A. L. Harvey, Strathclyde Institute for Drug Research (SIDR), Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS), University of Strathclyde,
The John Arbuthnott Building, 27 Taylor Street, Glasgow, G4 0NR, UK, Fax: +44 141 552 8376
Alan Harvey has a background in neuropharmacology and current interests in the use of natural products for drug
discovery. He is a professor of pharmacology at the University of Strathclyde, and since 1988, he has led the Strathclyde Institute for
Drug Research (now Strathclyde Innovations in Drug Research), a collaborative centre in the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow that
encourages interactions between academic researchers and industry. He has extensive experience in studying the pharmacological properties
of venoms and toxins, particularly those that act on receptors, ion channels and synaptic transmission. Along with Evert Karlsson, he
discovered the potassium channel blocking dendrotoxins and other toxins from sea anemones. He is also involved in a wide variety of early-stage
drug discovery projects from natural products. Alan Harvey was awarded the Redi Award of the IST in 2000.
R. S. Norton, Structural Biology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), 1G Royal Parade, Parkville, 3050, Australia
We are interested in what proteins look like and how they work. We use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
and a range of other biophysical and biochemical techniques to determine protein structures as a means of understanding how they function,
as well as how they interact with key binding partners in the cell. Major interests of the lab are: 1.SOCS box containing proteins,
mainly SOCS3 and the SSB family, which are key regulators of cytokine and growth factor signalling. 2.Malaria surface proteins that
are potential vaccine candidates or drug targets 3.Insulin-like growth factors (IGF) and their binding proteins (IGFBP) 4.Peptide
and protein toxins from cone shells and sea anemones that block ion channels or create pores in cell membranes Further information:
http://www.wehi.edu.au/ray_norton
K. Aktories, Freiburg, Germany
Born in 1948, Klaus Aktories studied Pharmacy and Medicine at the University of Frankfurt (Main) University.
He was Associate Professor at the Universities of Gie?en (C2-Professor) and Essen (C3 Professor) and Full Professor (C4) at the University
of the Saarland. Since 1995, Dr. Aktories has been a Full Professor (C4) and Director (Chair) of Department I of the Institute of
Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, Germany. His research topics
include: Molecular mechanism and structure-function analysis of bacterial protein toxins Bacterial protein toxin; Clostridial glucosylating
toxins; Pasteurella multocida/ toxin; ADP-ribosylating toxins; Rho-GTPase activating and inhibiting toxins; Legionella glucosyltransferases;
Bacterial protein toxins as pharmacological tools Signal transduction of GTPases.
I. Asuzu, Nsukka, Nigeria
Isaac Asuzu obtained his DVM and PhD degrees from the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He was previously Head
of Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology and Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He is currently a full Professor
of Veterinary Pharmacology in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Nigeria and a Fellow of Veterinary
Surgeons Nigeria (FCVSN). Isaac Asuzu has published several scientific papers on the pharmacology and toxicology of medicinal plant
extracts. He is presently working on plants that have anti-snake venom and anti-diabetic activities. He interacts with local herbalists
in the course of collecting plant materials for his studies. Professor Asuzu has visited many laboratories overseas as Visiting Scientist,
including the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and the University of Trieste in Italy. He is a recipient of the Commonwealth Academic
Staff Fellowship and the Wellcome Trust Fellowship.
J. Calvete, Valencia, Spain
Dr. Juan J. Calvete (Valencia, 1957) received Ph.D. from Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) in 1985.
From 1987-1998 he worked as postdoctoral fellow/invited scientist at the Banting Institute (University of Toronto, Canada), the Max-Planck-Institut
fur Biochemie (Martinried, Germany), and the Tierarztliche Hochschule (Hannover, Germany). In 1989 he became an established investigator
of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). Presently, Dr. Calvete is head of the Structural Proteomics Laboratory at the Instituto de Biomedicina
(Valencia, Spain) and his current research focuses on the evolution and structure-function correlations of snake venom proteins ("snake
venomics"). He is author in over 260 research papers and book chapters. Dr. Calvete is President of the Spanish Proteomics Society (SEProt)
and serves as Editorial Board Advisor of the Biochemical Journal (since 1999), Editorial Board Member of Toxicon (2006-), and Associate
Editor of Proteomica-The SEProt Journal (since 2007). Dr. Calvete has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming Journal of Proteomics,
the official journal of the European Proteomics Association (EuPA).
V. Chiappinelli, Washington, DC, USA
Vince Chiappinelli received his Ph.D. degree in Neuropharmacology from the University of Connecticut
in 1977 and then joined Harvard Medical School as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Postdoctoral Research Trainee from 1977 to 1980.
Subsequently he was on the faculty of the Department of Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences at Saint Louis University School of
Medicine, where he rose to the rank of Professor in 1989. Dr. Chiappinelli was a Fogarty Senior International Fellow at the University
of Cambridge, England during a sabbatical leave in 1986-1987. In 1997 he accepted the positions of Chair of the Department of Pharmacology
and Director of the Neuroscience Graduate Program at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington,
D.C. Under his leadership, the Department has substantially expanded its NIH-funded biomedical research activities, especially in the
area of the neurosciences. The Physiology Department was merged into the Department in 2003. Dr. Chiappinelli is a Neurophysiologist/Pharmacologist
whose principal contribution to the biomedical research literature is advancing our understanding of how nicotine, the addictive substance
in tobacco, changes brain function at the cellular level by altering synaptic communication between neurons in the brain. He was among
the first neuroscientists to use patch-clamp electrophysiology to study the effects of nicotine within living brain slices at the single
cell level. Dr. Chiappinelli discovered and purified from the crude venom of the kraits Bungarus multicinctus and Bungarus flaviceps
a class of protein toxins called kappa-neurotoxins that are used to characterize subtypes of neuronal nicotinic receptors. He showed
that distinct subtypes of presynaptic nicotinic receptors enhance release of neurotransmitters, especially GABA and glutamate, and demonstrated
that opioids attenuate this effect. He has received 14 major peer-reviewed research grants and is currently funded by an award from
the NIH. He has published over 70 articles, including a dozen review articles and/or book chapters. Dr. Chiappinelli is Vice Chair of
the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs, comprised of presidents and other officers of associations of Chairs of basic
science departments of U.S. Medical Schools.
P. Gopalakrishnakone, Singapore
P. Gopalakrishnakone (MB, BS, PhD, DSc, FAMS) is presently Professor in the Anatomy Department and
Chairman of the Venom and Toxin Research Programme at the National University of Singapore. He is also a consultant to the Defence Science
Organization in Singapore and Adjunct Senior Research Scientist at the Defence Medical Research Institute. He is an Honorary Principal
Fellow at the Australian Venom Research Unit. Professor Gopal's research studies includes structure function studies (toxin detection,
biosensors, antitoxins and neutralization factors), toxicogenomics and expression studies, antimicrobial peptides from venoms and toxins
and PLA2 inhibitors as potential drug candidate for inflammatory diseases. The techniques he employs include quantum dots to toxinology,
computational biology, microarrays and protein chips. His research awards include the Outstanding University Researcher Award from
the National University of Singapore (1998); Ministerial Citation, NSTB Year 2000 Award in Singapore; and the Research Excellence Award
from the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore (2003). His awards in teaching include, Faculty Teaching Excellence Award
2003/4 and NUS Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4. He is President of International Society on Toxinology till 2012.
J. Gutiérrez, San José, Costa Rica
Jose Maria Gutierrez was born in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 1954. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in
Microbiology and Clinical Chemistry at the University of Costa Rica and a PhD degree in Physiological Sciences at Oklahoma State University.
Since 1977 he has been part of the staff of Instituto Clodomiro Picado and of the School of Microbiology at the University of Costa Rica,
where he teaches Immunology and Cellular Pathology. His main research interests have focused on the study of the local pathological tissue
damage induced by snake venoms, particularly myonecrosis and hemorrhage. He has been also involved in the improvement of the technologies
to manufacture antivenoms and in the characterization of the neutralizing efficacy of antivenoms. J. M. Gutierrez has received several
national and international awards for his contributions in the field of Toxinology.
W. Hodgson, Clayton, VIC, Australia
Associate Professor Wayne Hodgson (PhD 1990) is Head of the Monash Venom Group, Department of Pharmacology,
Monash University, Australia. His research interests are centered on the pharmacological and biochemical examination of Australasian
animal venoms with a particular focus on toxins with neurotoxic, myotoxic and cardiovascular activity. His group are also interested
in studying the efficacy of commercially available antivenoms.
G. Isbister, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
Geoff Isbister is a Clinical Toxicologist and Emergency Physician at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital
and a Senior Research Fellow at Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin. His research interests are in clinical toxicology and toxinology,
focusing on controlled trials of antivenoms and adjunct therapies in envenoming syndromes, and modelling and simulation in clinical toxicology.
M. Ismail, Cairo, Egypt
Prof. M. Ismail is a distinguished professor of clinical pharmacy and academic consultant for quality
assurance and accreditation at Misr University for Science and Technology (MUST), Cairo, Egypt. He is responsible for the administrative-organization
of the university, graduate studies and research. Services offered under his domain include re-structure of all university syllabi (12
colleges), tailoring of graduate programs and establishing and running centers of excellence. Before joining MUST, professor M.
Ismail worked as professor of pharmacology and toxicology, professor of pharmacology and clinical pharmacy and professor of clinical
pharmacy at colleges of pharmacy and medicine, universities of Alexandria, Egypt, Khartoum, Sudan, Aleppo, Syria, King Saud, Saudi Arabia
and October 6, Egypt. Administrative positions included head of department, director of research center, dean of college of pharmacy,
vice-president for graduate studies and research and president of university. Prof. M. Ismail is a well known scientist. He was
awarded the Univ. of Alexandria award for scientific excellence (1976), the Distinction award of King Saud University (1980, 1984), Egypt
silver medal for professional achievement in pharmacy (1998), Egypt gold medal for professional achievement in pharmacy (1999), the prize
of the International Symposium on Travel Medicine, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2001) and several medals of achievement from universities of
Cairo, Ain-Shams and October 6. Prof. M. Ismail has published about 80 publications on venom research, about 15 publications on
regulation of body temperature and about 25 publications in miscellaneous research in medicine and clinical pharmacy. He is a member
of the editorial board of 3 international journals and reviewer in 13 national and international journals. In the applied aspects
of venom and toxin research, Prof. M. Ismail was the principal figure in establishing the National Antivenom and Vaccine Production center,
Saudi Arabia. He carried out several Technical feasibility studies for human and veterinary vaccine production and served as a W.H.O.
consultant for antivenom and vaccine production for East Mediterranean countries. Prof. M. Ismail holds B. Sc. in pharmacy, Diploma
of drug analysis and biological standardization, Diploma in biochemical analysis and Ph.D. in pharmacology.
R. Kini, Singapore
Dr. Kini graduated from University of Mysore, India and did his postdoc in Kyushu University, Japan and Virginia
Commonwealth University, Richmond, U.S.A. Then he joined National University of Singapore, Singapore in 1994. Currently, he is a Professor
in the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore. He also holds an Affiliate Professor in the Department of
Biochemistry at Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. He is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer
of a small start-up company ProTherapeutics Private Limited, Singapore, which engineers orally and sublingually active therapeutic peptides.
He has been the Chairman or Co-Chairman of the Registry of Exogenous Hemostatic Factors, a sub-committee of International Society on
Thrombosis and Haemostasis since 1998. He is also a member of the Council of the International Society on Toxinology. Dr. Kini is on
the editorial board of a few international scientific journals. He has published 137 original articles, 31 patent applications and 23
reviews. He edited a monograph on Snake venom phospholipases and was guest editor for three special issues. His research interests include
structure-function relationships and mechanism of action of proteins, particularly snake venom toxins. The functional sites are used
in designing proteins with novel biological activities and prototypes of therapeutic agents.
I. Krizaj, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Dr. Igor Križaj was born in Idrija, Slovenia, in 1963. He performed his Ph.D. thesis at the University
of Ljubljana and in part at the Imperial College in London. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at the University of Ljubljana
in 1993. In 1994-1995 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. Since 1987 he has been on the staff of the
Jožef Stefan Institute (http://www.ijs.si/ijsw/JSI), Ljubljana, where he has been heading the Department of Molecular
and Biomedical Sciences (http://bio.ijs.si/tox/) since 2007. In 1996 he was appointed at the University of Ljubljana and
presently he is an Associate Professor in Biochemistry. Since 2004 he is lecturing also at the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate
School. He leads a research group on his major research interest, the molecular basis of action of presynaptically neurotoxic, myotoxic
and anticoagulant secreted phospholipases A2. He has been extending his studies on endogenous secreted phospholipase A2 homologues to
their role in health and disease. He is also investigating hemostatically active components of snake venoms and other pharmacologically
active components from animal venoms. Until August 2008, Dr. Križaj published 87 research papers and book chapters. He received
several national and international awards for his contributions in the field of Toxinology. Since 2004 he has served as a Secretary of
the European Section of the International Society on Toxinology and a Member of the IST Council. He is a member of the Editorial boards
of Toxicon, The Open Toxinology Journal and Global Toxin Review.
M. Lazdunski, Valbonne, France
Michel Lazdunski is professor at the Medical School of the University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis He
holds the chair of Molecular Pharmacology at the Institut Universitaire de France. A world-renowned specialist of ion channels, Michel
Lazdunski and his team have made internationally recognized contributions to basic research and to applied research in pharmacology and
pathology. These range from understanding the mechanisms underlying oral antidiabetics, and inhalational anesthetics, to the mechanisms
of pain perception, cardiac arrhythmia, epilepsy, depression, and cerebral ischemia. Over the last 30 years, Michel Lazdunski and his
group have introduced and/or analyzed the machanisms of a large variety of toxins, particularly toxins for voltage-sensitive Na+
channels, voltage-sensitive K+ channels, Ca2+-sensitive K+ channels, voltage-sensitive Ca2+
channels and ASIC channels. They have also worked on several other types of venom polypeptides among which toxic phospholipases A2. Michel Lazdunski earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1959, followed by a Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1962, and a doctorate
in biochemistry (doctorat ès sciences) in 1964. He joined the CNRS in 1962. When the CNRS Center for Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology opened in 1967 in Marseilles, he took charge of the research group studying the physical chemistry of proteins and enzymology,
which he oversaw until 1973. He then created the CNRS Center for Biochemistry in Nice and directed it until 1989, when he founded the
CNRS Institute of Molecular and Cell Pharmacology (Institut de pharmacologie moléculaire et cellulaire, IPMC) in Sophia Antipolis,
a high tech campus near Nice. He has now founded the CNRS Institute of Molecular Neuromedecine at the same Campus. Michel Lazdunski
received the CNRS Silver Medal in 1976 for his work on enzymology and the structure of proteins. He has received several prestigious
awards, such as the Grand Prix of the French Academy of Sciences for biological research (Charles Léopold Mayer Prize) in 1983,
the International Society for Cardiac Research Award in 1984, the Athena Foundation - Institut de France Prize in 1991, the Grand Prix
of the French Foundation for Medical Research in 2003. Also in 1991, his team received a Bristol-Myers Foundation Neuroscience Award.
Michel Lazdunski is a member of several academies, including the Academia Europaea (1989), the French Academy of Sciences (1991), the
Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine (1991). He was awarded the CNRS Gold Medal (2000).
R. Lewis, St Lucia, QLD, Australia
Dr Lewis is a co-founder and consultant of Xenome Ltd and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at the Institute
for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), The University of Queensland. He has over 20 years' experience in the field of marine toxin pharmacology,
particularly ion channel and transporter modulation by ciguatoxins and conotoxins. He has managed several commercial venom research programs
at the IMB, and spearheaded the development of new classes of peptide therapeutic candidates. He currently heads a NHMRC Program Grant
focused on dissecting pain pathways using conotoxins. Richard has published extensively in major peer reviewed international journals.
F. Markland Jr., Los Angeles, CA, USA
Francis S. Markland, Jr., Ph.D., is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University
of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. Dr. Markland received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1964 in the laboratory
of Dr. Albert Lehininger and Charles Wadkins. He then did a two year NIH post doctoral fellowship in protein chemistry with Dr. Emil
Smith in the Biological Chemistry Department, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, where he was appointed assistant
professor in 1966. He received an NIH Career Development Award from 1968-1973 while at UCLA. In 1974 he moved to the University of
Southern California School of Medicine as Associate Professor in the Biochemistry Department and a member of the USC Comprehensive Cancer
Center. In 1983 he was appointed Professor of Biochemistry. He served as Acting Chair of the Biochemistry Department from 1986-1988
and Vice Chair from 1988-1992, and was Associate Dean for Scientific Affairs of the Keck School of Medicine at USC from 2004-2008. He
was a member of the NIH Biochemical Endocrinology Study Section from 1986-1990 and more recently has served on several study sections
to evaluate grants in the FLAIR program of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Markland is an internationally recognized expert on proteins
from snake venoms and one of his proteins advanced to Phase III clinical trials as therapy for peripheral arterial occlusive disease.
He is presently working with nanospheres (lioposomes) as a delivery modality for a novel antiangiogenic agent his laboratory purified
from snake venom. Recently his laboratory succeeded in using an engineered bacterial strain to produce a recombinant version of the
venom antiangiogenic agent. He has a number of U.S. Patents surrounding his technologies.
M. Martin-Eauclaire, Marseille, France
Born in 1947, Marie-France Martin-Eauclaire, PhD, is presently an INSERM senior scientist in the team
ToxCiM of the Department of Neuronal Signalization, CRN2M, CNRS UMR 6231, Université de la Méditerranée and Université
Paul Cezanne, Medical School, Marseilles. Her main scientific interest is about scorpion venoms and their toxins. She focused her fundamental
studies on the structure-function relationships of the toxins and their targets in order to solve the question of their respective selectivity.
She purified and chemically and pharmacologically characterized more than fifty new molecules active on voltage-gated sodium channels
(VGSCs) or on potassium channels. The most well known are the potent beta-type toxins from Centruroides suffusus suffuses (as
Css II, CssIV and Css VI), which allowed the site four definition on VGSCs, and Kaliotoxin (KTX), a high affinity and selective blocker
of the potassium channel Kv1.3. KTX led to the first 3D-structure resolution, using solid-state NMR spectroscopy, of the interface between
a "short" scorpion toxin and a potassium channel. It was shown that conformational changes of both the toxin and the channel were crucial
for the tight interaction. Marie-France Martin-Eauclaire is one of the founder members of the French Society for the Study of Toxins
(SFET) from the early beginning (1991) and she stayed vice-president of the society until 2006.
D. Mebs, Frankfurt, Germany
Dietrich Mebs received his PhD 1968 in biology and biochemistry from the University of Frankfurt, Germany.
After graduating, he joined the Center of Forensic Medicine, where he has spent his entire career until his recent retirement (2007).
He stayed in Brazil, Japan and the Philippines for research and was promoted to Professor 1985. Beside his forensic work his main research
interest is devoted to venoms and poisons of plants and animals. He is author of more than 250 scientific articles and of four books
among them "Venomous and Poisonous Animals" which first appeared in German ("Gifttiere") 1992.
E. Moczydlowski, Potsdam, NY, USA
Dr Edward Moczydlowski is currently Professor and Chair of the Biology Department at Clarkson University
in Potsdam, New York, where he holds the Bayard and Virginia Clarkson Chair of Biology. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biological
Science from Cornell University in 1975 and a doctorate degree from the University of California at San Diego in 1980 where he worked
on the mechanism of Na+,K+-ATPase under Professor P. A. George Fortes in the Department of Biology. His interest in membrane biophysics
and fascination with natural toxins targeted to ion channels led him to pursue postdoctoral work with Christopher Miller in the Graduate
Department of Biochemistry at Brandeis University. Collaborations during this time included a productive stint at Harvard Medical School
in the laboratories of Stanley Goldin in the Department of Pharmacology and Ramon Latorre in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
Many interesting experiments based on the technique of single-channel recording of BK Ca2+-activated K+ channels and voltage-activated
Na+ channels in planar lipid bilayers were performed during this time. These studies documented the action of natural toxins such as
batrachotoxin, tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin on single channels. A "long-shot" experiment in Chris Miller's lab at Brandeis led to the
discovery of the K+ channel blocker, charybdotoxin, in the venom of the scorpion, Leiurus quinqestriatus, in 1984. Investigations
in his own laboratory at Yale resulting in the purification and cloning of saxiphilin, a soluble binding protein for saxitoxin, which
may yet provide a useful assay for detection of saxitoxin in shellfish. Dr. Moczydlowski has held faculty positions at the
University of Cincinnati Medical School in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and at Yale University Medical in the Department
of Pharmacology before moving to Clarkson University in 2003. He is a recipient of the Searle Scholars Award and an Established Investigator
Award of the American Heart Association. He has served on the Editorial Boards of The Biophysical Journal, The Journal
of General Physiology, as well as Toxicon.
C. Montecucco, Padova, Italy
Cesare Montecucco graduated in Chemistry (1971) and Biology (1975) cum laude from the University
of Padova, where he is currently Professor of General Pathology and Vice-Director of the Scuola Galileiana. He has carried out research
in the University of Cambridge and Utrecht, the Pasteur Institute of Paris and the EMBL of Heidelberg. He studies the molecular and cellular
mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria: anthrax, botulism, tetanus, and gastrointestinal pathologies
associated with Helicobacter pylori, as well as studies on presynaptically acting snake toxins. Moreover, he has collaborated
actively with Chiron-Vaccines of Siena on the development of an anti-H. pylori vaccine. His major scientific achievements
are: a) the discovery of the metalloproteolytic activity of the clostridial neurotoxins responsible for tetanus and botulism specific
for VAMP/synaptobrevin, SNAP-25 and syntaxin (SNARE proteins), providing the key demonstration of the role of the SNARE proteins
in exocytosis; b) co-discovered the activity and substrate of the anthrax lethal factor and that this toxin has an immunosuppressive
activity and of the immunosuppressive synergism of the anthrax edema and lethal toxins; c) discovery of the mechanism of action of the
vacuolating VacA cytotoxin and of the neutrophil-activating protein (HP-NAP) of H. pylori, the bacterium which colonizes the
stomach of the majority of the human populations and is associated with severe pathologies including active chronic gastritis, peptic
ulcers and stomach cancers; and d) provided compelling evidence that presynaptic snake PLA2 neurotoxins act on the plasma membrane by
producing lysophosphatydilcholine and fatty acid which promote exocytosis via hemifusion intermediates and calcium entry with Ca overloading
and toxicity of nerve terminals. In addition, he has provided theoretical contributions on the mode of binding of clostridial neurotoxins,
on the mechanism of membrane translocation of bacterial protein toxins and on the assembly of the SNARE apparatus. He has published
more than two hundred fifthy articles in international scientific journals as well as two books. Prof. Montecucco received the 1993 prize
of Harvard Medical School, the 1998 prize of the Italian Consortium for the Biotechnologies, the 2000 prize of the Deutsche Gesellschat
fur Hygiene und Microbiology, the 2003 prize of the Masi Foundation for the Venetian Civilization, the 2004 Feltrinelli Prize for Medicine
and the 2009 Redi Awart of the IST. He has served or is serving in several Editorial Boards of scientific journals and in the Scientific
Councils of major research institutions. He is member of EMBO, Academia Europaea, Leopoldina Academy, Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere
ed Arti, Accademia dei Lincei and of the American Academy of Microbiology.
B. Neilan, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Brett Neilan is a molecular biologist and an expert in the study of toxic cyanobacteria, which is increasing
in frequency, global distribution and human intoxication. Today his research group at the University of New South Wales, comprises more
than twenty-five researchers, including fifteen PhD students. The main topic of their work is the genetics of toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green
algae) and the research has led to an understanding of the biochemical pathways that are responsible for the production of toxins in
our water supplies. The results of this basic research, along with other work on the evolution of cyanobacteria, has revolutionised environmental
biology. He obtained his PhD in microbial and molecular biology from UNSW in 1995. Prior to his PhD training, Brett obtained a bachelor
of applied science degree in biomedical science (1985) at the University of Technology, Sydney and then worked as a medical researcher,
hospital scientist and forensic biologist. His first postdoctoral position at Stanford University was funded by NASA in the laboratories
of David Relman (microbiology) and Donald Lowe (geology) was the first study of the microbial molecular evolution associated with stromatolites.
This work continues at the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, where Brett is deputy director. After California, he then completed an
Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship with Thomas Boerner in Berlin on non-ribosomal peptide biosynthesis genetics. These early posts, although
seemingly very different at the time, have become the basis for current studies regarding the search for microbial natural products in
novel environments, including Antarctica, the hypersaline lagoon of Shark Bay, WA, and Indonesian volcanoes. The research has been
communicated in more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and was awarded the Eureka Prizes for Scientific Research in 2001 and Interdisciplinary
Science in 2005, the Australian Academy of Science Fenner Medal for studies in the Biological Sciences and the New South Wales Royal
Society Walter Burfitt Prize in 2005. Dr Neilan has received more than six million dollars in grants from various Australian agencies
with equal funding from the Australian water industry and the US and Japanese governments. He is an adjunct professor at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences and has recently been an invited visiting scientist in Italy, Japan, Brazil, UK, USA, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and
Korea. He has been a member of the executive of the Australian Society for Microbiology and the Australian representative to the International
Committee on Toxic Algal Control and head of its monitoring division. He has also consulted broadly to governments regarding biotechnology
and the environment. Future plans are to characterise the genetics of marine toxins, gain a better understanding of the factors that
influence the production of toxins, and enable the detection of low levels of toxic species in drinking water and seafood. Brett will
also be looking at the mechanisms responsible for the complex biosynthesis of a range of pharmacologically active compounds to assist
in the design and synthesis of novel bioactive products.
B. Olivera, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
After his Bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of the Philippines, "Toto" Olivera obtained
a PhD in biophysical chemistry from Caltech and subsequently undertook postdoctoral research at Stanford University. His early work was
on DNA ligase and DNA replication, and he published an impressive series of papers in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Nature. After returning to the University of the Philippines as an Associate Professor
of Biochemistry, Dr Olivera began what has been his continued and continuing interest in biologically active molecules from the venoms
of marine cone snails. From 1970, Dr Olivera has been associated with the University of Utah, where he is currently Distinguished Professor
of Biology. Throughout that time, Dr Olivera has greatly developed our understanding of the chemistry, biology and pharmacology of Conus
peptides and toxins. He has been involved in the discovery and classification of many important types of bioactive molecules, including α-conotoxin, ω-conotoxin, μ-conotoxin, ĸ-conotoxin, δ-conotoxin, ψ-conotoxin, and conantokin peptides. Many
of these are in use every day as pharmacological tools, and some have provided leads for novel therapeutic agents. Professor Olivera
has produced over 230 publications and has received many awards including the Redi Award of the IST in 2003.
S. Pflugmacher, Berlin, Germany
Born 1965, PhD 1996 in Munich at the GSF Neuherberg/Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, since
1996 scientist and head of the working group Biochemical Regulation at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
in Berlin. Special interest: Cyanobacterial toxins, toxicity of natural compounds, oxidative stress and biotransformation.
S. Serrano, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Solange M. T. Serrano is a Research Scientist and head of the Laboratorio Especial de Toxinologia Aplicada
at Instituto Butantan (Sao Paulo, Brazil). Dr. Serrano received her M.Sc. in 1991 and her Ph.D. in 1994 from Universidade Federal de
Sao Paulo, Brazil. During her PhD and early Post-Doc research she worked for three years at the University of Munich, Germany (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet)
in the group of Prof. E. Fink. In 2001-2002 she worked as a Research Associate in the group of Prof. J. Fox at the Biomolecular Research
Facility of the University of Virginia. Her main research interests include structure-function relationships and mechanisms of action
of snake venom toxins, particularly proteolytic enzymes. She is also interested in the analysis of snake venom complexity, and of the
effects of snake venom proteolytic enzymes, by proteomic approaches.
T. Tamiya, Tokyo, Japan
Dr. Toru Tamiya has been a professor at the Department of Materials and Life Sciences (Faculty of Science
and Technology) of Sophia University, where he has also been the Dean of Faculty of Science and Technology since April 2008. From 2005-2007
he was the Director of the Media Center at the same institution, and before that, Director of the Computer Center. From 2001-2007, Dr.
Tamiya served as a member of the executive board of the Japan Universities Association for Computer Eduction. He was also a Professor
in the Department of Chemistry of Sophia University from 2004-2008. In the thirteen years previous to that, he was an Associate Professor
in the Department of Chemistry, and before that, a lecturer in the same department. In From 1977-1988, Dr. Tamiya was a Research Assistant
in the Department of Chemistry. Further, from 1998-1999, he served as a Temporary Exchange Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr.
Andre Menez, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, Department d'Ingenierie et d'Etudes des Proteines, Centre d'Etudes de Saclay, in France,
on the project "Expression of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor." He has served as Research Associate in other studies under Dr. Menez,
including "Expression of sea snake neurotoxin genes" and "In vitro translation of sea snake neurotoxins." As a graduate student, he wrote
his thesis, "Studies on Biologically Active Peptides - Isolation of Contractile Activity Regulating Peptides from Fur Seal Muscle Hydrolysate,"
in the laboratory of J.J. Matsumoto, in the Department of Chemistry of Sophia University.
J. Tytgat, Leuven, Belgium
Born January 6, 1963, Jan Tutgat has a Pharm.D. (now called Master's in Pharmaceutical Sciences) (1981-86)
and Ph.D. in physiology (1986-90) obtained at University of Leuven (KULeuven, Belgium). He did a post-doc in Harvard Medical School (1990-92;
with the late Dr. Peter Hess). Dr. Tytgat is a full professor in Toxicology at the University of Leuven (Belgium), and the Head
of the Toxicology Department. He has also served as Head of the Division Biopharmaceutical Sciences (Leuven Research and Development),
and is a member of several national and international organizations and boards. He has done important forensic toxicology service/research
at the request of the Belgian Ministry of Justice, and is consultant of a number of pharmaceutical/biotech companies. He is also the
author of more than 125 peer-reviewed papers. Dr. Tytgat is the recipient of the Prize of the Research Council of the University of Leuven
(KULeuven, Belgium) and of the Dr. E. Delcroix Prize (Flemish Institute of Marine Research). He is President of the European Section
of the International Society on Toxinology (IST). Dr. Tytgat is married and has three children.
D. Warrell, Oxford, UK
Professor David Warrell (MA, DM, DSc, FRCP, FRCPE, FRGS, FMedSci) is Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine
and Honorary Fellow of StCross College at the University of Oxford. After training at Oxford, St Thomas's Hospital and the Royal Postgraduate
Medical School, London, he working as physician, teacher and researcher in many African, Asian and South American countries. He founded
the Oxford-based Tropical Medicine Research Programme whose units in Thailand (since 1979), Viet Nam, Laos and Kenya research malaria
and other tropical diseases. He edited all five editions of the Oxford Textbook of Medicine and two editions of Essential Malariology
and has published more than 400 research papers, articles and textbook chapters on malaria, rabies, relapsing fevers, other infectious
and tropical diseases, comparative respiratory physiology, respiratory diseases, herpetology, venomous animals, envenoming and plant
and chemical poisoning. He is consultant to the World Health Organization (malaria, rabies, snake bites, antivenom production), British
Army, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Medical Research Council, Royal Geographical Society, Zoological Society of London and Earth Watch
International. He is a past President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and International Federation for Tropical
Medicine and Honorary Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Association of Physicians of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland and Ceylon College of Physicians.
Y. Zhang, Yunnan, China
Dr Yun ZHANG was born in Kunming city of China in July 1963. He acquired his bachelor degree in biochemistry from
East China University of Science and Technology at Shanghai in 1984. From 1991 to 1995, As a PhD student and a postdoctoral fellow, he
was trained in Pasteur Institute in Paris, and acquired his PhD diploma from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in September of 1992. As
a visiting scholar, he worked in Hong Kong Science and Technology University for three months in 1998. He is now a Principal Investigator,
and chief of Biotoxin Unite of the Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms at Kunming Institute of Zoology, The
Chinese Academy of Sciences. Research works of Dr Yun ZHANG's group focus on the identification and functional characterization of
novel animal biotoxins, and the use of these highly active proteins and peptides as molecular probes in the understanding of human disease
mechanisms. With newly identified single chain trefoil factors and the complex of non-lens betagamma-crystallin and trefoil factor (betagamma-CAT)
from frog skin, Their study now focus on illustration how members of non-lens betagamma-crystallins (widely expressed in various epithelial
tissues) and trefoil factors (initiators of mucosal healing and being greatly involved in tumorigenesis) are likely to function in the
regulation of cell migration, survival and apoptosis, and the related new signaling pathways involved in inflammation, wound healing
and cancer.
R. Zingali, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Russolina B. Zingali is Associate Professor at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry Universidade Federal
do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) since January 1995. She graduate as Pharmacist and Biochemist from Universidade de São
Paulo (1986), received her master's at Molecular Biology from Universidade Federal de S?o Paulo (1989) and her Ph.D. at Biological Chemistry
from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (1993). She has been mainly involved in the characterization of anti-hemostatic compounds,
having in mind the search for peptides and proteins which can be used as prototypes and models for the development of antithrombotic
drugs. The major objective of her project is to characterize in detail, in vitro as well as in vivo the mechanism of action of snake
venoms components that have a potential anti-hemostatic action. She has experience in Biochemistry, focusing on Proteins and more recently
in proteomics. She has published more than 60 articles and has directed 7 PhDs thesis and 13 master dissertations.
Isaac Asuzu obtained his DVM and PhD degrees from the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He was previously Head
of Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology and Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He is currently a full Professor
of Veterinary Pharmacology in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Nigeria and a Fellow of Veterinary
Surgeons Nigeria (FCVSN). 
Dr. Igor Križaj was born in Idrija, Slovenia, in 1963. He performed his Ph.D. thesis at the University
of Ljubljana and in part at the Imperial College in London. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry at the University of Ljubljana
in 1993. In 1994-1995 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. Since 1987 he has been on the staff of the
Jožef Stefan Institute (
Dr Yun ZHANG was born in Kunming city of China in July 1963. He acquired his bachelor degree in biochemistry from
East China University of Science and Technology at Shanghai in 1984. From 1991 to 1995, As a PhD student and a postdoctoral fellow, he
was trained in Pasteur Institute in Paris, and acquired his PhD diploma from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in September of 1992. As
a visiting scholar, he worked in Hong Kong Science and Technology University for three months in 1998. He is now a Principal Investigator,
and chief of Biotoxin Unite of the Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms at Kunming Institute of Zoology, The
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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