Epigenetic Drug Discovery

Dr M V N L Chaitanya, BPharm, M Pharm (Phytopharmacy and Phytomedicine), PhD (Pharmacognosy); Educationist and Researcher; was born on November 10, 1982, in Rajahmundry (A.P.), India. He has 14 years of experience in industry, academia, and herbal research. He is currently working as a professor in the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India. Dr Chaitanya is a well-recognized conceptualist in herbal medicine, anticancer drug discovery and development, crystal healing, and psychic reading at the Indian and African levels. He has a keen ability in laboratory drug discovery and development from herbs, weeds, algae, and mushrooms, with a proven ability in quality documentation. An awardee of various awards such as the INSA visiting scientist award for 2019, the AIMF award for 2019, the NFPS best professor award for 2022, and the DK international best researcher award for 2023. He is a life member of the Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India, the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, the Institute of Scholars (Insc), and the International Natural Product Sciences Task Force. He had visited three African countries as part of academic research to explore the phytochemicals in Indo-African plants against resistant diseases such as cancer, malaria, and tuberculosis. Dr Chaitanya’s extensive body of work includes numerous research papers, peer-reviewed articles, books, and book chapters, and he holds multiple patents for his innovations.

Dr Trudi Collet, a biochemist, was awarded her PhD from the Queensland University of Technology in 2007. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and investigated novel serological markers for the differential diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. Since then (2009 - present), she has returned to QUT and is now the leader of the Innovative Medicines Group (IMG), which is based at the Kelvin Grove campus of the Queensland University of Technology. The IMG conducts research on the medicinal properties of Australian native plants. Using plant-derived bioactive compounds and extracts, the IMG evaluates the biological potential including bactericidal effects, the deadly ESKAPE pathogens; viricidal effects against members of the Flaviviridae family (Dengue, Zika and West Nile viruses); wound healing properties; antimicrobial effects against sexually transmitted diseases and novel pharmacotherapeutic targets for common neurological disorders.

Prof Jon Adams is Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Director of the Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM) and Deputy Head of School (Research) at the School of Public Health, UTS. Professor Adams was recently awarded a prestigious Fulbright Senior Scholarship (Fulbright Commission, 2019-2020). Professor Adams is the world-leading public health and health services researcher focused upon self-care, informal health care and traditional, complementary, integrative and indigenous medicine use and practice. Professor Adams’ research program has attracted over \(20.7M in competitive external funding to date including 23 Category 1 Grants (with 17 NHMRC and ARC grants). His extensive research program, conducted with many industry partners (>\)10M in partnership funding), includes focus upon practice-based research networks (PBRNs), implementation science and translation research and mixed methods design. Professor Adams has authored over 560 peer-reviewed academic publications and is Chief Editor of 8 international research books and author of over 70 book chapters with leading publishers.

Dr Kamal Dua, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of Pharmacy, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), has research experience of over 12 years working in the field of drug delivery targeting inflammatory diseases. Dr Dua is also a Node Leader of Drug Delivery Research in the Centre for Inflammation at Centenary Institute/UTS, where the targets identified from the research projects are pursued to develop novel formulations as the first step towards translation into clinics. Dr. Dua’s pioneering research integrates drug delivery systems with immunology, exploring their synergistic relationship to enhance therapeutic outcomes and advance public health, ultimately contributing to longer, healthier lives for communities worldwide. This is evidenced by his extensive publication record in reputed journals. Dr Dua’s research interests focus on harnessing the pharmaceutical potential of modulating critical regulators such as Interleukins and microRNAs and developing new and effective drug delivery formulations for the management of inflammation in chronic airway diseases and cancer.

Dr. Sachin Kumar Singh, a Professor at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, India, earned his Master of Pharmacy in Pharmaceutical Analysis from J.S.S. College of Pharmacy, Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India and earned his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Karpagam University, Coimbatore, India. He has completed one DST-SERB funded project on development of SNEDDS of Polypeptide-k for treatment of diabetes mellitus. Dr. Singh has published more than 200 research papers with cumulative impact of 400 and co-authored 10 book chapters. He has two granted Indian patents and two granted Australian patents. In January 2020, he received Dr. B.C. Deb memorial award for popularization of science by Indian Science Congress Association at 107th Indian Science Congress held at UAS Bengaluru. He is the first recipient from the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences to receive this award. He is also a recipient of 2014 Bharat Shiksha Ratan Award given by Global Society for Health and Educational Growth, Delhi, India. His core area is improving oral bioavailability of drugs exhibiting poor water solubility characteristics using various formulation approaches including nanotechnology, complexation, solid dispersion, and liquisolid technology.