International Conference on Mucosal Immunology and Vaccine Development July 28-29, 2016 Melbourne, Australia

Simona Di Francesco is the Director of Urological, Biomedical and Translational Sciences Department. People's University Nicolaus Copernicus , Cassino (RM) ,Italy 2014 M.D , PhD. People's University Nicolaus Copernicus , Cassino (RM) ,Italy 2014 PhD Degree in Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Surgery (CEMS), School of Advanced Studies , Department of Medicine and Aging, University “G. D’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara. Doctoral Thesis : Metabolic Alterations and Vascular Damage in Prostate Cancer. 2012 AWARD-PIERRE FABRE-CIFU, Italian Society of Urology. 2012 Project Planning Course , G. D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, School of Advanced Studies. 2012 Advanced English Course For Special Purposes. G. D’annunzio University. School of Advanced Studies. 2012 Course Of Scientific English "Writing Across Science”, G. D’annunzio University, School of Advanced Studies, Nazareth College. 2011 Course Scientific English - Uda-Learning , G. D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara. 2010 Specialization in Urology, G. D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, with maximum marks cum laude. 2009 Specialization in Internist Echography, G. D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara. 2004 Urostage: Kidney , Prostate, Urinary Bladder. University “G. D’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Department of Medicine and Aging, Section of Urology. 2001 XIV International Course of Digestive and Endocrine Surgery. University “G. D’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, School of Medicine and Surgery, Italy. 2001-2002 M.D, G.D’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Medicine and Surgery.

Simona Di Francesco research interest is in Urological Cancer and Immunology, Prostate and Immunology, Bladder and Immunology, Kidney and Immunology.

Professor Paul Foster is the Director of the Priority Research Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Disease; the Virus, Infection/Immunity, Vaccines and Asthma Program, Hunter Medical Research Institute and the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Asthma and Airways (Newcastle node). He also currently holds the Chair of Immunology, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle. He is also a visiting Professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.He serves as an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology and the Journal of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, and is on the Editorial Boards of a number of leading international immunology/allergy journals. Professor Foster's research focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular basis of asthma, allergy, respiratory disorders, and chronic inflammation. His research program focuses on translational approaches directed towards the development of novel anti-inflammatory therapies. Professor Foster's research findings are published in the most highly ranked medical and biomedical science journals (e.g. Nature Immunology and Journal of Experimental Medicine). Essential Science Indicators metrics places his team on the forefront of his field internationally. Professor Foster receives numerous and ongoing invitations to speak and chair sessions and leading international conferences in immunology and respiratory medicine.

Professor Paul Foster research interest is cellular and molecular processes that underlie the development of allergic disease (lung, skin and gastrointestinal tract) and of viral (RSV and influenza) induced pulmonary inflammation,Professor Foster's team particularly interested in the molecular events that predispose to remodeling of the airways in chronic disease and the subsequent impact on lung function. In particular, projects are focusing on the biology of CD4+ Th2 cells, CD8+ T cells and eosinophils, and in signaling arrangements between cytokine and chemokine systems that pertain to allergic disease, viral induced pathogenesis and viral induced exacerbation of asthma.

Jennifer Wu Received PhD from the University of British Columbia in Canada, post-doc trained at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Accepted a faculty position at the University of Washington, and moved to the MUSC/Hollings Cancer Center in 2011. Currently serving as the Committee chair for Cancer COP of FOCIS, Editorial board of Frontier Immunology (Tumor Immunology), Frontier Oncology, Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine, American Journal of Immunology, Austin Journal of Clinical immunology, and Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Inflammation and Cancer newly lunched by Versita.

Jennifer Wu's research interest is on the molecular and cellular regulation of host immunity and inflammatory responses in tumor microenvironment by tumor secretive soluble elements, with emphasis on tumor shed proteins and secretive cytokines. One of mechanisms conveying tumor immune surveillance in cancer patients is though induced expression of the membrane-bound MHC I chain related molecules A and B (MICA and MICB) on tumor cell surface. These molecules serve as ligands for the immune activating receptor NKG2D to signal the activation of NK and CD8 T cell anti-tumor responses.

Sedigheh Zakeri graduated with a first class honors degree in Biological Science from the University of Mashhad in 1989 and obtained her M.Sc and PhD in Parasite Immunology from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1994 and 1998, respectively. She joined Parasitology Department in Pasteur Institute of Iran in 1999 and a year later moved to Biotechnology Department, where initiated immune-molecular research on malaria through her re-entry grant awarded by WHO/TDR. Since 2005, Malaria and Vector Research Group (MVRG) established by her and Prof. Navid Dinparast Djadid as an independent research group in Biotechnology Research Center. She is currently Head of the MVRG.

Professor S. Zakeri area of interest is Malaria Immunology and vaccine development.Vaccines could be a crucial component of efforts to eradicate malaria. Continued support for these efforts is essential, but, if malaria vaccines are to be used as part of a repertoire of tools for elimination or eradication of malaria, they will need to have an impact on malaria transmission. Her interest is on "vaccines that interrupt malaria transmission" (VIMT), which not only include "classical" transmission-blocking vaccines but also pre-erythrocytic and asexual stage vaccines that have an effect on transmission. Currently, Prof Zakeri main activities are on “Oral Vaccine Delivery using Microalgae" and the most potent adjuvant for the development of an oral vaccine against malaria in developing countries.

Dr. SangKon Oh received his PhD degree at the Johns Hopkins University in 2000 and trained at National Cancer Center (NCI, NIH) as a postdoctoral fellow by 2002. He worked as an IPA fellow at NCI in association with the Johns Hopkins University from 2002 to 2005. Dr. Oh joined BIIR in 2005. He is also affiliated with Baylor University at Waco, TX, as an Associate Professor.

Dr. Sangkon Oh research interests are in the area of molecular and immunological functions of DC surface receptors expressed on different subsets of human dendritic cells in healthy and patients. Dr. Oh laboratory has uncovered novel immunological functions of several DC surface lectins, e.g. DC-ASGPR and LOX-1, in controlling host immune responses toward either immunity or tolerance. Dr. Oh’s laboratory has also discovered that monocytes and subsets of DCs in lupus patients express distinct patterns of surface receptors, which could help us understand the mechanisms in which DCs break B cell tolerance in lupus.