Prof. Bilge Sener, Gazi University, Turkey

Dr. Sener has been working as a professor at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, Turkey. She has worked as Dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University, as Director at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi, University, as Chair at the Division of the Professional Sciences of Pharmacy, and as Co-Director at the Institute of Health Sciences. Her main research field is the development of bioactive compounds from Turkish medicinal plants and marine organisms, biological evaluation and evaluation of herbal medicines and Nutraceuticals. She has won several awards from national and international institutions. She has worked as Director in 48 projects supported by NATO, NSF, IUPAC, Socrates-Grundtvig, TUBITAK and University Research Funds. She has authored or co-authored 12 books, 96 chapters and 698 peer-reviewed research articles published in leading international journals. She has also delivered several plenary and invited lectures at the international symposia in the field of natural product chemistry. Prof. Şener has worked in registration of medicines as a member of Main Scientific Board of Drug Registration, Ministry of Health, Turkey, and as Chair at Main Board for Phytopharmaceutics, Nutraceuticals and Dietary supplements Licensing. She also has served as a Turkish delegate for the Commission of the European Pharmacopoeia during 2011-2016. She has supervised 6 Ph.D., 14 M.Sc. at Gazi University as well as co-supervised 21 Ph.D. thesis at the University of Karachi. She is a member of several international and national professional societies.

Prof. Daneel Ferreira, The University of Mississippi, US

Dr. Daneel Ferreira is Professor Emeritus and former Chairperson of the Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, and Research Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 38655, U.S.A. His research focussed on the chemistry, identification and partial/total synthesis of a diverse array of plant secondary metabolites with emphasis on structure elucidation via physical methods, especially NMR spectroscopy and experimental and calculated Electronic Circular Dichroism spectra, semi-synthesis of oligomers/polymers, stereoselective syntheses of monomeric precursors, and the development of general methodologies to manipulate the carbon backbone of the C6.C3.C6-units of proanthocyanidins. He has mentored about 140 graduate students and postdoctoral research associates, and has co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in top-tier journals, has read numerous plenary presentations all over the world. He serves on the Editorial Boards of Phytochemistry and the South African Journal for Science and Technology, is Associate Editor of the American Chemical Society’s, Journal of Natural Products, and reviews proposals for several US Federal funding agencies. He served as President of the Phytochemical Society of North America, 2003 - 2005. He is a recipient of the Gold Medal of the South African Chemical Institute, the Havenga Prize of the South African Academy for Arts and Sciences, the Centenary Medal of the University of the Free State, the Research Award of the School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate (D.Sc. honoris causa) from Free State University (2008), and the International Tannin Award granted to him in August, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.

Prof. Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhary, University of Karachi, Pakistan

Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary is the Director and Professor of Bioorganic and Natural Product Chemistry at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (H. E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, Karachi, Pakistan). Prof. Choudhary, since 1990, has been among the world leaders in the field of natural product chemistry and has made pioneering contributions in the discovery of novel natural products. He has discovered many potent anti-epileptic and anti-leishmanial compounds from indigenous medicinal plants. He leads the developing world's finest research center of natural product chemistry (HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry) since 2002. Prof. Choudhary has more than 1300 Publications in the fields of organic and bioorganic chemistry, including 58 international/ US patents, and 61 books and 40 chapters in books, published by major U.S. and European presses in various areas of natural product and bioorganic chemistry. He has established several research centers in Pakistan and helped to set up research units in Africa, and South and Central Asia. His scientific, and capacity building contributions have been recognized by prestigious national and international awards and honors, and fellowships of several academies of science. He was declared as the most productive scientist of Pakistan among 4,137 scientists in all disciplines/ fields of science and technology (year 2017). He is the Fellow of RSC, TWAS, IUPAC and many other international and national societies. Dr. Iqbal is also a member of the "Prime Minister's Task Force on Science and Technology" in Pakistan.

Prof. Raphael Stoll, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany

Prof. Simon Gibbons, University College London, UK

Dr. Gibbons is currently working as Head of School and Professor of Medicinal Phytochemistry, The School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, UK. Dr. Gibbons is a member of ACMD Medicinal Cannabis Work Group. He was the Chemistry Council Member of the UK Home Office Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and Chairman of the ACMD' Novel Psychoactive Substances Committee (NPSC). Dr. Gibbons has been a member of the Editorial Boards of the various internationally distinguished journals Journal of Natural Products, Natural Products and Bioprospecting, Phytochemical Analysis, Phytochemistry Reviews, Phytotherapy Research, Fitoterapia, The Chinese Journal of Natural Medicine and Scientia Pharmaceutica. He founded and was the Editor-in-Chief Phytochemistry Letters. He is also the Co-Editor of Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers in reputed journals. He has been the president of the Phytochemical Society of Europe, fellow of RSC, and won several international awards including The Pharmanex Prize for Phytochemistry, Pierre Fabre Prize for Phytochemistry, Richard J Cannell Biodiversity Award Lecture, and Tshwane University of Technology VC’s Seminar Award.

Dr. Sergey Dobretsov, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Dr. Dobretsov is the UNESCO Chair in Marine Biotechnology, the Director of Centre of Excellence in Marine Biotechnology, Sultan Qaboos University and the president of the European Society for Marine Biotechnology. He has worked with polar, temporal and tropical marine organisms and their bioactive compounds for more than 28 years together with leading research centers in Europe (UK, Russia, Germany), the Americas (USA, Brazil, Chile) and Asia (China, Singapore). His main field of research focuses on development of novel non-toxic solutions to prevent biofouling. Dobretsov leads a multidisciplinary team working on isolation of antimicrobial and anticancer compounds from marine organisms. His other interests include nanotechnology, bioremediation, aquaponics and aquaculture. He has participated in several international projects in these areas. Dobretsov is an internationally recognized marine biotechnology expert with over 100 published peer-reviewed articles, 2 books, 10 book chapters and 5 international patents. He has won several research awards and fellowships from Alexander von Humboldt foundation, Otto-Kinne foundation and George E. Burch fellowship in Theoretical Medicine and Affiliated Sciences. He is the associated editor of Biofouling: Bioadhesion and Biofilm Research journal and on the editorial board of several other journals. 

Dr. Uwe Rinner, University of Applied Sciences, Austria

Dr. Uwe Rinner studied chemistry at Graz University of Technology (Austria) and completed his PhD in 2003 under the guidance of Professor Tomas Hudlicky at the University of Florida in Gainesville in the area of natural product synthesis. After post-doctoral studies at Brock University and the University of Vienna, he established his own group in Vienna in 2007 and was active in the field of total synthesis. After the completion of his habilitation in 2015, he accepted a position at the Sultan Qaboos University (Bioorganic Chemistry). In 2018, he returned to Austria and currently serves as head of the Applied Chemistry program at the University of Applied Sciences in Krems.