Organizing Committee Members - Infectious Diseases 2023
Stef Stienstra
Director
Royal Dutch Navy
Netherlands
Stef Stienstra(Biography)
Works internationally for several medical and biotech companies as scientific advisory board member and is also an active reserve-officer of the Royal Dutch Navy in his rank as Commander (OF4). For the Dutch Armed Forces he is CBRNe specialist with focus on (micro)biological and chemical threats and medical- and environmental functional specialist within the 1st CMI (Civil Military Interaction) Battalion of the Dutch Armed Forces. For Expertise France he is now managing an EU CBRN CoE public health project in West Africa. In his civilian position he is at this moment developing with MT-Derm in Berlin (Germany) a novel interdermal vaccination technology as well as a new therapy for cutaneous leishmaniasis for which he has won a Canadian ‘Grand Challenge’ grant. With Hemanua in Dublin (Ireland) he has developed an innovative blood separation unit, which is also suitable to produce convalescent plasma for Ebola Virus Disese therapy. He has finished both his studies in Medicine and in Biochemistry in The Netherlands with a doctorate and has extensive practical experience in cell biology, immuno-haematology, infectous diseaases, biodefense and transfusion medicine. His natural business acumen and negotiation competence helps to initiate new successful businesses, often generated from unexpected combinations of technologies
Stef Stienstra(Research Area)
Ebola
Adriana Calderaro
Director
University of Parma
Italy
Adriana Calderaro(Biography)
Prof. Calderaro has a degree in Medicine and Surgery summa cum laude at the Faculty Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma; license to medical practice in Medicine and Surgery awarded by the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Parma; member of the Medical Practitioners National Register; PhD in Basic and applied Microbiology; post-degree at the Medical School of Microbiology and Virology summa cum laude at the Faculty Medicine and Surgery of the University of Parma. She is currently MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Parma. Medical activity: Director of the Unit of Clinical Microbiology and Director in charge of unit of Clinical Virology at the University Hospital of Parma. Her research activity covers the fields of bacteriology (micobacteria, spirochaetes); parasitology (plasmodia, Toxoplasma gondii, intestinal protozoa), virology (hepatitis viruses; gastroenteric viruses). Author of more than 400 papers and 4 books and chapters of books
Adriana Calderaro(Research Area)
Clinical Microbiology and Virology
Sergey Suchkov
Director
Sechenov University
Russia
Sergey Suchkov(Biography)
Sergey Suchkov was born in the City of Astrakhan, Russia, in a family of dynasty medical doctors. In 1980, graduated from Astrakhan State Medical University and was awarded with MD. In 1985, maintained his PhD as a PhD student of the I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy and Institute of Medical Enzymology, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia. In 2001, finished the PostDoc Research Fellowship Program and maintained his Doctor Degree at the National Institute of Immunology, Russia. From 1985 through 1987, worked at Inst of Med Enzymology, USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. From 1987 through 1989, was a senior Researcher, Koltzov Inst of Developmental Biology, USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1989 through 1995, was being a Head of the Lab of Clinical Immunology and Immunobiotechnology, Helmholtz Eye Research Inst in Moscow. From 1995 through 2004, was being a Chairman of the Dept for Clinical Immunology, Moscow Clinical Research Institute (MONIKI) and the Immunologist-in-Chief of the Moscow Regional Ministry of Health. In 1993-1996, was an Executice Secretary-in-Chief of the Editorial Board, Biomedical Science, an international journal published jointly by the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK. Dr Suchkov is a Co-Supervisor over the Russian-American Agreement on scientific and clinical collaboration in the field of ocular immunology between Russian Academy of Sciences and National Institutes of Health (NIH); in 1991-1995 – a member of The Reciprocal Exchange Fellowship Program between Russian Immunological Society and British Society for Immunology. Dr Suchkov is a member of the Editorial Boards of many international journals including EPMA Jour-nal (Springer, Brussels) and “Personalized Medicine Universe†(Elsevier, Japan). Dr Sergey Suchkov, MD, PhD Director, Center for Personalized Medicine and Professor, Department of Pathology, Sechenov University, Chair, Department for Translational Medicine, Moscow Engineering Physical Institute (MEPhI), Professor, Dept for Immunology, A.I.Evdokimov Moscow State University of Medicine & Dentistry, Moscow, Russia Member, New York Academy of Sciences, NY, USA Secretary General, UCC (United Cultural Convention), Cambridge, UK Member, EPMA (European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalized Medicine), Brus-sels, EU; Member, ISPM (International Society for Personalized Medicine), Tokyo, Japan; Member, PMC (Personalized Medicine Coalition), Washington, USA; Member, American Chemical Society (ACS), USA; Member, American Heart Association (AHA), USA; Secretary General, UCC (United Cultural Convention), Cambridge, UK
Sergey Suchkov(Research Area)
pathology
Ana Paulina Celi
Head
Novaclinica Santa Cecilia
South America
Ana Paulina Celi(Biography)
Ana Paulina Celi de la Torre is an infectologist and internist doctor. She holds a Master in Infection Control and HIV/AIDS. Dr. Celi is the Head of Infectious Diseases department at the Armed Forces Hospital, Head of Infectious Diseases Department and the Hospital of the Valley, and Head of the Infectious Diseases Department at Novaclinica Santa Cecilia, all of them in Quito, Ecuador. She is the President of the Pan American Association of Infectious Diseases (2015-2017). She is the Ecuadorian Representative of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA). She is part of the Technical Advisory Committee on HIV/ITS and the Technical Advisory Committee on Hepatitis of the PAHO. She is past-president of the Ecuadorian Society of Infectology in the Core Pichincha. She is member of the Council of the International Society of Infectious Diseases, period 2016-2022. She is also a Graduate Professor of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Internal Medicine in the Central University of Ecuador and a Graduate Professor of Antibiotics and Infectious Diseases at the Catholic University of Quito
Ana Paulina Celi(Research Area)
Infectious Diseases
Phillip E. Klebba
Professor and Head
Kansas State University
USA
Phillip E. Klebba(Biography)
Dr.Phillip Klebba received his doctorate in Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, working with the discoverer of siderophores, Dr. Joe . Neilands. He performed post-doctoral study with Drs. Leon Rosenberg at Stanford University and Hiroshi Nikaido at UC Berkeley, and was a visiting professor with Drs Maurice Hofnung, Institut Pasteur, Alain Charbit, Institut Necker, and Ron Kaback, UCLA. Dr. Klebba is Head of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Kansas State University. His research interests focus on biophysical approaches to problems in membrane transport, especially iron acquisition by bacteria.
Phillip E. Klebba(Research Area)
My scientific interests focus on the mechanisms of iron acquisition pro†and eukaryotic cells, including transformed cells. This goal involved different processes in Gramâ€Ânegative bacteria, Gramâ€Âpositive bacteria, and most recently cancer cells. Iron is essential for cellular metabolism in both bacteria and animals, and consequently it is a virulence determinant in regard to bacterial pathogenesis. E. coli and its Gramâ€Ânegative relatives (e.g., Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio, Neisseria, Yersinia, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, etc) secrete small molecules called siderophores (Gr; ironâ€Âbearer) that chelate iron in the environment. They then capture these ferric complexes with receptor proteins in their outer membrane (OM). Our findings defined the mechanism by which the E. coli OM protein FepA recognizes and transports the siderophore ferric enterobactin (FeEnt). Experiments with this system spanned many aspects of prokaryotic membrane biochemistry, including protein structure and function to produce selective permeability, the immunology and immunochemistry of bacterial cell surfaces, and the relationship of bacterial iron acquisition to infectious disease. We immunologically characterized FepA, used antibodies to predict its porinâ€Âlike structure, showed that it contains a large channel through which iron enter the cell, and spectroscopically characterized the transport process. Our recent research was biophysical and more mechanistic, as we studied the transport actions of FepA and its accessory protein TonB, using electron spin resonance and fluorescence spectroscopic approaches. Our understanding of Gramâ€Ânegative bacterial iron transport led to highâ€Âthroughput screening methods to identify compounds in chemical libraries that block bacterial iron uptake, and thereby thwart pathogenesis. Our accomplishments include definition of the mechanism by which OM transporters accumulate iron against its concentration gradient, which requires energy and therefore falls into the category of active transport. They also require the actions of the additional cell envelope protein TonB, and are therefore “TonBâ€Âdependent.†Toward understanding this process I spent a year with Ron Kaback at UCLA studying the lactose permease, LacY. Our recent findings finally connected these two aspects of OM transport in a comprehensive mechanism. In the Rotational Surveillance and Energy Transfer (ROSET) model TonB undergoes energyâ€Âdependent motion (rotation) that transfers mechanical force to the OM. FepA uses this mechanical energy to undergo changes in structure that internalize FeEnt. By biophysical analyses in vivo we showed that internal motion in FepA controls transport through its pore, and TonBâ€Âderived energy transfer underlies structural rearrangements in FepA. The results portray OM iron transporters as highâ€Âaffinity, dynamic receptors that actively capture iron and internalize it. After a sabbatical with Professor Alain Charbit at Institut Necker in Paris in 2002â€Â3, we expanded our research to consider the ability of the Gramâ€Âpositive organism Listeria monocytogenes to acquire iron. We discovered heme and hemoglobin binding proteins in the listerial cell wall that are distinct from the iron transporters of Gramâ€Ânegative cells, and explained their internalization of iron into the cytoplasm. Heme/ hemoglobin acquisition systems are crucial to the infectivity of Gramâ€Âpositive bacteria, that besides L. monocytogenes include Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Bacillus and more. These bacteria all use nearly identical systems to bind hemoglobin, extract its heme and then transport the iron porphyrin to support their growth in human and animal hosts. Our primary research aim is to use his biochemical knowledge of their mechanisms to generate therapeutic agents (i.e., antibiotics) or immunological reagents (monoclonal antibodies) that block heme acquisition and thereby combat Gramâ€Âpositive bacterial pathogenesis.
Karl Weiss
Chief
McGill University
Canada
Karl Weiss(Biography)
Dr.Karl Weiss Chief,Division of Infectious Diseases) SMBD-JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL- Professor of Medicine, McGill University Department of Medicine Division of Medical Microbiology
Karl Weiss(Research Area)
•Investigation of infections in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease •Epidemiological study of the bacterial resistance of respiratory pathogens in Quebec • Molecular analysis of the resistance of S. pneumoniae to macrolides and fluoroquinolones • Clinical Implications of Bacterial Resistance • Clinical trials in respiratory infections • Clostridium difficile infections
Mario Stevenson
Chief and Director
University of Miami
USA
Mario Stevenson(Biography)
Dr.Mario Stevenson, Ph.D. received his doctorate from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland in 1984. He performed postdoctoral studies at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and was a professor at that institution from 1993-1995. He conducted a research sabbatical at National Institute for Medical Research in London in 1990. In 1995, he joined the Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Dr. Stevenson was previously the David Freelander Chair of AIDS Research and Director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is currently Professor of Medicine and Chief of Infectious Diseases at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Stevenson’s research is aimed at uncovering the functions of viral accessory genes, mechanisms of viral persistence and immunopathogenicity as well as cellular factors influencing virus-host cell interplay
Mario Stevenson(Research Area)
Infectious Diseases