Confirmed Speakers

Joachim J. Bugert

Bundewehr Institute of Microbiology, Department for Viruses and intracellular Pathogens, Munich, Germany

Joachim J. Bugert is leader of the Department for Viruses and intracellular Pathogens of the Bundewehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany. He focuses on high consequence human and veterinary viruses and intracellular pathogens using the collaborative ‘One Health’ approach. He works to develop and optimise diagnostic procedures, conducts joint medical and veterinary investigations into the epidemiology of emerging and re-emerging viral and intracellular pathogens. Skills and expertise: infectious disease epidemiology, infectious disease medicine, tropical diseases, viral infection, emerging infectious diseases, immunology of infectious diseases, drug resistance, control and prevention of infectious diseases.

Talk scheduled on 17-June, h 3:30 p.m

Title: Antivirals testing versus neurotropic viruses in single cell culture and in in vitro models of the blood brain barrier

Chris Meier

Universität Hamburg, Institute of Organic Chemistry, Hamburg, Germany

Chris Meier was trained in Chemistry at the University of Marburg, Germany, finishing his Ph.D. in 1989. He moved to the Pasteur Institute for a PostDoc stay and joined Frankfurt University in 1991 as an Assistant Professor until 1996. He was appointed as Associate Professor at Würzburg University in 1997. In 1999, he received a full professorship offer from Hamburg University, where he has worked ever since. His research focuses on nucleoside/nucleotide and pronucleotide chemistry and small molecule inhibitors in antiviral drug discovery (Medicinal Chemistry also using Structure Biology methods). Moreover, he is working on membrane permeable derivatives of second messenger adenine nucleotides (Chemical Biology).

Talk scheduled on 18-June, h 9:00 a.m

Title: Nucleotides as Antivirals – Development of membrane-permeable pronucleotides

Andrea Brancale

University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Department of Organic Chemistry, Prague, Czech Republic

Andrea Brancale focuses is on the design, synthesis, and development of novel biologically active molecules, in particular, but not exclusively, of anticancer and antiviral compounds. His main objective is to contribute towards the discovery and the development of new therapies against diseases with a clear unmet medical need. To achieve this, he combines a variety of drug design and approaches, from classical medicinal chemistry to more advanced computer-based drug design methods. The highly interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of our research is reflected in his publications, and through the extensive network of collaboration he has established during the years.

Talk scheduled on 19-June, h 9:30 a.m

Title: Kick-start new drug design projects using computer-aided drug design

Rohini Roopnarine

School of Medicine, St. George’s University.

Rohini Roopnarine is a Professor at the School of Veterinary Medicine, and adjunct professor Dept. of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, at St. George’s University. Dr. Roopnarine earned her DVM from the University of Liverpool, UK and her M.Phil in Veterinary Public Health from the University of the West Indies, School of Veterinary Medicine, Trinidad. After completing her DVM in the UK, she was a Clinical Scholar in Small Animal Studies at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Glasgow, Scotland, UK where she worked as a clinician.

Talk scheduled on 18-June, h 9:30 a.m

Philippe Belmont

University Paris Cité, Faculty of Pharmacy of Paris, Paris, France

Philippe Belmont is leading a research team putting together chemists from various fields. He studied at Grenoble (France) at the University Joseph Fourier, where he obtained in 1996 a PhD in Organic Chemistry. He then moved successively, 1997-2000, as a post-doctoral fellow at CWRU (Cleveland, USA) and to the Collège de France (Paris, France). In 2000 he joined the University of Lyon (France) as a CNRS researcher and obtained in 2004 the habilitation. He moved in 2009 to Paris (France) at the Institut Curie and became in 2011 Full Professor of Organic Chemistry at University Paris Cité. His field of interest lies in organometallic chemistry along with photoredox processes, devoted to the original access to various heterocyclic structures in view of studying their biological properties.

Talk scheduled on 17-June, h 4:30 p.m