International Conference on Clinical and Medical Genetics September 21-22, 2017 Toronto, Canada

Dr. Andriy Arkadiyovych Sinelnyk is MD-Neurologist in “EmCell” Ltd., Kyiv City. He served as a neurologist in State Establishment “State Medical Center for Civil Aviation of Ukraine”, Kyiv City. He received Letter of Commendation for hard work, professional excellence and significant personal contribution to the development of medical care by the State Administration. He Developed and implemented forms for the statistical dispensary reports.

His research intersted areas are cell therapy and stem cells.

Dr. Guri Tzivion is an Associate Professor at the Cancer Institute and the Department of Biochemistry, University of Mississippi Medical Center, USA.

His research is focused on understanding signaling processes and networking downstream of insulin and growth factor receptors at the molecular and mechanistic level and applying this knowledge to address cancer, metabolic disorders.

Associate Professor 22 years of experience

Medical Genetics

My imagination is consumed with thoughts of how life is created and regulated. To appreciate the realities of life, I use plants as a working model and aim to build a system, which can integrate the information from evolutionary history, genomic patterns, biochemical reactions, as well as the performance of individuals.

My research interests fall into two primary fields, evolutionary and computational biology, and experimental biology, for studying the functions of F-box genes in plants. The first F-box gene was identified in yeast to encode the substrate receptor, named the F-box protein, in an SKP1-Cul1-F-box (SCF) complex. In eukaryotes, numerous SCF complexes form a large group of E3 ubiquitin ligases catalyzing protein ubiquitylation at the last step of a three-enzyme cascade reaction, which starts with ubiquitin activation by a ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1) and ubiquitin conjugation by a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2). Most of the time, the ubiquitylated proteins are recognized by the 26S proteasome for degradation. This highly selective protein degradation pathway allows a eukaryotic cell to precisely maintain the homeostasis of its entire proteome.

Dr. Paul J. Higgins received his Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from New York University in 1976. He joined the faculty of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Cornell University School of Medicine in 1977, where he was a member in the Cell Biology/Genetics and Molecular Biology/Virology Programs. Dr. Higgins is currently a Professor and Director of the Center for Cell Biology and Cancer Research at the Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. He was the founding Vice President of the Albany Research Institute (ARI) and currently serves on the ARI Board of Directors. He has served as Chairman of National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense Review Panels, is a member of a number of federal and international study sections and received several prestigious awards including the Moyer Award and, most recently, the 2008 Excellence Award in Molecular Medicine. Dr. Higgins is a member of several journal editorial boards, edited books on cancer biology, and published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Cell shape, proliferation and differentiation programs are regulated largely by complex interactions between growth factors and elements of the extracellular matrix.

Dr. Bowden has been involved in human genetics research for over 25 years. This began with participation in the construction of the first genetic maps of human chromosomes. Subsequent research has touched on genetic both single gene disorders: multiple endocrine neoplasia, retinitis pigmentosa, and maturity onset diabetes of the young and complex diseases: type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune thyroid disease. These efforts have resulted in over 300 peer reviewed publications. The focus of Dr. Bowden’s research has been the genetics of type 2 diabetes, complications of diabetes, and contributors to diabetes such as adiposity and control of glucose homeostasis. He is principal investigator on multiple studies including the Diabetes Heart Study and DHS Mind study and plays a leading role in studies of type 2 diabetes in the African American population. He is a participant in numerous multicenter studies of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease: Dr. Bowden’s laboratory currently performs investigations from cellular models through population-based studies including a wide range of molecular genetic applications such as whole genome association studies and whole exome sequencing.

• Genetics of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease • Whole genome association • Family based linkage analysis

Joseph C. Glorioso began his career at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MA, USA (1976–1989), where he became Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. He subsequently moved to the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsvurgh, USA, where he served as Chair and the McElroy Professor of Biochemistry until 2009. He is a former president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and serves as the American Editor of Gene Therapy. Dr Glorioso’s research focuses on molecular genetic aspects of herpes simplex virus (HSV) pathogenesis and the development of HSV gene vectors for treatment of chronic pain, neuropathy and cancer.

Dr. Glorioso has spent his career studying the molecular biology of herpes simplex virus (HSV) and the last 20 years developing HSV gene vectors. For example, Dr. Glorioso is a leader in the development of gene vectors for treatment of in vitro and in vivo models of cancer (e.g. glioblastoma multiforme, GBM) and for treatment of peripheral nervous system diseases such as chronic pain. Throughout his career, Dr. Glorioso has many times entered new fields of study successfully moving from HSV immunology into gene therapy and then into cancer and neurobiology becoming expert, for example in pain biology and most recently studies of Huntington disease.

Marina Kleanthous (PhD 1990 Neurochemistry, University of Athens) has been at the Molecular Genetics Thalassaemia Department at the CING since 1991, and Head of the Department since 1997. Prior to that, she had carried out research in the Fishery Department of National Center for Marine Research (NCMR) and the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Research Centre of Crete. She has extensive experience in the diagnosis of different forms of thalassaemia and other haemoglobinopathies and other rare hereditary disorders, prenatal diagnosis for thalassaemia and other diseases and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for thalassaemia. She has been involved in more than 14 research projects (totaling over €18.5 million) in the last 11 years and has been the coordinator of at least 10 of those.

Her research interests include: Drug therapy for thalassaemia using HbF inducers, gene therapy for thalassaemia, the development of a diagnostic chip for thalassaemia, non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) for thalassaemia, as well as genotype /phenotype correlation studies in thalassaemia. She has published over 25 refereed papers and contributed to chapters for 3 books. She has given more than 30 lectures in conferences in Cyprus and abroad and has organized more than 10 conferences and workshops.

Marina Kleanthous (PhD 1990 Neurochemistry, University of Athens) has been at the Molecular Genetics Thalassaemia Department at the CING since 1991, and Head of the Department since 1997. Prior to that, she had carried out research in the Fishery Department of National Center for Marine Research (NCMR) and the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (IMBB) of the Research Centre of Crete. She has extensive experience in the diagnosis of different forms of thalassaemia and other haemoglobinopathies and other rare hereditary disorders, prenatal diagnosis for thalassaemia and other diseases and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) for thalassaemia. She has been involved in more than 14 research projects (totaling over €18.5 million) in the last 11 years and has been the coordinator of at least 10 of those.

Her research interests include: Drug therapy for thalassaemia using HbF inducers, gene therapy for thalassaemia, the development of a diagnostic chip for thalassaemia, non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) for thalassaemia, as well as genotype /phenotype correlation studies in thalassaemia. She has published over 25 refereed papers and contributed to chapters for 3 books. She has given more than 30 lectures in conferences in Cyprus and abroad and has organized more than 10 conferences and workshops.

John F. McDonald is Professor of Biology and Director of the Integrated Cancer Research Center at Georgia Institute of Technology. In addition, he serves as Chief Scientific Officer of the Ovarian Cancer Institute (Atlanta). Dr. McDonald earned his PhD from the University of California, Davis and did post-doctoral work at UC San Diego and Columbia University’s Cancer Research Center in New York

). Dr. McDonald is author of over 200 scientific publications, editor of 3 books and co-author of the genetics text The Science of Genetics. Dr. McDonald is the former Editor-and-Chief of Genetica–the International Journal of Genetics. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2005.