Brian Wigdahl Ph.D is professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, director of the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease, and director of the institute’s Center for Molecular Virology and Translational Neuroscience.  The research efforts of the Department and Institute center on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious, oncogenic, and inflammatory disease with a cumulative extramural research commitment of just over $60 million.He also serves as the executive director of the interdisciplinary graduate program in molecular medicine. An internationally recognized molecular virologist, He focuses his research on the molecular mechanisms, treatment, and prevention of immunologic abnormalities, cancer, and progressive neurologic disorders caused by members of the retrovirus family.  These include the human immunodeficiency virus and the human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), the first human tumor virus discovered.  In particular, efforts are focused on the prevention of HIV sexual transmission and the HIV-induced neurologic complications of HIV/AIDS.  He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for nearly 30 years, with total awards totaling more than $40 million.  Current funding includes three NIH R01 research grants and a component of an NIH P30 grant.  He is also Co-Director of a Interdisciplinary and Translational Research Training Program in NeuroAIDS designed for graduate students. He current total research commitment is approximately $6 million.  He graduated from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and received his doctorate in microbiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin.  A senior associate editor of the Journal of NeuroVirology, he also served as chair of the NIH NeuroAIDS and Other End-Organ Diseases Review Committee, served for six years as president of the International Society for NeuroVirology and currently serves as treasurer of the Society.  He is the 2013 recipient Pioneer in Neurovirology Award presented in recognition of outstanding individual achievement in the field of neurovirology and awarded by the International Society for NeuroVirology.

Molecular mechanisms, treatment, and prevention of immunologic abnormalities, cancer, and progressive neurologic disorders caused by members of the retrovirus family. These include the human immunodeficiency virus and the human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), the first human tumor virus discovered.  In particular, efforts are focused on the prevention of HIV sexual transmission and the HIV-induced neurologic complications of HIV/AIDS. 

 

W John Martin is Medical Director of the Institute of Progressive Medicine, within MI Hope Inc., a non-profit United States public charity specializing in the study of viruses causing mental illnesses. He received his medical degree from the University of Sydney in 1965 and the PhD degree from the University of Melbourne in 1970. He is Board Certified in both Anatomic and Clinical Pathology with sub specialty qualifications in Immunopathology and in Medical Microbiology. Using molecular assays and specialized virus culture techniques, he pioneered research leading to the detection of stealth adapted viruses. These viruses are derived from conventional viruses but do not normally provoke an inflammatory response. This is because of the deletion or mutation of the major antigens normally targeted by the cellular immune system. The viruses can, nevertheless, be suppressed through an alternative cellular energy (ACE) pathway. Dr. Martin explains the ACE pathway in terms of a natural energy force termed KELEA (kinetic energy limiting electrostatic attraction). He has further shown that water and other materials can capture and transmit KELEA to living organisms, including humans, animals and plants. This has led to a new paradigm of energy based medicine and agriculture. He works in South Pasadena, California, USA.

Virology; Stealth adapted viruses; Herpes viruses; Cytomegalovirus; HIV; Biophysics; Cellular energy; Cellular immunity; Homeopathy; Complimentary and Alternative Medicine; Autism; Mental illnesses; Psychiatry; Neurology; Neuropathology; Water

Peng Yin, M.D., PhD is currently the Director, Global Scientific Affairs, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Diagnostics Research, Abbott. He received his M.D. from Tianjin Medical School, China and worked as a General Surgeon for 5 years; then received his PhD in Molecular Virology from University of Manitoba, Canada and postdoctoral training with Prof. David Knipe at Harvard University, Medical School. Prior joining Abbott, he worked as a Senior Scientist in biotech companies in USA. He  has patent, book chapter and publications in Nature publication, Cell and Journal of Virology. He was invited to give speeches in Scientific Symposia around the world, such as Australia NRL Annual Meeting, China National Liver Disease’s Laboratory Diagnosis and Clinics Conference. In addition, he is a honorary Professor, Tianjin Medical University Cardiovascular Institute, TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital, IFCC Congresses and Conference Executive Committee Member and AACC Chair-elect, Industry Division.

HBV, HCV diagnostics, screening, mutations, therapeutic monitoring, Liver fibrosis and HCC due to viral hepatitis; HIV diagnostics, screening, new emerging HIV variants; HTLV.

Jocelyn Yelle, M.Sc., Ph.D., is a virologist specialized in Retroviruses and Herpesviruses, with a marked interest in antiviral drug discovery. Born in a small town near Montreal, Canada, he holds an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. degrees in Virology from the Armand-Frappier Institute, a Montreal-based research center modeled on the Pasteur Institute in Paris. During his M.Sc. studies, he investigated the role of endogenous Retroviruses in cell transformation in animal models, while his Ph.D. thesis focused on the ability of certain DNA sequences of human cytomegalovirus to immortalize and transform normal cells into cancer cells. As a postdoctoral fellow at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, he explored the ability of tumor suppressor genes to reverse the cancer state in cell culture.

He launched his academic career in the early 1990s, investigating HIV’s ability to establish persistent infections in human cell cultures. He then started collaborating with a chemist colleague, mounting a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research program focusing on small molecules as potential drugs for HIV/AIDS treatment. With his colleague, he later launched Pharmacor Inc., a small biopharmaceutical company, to pursue the same goals. Some of these molecules were eventually acquired by Merck & Co. for further development.

He is Founder and President of Antiviral InteliStrat Inc., a consultancy firm that provides scientific advices, analyses of research projects and counselling, locally and abroad, to biotech/pharma industriesand hospital-based organizations. The firm also owns a proprietary database that contains scientific information on antiviral drugs and vaccines, which can be accessed online upon subscription.

During his career, he has authored or co-authored over 34 peer-reviewed scientific publications and presented his research and results to national and international scientific meetings. His name also appears on 8 U.S. patents related to experimental drugs for HIV/AIDS.

Retroviruses, Herpesviruses, new viruses having the potential to cause pandemics or with high rate of mortality in humans, antiviral drug discovery, novel approaches to prevent or treat viral infections, research on virus-cancer relations

Josef Bodor completed his PhD from Institute of Molecular Genetics, Prague in the Department of Molecular Oncology. He completed his M. Sc in 1984 from University of J.E. Purkynje, Brno (Czech Rep). He is Senior Investigator, Institute of Experimental Medicine AS CR, v.v.i. EU Center of Excellence. He worked as Visiting Professor, Institute of Immunology, and Universitätmedizin JGU Mainz, Germany. He was Assistant Professor, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Department of Pathology, New York, NY, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, MA. He was Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. He has received many Honors and Awards in his career. He has patent rights for his inventions.

Hematopoetic stem cell (HSC), HSC therapy, CCR5D32, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), graft-versus-host (GvHD) disease, CD4⁺ T regulatory cells (Tregs), CD4⁺ T conventional cells (Tcons), interleukin-2 (IL-2), cyclic AMP (cAMP), inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER)