2^nd International conference on Flu November 01-02, 2016 San Francisco, California, USA

Dr. Man Wah Tan started his lab at Genentech in 2010. Prior to this, he was an Associate Professor at Stanford University. He drawn to Genentech because of his newfound passion in translating basic discoveries and understanding of host-pathogen interactions into novel medicine for patients with serious and life-threatening infections. Genentech has a strong record of creating novel medicines from cutting edge science. During his academic career, his laboratory used infection of C. elegans by bacterial pathogens as an experimental system to discover and elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying bacterial pathogenesis and host responses within the context of an intact host. His team identified host and pathogen factors that contribute significantly to the outcome of an infection. They include the involvements of the nervous system, the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and insulin signaling pathways of the host, as well as the quorum sensing system of the bacteria, in modulating host-pathogen interactions. They are now interested in validating and extending these findings in mammalian models of infections and in identifying critical nodes.

Dr. Man Wah Tan interested in identifying genetic determinants from bacterial pathogens that are essential for pathogenesis and maintenance of infections in vivo using a combination of genetics, molecular and bioinformatics approaches, with focus on surface-associated molecules. His team also seeks to identify and characterize host factors that are associated with disease progression during infections. Their goals are to define bacterial and/or host factors these could potentially be targeted by small or large molecules for therapeutic interventions to ameliorate diseases, including pneumonia and bacteremia.

Thomas Voss, Ph.D., is a world-renowned thought leader in infectious disease research, and has deep expertise in virology, immunology, biodefense, and vaccine and antiviral development. His research interests include cell-virus interactions and their role in the pathogenesis of acute viral infections, as well as therapeutic and vaccine development. Voss joined SRI in 2013 from the Tulane School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where he was an associate professor from 2005 to 2012. From 1998 to 2005, he worked in various roles at Southern Research Institute, ultimately as vice president of the Homeland Security and Emerging Infectious Disease Division. Previously, Voss held roles at Carl Zeiss, Inc. (Advanced Imaging Microscopy group), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Measles Virus Section, Respiratory and Enteric Virus Branch), and University Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland (Internal Medicine Division).

With his deep subject matter expertise in virology, immunology, biodefense, and vaccine and antiviral development, Voss has held a variety of consulting roles, including with companies such as GLG Associates, UND Research Foundation, and Mantech SRS. Voss is a member of several professional societies, including the International Society for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses and the American Society for Microbiology. He holds several awards for his work.

Marek Malecki MD PhD is President of the Phoenix Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USA, Principal Investigator at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, and Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin. He earned the MD degree at the Medical Academy, Poznan followed by Residency/Fellowships in Molecular Medicine in Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Cancer Center, Vienna, and Cancer Center, Warsaw. He earned the PhD degree at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw followed by the postdoctoral fellowships in molecular biology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Salzburg, ETH, Zurich, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Cancer Center, Amsterdam, Biozentrum, Basel. Over the last 20 years, he held faculty positions in Oncology and Molecular Medicine at the leading teaching hospitals and medical universities in the USA including the UW, UCSD, and SDSU. There, he acquired solid experience in streamlining advances in genomics and proteomics into novel strategies of therapy, as well as in teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. During his career, he served as the president and CEO of the Phoenix Biomolecular and Foundation for Molecular Medicine. Since 1988 his research, as the Principal Investigator, was continuously funded by the grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. He is the first or senior author on the peer-reviewed publications in the high impact journals, which are indexed on the PubMed. He is the inventor of the gene therapies, therapeutic vaccines, and regeneration of tissues, which are published at the USPTO and WIPO. He was elected to serve as the Editor in Chief in peer-reviewed, open-access journals in Science, Technology, and Medicine, as well as Editorial Board Member and Reviewer at many others.

gene therapies, therapeutic vaccines, and regeneration of tissues

Giulio Tarro graduated from Medicine School, Naples University (1962). Research Associate, Division of Virology and Cancer Research, Children’s Hospital (1965-1968), Assistant Professor of Research Pediatrics, College Medicine (1968-1969), Cincinnati University, Ohio. Oncological Virology Professor, Naples University (1972-1985). Chief Division Virology (1973-2003), Head Department Diagnostic Laboratories, (2003-2006). D. Cotugno Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Naples; Emeritus, 2006 -. Since 2007 Chairman Committee of Biotechnologies and VirusSphere, World Academy Biomedical Technologies, UNESCO, Adjunct Professor Department Biology, Temple University, College of Science and Technology, Philadelphia, recipient of the Sbarro Health Research Organization lifetime achievement award (2010). Editor in Chief of Journal of Vaccine Research and Development, Singapore.

His research interest are Viral Oncology, Tumor Liberated Protein (TLP), Emerging Viral Agents at Risk in Global Health Approaches to Early Diagnosis and Prompt Therapy.

Dr. Angel Simeonov Galabov is a professor of virology in The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology, Sofia, Bulgaria. He completed his Ph.D. at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and M.D and D.Sc. at Higher Medical School, Sofia, Bulgaria. He held many positions in his carrier. He is Regular Member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and is a member of several other Scientific Organizations. He has 40 patent inventions and 245 scientific refereed publications, including a monograph and chapters in books. He received award and honors; awarded by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences by the Sign of Honor “Marin Drinov” in 2009.

Dr. Angel Simeonov Galabov's research interests include: antiviral substances (replication inhibitors of entero-, influenza, herpes-, adenoviruses and others); biological response modifiers; replication cycle of picorna; pathogenesis of flu; papillomaviruses in cervical cancer etiology; oncolytic parvoviruses.

Dr. Ciotti directs the development of novel nanoemulsions for dermatological indications and vaccines at NanoBio Corporation in Ann Arbor, MI. Dr. Ciotti is a co-principal investigator of a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) contract to develop an intranasal anthrax vaccine and two wound grants for Nanoemulsion-based antimicrobials for the protection against burn and wound infection funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command (USAMRC) and the Michigan Corporate Relations Network: Small Company Innovation Program (SCIP). Before joining with NanoBio, Dr. Ciotti was an Associate Research Fellow at Pfizer Global R&D in Ann Arbor. Prior to joining Pfizer, she was a Principal Scientist in the Topical Formulations & Drug Delivery Technology Resource Center at Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey. Dr. Ciotti is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Michigan, College of Pharmacy in Ann Arbor. She has lectured on Advanced Drug Delivery Systems and Nanotechnology since 2001. She is also a reviewer for several journals and has been a guest speaker at the FDA in the field of novel drug delivery technologies and nanotechnology.

Dr. Ciotti directs the development of novel nanoemulsion systems for the treatment of various dermatological conditions and vaccines for intranasal and intramuscular administration. She is also responsible for developing novel formulations to support the nanoemulsion platform, process optimization and scale-up activities for those formulations.

Shan Lu is Professor in University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA

Our main interest is to understand the immunogenicity of proteinantigens. The human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) envelopeproteins (Env) is used as a model system in our lab. Env, a two-subunitprotein, is generated during the posttranslational cleavage processfrom a single precursor polyprotein. Env heterodimers are furtherorganized into an oligomeric complex. Env conformation is criticalfor the interaction of HIV-1 with a number of viral receptors. Our work is to understand the immunogenicity of various Env subunitsfrom different HIV-1 strains and to find the Env structures thatHIV-1 uses to escape from host immune surveillance. Such informationwill be used to design noval HIV-1 vaccines. Direct DNA immunizationusing eukaryotic expression vectors to make proteins in vivo isa unique approach we have been using to study the immunogenicityof protein antigens. We are also working to further improve thisevolving technology by studying the roles of cytokines and adjuvantsin inducing the desired immune responses by direct DNA immunization.

Currently Staff Scientist in Physical and Life Sciences (PLS) Directorate, Biosciences and Biotechology Division (2004–present). Acting Select Agent Senior Laboratory Coordinator, Global Security Directorate (2013—present).

My research interests lie in understanding how immune responses to pathogens are initiated, maintained and resolved. Working with a diverse group of scientists, we have largely been focused on characterizing innate and adaptive immune responses to pathogens relevant for both biosecurity and public health with an emphasis on the use of a nanoparticle platform for immune modulation strategies that can mitigate and or prevent infection. Funding for our work has come from Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD), NIH/NIAID, and the Department of Defense (DOD) Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

Dr. K. Kai McKinstry received his PhD from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in 2005. He completed his postdoctoral studies at the Trudeau Institute from 2005-2010 working on memory CD4 T cell generation and function. In 2010 Dr. McKinstry moved to the University of Massachusetts Medical School as an Instructor and was promoted to Assistant Professor in 2015. Dr. McKinstry was recruited to the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida in 2015. His research group is focused on understanding how memory CD4 T cells are generated and how they can be integrated into vaccines against influenza. He is particularly interested in how newly described tissue-resident memory T cells contribute to protective responses against influenza.

Dr. McKinstry’s research interests are focused on uncovering how memory T cells are generated following viral infection, and learning how they contribute to immunity during recall challenges. One key issue that the McKinstry laboratory is addressing is how specializedized populations of memory with different functions and in different tissue sites synergize to clear acute viral pathogens like influenza.

Tara M. Strutt received her PhD from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her studies focused on the signals required to activate CD4 T cells during immune responses. Dr. Strutt continued to study CD4 T cells during her postdoctoral studies at the Trudeau Institute in the laboratory of Dr. Susan L. Swain. While at the Trudeau Institute, Dr. Strutt uncovered novel protective functions mediated by memory T cells during influenza virus infection and that different protective functions are mediated by memory cells in different organs. In 2010, Dr. Strutt relocated to the University of Massachustts Medical School as an Instructor faculty member of the Department of Pathology. Her research focus centered on understanding how the tissue environment dictates T cell function, and on defining how the adaptive immune system can control innate inflammatory responses. In 2015, she started her own independent research laboratory within the Immunity and Pathogenesis Division of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida where she is continuing to study how adaptive immune responses regulate innate immunity.

My ongoing and future research endeavors are centered on two lines of research, both of which strive to gain further insights into how CD4 T cells function to protect against influenza A virus (IAV).

Dr Gilbert lends a unique blend of medical expertise, both from his clinical experience in the UK’s National Health Service and from his clinical research background. His professional activities have included work in infectious diseases, vaccine development and antiviral research. His virology research includes work in Influenza, RSV and HRV. Having led numerous studies in London's teaching hospitals to International Conference on Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) guidelines, Dr Gilbert brings a wealth of clinical research experience to Retroscreen Virology. For over a decade, Dr Gilbert has played an important role in the development of the Human Viral Challenge Model at Retroscreen Virology. As a Principal Investigator, Dr Gilbert has supervised and conducted viral challenge studies in order to further the quest to bring safer and more effective vaccines and antivirals to the global community. The research has been published in several medical and scientific journals, including ‘Nature Medicine’. Dr Gilbert obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is a member of the Institute of Clinical Research. He has served as an expert member and Alternate Vice Chair of a National Research Ethics Service (NRES) committee, having been appointed by the Health Research Authority in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Anthony Gilbert research interest included work in infectious diseases, vaccine development and antiviral research. His virology research includes work in Influenza, RSV and HRV.

Borne in 1947 in the Aquitaine region south of France. Graduated as a medical doctor (School of Bordeaux,) in 1974. After his internship in French Guyana, spent his career out of France as medical researcher. Received his Ph.D. in viral ecology, 1984, University of Clermont-Ferrand, France. As a researcher at the Institute for Research for the Development (IRD, Paris) he dedicated his career for research excellence, training and expertise across developing countries throughout the Americas, Africa and Asia. His main fields encompass domains of viral disease epidemiology and virus ecology, including vector transmitted viral diseases, viral hemorrhagic fevers, emerging viral diseases and, disease emergence. Since the 80s, he has been leading international teams of researchers from IRD and the institution partners, in the developing countries, expanding his work on exotic diseases. He spend several years in the USA at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (Georgia), and as a visiting professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale School of Medicine. For the past decade he acted as visiting professor of Microbiology at Mahidol University (Bangkok, Thailand), funded a Research Center for Emerging Viral Diseases and developed a multidisciplinary Technical Platform for research and training on Vectors and Vector borne diseases. He developed scientific concepts and research strategies for Health, such as a postulate of a long lasting co-evolution of germs and hosts on the geological times scale. He conceptualized the emergence of diseases in terms of fundamentals and territories calling-for a transdisciplinary approach including social, medical and environmental sciences. He produced more than 200 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals. The Gabonese government appointed him (2008-12) as a general director of the International Center for Medical Research in Franceville, Gabon. He is presently Senior Research Scientist for Metabiota Washington DC.

His research interest mainly focus on virology, tropical medicine, health ecology, fundamentals of disease emergence.

Dr. Connolly is a Senior Principal Investigator and Director for Translational Immunology at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (IMCB). Additionally, Dr. Connolly serves as Program Director for the A*Star Program in Translational Research in Infectious Disease (http://www.a-star.edu.sg/aspire), a multi-disciplinary center focused on target discovery and vaccine development. His research interests focus on rational vaccine design. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Immunology at Baylor University. Dr. Connolly received his Ph.D. in Immunology from Dartmouth Medical School and studied human dendritic cell biology under Dr. Michael Fanger. During this time he was involved in the development of immunotherapeutic preclinical models and clinical trials for Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). He moved to the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, a fully translational research institute dedicated to rationally designed vaccines against cancer and infectious disease. Dr. Connolly served as the Director of Research Initiatives for the Baylor Research Institute, leading a large integrated translational research resource and multi-institutional programs that involved a number of international sites. During his tenure at Baylor, Dr. Connolly was the central core facility director of the NIAID Centers for Translational Research on Human Immunology and Biodefense, an NIH funded consortium of basic, translational research and clinical trials focused on vaccine design.

My interests lie in establishing a productive translational research program focusing on Dendritic Cell (DC) based immunotherapy. DCs form a critical link between the innate and adaptive immune response. During infection, DCs recognize and capture invading pathogens. The innate immune recognition of these pathogens drives DCs down a specific path of maturation. These mature, specialized DCs are then able to polarize the adaptive response toward distinct antipathogenic effector states, such as Th1, Th2 or Th17. Recently, research has indicated that in addition to inducing immune responses, polarized DCs play a critical role in maintaining self-tolerance. My primary research goals are directed toward understanding the role of human dendritic cell subsets in the induction of immunity and tolerance and exploiting this knowledge for the generation of novel vaccines.

Dr. Ramirez Gloria Nieto is currently Associate Professor in Animal Health Department in National University of Colombia, Colombia. She is awarded with PhD from University of Maryland, USA in Veterinary Medical Sciences. She completed her Masters from Royal Veterinary College, University of London, England in Veterinary Microbiology followed by Undergraduation from National University of Colombia in Medical Veterinary Medicine.

Her research interest areas are Virology, Molecular Biology, Cell Culture, mechanisms involved in pathogenesis of viral diseases.

Dr. Jun Wang is Assistant Professor in Pharmacology & Toxicology department, University of Arizona, Arizona. He is awarded with PhD in Chemistry from University of Pennsylvania in 2010. He completed his MS in Chemistry from National University of Singapore, Singapore in 2006 followed by BS Chemistry from Wuhan University, China in 2003.

The Wang laboratory consolidates expertise ranging from organic synthesis, peptide chemistry, rational drug design, molecular biology, electrophysiology, virology, to cell imaging, all in the same laboratory. This multi-disciplinary environment enables researchers in the Wang laboratory to explore various aspects of lead discovery. We are engaged in both rational drug design and high-throughput screening to discover the first-in-class chemical probes/drug candidates. As a practical application, we are interested in designing broad-spectrum antivirals targeting influenza viruses, especially multi-drug-resistant influenza viruses. Currently, we are exploring both known antiviral drug targets as well as novel mechanisms of viral replication.

Dr. Eun-Young Kim is Research Associate Professor in Medicine-Infectious Diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She completed her PhD from Korea University, Cell & Molecular Biology (1997).

Her research focuses on molecular evolutionary mechanisms of HIV/SIV/influenza in host defense, antiretroviral drug resistance and genetic variation in HIV, HIV susceptibility to HIV infection and disease progression, and how host genetics and immunity affects HIV/influenza infection and dynamics. Research includes next generation sequencing of HIV and host genes and transcriptome to pursue a detailed genetic interrogation of host and virus interactions and host genes that regulate HIV or influenza infection.

Dr. Ronald Moss, M.D. has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Ansun Biopharma, Inc. since October 2012, and before that, served as both interim CEO and Executive Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Ansun from 2008 to 2012. Dr. Moss has held various executive positions in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years and has played a pivotal role in successfully leading companies through the complexities of drug and vaccine development. Dr. Moss has been involved in drug and vaccine development of products in Infectious Disease, Allergy, Neurology, Dermatology, Oncology, Respiratory, Transplant, and Autoimmunity in both large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including roles at Aventis, Immune Response, Merck, Telos and Vical. He has also authored over 70 scientific publications. Prior to joining industry, he received his M.D. degree from Chicago Medical School, completed a residency in pediatrics at SUNY Stony Brook and completed a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. He is double boarded in Pediatrics and Allergy and Immunology. He is also a Fellow of the American Academy and American College of Allergy and Immunology.

Research interest mainly focus on Infectious Disease, Allergy, Neurology, Dermatology, Oncology, Respiratory, Transplant, and Autoimmunity.

Mohamed Shakal is currently working as a Professor in Department of Poultry Diseases Cairo University.

His research interest is Poultry diseases, Avian & tumor viruses.

Dr. Zhang received her Ph.D. (Summa Cum Laude) from University of Gottingen, Germany. She has over a decade experience in infectious diseases, in particular in HIV molecular epidemiology and molecular evolution. She is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at University of Georgia, USA, and affiliated with Faculty of Infectious Diseases, Institute of Bioinformatics, and Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute at University of Georgia. She leads an interdisciplinary research group towards understanding pathogen diversity under various epidemiology settings. She enjoys teaching and educating next generation of critical thinkers and innovators in epidemiology.

Research Interests: • Molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases • Molecular evolution of viruses and their hosts • Comparative genomics • Computational immunology and virology

Dr. Laura Haynes received a Ph.D in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1992 and a Bachelor of Science (1982) and Master of Science (1986) from the University of Miami. She was postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, San Diego in Susan Swain’s lab from 1993 through 1996. She moved with Dr. Swain in 1996 to the Trudeau Institute as a postdoctoral research scientist and was a faculty member at the Trudeau Institute from 2004 until 2013. In July, 2013 she moved to the University of Connecticut Health Center. Her Laboratory focuses on how aging impacts the immune response to infection and how vaccine efficacy can be improved.

Dr. Laura Haynes research interest includes: The Impact of Aging on Immune Responses: Aging has dramatic impacts on all aspects of the immune response. Age-related changes result in significantly reduced immune responses, with lower antibody titers and reduced antibody affinity. My laboratory is interested in determining the specific immune cell types impacted by aging and the mechanisms responsible for these changes. We have focused on CD4 T cells, which are significantly impacted by aging, especially with regards to their ability to differentiate into follicular helper T cells and how this impacts protective antibody production. Using a mouse model of influenza infection, we have shown that these age-related declines in CD4 T cell function have a negative impact on immune responses to both infection and vaccination.
Examination of Vaccine Efficacy and Protection from Infection: Recent studies have determined that age-related defects in CD4 T cell responses are due to both intrinsic changes in CD4 T cell function as well as disruptions in the microenvironment and chemokine production in secondary lymphoid organs. This results in reduced follicular helper T cell function and poor antibody responses. Current studies are examining the mechanisms involved in this defect. We are also exploring how this defect may be overcome with more potent adjuvants or enhanced T cell priming. Our goal is to determine the most efficient way to enhance the efficacy of influenza vaccines for the elderly.

Dr. Walthère Dewé completed a master of science in biostatistics in 1995. Then during two years and a half, he worked in an academic hospital as statistician giving a support to the physicians to perform their PhD thesis. After that he joined Eli Lilly in May 1998 where he worked as statistician in discovery and lead optimization. His role consisted in collaborating with the scientists to develop, optimize and validate their assays that were used to identify lead compounds. Lilly closed Belgian site in February he is today. His first assignment was the supervision of the statistical support to the different clinical development of influenza vaccines. In particular, he was involved in the pandemic vaccines, H5N1 and H1N1. Recently, he moved to the non-clinical biostatistical team where I lead the group in charge of the animal studies.

Correlate of protection, strategy to optimize a vaccine formulation and Bayesian application in vaccine development.

Dr. Sunit K. Singh is Associate Professor (Molecular Immunology) and head of the Molecular Biology Unit at Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. Dr. Sunit Singh has completed his Ph.D degree from University of Wuerzburg, Germany and his postdoctoral trainings from Dept of Internal medicine, Yale University, USA and Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, USA. Prior to moving to IMS, BHU; He has also served as visiting faculty at Dept. of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, (USA), Dept. of Arbovirology, Institute of Parasitology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Chonbuk National University, South Korea and Department of Immunology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Singh is also associated with Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), New Delhi as Honorary Faculty member. Dr. Singh led a research group in the area of neurovirology and inflammation biology as a scientist at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, India.

Dr. Sunit K. Singh has done excellent work in the area of Molecular Virology, which is evident from his publications in peer reviewed international journals in the areas of Japanese Encephalitis, Neuro-AIDS and Chikungunya Virus infections etc. In addition, Dr. Singh has also published many books in various thrust areas of Viral Infections such as: Neuroviral Infections and Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers from the prestigious publishers like Taylor & Francis, USA and Wiley Blackwell, USA. Dr. Singh is associated with several International journals of repute as Associate editor and Editorial Board Member.

Dr. Gyanendra Kumar earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 2007. He then joined the Biology Department of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York working as a Research Associate till 2012. He is currently a postdoctoral Research Associate at the Department of Structural Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, working on structure-based drug discovery for influenza by targeting the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of the influenza virus. He has published numerous research articles in the field of drug discovery for diseases like malaria, botulism and influenza, and presented his work at regional as well as international conferences. He has served as a referee for various journals, and is a member of the American Chemical Society (since 2011), the American Crystallographic Association (since 2013) and the American Association for Advancement of Science (since 2013).

Dr. Kumar’s broad area of interest is structure-based drug discovery with emphasis on infectious diseases. He uses computational chemistry approaches like protein-ligand docking and virtual screening to identify inhibitors, and structural biology techniques like X-ray crystallography to deduce the atomic structures of macromolecules and their complexes with substrates and inhibitors in order to understand the intermolecular interactions and design better inhibitors. His current focus is on targeting the endonuclease activity of the influenza virus RdRp for drug discovery.