Drug Discovery and Translational Therapeutics Journal

Research Interest

Immune oncology, immunotherapy, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells.

Biography

Sreeram received his B.S. degree in Pharmacy in India and pursued his higher education in the United States. He is a senior researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer therapy and drug resistance.

Research Interests

Pharmacokinetics, drug–protein interactions, cell signaling, and molecular biology.

Biography

Dr. Mauro Luisetto obtained his PharmD degree in 1995 from the University of Turin and worked as a European specialist in laboratory medicine. He currently serves as a Public Hospital Pharmacist Manager and is responsible for hospital medicinal gas quality control (PC HOSP). He is also the Director responsible for the implementation of hospital medicinal gas contracts.

His areas of work and rotation include biochemistry, toxicology, blood bank, hematology, and microbiology. His responsibilities in hospital pharmacy include drug logistics, galenic preparations, medicinal gas quality control, radiopharmaceuticals, contrast agents, and departmental pharmacy services. He is also involved in clinical pathology, antidote management for provincial emergency stocks, logistics of in vitro diagnostics, and management of emergency drug stocks in hospitals.

Research Interests

Management, professional social media, ICT, pathology, clinical biochemistry, toxicology, microbiology, medical imaging, clinical pharmacy, medicinal chemistry, clinical pharmacology, pharmacoeconomics, biomedical databases, evidence-based medicine (EBM), risk management, and related fields.

Peptide Chemistry

She has extensive experience in peptide chemistry, focusing on the development of drug delivery nanosystems for applications in personalized medicine. Her work includes peptides with a wide range of biological activities, such as antimicrobial, anticancer, drug delivery, and vaccine-related functions.

She has significant expertise in multidisciplinary approaches, including bioinformatics and peptide design, aimed at developing peptides with improved stability and reduced toxicity.

She is part of an international research network working on cancer and drug delivery, including collaborations with Prof. Chourpa (France), Prof. De La Mata (Spain), Prof. Weck (USA), Prof. Fahmi (Germany), Prof. De Simone (Brazil), Prof. Azevedo (UK), Prof. Bryszewska (Poland), Prof. Ruegg (Switzerland), and Prof. Appelhans (Germany).

Brief Bio

Head of the In Silico Pharmacology Unit, Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa.

Brief Bio

Han-Ting Zhang, MD, PhD, is currently a Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology at Qingdao University School of Pharmacy and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at Shandong First Medical University in China. He previously served as a Tenured Professor of Neuroscience at the West Virginia University Health Sciences Center in the United States.

He received his BSc/MD from Southern Medical University (formerly the First Military Medical University) and his MS and PhD in Neuropharmacology from the Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology in China. Dr. Zhang completed postdoctoral training at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Dr. Zhang is an internationally recognized neuropharmacologist with a broad background in pharmacology and neuroscience. His expertise includes behavioral and neurochemical analyses using animal models of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, anxiety, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

His research focuses on identifying the central nervous system functional roles of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDEs) and cAMP/cGMP signaling pathways in these disorders, as well as their underlying intracellular mechanisms. His work has demonstrated distinct roles of central PDE4 subtypes (PDE4A, PDE4B, and PDE4D) and their isoforms in mediating antidepressant, memory-enhancing, anxiolytic, and anti-alcohol effects at behavioral, biochemical, and molecular levels.

Dr. Zhang was awarded the NARSAD Young Investigator Award twice, in 2006 and 2008.

Brief Bio

I am a pharmacologist focused on GPCR pharmacology and signaling pathways. My research is translationally relevant to the mitigation of central nervous system disorders and the regulation of metabolism.

Research Interests: Cardiovascular diseases, myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias, heart failure, and related drug development.

Research Interests: Molecular docking, organic synthesis, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutical development, and drug discovery.

Brief Bio

FRANCESCA SPYRAKIS

Associate Professor

Department of Drug Science and Technology, University of Turin

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4016-227X

E-mail: francesca.spyrakis@unito.it

Education, Training, and Employment History

In 2003, Francesca Spyrakis obtained an MSc with honors in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology from the University of Parma, Parma, Italy.

In 2007, she obtained a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with distinction (“excellent”) from the University of Parma, Italy.

From 2008 to 2016, she held postdoctoral positions at the University of Parma and later at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, focusing on the design of inhibitors for pharmacologically relevant enzymes.

Since October 2016, she has been an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

Main Research Interests

The scientific activity of Prof. Spyrakis is mainly focused on the development and application of computational methods for the identification of protein ligands, with particular attention to the design of antimicrobials active against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Over the years, several research lines have been developed:

i) Development and application of the HINT (Hydropathic INTeractions) force field, based on experimental LogP values, capable of quantitatively estimating enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy of binding in biological interactions. Particular attention has been given to the role of water molecules and active-site ionization states in protein–ligand, protein–protein, and protein–nucleic acid complexes.

ii) Identification of new inhibitors of PLP-dependent enzymes, β-lactamases, carbapenemases, and endocrine disruptors through virtual screening, molecular docking, and scoring approaches.

iii) Analysis of the dynamics and migration of small ligands in globin-family proteins using molecular dynamics integrated with laser flash photolysis.

iv) Development of new strategies to incorporate protein flexibility into virtual screening approaches.

v) Identification of Gram-negative β-lactamase inhibitors, with particular emphasis on metallo-β-lactamases.

vi) Investigation of iron acquisition mechanisms in Staphylococcus aureus as an innovative strategy to combat bacterial growth and antimicrobial resistance.

To achieve these aims, she has developed expertise in in silico screening, molecular docking, scoring functions, and molecular dynamics simulations.

She is the author of more than 90 peer-reviewed international publications and 11 book chapters, including the chapter “Docking and Scoring in Drug Discovery” in the 7th and 8th editions of Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery.

She is a member of the Scientific and Organizing Committees of the European Workshop on Drug Design and Computationally Driven Drug Discovery.