either the male or female germline. The programming involves stable, yet reversible, changes such as DNA methylation and histone modifications. Environmental influences on these epigenetic mechanisms can result in altered gene expression.

Kim Moorwood, PhD, University Of Bath (United Kingdom) -

Gerard Wagemaker, PhD, Erasmus University Medical Center (Netherlands) - Professor of Hematology and the Chair of Stem Cell Gene Therapy. Dr Wagemaker has made significant scientific contributions to the areas of radiation biology, bone marrow and stem cell transplantation, hematopoietic cytokines, and gene therapy with a focus on stem cell regulation by hematopoietic cytokines and currently on stem cell gene therapy development.

Hideko Sone, PhD, National Institute For Environmental Studies (Japan) - A toxicologist and has worked on environmental health issues for about 25 years at national research institutes in Japan and the U.S.

Linda Gulliver, PhD, University Of Otago (New Zealand) - Linda convenes the Integrated Case Programme for Early Learning in Medicine (Years 2/3 of Medicine) Faculty of Medicine,University of Otago,Dunedin, New Zealand. Her research interests lie in the putative role of estrogen and estrogen receptor protein isoforms in the genesis of ovarian epithelial cancer - work that originated from Linda’s PhD thesis in the Department of Anatomy.

Michael Karamouzis, MD, PhD, Institute Of Molecular Medicine And BioMedical Research (Greece) - Prof. Karamouzis has organized a Molecular Oncology Unit and equipped the laboratory with basic instruments (western blot apparatus, water bath, pHmeter, pipettes etc.), chemicals and reagents. He is working on cell tissue cultures with human breast cancer cell lines, establishing a strong research program and creating a highly skilled and competent research group. He has also formed collaborations with well-established cancer research scientists. His lab has advanced in the proximity ligation assay techniques that can evaluate dimerization of two proteins as well as enhance the signal of low abundant proteins in situ. His main teaching course is on carcinogenesis and the impact of various signal transduction pathways in the initiation and progression of malignant tumors, and he is also specialized and treating patients with gastrointestinal cancers, breast cancers and aerodigestive carcinomas.

Oliver Schildgen, MD, Kliniken Der Stadt Koln GGmbH (Germany) -

Pankaj Vadgama, PhD, Queen Mary University Of London (United Kingdom) - Is Professor of Clinical Biochemistry at Queen Mary University of London and Honorary Consultant Chemical Pathologist at Barts Health NHS Trust. His research interests are related to near patient monitoring and the development of associated biosensors for in vivo monitoring. The technical aspects of this focus on electrochemical devices modified with enzymes or antibodies adapted for practical measurement through biocompatible interfacing membranes.

Philippa Darbre, PhD, University Of Reading (United Kingdom) - Reader in Oncology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading in England. Dr Darbre's research focuses on the cellular and molecular basis of action of estrogen and estrogen-mimicking compounds on the development, growth and progression of breast cancer cells. Her research is focused on the role of the many environmental chemicals which possess estrogenic activity and which can enter the human breast through diet, the domestic environment and use of cosmetic products. Studies are focused on determining the cellular and molecular actions of estrogenic compounds which can be measured in the human breast and on trying to understand how exposure to multiple compounds in the long-term may impact on breast biology. As well, Dr Darbre has developed human breast cancer cell culture models to investigate molecular mechanisms, and studies are currently focused on finding new ways of inhibiting the estrogen-independent cells which might have therapeutic benefit.

Rekha Mehta, PhD, Health Canada (Bureau Of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate) (Canada) - Research Manager, Toxicology Research Division. Dr. Mehta manages a research program that identifies and characterizes the mode of action (MOA) of chemical food contaminants for setting federal regulatory guidelines and risk management options that ensure that chemicals in foods do not cause adverse health effects. The research expertise encompasses application of (a) conventional or transgenic rodent models; (b) OECD Test Guidelines or experimental protocols; and (c) classical toxicologic pathology, genomics /proteomics and molecular pathology techniques to evaluate target organ specific carcinogenic / co-carcinogenic potential and MOA of chemical food contaminants (e.g. mycotoxins, acrylamide, furan, phytoestrogens). Member: Editorial Boards of Cancer Letters and International Food Regulatory Assessment Journal; Co-chair: “International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI): NanoRelease Food Additive Project: Task Group 3, Alimentary Canal Models�?. Member(2010): OECD Task Group, “OECD Guidance Document N° 116 On The Design And Conduct Of Chronic Toxicity And Carcinogenicity Studies, Supporting TG 451, 452, 453�?

Jayadev Raju, PhD, Health Canada (Canada) - A research scientist in the federal food regulatory setting (Bureau of Chemical Safety, Health Canada), Dr. Raju provides toxicological expertise related to carcinogenesis and co-carcinogenesis of foods and food constituents, including those that are classified as additives, contaminants, process-induced and migration chemicals. The main goal of his research is to provide hazard characterization of food-borne chemicals, using both conventional OECD testing experiments and models of diseases (specifically cancer), for safety evaluation and risk assessment supporting regulatory risk management processes. To understand exposure-related toxicological or carcinogenic mechanism(s) involved, genomic and epigenomic targets are evaluated. Dr. Raju is also interested in the biology of precancerous lesions of the colon and their use as a surrogate biomarker in evaluating foods and drugs. He is also an active member of International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI): NanoRelease Food Additive Project: Task Group 3, Alimentary Canal Models.

Staffan Eriksson, MD, PhD, Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden) - Professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry. Dr Eriksson's reseach group works with biochemical and molecular genetic characterization of the cellular deoxynucleoside kinases; key enzymes in the activation of anticancer and antiviral drugs. Molecular genetic methods are used to clone and express recombinant enzymes, and biochemical and biophysical techniques are used to determine their structure and function. The results provide basic information on the mechanism of activation DNA precursor analogs, which may help to design better antiviral and anticancer drugs. One of these enzymes, thymidine kinase 1 is also used as biomarker for cell proliferation. Antibodies designed against specific regions of this enzyme are presently tested in cell cycle studies and as basic tools to define the structure of thymidine kinase 1 in serum. This work will enable better use of thymidine kinase 1 as biomarker in human and veterinary oncology.

Thomas Sanderson, PhD, INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier (Canada) - Professor of Toxicology. Dr Sanderson is focused on pesticides, environmental contaminants, (veterinary and human) drugs and compounds of natural origin that can interfere with steroid biosynthesis and metabolism in humans and wildlife. Specifically his research is focused on the synthesis and metabolism of estrogens and androgens by various cytochrome P450 and reductase enzymes that are present in steroidogenic tissues and hormone-dependent tumors. Enzymes such as CYP19 (aromatase), CYP17 and 5α-reductase, among others are of particular interest because their elevated expression is associated with an increased risk of some cancers.

Tissue Invasion and Metastasis

Josiah Ochieng, PhD, Meharry Medical College (United States) - Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology and Director of the Cancer Biology Program at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Ochieng has investigated the role of fetuin-A (a liver derived glycoprotein) in the progression of solid tumors. The working hypothesis for this project is that fetuin-A, promotes tumor cell growth via exosomes that mediate adhesive and motility signaling mechanisms. Dr. Ochieng believes fetuin-A is not only relevant in the in vitro cell growth (it is the major serum protein in fetal bovine serum) but more importantly, in the in vivo growth of tumor cells in rodents and humans. Cell and molecular biology techniques are used to uncover the mechanisms involved. He believes the exosomes released by fetuin-A in tumor cells are major growth, motility and invasion drivers during cancer metastasis. The long term goal is to define the growth mechanisms involved in this novel pathway.

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Binhua (Peter) Zhou, MD, PhD, University Of Kentucky College Of Medicine (United States) - Associate professor at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center. Dr. Zhou received extensive training in breast cancer research at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His previous study was focused on the PI3K/Akt pathway in the progression and metastasis of breast cancer. In addition, he identified Snail, a critical transcription factor of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), was regulated by protein stability and cellular localization. His laboratory continued to decipher the regulation of Snail in EMT and metastasis by identifying the kinase, phosphatase, E3 ligase and de-ubiquitinase that are responsible for post-translational modifications of Snail. They found that EMT was provoked by signals from the inflammatory tumor microenvironment through Snail stabilization, and identified several chromatin-modifying enzymes that interact with Snail in transcription repression. They further discovered the metabolic reprogramming associated with EMT and breast cancer. They are continuing to reveal the important mechanism underlying breast cancer progression and metastasis.

Igor Koturbash, MD, PhD, University Of Arkansas For Medical Sciences (United States) - Dr. Igor Koturbash is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock, AR). He received his M.D. from the State Medical University in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (2001), and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Lethbridge, Canada (2008). He completed his training as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education Research Fellow at the National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, AR. Igor�s primary research interests are devoted to the epigenetic mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and development of novel approaches for toxicity and cancer risk assessment. During his career, Dr. Koturbash co-authored over 30 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals and 2 book chapters. He is a dedicated member of several professional societies, including the Society of Toxicology, Radiation Research Society and Environmental Mutagen Society.

Isabelle Racine Miousse, PhD, University Of Arkansas For Medical Sciences (United States) - Dr. Miousse is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences under Dr. Igor Koturbash. She received her Ph.D. in Genetics from McGill University in Canada studying the metabolism of folic acid and vitamin B12. She then pursued a specialization in Pharmacology and Toxicology. She is studying changes in different aspects of the epigenome such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and miRNA abundance, as well as in the genes involved in regulating these changes, following environmental challenges. Current projects investigate the epigenetic effects of traffic-related particulate matter, pharmaceutical compounds associated with liver cancer, and low-dose radiation.

Lisa Joy McCawley, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (United States) -

Nuzhat Ahmed, PhD, Royal Women's Hospital And University Of Melbourne (Australia) - Head Cancer Metastasis Group, Women's Cancer Research Centre & Senior Research Fellow (Honorary) Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Department of Surgery (St Vincent Hospital). Dr Ahmed has a long-standing track record in understanding how cancer cells grow and spread with specific focus on the identification of novel targets that will prevent the spread of ovarian cancer.

Pratima Nangia-Makker, PhD, Wayne State University (United States) - Research Scientist in the Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Wayne State University and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Detroit, Michigan. The main focus of Dr. Nangia-Makker's research has been to elucidate the structure-function relationship of a carbohydrate-binding protein galectin-3 in tumor growth and metastasis. She has used natural compounds like modified citrus pectin and purified fractions of Ocimum gratissimum: a commonly used dietary herb, to inhibit galectin-3 mediated functions resulting in attenuation of tumor progression. Her current research involves understanding the mechanisms of recurrence and metastasis of colon cancer by using chemo-resistant cells and development of novel therapeutic mechanisms for its prevention and therapy.

Sakina E. Eltom, DVM, PhD, Meharry Medical College (United States) - Associate Professor of pharmacology and cancer biology in the department of Biochemistry and Cancer Biology at Meharry Medical College. Dr Eltom is also a member of Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center. The main focus of her research is to understand the molecular mechanism of carcinogenesis induced by exposure to environmental poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The major emphasis is on characterizing the role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in the development and progression of breast carcinoma. Another research area in her laboratory is investigating the role of environmental endocrine disruptors in breast cancer of pre-menopausal women and how the gene-environment interaction contributes as a risk factor to the high incidence of breast cancer in pre-menopausal African and African American women.

Silvana Papagerakis, MD, PhD, University Of Michigan Ann Arbor (United States) - Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery and Director, Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Laboratory, Kresge Research Institute, Medical School. Active member of the Head and Neck Oncology Program of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center and Co-investigator of the University of Michigan Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Head and Neck Cancer. Dr. Papagerakis has a long-standing track record in basic, translational and clinical research evaluating novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for patients with oral, head and neck cancer, with the ultimate goal of developing mechanism-based individualized therapies that will improve patients' survival and quality of life. Research interests: alteration of epithelial and endothelial adhesion associated with tumor progression and metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cross-talk between chronic inflammation, immunity and cancer, cancer stem cells, human papillomavirus, experimental carcinogenesis and drug testing, disruption of circadian biorhythms. Her studies have received national and international recognitions.

Valerie A. Odero-Marah, PhD, Clark Atlanta University (United States) - Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences. Dr Odero-Marah's research is focused on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which occurs during normal embryonic development and in epithelial tumor progression. Several factors such as Snail transcription factor, are associated with EMT, and contribute to motility, invasion, and angiogenesis. Understanding the factors that contribute to EMT and prostate cancer metastasis is crucial for development of cancer therapies, so Dr Odero-Marah's laboratory focuses on the role of Snail transcription factor in prostate cancer progression and metastasis utilizing different prostate cancer cell lines.

Yunus Luqmani, PhD, Kuwait University (Kuwait) - Professor and Chairman of Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kuwait University. Research interests: Molecular biology of breast cancer with particular reference to mechanisms of endocrine resistance. Our current work utilises shRNA mediated estrogen receptor silenced cell lines as model systems, which we have shown to have undergone an EMT transition; we are studying the properties and behaviour of these cells in response to different environmental conditions in relation to their metastatic potential.

Zhenbang Chen, Meharry Medical College (United States) -

Tumor Microenvironment

Dean Felsher, MD, PhD, Stanford University (United States) - Professor of Medicine and of Pathology at Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford University, California, USA. Dr Felsher's research interests include both basic science and translational research studies that investigate how oncogenes initiate and sustain tumorigenesis. He is a 1996 Lymphatic Research Foundation Fellow and 2001 Junior Faculty Award Recipient. His laboratory has developed model systems that can conditionally activate oncogenes in normal human and mouse cells in tissue culture or in specific tissues of transgenic mice.

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Stephanie C. Casey, PhD, Stanford University (United States) - Dr. Stephanie Casey is a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in the Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology. Her research interests include tumorigenesis, tumor relapse, and how the immune system contributes to each, with a focus on leukemia and lymphoma. She has also has a specific interest in the role of inflammation and endocrine disruption in carcinogenesis.

P.K. Krishnakumar, PhD, King Fahd University Of Petroleum And Minerals (Saudi Arabia) - Dr Krishnakumar completed his post-doctoral study from USA after taking PhD (Marine Ecotoxicology) and M.Sc (Marine Biology) degrees from India. He is specialized in Biological Response of Maine Bivalves to Anthropogenic Contaminants. In 1986, he joined as Scientist (Fish & Fisheries) in the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and worked as Senior Scientist and Principal Scientist in Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (www.cmfri.org.in), Cochin, India until 2008. He now works as Research Scientist/Associate Professor in the Center for Environment and Water, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (www.kfupm.edu.sa), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Colleen S. Curran, PhD, University Of Wisconsin-Madison (United States) - Dr. Curran’s background includes degrees in Agricultural Business Management (B.S.), Bacteriology (M.S.) and Biomedical Science (Ph.D.) as well as U.S. Peace Corps service and 10 years of employment with the U.S.D.A. Agricultural Marketing Service. Her research interests include xenobiotic and hypoxic transcription factor cross-talk, cellular interactions with the extracellular matrix, and stromal cell functions within the tumor microenvironment.

Ezio Laconi, MD, PhD, University Of Cagliari (Italy) - Dept of Biomedical Sciences - University of Cagliari School of Medicine- Cagliari - Italy. Associate Professor of General Pathology and Physiopathology. Main research interests are the biology of neoplastic disease and the role of the tissue and tumor microenvironment in the pathogenesis of neoplasia. Using a model of orthotopic cell transplantation in the liver, intriguing analogies are being unraveled between carcinogenesis and regenerative medicine, both of which are he rooted in the host tissue context.

Fabio Marongiu, PhD, University Of Cagliari (Italy) - Dept of Biomedical Sciences - University of Cagliari School of Medicine - Cagliari - Italy. Post doctoral fellow. Main research interests are liver regenerative medicine and, more specifically, the generation of differentiated hepatocytes from stem/progenitor cells, including placenta-derived amniotic cells.

Jesse Roman, MD, University Of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky (United States) - Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Roman has written extensively in the area of lung tissue remodeling and inflammation and the role of extracellular matrices in the control of cellular functions. His research has been continuously funded by federal (NIH, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs) and non-federal organizations, and his national reputation is evidenced by his permanent and ad hoc memberships in several VA (VA Career Scientists Program, VA Oncology Study Section) and National Institutes of Health study sections (Aids and Related Research; Lung Injury, Repair and Remodeling (LIRR); NIH Director's Pioneers Award).

Laura Soucek, PhD, Vall D'Hebron Insititute Of Oncology (Spain) - Dr. Soucek's main focus is the pleiotropic and ubiquitous Myc oncoprotein, whose deregulation is implicated in almost all human cancer types. Unfortunately, targeting nuclear factors such as Myc is technically challenging and has hitherto lacked any preclinical validation. However, over the past few years, Dr. Soucek demonstrated that Myc inhibition can have a dramatic therapeutic impact in many, if not all cancers. Soucek's group is now interested in Myc's role in the coordination of programs downstream of different oncogenic signals and in different tissues, especially in relationship to the cross-talk between tumor and microenvironment.

Jonathan R. Whitfield, PhD, Vall D'Hebron Insititute Of Oncology (Spain) - Staff Scientist at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona, Spain. He has 10 years research experience in the cancer field, previously working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF in San Francisco. Prior to that worked on neurodegeneration at UCL in London. He is a molecular and cellular biologist, with extensive experience in the mechanisms of cell death. Currently in the Mouse Models of Cancer Therapies lab, he focuses on the therapeutic potential for Myc inhibition as a clinically-viable treatment and is seeking to understand the mechanisms by which Myc inhibition selectively kills tumour cells.

Leendert H.J. Looijenga, PhD, Erasmus MC (Netherlands) - Dr Looijenga has made a number of novel findings related to: the pattern of genomic imprinting; chromosomal constitution of the different subtypes of germ cell tumors, identification of informative diagnostic markers (i.e., OCT3/4, TSPY, stem cell factor (SCF, KITLG), SOX2, SOX9 and FOXL2), including for patients with disorders of sex development (DSD). Various in vitro and in vivo models for germ cell tumors are generated and characterized. He also demonstrated that a specific set of microRNAs is characteristic for germ cell tumors, and in collaboration with the Netherlands Cancer Institute demonstrated that some are involved in overruling oncogenic stress in the development of germ cell tumors, explaining the unusual presence of wild type TP53 in these cancers. Most recently, a correlation between microsatellite instability, BRAF (V600E) mutation, overall methylation and chemotherapy resistance was also demonstrated

Louis Vermeulen, MD, PhD, Cambridge University (United Kingdom) - Dr Vermeulen received a fellowship from the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) and currently works at the Cancer Research UK - Cambridge Research Institute. His research centres on stem cells, cancer and cancer stem cells in the intestine. Dr Vermeulen's current work focuses on the changes in intestinal stem cell dynamics upon the accumulation of genetic mutations during the development of an intestinal tumor. This is expected to result in a better understanding of how normal stem cells turn into cancer stem cells and hopefully in the development of improved treatment or prevention strategies.

Joe Christopher, CRUK - Cambridge Institute (United Kingdom) -

Petr Heneberg, PhD, Charles University In Prague, Third Faculty Of Medicine (Czech Republic) - Assistant Professor at Charles University in Prague, Third Faculty of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic. Dr. Heneberg's research focuses on the signal transduction in normal and transformed tissues and on the influence of the environment on humans and other organisms. The recent contributions include proposal and experimental verification of a new model of protein tyrosine kinase : phosphatase equilibrium in signaling via multichain immune receptors (J Biol Chem 285: 12787), analysis of the lineage antibody cocktails used to select stem/progenitor cells from both cancer and healthy tissues, showing that the vast majority of them retains basophils, dendritic cells and mast cells, and suggesting alternatives allowing negative selection of the above cellular populations (Curr Pharm Des 17: 3753), and co-invention of rapid, simple and versatile method for isolation of plasmatic membrane sheets from non-adherent cells for the purpose of immuno-gold staining followed by transmission electron microscopy (J Immunol Methods 328: 139).

Sandra Ryeom, Ph.D., U. Pennsylvania School Of Medicine (United States) -

Veronique Maguer-Satta, PhD, Centre De Recherche En Cancerologie De Lyon U1052-UMR5286 (France) - My research activity started in 1990 by a PhD (Differentiation-Genetic-Immunolgy specialty) in Immuno-Virology. I then joined Dr C. Eaves (Vancouver, Canada) for a postdoct to learn normal and leukemic hematopoiesis, completed by a second postdoc (France) to approach clinical research in hematopoieisis. In 1998, I started my own research group on human Hematopoiesis in Lyon (France) on the anti cancer center site. I was recruited in 2002 as a permanent CNRS researcher and succeed in 2011 for research director recruitment. Our group, located in the Cancer Research Center of Lyon-CRCL, focused on human stem cells studies using different adult cells (such as mammary epithelial and hematopoietic stem cells). Using these different systems, we analyze stem cells transformation by deciphering the function of Bone Morphogenetic proteins-BMP. We particularly challenge to understand the relationship between, stem cells, microenvironment and cancer in terms of cancer stem cells origin and resistance.

Marion Chapellier, PhD, CRCL-U1052-UMR5286 (France) - Dr Chapellier's research interest focuses on the understanding of stem cells biology in normal and tumoral context and on the major role of stem cells microenvironment. The microenvironment is a key player of stem cells biology that provides cues for stem cells to maintain tissue homeostatis. Microenvironment is also crucial in the context of cancer, involved in tumor initiation/ progression and in resistance to treatments. Her PhD work (France) highlighted the role of soluble factors from mammary gland stroma, in cooperation with inflammation, in the emergence of luminal tumors. My postdoctoral project (Toronto, Canada) aims to address similar questions in the context of leukemic stem cells to integrate several parameters of cancer stem cell biology such as alterations of the stem cell itself and alterations of its niche. This might be of particular interest in order to develop new therapeutic approach to target cancer stem cells inside their niche.

Tumor Promoting Inflammation

Patricia Thompson, PhD, The University Of Arizona Cancer Center (United States) - Associate Professor and Director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of Arizona. Dr. Thompson is a molecular epidemiologist whose research in breast cancer includes development of molecular marker based risk prediction models of early stage breast cancer to guide patient decision making about treatment. She also has an active research interest in chemoprevention of breast cancer targeting high risk patient populations using non-hormone based therapies like non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. She focuses on research related to primary and secondary prevention of colon and breast cancer, and has a specific interest in the role of inflammation in carcinogenesis and the factors that contribute to inflammation.

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Carolyn Baglole, PhD, McGill University (Canada) - Dr. Baglole is an Assistant Professor at the Meakins-Christie Laboratories in the Departments of Medicine and Pathology at McGill University. Using both in vitro and in vivo models of cigarette smoke exposure, the research conducted in her laboratory focuses on the identification of characterization of cellular and molecular pathways that regulate inflammation and apoptosis in response to environmental toxicants such as cigarette smoke. Current projects include exploration of the anti-inflammatory abilities of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) against smoke-induced diseases, including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Another component of Dr. Baglole’s research focuses on how lung fibroblasts, key cells within the tumor microenvironment, increase inflammatory mediator production when exposed to cigarette smoke. Her other research endeavours include translational projects on radiation-induced lung fibrosis during cancer therapy and biomarker analysis in COPD.

Eun-Yi Moon, PhD, Sejong University (Korea South) - Professor at Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Sejong University. I am interested in cancer and inflammation using in vivo animal model including transgenic mice and cell-based in vitro system to elucidate the crosstalk between immune cells and non-immune cells (especially macrophages). My laboratory specifically focuses on the regulation and functional contributions of thymosin beta-4 and B cell activating factor to determine the crosstalk between signaling molecules mediated by actin cytoskeletal reorganization and various soluble factors including cytokines in cancer metastasis and autoimmune diseases. I published over 80 peer-reviewed papers. Ultimate research goal is the development of therapeutics to control immune cell functions against tumor metastasis and autoimmune diseases.

Jun Sun, PhD, Rush University Medical Center (United States) - Dr. Jun Sun is currently an Associate Professor at Rush University Medical Center,Chicago,USA. Her research interests are infection, inflammation, and cancer. Her key achievements include identification and characterization of bacterial effector protein AvrA that activates the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway and affects intestinal epithelial stem cells in inflammation. Her research team has also demonstrated bacterial regulation of vitamin D receptor signaling in intestine homeostasis. Her long-range goal is to elucidate how a specific bacterial effector provides a mechanistic link between inflammation of the intestine and the development of colon cancer. Dr. Sun is the author of over 80 peer-reviewed papers, numerous chapters and invited reviews. She is an inventor of two patents for anti-inflammation and anti-cancer. She served in the Editorial Board of PLoS One, Physiological Reports, Advances in Microbiology, and other peer-reviewed journals. Her current researches are supported by the NIH, Swim Cross America, and the American Cancer Society.

Le Jian, MD, PhD, School Of Public Health, Curtin University (Australia) - Dr. Jian has been in academia for over 29 years in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Jian has also worked as a senior medical practitioner at a major teaching hospital in China. Her research and refereed publications cover Occupational & Environmental Toxicology and Epidemiology, assess and early diagnosis of chemical poisoning, nutritional cancer epidemiology, and health promotion research. Her current research includes using multidisciplinary approach to assess and model environmental submicron sized hazardous substances and their impacts on health. Dr. Jian has supervised numerous postgraduate and undergraduate students and is a peer reviewer for a number of professional national and international journals. She has vast liaison with various institutes and countries.

Mahin Khatami, PhD, Retired - National Cancer Institute-NIH (United States) - Dr. Mahin Khatami obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and was formerly a Program Director and health scientist administrator at the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, where she was involved in developing molecular concepts for utilization of patient biospecimen for large clinical trials. Extension of her earlier 'accidental' discoveries on models of inflammatory diseases became closely relevant to her duties for developing proposals for molecular diagnosis, prevention and therapy of cancer for various trials. The results of her pioneering studies in 1980's on experimental models of inflammatory diseases are suggestive of the first evidence for a direct link between inflammation and tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. She also published the first report on inflammation-induced developmental phases of immune dysfunction that would lead to tumor development.

Miquel Porta, MD, PhD, IMIM And Univ. Autonoma De Barcelona (Spain) - Head, Clinical & Molecular Epidemiology of Cancer Unit, Hospital del Mar - IMIM Research Institute, and Professor of Preventive Medicine & Public Health, School of Medicine, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The three main lines of research of his unit are: (1) clinical and molecular epidemiology of pancreatic cancer, role of gene-environment interactions in the etiopathogenesis of pancreatic diseases; (2) Screening, early clinical detection, and "diagnostic delay" in cancer; (3) Assessing the impact on human health of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

Shelley Harris, PhD, Cancer Care Ontario & University Of Toronto (Canada) - Associate Professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto and has appointments as a Scientist in Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario and the Occupational Cancer Research Center. Dr Harris' research focus is on the development of methods to measure and predict occupational and environmental exposures for large-scale epidemiologic studies and developing methods to estimate human exposures to persistent bioaccumulating environmental contaminants using biological markers and questionnaire-based assessment. She is a member of the Working Group for the National Update of the Ontario Miner's cohort, and led the development of environmental and occupational measures and carcinogen prioritization for the Ontario Health Study. She has published studies on human exposures to chemical, biological and radiological pollutants, and her work has focused on pesticides, air pollutants, and radon.

Linda Kachuri, MPH, Cancer Care Ontario & University Of Toronto (Canada) - Biostatistician and a Research Associate at Cancer Care Ontario. She holds a master�s degree in Epidemiology and has experience with the analysis of case-control and cohort studies of occupational cancer. Her research interests include environmental, lifestyle, and genetic risk factors for cancer.

Tiziana Guarnieri, PhD, University Of Bologna (Italy) - Dr. Guarnieri is an Assistant Professor at Bologna University and at Center for Applied Biomedical Research (CRBA), St. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital. She is also affiliated to National Institute Biostructures and Biosystems (INBB, Roma - Italy). Dr. Guarnieri's research is focused on the relationship between inflammation and cancer. She is interested in understanding the mechanisms by which NSAIDs are able to modulate the proliferation of some colon carcinoma cell lines, with a particular attention on cyclooxygenasic / lipossigenasic inhibition and membrane-related events. Another focus of her research are cellular and molecular events sustaining and modulating the phenotype of breast cancer stem cells and their role in the regulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokine network; in this experimental model, her laboratory is particularly interested in evaluating the putative role of aryl hydrocarbon receptor.

Venkata Sabbisetti, PhD, Harvard Medical School / Brigham & Women's Hospital (United States) - Associate Biologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr Sabbisetti is focused on the identification and validation of novel biomarkers using proteomic approaches; the development of rapid, reliable, cheap point of care tools to measure biomarkers; and small molecule screening. Mainly he is interested in cancer and kidney diseases, environmental toxins (related to kidney diseases & kidney cancer).

Validation Team

William Bisson, PhD, Oregon State University (United States) - Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at Oregon State University. Dr Bisson's current research involves computational chemical genomics techniques (molecular modeling, docking, simulations) combined with molecular biology and medicinal chemistry as an inter-disciplinary approach in cancer research for drug design and discovery, to study protein functionality and to understand drug resistance.
In addition, research efforts concentrate on the characterization of dietary compounds for cancer prevention and on understanding of carcinogenesis through the combination of computational approaches and biological studies.

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Kalan Prudhomme, Oregon State University (United States) - Kalan Prudhomme is an undergraduate student (Major Pharmacy) in the group of Dr. Bisson at the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology (Oregon State University).

Amedeo Amedei, PhD, University Of Florence (Italy) - Researcher at the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, section of Internal Medicine (University of Florence - Italy) from 2005. Dr. Amedei completed his B.A. in Biological Science at Florence University, Italy (1996) and received a PhD in Experimental and Clinical Medicine from Florence University, Italy in 2003. Dr. Amedei teaches the following courses at the University of Florence: Immunology, General Pathology and Immunology, Immunology and Immunohematology, Immunology and Immunological Techniques, Biology and Infection diseases. He is also a lecturer within the Clinical and Experimental Medicine PhD program at the Federated School of Allergy and Clinical Immunology of the Florence Faculty of Medicine, and in the international Erasmus course on "Oncology" (2006, 2007).

Annamaria Colacci, PhD, Environmental Protection Agency- Emilia Romagna (Italy) - Tumor Microenvironment >> Annamaria Colacci received her M.S. degree in Biology and Ph.D. in Applied Genetics from the University of Bologna, Italy. She actually works for the Environmental Protection Agency in Emilia Romagna, where she heads the Regional Center for Environmental Toxicology. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Bologna. For the last 32 years she has been involved in research projects and studies focusing on cancer and environment-health relationships. She is an expert of cancer risk assessment, mechanisms of carcinogenesis, tumor chemoprevention, and predictive toxicology, including the use of alternative (non-animal) testing strategies and toxicogenomics. She is member of several scientific societies and of national (Italian) and international scientific committees and panels, including OECD and EU Commission experts panels.

Monica Vaccari, Environmental Protection Agency- Emilia Romagna (Italy) - Head of Experimental Toxicology Area at the Environmental Protection and Health Prevention Agency. Emilia Romagna (ARPA-ER) from 2009 at present. Coordinates the activities of the Toxicology Lab staff, which is mainly focused on the development and use of in vitro alternative methods for the identification and evaluation of the toxicological profile of environmental contaminants. Principal investigator in research projects covering the areas of predictive toxicology, occupational exposure (asbestos and man-made mineral fibers), air quality (toxicology of particulate matter). Member of the OECD panel Cell Transformation Assay from 2011 at present. Involved in research projects focusing on environmental carcinogenesis (chemicals, complex mixtures, endocrine disruptors, environmental and food contaminants, soil remediation), in vitro models of carcinogenesis and anticarcinogensis, tumor chemoprevention (antioxidants, retinoids, phytoestrogens), food safety (including research on pesticides, micotoxins and new tools to detect chemical residues in food).

Chiara Mondello, PhD, Institute Of Molecular Genetics, National Research Council (Italy) - Replicative Immortality >> The interest of Dr Mondello's laboratory is focused on the stepwise process of transformation and on mechanisms causing genomic instability. Her lab has developed a telomerase human fibroblast cellular system in which restoration of telomerase activity has been followed not only by immortalization, but also by the acquisition of the neoplastic phenotype. During culture propagation, immortalized cells became more malignant, as shown by a decreased latency in tumor development when injected in immunocompromised mice. By comparing cells at different stages of propagation, they have managed to identify cellular and molecular alterations specifically associated with different phases of transformation. Now the lab is interested in exploiting this cellular system to deepen their knowledge of the genomic modifications accompanying cellular transformation, and they are investigating molecular changes involved in the acquisition of the metastatic phenotype.

Anna Ivana Scovassi, Institute Of Molecular Genetics, National Research Council (Italy) - Dr. Scovassi works since many years on DNA repair, cancer and drug resistance. Her lab is involved in the screeniong of chemicals potentially active against cancer cell proliferation. In this context, she developed a panel of biochemical and cellular assays to monitor different forms of programmed cell death, namely apoptosis (both caspase-dependent and -independent), parthanatos, autophagy and necroptosis.

Fahd Al-Mulla, MB, ChB, PhD, FRCPE, Kuwait University (Kuwait) - Tissue Invasion and Metastasis >> Fahd Al-Mulla is the Director of the Research Core Facility in Kuwait University Health-Sciences Center. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. After he gained his M.B.,Ch.B., Ph.D degrees and postdoctoral training from Glasgow University. Now he heads a Molecular Pathology Unit, which aims at delivering state-of-the-art diagnostic, targeted/personalized therapy for cancer patients and molecular genetics. Currently he is focused on identification of novel metastasis suppressor genes in colorectal cancer and he has identified and characterized two metastasis suppressor genes. His work now focuses on identifying mechanisms of RAF Kinase Inhibitory Protein (RKIP) metastasis suppression.

Rabeah Al-Temaimi, PhD, Kuwait University (Kuwait) - Assistant professor and head of Human Genetics Unit at the Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University. Dr Rabeah Al-Temaimi's current research focuses on the chronic neuro-degenerative disorder, Multiple Sclerosis. The research involves analysis of genetic and environmental factors that play a role in MS incidence, progression, relapse, and remission. In addition, the lab cooperates with ongoing research focused on colorectal cancer genetic markers and discovery of novel tumor suppressor proteins.

Hosni Khairy Salem, MD, PhD, Cairo University (Egypt) - Angiogenesis >> The Director of the Laboratory and Biological Animal Research centre (LBARC), Kasr Al Ainy School of Medicine. Dr. Hosni Khairy is the recipient of multiple national, regional, and international awards in recognition of his contributions to the practice and teaching of urology. Dr. Hosni Khairy is the author of 30 articles published in the many renowned international urology journals and 20 articles in national urology journals. His biography is included in the 2008, 2009 and 2011 editions of "Who's Who in the World". He was awarded the Best Poster presentation in ENDOUROLOGY , INFERTILITY field in 23rd ,28th European Association of Urology Conference (Milan, Italy, March, 2008, March 2013). He was awarded the Best Poster presentation in ENDOUROLOGY FIELD in American Urological Association Conference (USA, 2008).

Jayadev Raju, PhD, Health Canada (Canada) - Sustained Proliferative SIgnalling >> A research scientist in the federal food regulatory setting (Bureau of Chemical Safety, Health Canada), Dr. Raju provides toxicological expertise related to carcinogenesis and co-carcinogenesis of foods and food constituents, including those that are classified as additives, contaminants, process-induced and migration chemicals. The main goal of his research is to provide hazard characterization of food-borne chemicals, using both conventional OECD testing experiments and models of diseases (specifically cancer), for safety evaluation and risk assessment supporting regulatory risk management processes. To understand exposure-related toxicological or carcinogenic mechanism(s) involved, genomic and epigenomic targets are evaluated. Dr. Raju is also interested in the biology of precancerous lesions of the colon and their use as a surrogate biomarker in evaluating foods and drugs. He is also an active member of International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI): NanoRelease Food Additive Project: Task Group 3, Alimentary Canal Models.

Lorenzo Memeo, MD, Mediterranean Institute Of Oncology (Italy) - Resisting Cell Death >>

Stefano Forte Ph.D., IOM Ricerca Srl (Italy) - Stefano Forte is a bioinformatician and molecular biologist. He has been working on molecular responses to DNA damage for many years and he's inventor of two international patents on PARP inhibitors. Stefano is involved in different projects in the field of molecular and cellular oncology mainly in a translational setting. His laboratory long-term main goal is the identification of molecular features that are causative of molecular, cellular or clinical phenotypes that can be used for primary prevention or decision support in treatment of neoplastic disease. Stefano Forte is also active as scientific consultant for clinical studies principally for oncohematologic applications

Neetu Singh, PhD, King George's Medical University (Erstwhile Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University) (India) - Presently, standardizing the SOPs for isolation/characterization and cryo-preservation of Dental Pulp Mesenchymal Stem cells/Bone Marrow for Stem Cell Banking. Moreover, working on transplantation of Neonatal Rat Olfactory Ensheathing cells in Rat Spinal Cord Injury Model. Member of the Task Force of “Halifax Project�? and writing review on “Sustained proliferation in Cancer�? as well “The Biomarker and Diruptor validation�?. Exhaustively, I have also worked in the area of breast cancer, which involves the synergism of Resveratrol/Curcumin with Cyclophosphamide/Centchroman, in the amelioration of Breast Cancer Cells/Explants. Through clinical samples demonstrated involvement of Low Penetrance/Base Excision Repair gene polymorphisms in the disease. Recently exploring the implications of Human Cytochrome P450 1B1 in Centchroman-Mediated MCF-7 Tumor Cell Metabolism. Also devised in vitro methods for quantifying antioxidants in herbal samples; Short term organ culture for testing the activity of Mucolytics and uptake of radiolabelled saccharide moieties.

Rabindra Roy, PhD, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (United States) - Associate Professor of Oncology in the Department of Oncology. Dr. Roy has a long-term research goal to understand the role of repair of DNA damage, induced by oxidative stress in the prevention of cancer, neurological disorders and aging. The projects ongoing in the laboratory are to elucidate the basic reaction and regulatory mechanisms of DNA repair enzymes for mutagenic oxidative base damage and lipid peroxidation-induced exocyclic (etheno and propano) DNA adducts, which are induced by endogenous and exogenous oxidative DNA damaging agents including ionizing radiation. The current research interests also focus on the evaluation of role of DNA repair enzymes in carcinogenesis using experimental animal models and in human population for cancer risk assessment.

Jordan Woodrick, Georgetown University Medical Center, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (United States) - Jordan Woodrick is a PhD student under Rabindra Roy. Her thesis work focuses on the role of repair of oxidative DNA damage in carcinogenesis. Her particular research goal is to understand hepatocarcinogenesis in the context of a damaging microenvironment, including endogenous acute and chronic inflammation as well as exogenous exposure to chemical carcinogens. Specifically, the projects she currently pursues focus on adduct-specific mechanisms of mutagenesis and DNA repair-driven modulation of mutagenesis and tumorigenesis in vivo.

Roslida Abdul Hamid, Ph.D, Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaysia) - Senior lecturer, Pharmacology and Toxicology Unit, at the Department of Biomedical Science. Dr Roslida's current research activity is on chemopreventive effect of some bioactive compounds from local plants. The compound(s) have also shown anti-angiogenic effect when investigated in in vitro and in vivo models. Present works are focusing on determining the compound(s) pathway either in suppressing tumor or inhibiting angiogenesis.Protein studies, histopathological evaluation as well as gene expression studies will be further investigated. Some efforts on relating the compound's anti-inflammatory effect with angioprevention and chemoprevention, will also be studied via specific in vitro and in vivo assays.

Hasiah Ab Hamid, Msc, Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaysia) - Lecturer, Pharmacology and Toxicology Unit, at the Department of Biomedical Science. Her previous research was about toxicity biomarkers in organisms intoxicated by environmental pollutants, especially pesticides and heavy metals. Currently, she is completing her PhD work which focuses on targeting drug metabolizing enzymes in evaluating the chemopreventive potential of bioactive compounds derived from peanuts and berries. The compounds have high antioxidant properties and are able to modulate drug metabolizing enzymes which are responsible in activating and detoxifying carcinogenic agents. The study was done in normal and cancerous hepatic cells. The tested compound also has a hepatoprotective effect in experimental animals. The ongoing research in the lab is to identify the molecular mechanisms of these enzymes (CYP P450, NQO1, GST, HO-1) and also determine the signalling pathways responsible in the chemoprevention activity.

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