Point-of-Care Diagnostics Keynote Speakers

Till Bachmann Reader, University of Edinburgh Dr Till Bachmann is Reader in Personalised Medicine in Infectious Diseases and Deputy Head of the Division of Infection and Pathway Medicine, University of Edinburgh. Till has a PhD in biosensors from research at University of Stuttgart and The University of Tokyo and a German Habilitation in Analytical Biotechnology. His scientific interests focus on molecular diagnostics and point of care detection of infectious diseases of important human pathogens such as S.aureus and E.coli and their antimicrobial resistance including ESBL, CRE and MRSA. This also includes research on novel detection modalities and discovery of biomarkers of bacterial response to antimicrobial therapy, working towards prognostic tests for Precision Medicine of infectious diseases. Till has published extensively, is a named inventor on various patent applications, and he has led a number of large interdisciplinary diagnostic projects. He is engaged in a number of undergraduate and graduate teaching programmes and is Programme Director of the new online MSc course on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Till has a strong track record on hosting international conferences and has a wide international collaboration network including links to India and Japan where he recently co-chaired the workshop on Biosensors for Healthcare at the UK Embassy in Tokyo and he was hosting the Workshop on Next Generation Tools for DNA Diagnostics in February 2015 in Edinburgh. Till keeps close links with the diagnostics industry and as such is Scientific Programme Director for Mölnlycke Health Care Scotland, member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute in Dublin, advises NESTA on the Longitude Prize in Antibiotics and is member of various advisory panels for major funding bodies including Innovate UK and the EU Innovative Medicine Initiative.
Jon Cooper Professor, University of Glasgow Jonathan Cooper has pioneered technologies in biosensors (1980s), protein and DNA microarrays (1990s) and Lab-on-a-Chip and Bionanotechnology (2000s). He has published ca. 200 research papers, is the founder of Mode Diagnostics (producing home diagnostics for bowel cancer), and of ClydeBiosciences (developing toxicity tests). In his recent research, he has focused upon using phononics in the field of medical diagnostics. In one example, using phononics, he has created frequency dependent acoustic lenses and mirrors with phononic crystals to enable generic platforms for low cost diagnostics. Jon was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2004. He was appointed to the Wolfson Chair in Biomedical Engineering in 2009 and was awarded a Royal Society Merit Award in 2010.
Jose Costa Associate Professor, University of Oviedo Jose Manuel Costa-Fernandez is a Senior Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry of the University of Oviedo (Spain). At present, he is also the Vice-dean of the Chemistry Faculty of Oviedo University. He is author or co-author of more than 70 Research articles and reviews and of two Patents. Moreover, he is co-author of different chapters in several books. He has also co/supervised 6 Ph.D. Thesis and more than 10 Master Thesis. At present, his research interests are mainly focused into two topics: 1. Application of photoluminescent techniques to the development of new bioanalytical methodologies and fiber optic (bio)sensors, based on nanomaterials. 2.- Use of Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for direct elemental analysis of solid samples and speciation analysis
Kattesh V. Katti Director, Institute of Green Nanotechnology / Radiology / Cancer Nanotechnology Platform, University of Missouri Professor Kattesh V. Katti is internationally recognized as a leader in the interconnecting fields of—chemistry, radiopharmaceutical sciences, nanotechnology/green nanotechnology and nanomedicine—for biomedical applications, specifically for molecular imaging and therapy of living subjects. The impact of Dr. Katti’s work is widespread, as his pioneering discoveries and strategies, originally developed in his laboratory in bioconjugate chemistry and Nanomedicine, and green nanotechnological tools, are used in many laboratories, industries and hospitals around the world. His contributions in nano and green nanotechnologies have already created a transformative progress in nanomedicine by aiding molecular imaging to help diagnose and manage therapy—all at the cellular levels. Dr. Katti’s ground breaking discoveries in green nanotechnology where he has demonstrated that biocompatible nanoparticles can be produced without the intervention of any toxic chemicals, through phytochemicals of high antioxidant capacities and tumor receptor specificities have created a new generation of molecular imaging and therapeutic nanoceuticals. His approach to green nanotechnology has furthered the scope of holistic and integrative medicine with implications in modulating signaling pathways allowing optimization of therapies targeted to tumor cells/regions without causing adverse toxic effects to normal cells. These original discoveries are expected to have a major impact on how molecular imaging and therapies will eventually be individualized to allow their greater success through theranostic approaches using radioactive nanoparticles, photothermal therapy using targeted nanoparticles and novel therapies involving phytochemicals. Myriad of such approaches developed by Dr. Katti are already impacting clinical translation through comparative oncology in realistic ways as new drugs are being validated for their efficacy in imaging and therapy using tumor bearing dogs where the disease mimics human conditions. In recognition of his original contributions, Dr. Katti has been awarded a number of international awards and citations which include: International Hevesy Medal Award (2015) for excellence in Nuclear Sciences; Elected to the fellowship of the National Academy of Inventors (2015); One of the ‘25 Most Influential Scientists In Molecular Imaging in the World’ award by RT Image, the ‘Father of Green Nanotechnology’ citation by the Nobel Prize Winner Norman Borlaug, Gauss Professorship—Hall of Fame—from the Gottingen Academy of Sciences, ‘Outstanding Scientists Fellows’ award and induction as a Fellow of the Academy of Science, St Louis—one of the oldest scientific academies of the world and many more. In 2013, Dr. Katti was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with a citation “for distinguished contributions encompassing nanoscale chemistry, particularly for ground breaking discoveries enabling application of nanotechnology concepts for biomedical applications”. His unprecedented discovery of the production of tumor specific gold nanoparticles through 100% green processes have been cited as the Editor’s choice in Nature, Future Medicine, in Science (AAAS), in Popular Science, by the Discovery Channel and have been highlighted in scientific/medical programs of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, London).