Speakers

Head of Chemistry Department of the Biomedical Sciences Institute Abel Salazar (ICBAS) of the University of Porto, Portugal

Prof. A. Kijjoa is na Emeritus Professor at Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal (since 2023).

Born in Pathumthani, Thailand, he obtained his BSc (Pharmacy) from Chulalongkorn University, then he moved to Brazil  with the scholarship from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) to work for his PhD with Professor Otto R. Gottlieb on Natural Products Chemistry at the University of São Paulo. After his PhD he moved to Portugal and took a position of Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Science, University of Porto. In 1984, he moved to the Biomedical Sciences Institute of Abel Salazar of the same university and in 1985 he spent three months working on Plant Cell Culture with Professor Hans Becker at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Heidelberg. In 1986, he won a post-doctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Portugal to work with Professor Werner Herz in the Department of Chemistry, the Florida State University at Tallahassee, USA. In 1990 he was appointed Associate Professor at the Biomedical Sciences Institute of Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto and in 1994 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the same Institute. Current projects include, among others, antitumor and antifungal activity of bioactive compounds from plants, marine sponges and fungi.

Prof. A. Kijjoa received the Thai Professional Award – In recognition of his outstanding contributions to Science & Technology Development of Thailand by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment; Office of Higher Education; NSTDA and TRF, at the Thai Professionals Conference 2008, Bangkok, Thailand, June 2-4, 2008. He also received na Honorary Doctorate in Chemistry-Burapha University, Thailand, 25 November 2008, na Honorary Doctorate in Chemistry -Kasetsart University, Thailand, 30 July 2009, and na Honorary Doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences -Khon Kaen University, Thailand, 07 December 2018.

Dean, School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, Hunan, China

Prof. Wei Wang is Yangtze River Scholars Distinguished full Professor selected by the National Hundreds, Thousands of Talents Project "Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions". Director of TCM and Ethnomedicine Innovation & Development International Laboratory, Deputy Dean of School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Deputy Director of the Institute of Innovative Medicine. He is also Visiting professor of Karachi University, Macau University of Science and Technology, Wenzhou Medical University, Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southwest University for Nationalities and Hunan Medical College, Consultant of Liuzhou Municipal Government, Guanxi, China.

His research group focus on of the material basis of TCM in Hunan Province, the new method of screening the activity of TCM based on specific target, and the research on the targeted synergistic effect of active components of TCM. Dr. Wei Wang is the principal investigator of over 30 national, provincial and international cooperation scientific research projects, and has developed over than 10 standards about national, industry and enterprise.

He published more than 300 papers, obtained 13 authorized patents and won 7 provincial scientific progress awards, including the First Prize by Hunan Provincial Association of Chinese Medicine & Intergration of Traditional and Western Medicine: Research on the substantial basis and mechanism of anti-rheumatoid arthritis efficacy substances of Tujia medicine Xuetong (2022). He is executive editor of Current Traditional Medicine, chief editor of Current Chinese Science (natural product section), and associate editor of Heliyon (Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology).

Head of Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Portugal

A. Silvestre is a Full Professor and member of CICECO Group 4- Biorefineries, Biobased Materials and Recycling. AS has a lot of experience in coordination and participation in National and EU Projects (40+, 7 ongoing, 2 as PI at University of Aveiro), with 15+ M€ of funding for University of Aveiro. AS published 2 books, 24 book chapters, 21 patents, 417 papers, H-index 73, 19 200+ citations. In the last five years Prof. Silvestre published 134 papers and deposited 17 patents. He is a member of the Editorial board of Industrial Crops and Products (Elsevier); Materials (MDPI) and International Journal of Molecular Sciences (MDPI. He has a large supervision experience, including 17 PostDoctoral students, 43 PhD students (14 finished in the last five years, and 11 in progress) and 50+ MSc students. AS is amongst the UA members classified in Stanford University ranking among the 2% most influential scientists in their respective scientific fields, in 2022 and 2023. His research interests are focused on the Biorefinery concept development, namely through the sustainable extraction and upgrading of added-value compounds from biomass addressing mainly bioactive compounds through the use of benign solvents (using ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents); new biobased polymers derived from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid and new functional (nano)composite materials and biomaterials based on biopolymers and cellulose (nano)fibers.

Faculty Pharmacy, University of Porto, Portugal

Prof. B. Oliveira is Full Professor developing research in Food Science, with focus on Food Security. Her research group is concerned in adding value to by-products of food industries, mainly on olive and coffee production chains. She published 425 papers in international peer reviewed journals, 54 book chapters, 210 proceedings in international and national meetings and 1200 communications in scientific meetings. She supervised 22 PhD students from University of Porto and 16 from foreign universities; and 92 MSc from different Master courses. She is author of 4 patents, one of them licenced at industrial level. She won several awards, namely the BFK award in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Crédito Agrícola 2018, awarded by ANI.

QOPNA & LAQV/REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Portugal 

Manuel A. Coimbra is Full Professor at the Department of Chemistry of University of Aveiro, Portugal. Graduated in 1985 in Biochemistry at the University of Porto, he got his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Aveiro in 1993, in a collaboration with the Institute of Food Research, in Norwich, UK. He is Professor of Food Chemistry and Biochemistry and Director of the BSc graduation in Biochemistry.
The scientific expertise and interests of Prof. M. A. Coimbra are focused on carbohydrate chemistry, polysaccharide structure and applications, food chemistry, and industry by-products valuation under a circular economy. His research has been based in Aveiro at the Associated Laboratory LAQV/REQUIMTE, allowing to rule over 80 research projects funded by different entities, including industries. He is co-author of 8 patents, 340 research papers, and supervised 28 PhD thesis (+9 running) and 13 Post-Docs.
M. A. Coimbra is Editor in Chief of Elsevier journal Carbohydrate Polymers (IF2022= 11.2), President of the Scientific Panel of Food Additives and Food Chain Contaminants of ASAE, the Portuguese Food Safety Agency, and Former President of the Carbohydrate Group of the Portuguese Society of Chemistry (2001-2003 & 2017-2019) and Member of the Executive Board of the Portuguese Society of Biotechnology (2011-2019).

Advisor to IIM-SLS University in Gujarat, Ex-Vice Chancellor, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences & University &The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India

Deparment of Biology, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Paulo Cardoso da Silveira has a PhD in Biology (Ecology), by the University of Coimbra, concluded in 2001, with a thesis about the diversity and phytogeography of the vascular plant flora of the Serra do Açor (Portugal), reporting 781 taxa, 54% new for the study area, one new species for science, among other novelties. He is, since 2008, assistant professor at the Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, where he has lectured curricular units like Plant Biotechnology, Development Biology, Flora and Vegetation of Portugal, Field Biology and Management and Conservation of Wild Resources, and supervised 26 final Research/Internships, 23 master dissertations, seven PhD thesis and two postdoctoral research internships, one of them concerning the phytochemical study of the genus Calendula L. (Asteraceae) in the Iberian Peninsula. As a member of CESAM, he has conducted research in plant systematics, plant ecology and phytochemistry with work done in the flora of Portugal, Spain, North of Africa and some tropical countries like Angola, Mozambique and Timor-Leste. Plant and natural habitats’ identification and diversity studies have been the main focus of research and participation in 25 projects and nine service contracts, as PI or team member.

Department of Microbiology, National Institute of TB & RD Sri Aurobindo Marg, 2Deshbandhu College, New Delhi, India

Dr Ajoy Kumar Verma, MBBS, MD, PhD, Quality Manger under NABL, working as Senior Specialist Department of Microbiology,National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease, New Delhi, India. Dr Ajoy is actively involved in various modalities of tuberculosis diagnosis used for identification of mycobacterium and susceptibility testing of the specimen collected from the patients’ care referral center and samples coming from all over New Delhi and other states of India under the National TB Control Program. Dr Ajoy is responsible for conducting on site evaluation of laboratories and to provide technical support in activities under the External Quality Assessment (EQA) for sputum smear microscopy, mycobacterial culture and drug susceptibility testing. Also, he facilitates the training program for scaling up of newer diagnostic techniques, i.e., MGIT -960, Line Probe Assay, GeneXpert for MDR-TB diagnosis under the program.

Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Helena Silva is a Professor of Botany at the Department of Biology of University of Aveiro, Director of the Master's Degree in Applied Ecology at the same University and Investigator of CESAM (Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies). During more than 30 years she developed research on biodiversity and ecology of plants with experience on Portuguese, African and Asian flora and vegetation. During this period she published several dozen WoS papers, books/chapter books on these subjects as well as supervised several dozen Master's and PhD students in the same area.

IBIMED, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Miguel Pais-Vieira (MPV) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Sciences at the University of Aveiro. He specializes in translational neuroscience with a focus on brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), integrating neurobiology with neuroengineering to develop cost-effective solutions for neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. Over the past 20 years, MPV has conducted neurobehavioral and electrophysiological experiments on various subjects, including rodents, primates, and humans. His work on rodent and primate BMIs was developed during his postdoctoral research at Duke University's Nicolelis Laboratory from 2009 to 2015, and he has continued to advance human applications from 2015 onwards.

MPV holds a PhD in Human Biology (Neurosciences) from the University of Porto, an MSc in Philosophy (Cognitive Sciences), and a BSc in Nursing. He has held various teaching and research positions and has contributed to the field through several peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and books.

IBIMED, Department of Medical Sciences, and LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Portugal 

Rui Vitorino works in the Department of Medical Sciences at the University of Aveiro, where he is the principal investigator. His expertise in OMICS, especially in proteomics and bioinformatics, makes him a pioneer in this field. Dr. Vitorino's research focuses on the detailed analysis of biofluids, such as saliva and urine, to decipher molecular pathways associated with different disease phenotypes. He employs a variety of multidisciplinary techniques for protein enrichment and biofluid analysis, all aimed at improving the detection and understanding of disease biomarkers.

IBIMED, Department of Medical Sciences, and LAQV-REQUIMTE, Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, Portugal 

Rita Maria Pinho Ferreira has a degree and a PhD in Biochemistry. RF is Associate Professor with habilitation at DQ-UA where she has been teaching courses related to biochemistry and molecular biomedicine to both undergraduate and graduate students. RF develops research work in the field of muscle plasticity in pathophysiological conditions, including the evaluation of the impact of exercise training in wasting conditions using Omics approaches. Her interest by muscle plasticity started at PhD and since then she has been devoted to the study of the preventive and therapeutic effect of physical activity in the setting of cancer cachexia.

University of Aveiro

Diana Cláudia Pinto is an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the University of Aveiro involved in the teaching of Organic Chemistry, Organic Synthesis, Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products Chemistry. At the same time, she was always involved in the guidance of students in the Final Project of the Bachelor's Degree (> 60), Master's (> 25), and Ph.D. (> 12) theses. She also guided foreign graduate students (> 15) who performed short-term internships (~ one year) in the Department of Chemistry of the University of Aveiro. Since January 2020, she has been an integrated member of the Associated Laboratory of Green Chemistry (LAQV-REQUIMTE), Aveiro polo. Scientific activity has been focused on organic synthesis, and scientific interests have always diversified in several areas by discovering new bioactive molecules that can contribute to interdisciplinary solutions. Namely, i) developing "environmentally friendly" methods, ii) phytochemical studies involving establishing chemical profiles by GC- and UHPLC-MS, and iii) the isolation and characterization of specialized metabolites. The results of her research have been summarized in over 190 publications in highly qualified international journals. She is also a member of the Marine Drugs, Pharmaceuticals, Journal of Natural Medicines Research and Journal of Advanced Natural Product Research Editorial Board.

University of Aveiro

Vera L. M. Silva is Assistant Professor at the Chemistry Department of University of Aveiro and Researcher at the Molecular Synthesis Group of LAQV/REQUIMTE - Associated Laboratory for Green Chemistry - Clean Technologies and Processes. She obtained the BSc in Analytical Chemistry, MSc in Chemistry of Natural Products and Food Stuffs, and PhD in Chemistry (Organic Chemistry) degrees by the University of Aveiro. Her current research interests comprise the design, synthesis, and structural characterization of novel compounds for medicinal applications, and the development of sustainable organic synthesis methodologies, based on more contemporary tools such as ohmic heating. She also develops teaching, research, and supervision activities, in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, being STEM-CPD Ambassador since October 2023. She published 3 book chapters, 2 e-books, > 73 SCI papers, and 1 patent. Her activities include the supervision and co-supervision of 6 PhD (2 concluded) and 14 MSc students, 29 Bachelor students and 5 Erasmus students. She was coordinator of a nationally funded project and has participated as team member in several other national and international research projects. She participated in the organizing committee of national and international conferences and presented several oral and poster communications at national and international scientific meetings.