Plenary Lecture

June 15 | 9:10 AM - 10:10 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Wolfgang Ensinger, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

Using Extracellular Vesicles for Brain Delivery of Therapeutic Proteins
Dr. Elena Batrakova, The University of North Carolina, USA

Elena V. Batrakova obtained Ph.D. in Polymer chemistry at the Department of Polymers, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Russia. Since 2012, she is an Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. For more than twenty years, she has been studying the assembly and applications of drug-loaded nanocarriers. Recently, the main focus of Dr. Batrakova’s group is on the development of personalized drug delivery systems by loading therapeutics into immune response cells or extracellular vesicles (EVs) released from these cells. Specifically, her group developed and characterized EV-based drug delivery systems for therapeutic proteins, nucleic acids, and low molecular chemotherapeutics to treat Parkinson’s disease, stroke, ALS, HIV-related dementia, and cancer. Overall, she has published over 130 papers and filed 20+ US and foreign patents on the application of drug delivery systems of biologically active molecules. She is a highly cited of total 10 scientists at UNC, and a Thomson Reuters agency named her top 1% Highly Cited Researcher.

Keynote Lecture

June 15 | 10:10 AM - 10:55 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Wolfgang Ensinger, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

Polyvalent Multifunctional Nanoparticles: A Powerful Tool to Address Various Biomedical Challenges
Dr. Dejian Zhou, Leeds University, UK

Dejian Zhou is full Professor of Nanochemistry at University of Leeds, UK. He obtained his BSc and PhD in Chemistry both from Peking University, China. Following postdoctoral research at Cranfield University and University of Cambridge, he was appointed to a Senior Lecturer at University of Leeds in 2007 and promoted to Professor of Nanochemistry in 2018.

He is pursuing a polyvalent multifunctional nanoparticle strategy to address some important biomedical challenges, e.g. early detection and targeted multimodal treatment of cancer; probing structural mechanisms and developing new therapeutics targeting specific lectin-glycan interactions. He has published 4 book chapters and ~150 research papers (including 2 research highlights on the BBC) in some leading journals, e.g. Nature Nanotech., Adv. Mater., JACS, Angew. Chem.

He has received several awards and recognitions, Young Chemist Award (Chinese Chemical Society, 1996), National Excellent PhD Thesis Award (Ministry of Education, China, 1999) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2016). He is an Associate Editor of Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal (Elsevier, IF: 6.02), and sits on the Editorial Board of Sensors (MDPI, IF: 3.28) and Advisory Board of Particle & Particle System Characterization (Wiley-VCH, IF: 3.83).

Keynote Lecture

June 15 | 11:05 AM - 11:50 AM | Session Chair: Dr. Wolfgang Ensinger, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

Explore the Application of Electron Work Function in Material Design towards “Electronic Metallurgy”
Dr. Dongyang Li, University of Alberta, Canada

Dr. Dongyang Li is a Professor at Dept. of Chemical & Materials Eng., University of Alberta. His interests of research include materials design, nano-materials, wear and corrosion, and computational materials science. Dr. Li is on the editorial board for eighteen technical journals and is the recipient of MetSoc 2020 Distinguished Materials Scientist Award in recognition as a renowned scientist and innovative researcher in tribo-materials (The Metallurgy and Materials Society). Dr. Li has in excess of 370 technical publications, including more than 330 journal publications. He is an invited contributor for authoritative handbooks (Elsevier, Springer, and ASM International). Dr. Li is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (FMMM) and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP).

Session

June 15 | 11:50 AM - 12:25 PM | Session Chair: Session Chair: Dr. Josef Jampilek, Comenius University, Slovakia

Nanomaterials, Nanodevices: Fabrication, Characterization and Application I

Keynote Lecture

June 15 | 12:45 PM - 1:30 PM | Session Chair: Dr. Josef Jampilek

Functional Nanoparticles via “Living” Crystallization-Driven Self-Assembly
Dr. Ian Manners, University of Victoria, Canada

Ian Manners is Canadian and British. He was born in London, England and, after receiving his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in the UK he conducted postdoctoral work in Germany and then in the USA. He joined the University of Toronto, Canada as an Assistant Professor in 1990 and was promoted to Full Professor in 1995 and was made a Canada Research Chair in 2001. In 2006 he returned to the UK to take up a Chair at the University of Bristol in Inorganic, Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry supported by an EU Marie Curie Chair. In 2018 he was awarded a Canada 150 Research Chair at the University of Victoria, Canada on Vancouver Island where he has set up a new research group.

Ian’s research interests broadly focus on synthetic problems at molecular, macromolecular, and longer length scales. His current research projects include: catalytic main group chemistry and main group polymers, functional metallopolymers, crystallization-driven self-assembly of polymers, and nanoelectronics, catalysis, and nanomedicine with soft materials. He is the recipient of a wide range of national and international awards including a Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (from the US), the Steacie Prize (from Canada), the RSC Award in Main Group Chemistry, and a Humboldt Research Award from Germany. Most recently he received the RSC de Gennes Prize (2017) and a 1000 Talents Award from China (2018) to support a Distinguished Visiting Professorship and satellite lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Ian’s work is documented in ca. 750 career publications and 4 books and has been presented in ca. 560 invited lectures worldwide. He is an elected member of both the Canadian and the British National Academies of Science.

Session

June 15 | 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Session Chair: Dr. Josef Jampilek, Comenius University, Slovakia & Dr. Jonathan Coulter, Queen's University Belfast, UK

Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery, and Tissue Engineering I