Professor Piotr Laidler is a Polish scientist who lives and works in Kraków, Poland. He received MS in Chemistry from the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University (JU), Kraków, Poland in 1971. His PhD and habilitation in Biology with specialization in Biochemistry (Dr hab) were granted at the N. Copernicus Medical Academy in Kraków in 1979 and 1992 respectively. In 2004, the Medical Faculty of the Jagiellonian University Medical College (JUMC) conferred the title of Professor of Medical Sciences on him. He was the Director of the Institute of Medical Biochemistry from 1996 until 2005. In 2005, he became the Head of the Chair of Medical Biochemistry of JUMC, and since 2012 he has been fulfilling duties of the Vice-Rector of JU for Medical College. Professor Laidler is committed to teaching chemistry and biochemistry to students of medicine and dietetics (Faculty of Medicine, JUMC), emergency medicine (Faculty of Health Sciences, JUMC), as well as veterinary (University Center for Veterinary Medicine). He has also been involved in teaching chemistry and biochemistry in English to international students at the School of Medicine in English, JUMC since its foundation in 1994. SME provides medical and dental education to over 700 hundred students from more than 20 different countries from all over the world. Professor Laidler published nearly 100 papers (international peer reviewed journals) in the fields of biochemistry, cell and molecular biology as author and coauthor, and over 150 conference communications at national and International conferences. He has also coauthored several chapters in books, monographs and textbooks.

For years Professor Laidler’s research interests focused on enzymology and glycobiology, but in recent years, biology and biochemistry of tumor cells have been his prime interest. His group has been carrying out research into expression and functional characteristics of adhesive proteins and signaling pathways, and molecular mechanisms involved in the development and progression of cancer (cell cycle, apoptosis, EMT/metastasis). They have also been evaluating the possibility of applying biophysical methods (atomic force microscopy – AFM/SFM) to characterize mechanical properties (flexibility and adhesion) of tumor cells. Research projects of his group have been carried out in cooperation with a number of scientific institutions in Poland, Europe (Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands), and the United States of America. The main aim of Professor Laidler’s scientific studies is the search for effective methods of cancer treatment.

Makedou Kali has a PhD on LDL oxidation and cardiovascular disease prevention. She is Lecturer of Medical Biochemistry in Laboratory of Biological Chemistry, Medical School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. At the moment she has 25 publications and has gained 131 citations.

Kali Makedou research has been focusing on biomarkers of atherosclerosis, obesity, oxidation and inflammation, pregnancies at risk, as well as lipoprotein oxidation and natural antioxidants. She is currently also involved in the diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism.

Dr. Yau-Huei Wei completed his PhD in Biochemistry in 1980 at the Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Albany and postdoctoral study at the Departments of Chemstry and Physics of the same university. In 1981, Dr. Wei started working as an associate professor at the Department of Biochemistry, National Yang-Ming University. He was promoted to professor in 1985 and served as the Chairman of the Department and was appointed as the Dean of Students Affairs and Dean of Academic Affairs, National Yang-Ming University. He is the President of Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan. He has published 375 papers in reputed journals and is serving as an editorial board member of Mitochondrion, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – General Subjects, and Free Radical Research.

Dr. Wei have been studying the role of alterations of mitochondrial function in aging and diseases and in stem cell differentiation. Dr. Wei have focused on the molecular basis for the pathophysiological changes in affected tissues in patients with mitochondrial diseases, and investigated oxidative stress-elicited alterations of gene expression and mitochondrial network in human cells harboring pathogenic mtDNA mutations. They discovered that protein kinase C-delta, PGC1-alpha and AMPK are involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and regulation of mtDNA copy number under oxidative stress, which may explain the over-proliferation of mitochondria in muscle of patients with mitochondrial diseases such as CPEO, MELAS and MERRF syndromes.

Dr. Yaj Banerjee was awarded his PhD by The National University of Singapore in 2008. He pursued his postdoctoral studies from The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA. He was then awarded the Alexander Humboldt Fellowship, and was an independent Research Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany. He joined the faculty of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine at SQU, Oman where he was the director of the Biomedical Sciences program, and involved in the teaching of coordination of Biochemistry courses in the Medical and Post-graduate curriculum. He has published more than 46 articles in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member 8 journals of repute. He also has three international patents to his name. His research focus is directed to the understanding of the biochemistry of blood coagulation and disorders pertaining to lipid metabolism.

Biochemistry