Day 2 :
Keynote Forum
Phillip B. Berkey Moheno
SanRx Pharmaceutical Inc, USA
Keynote: Calcium folate for flu prevention and control
Time : 09:30 - 10:05
Biography:
Phillip B. Berkey Moheno holds a BS and a Candidate in Philosophy in Biochemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD in Confluent Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In addition he has more than 20 years of research experience into the anti-cancer properties of pterins. He has published 12 papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
Calcium Folate is the excess calcium salt of the vitamin folic acid. Folic acid is sensitive to acidic-oxidative conditions and, in the presence of excess Ca+2 as well, is transformed into pterins and calcium pterins. This pilot observational study describes the use of CaFolate-derived calcium pterin 6-carboxylate in the treatment of certain immune-related ailments. Patients with various immune-associated disorders were directed to take ad libitum 25-76 mg of CaFolate (300-900 µg folic acid equivalent) orally per day, as an adjuvant therapy, and to collect personal and medical assessments. The users reported no flu/colds (>20/20 reporting none during the cold and flu season), greater energy/stamina (8/8 reporting increased), less osteoarthritis pain (10/11 reporting improvement), diminished mouth sores due to chemotherapy (2/2 reporting significant clearance), and cancer remissions (4/5 reported plus 1 transient improvement in a terminal case). These observational findings identify certain clinical endpoints for future matched group, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. One such clinical trial is underway in osteoarthritis.
Keynote Forum
Sunil K. Lal
Monash University, Malaysia
Keynote: Innate defense mechanisms, cell death and survival, signalling and proliferation: The search for new anti-viral targets for Influenza A Virus
Time : 10:05 - 10:40
Biography:
Sunil K. Lal joined the School of Science, Monash University, Malaysia in 2014. By training, Prof. Sunil is a PhD in Microbial Genetics from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (USA) in 1989 following which he was appointed Faculty at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (USA). In 1994 Prof. Sunil joined as a Senior Research Scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi where he worked for 22 years. Prof. Sunil is internationally well known for his research work in the field of Tropical and Infectious Disease Biology. He has been a visiting scientist to Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, National University of Singapore, Karolinska Institute, Sweden and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Atlanta.
Abstract:
Sporadic outbreaks of epizootics like SARS coronavirus and H5N1 avian influenza remind us of the potential for communicable diseases to quickly spread into worldwide epidemics. Despite improved surveillance and quarantine measures, we find ourselves under the threat of swine-flu, bird-flu and a pandemic at any time. Effective and new therapeutic targets are essential to protect against current and future pandemics and the best route to achieving this is through a detailed and global view of virus–host interactions. Here, we provide our perspective on the role of virus-host interactions in deepening our understanding of the scope for the discovery of new anti-viral targets.To prepare for future influenza outbreaks, it is necessary to understand how the virus interacts and manipulates the host pathways and to determine what makes certain strains of influenza highly pathogenic. Functional genomics provides a unique approach to this effort by allowing researchers to examine the effect of influenza infection on global host mRNA levels. Biological validation of such novel predictions and the use of screens to identify new virus-host interactions has been our approach to identifying potentially new anti-viral targets. We have deployed a variety of experimental systems that allow current models to be refined and thus provide us the basis for further predictions and hypothesis generation. By examining these changes in a comprehensive manner, we have been able to discover exciting new insights into innate immunity, cytokine and cell signaling, cell survival, death and proliferation thus shedding new vision on strategies used by influenza viruses to overcome these cellular barriers.