Gian Maria Rossolini, MD, is Professor of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology at the University of Siena Medical School and Director of the Clinical Microbiology and Virology Unit of Siena University Hospital. He was Chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Siena, and is currently serving as Chairman of the Steering Committee of the University of Siena Medical School. Professor Rossolini is an Editor for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and member of the Editorial Board for several international journals in the field of Microbiology and Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. He acted as reviewer/advisor on behalf of International and Foreign Institutions (USA, Canada, Israel, Spain) for the selection of research grants and academic professorships. Has authored 205 scientific papers and is inventor in several patent applications related to diagnostics, antimicrobial agents, or genetic vectors. His current research interests are mostly focused on antimicrobial agents and antibiotic resistance, and microbial biotechnology.

With 150 publications and 20 patents to his credit, Dr. Giovanni Gaviraghi has a wealth of experience in Pharmaceutical Research and Development. He is C.E.O. of Siena Biotech, that he built up starting from its very beginning in 2001. Before joining Siena Biotech, he spent more than 20 years in Glaxo, Verona, Italy where he set up a Research Centre housing about 700 researchers which is still one of the Centre of Excellence in Drug Discovery within GSK. He held a number of responsibilities besides the R&D Directorship of the Research Centre, at an international level as a member of the Glaxo Management Team of the R&D global organization, and at local level as Member of the Board of the Italian Company. In this context, he was also involved in supporting the commercial operations, linking research and development activities to the marketing and sales department. His areas of research and development include: central nervous system diseases (stroke, pain, and depression), infectious diseases (betalactams, quinolones, macrolides), and cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, arteriosclerosis and cardiac ischemia). He was involved in the identification and progression through the development of several NCE (e.g. NMDA antagonist for the treatment of stroke, new betalactams such as trinems), and in the identification, development, launch and marketing of Lacidipine, a potent once daily calcium channel blocker for the treatment of hypertension. Before joining Glaxo, he held the positions of Head of Lab at ISF, a medium-sized Pharmaceutical Company in Milan, and of Lecturer at Polytechnic of Milan. He graduated in Synthetic Organic Chemistry and Medicine, and in May 2009 received a honorary degree in Pharmacy from The University of Siena.

Lee E. Babiss, Ph.D., is currently Executive Vice-President of Global Lab Services for Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. In this role, he leads a group of 2,600 scientists around the world who are working with clients in support of small- and large-molecule drug discovery and development, spanning across the entire value chain. Prior to this, Dr. Babiss was President and Global Head of Pharma Research with Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd, based in Basel, Switzerland. He spent 12 years with Roche and earlier was with Glaxo and GlaxoWellcome, based in RTP, NC. He earned his Ph.D. from the Columbia University and was a Postdoctoral Fellow and Assistant/Associate Professor at the Rockefeller University. He published many papers and serves on several Boards and SABs.

Dr. Bjerkvig is Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Bergen, Norway and is Co-Director of the NorLux Neuro-Oncology laboratories in Luxembourg and Norway. He also acted as co-director of the National Gene Therapy Programme in Norway. At present he is coordinating the Integrated Project Angiotargeting within the 6th framework program of the European Commission involving 13 European Research Institutions. Bjerkvig served in several national and international committees related to cancer research, including evaluation committees for the Norwegian Research Council, the Norwegian Cancer Society, the Swedish Research Council, Swedish and Finnish centers of excellence, the Luxembourg Forsight program, Max-Plank Society as well as the European Commission (5th and 6th Framework Program). His main interests are to elucidate the mechanisms that cause tumor cell migration within the CNS. In recent years he concentrated his research efforts on the mechanisms of cancer initiation and progression with a focus on cancer initiating cells. His research activity is also focused on the mechanisms of tumor angioegenesis and therapeutic approaches that will prevent angiogenesis in brain tumors.

Antonio FEDERICO is full professor of Neurology, Director of the Neurology and Neurometabolic Diseases Unit and Director of the Research Center for Diagnosis, Therapy and Prevention of Neurohandicap, Siena University, Director of Neurological Sciences of the Neurological Neurosurgical and Behavioral Sciences Department, Director of the PHD School of Applied Neurological Neurosurgical Sciences and of the Specialization School in Neurology. Associate Editor of the Journal "Neurological Sciences", and referee of several international journals. He fulfilled several national and international tasks. Since November 2009 he has been President Elect of SIN (Italian Neurological Society). For more than 10 years, he has been Chairman of the Neurometabolic Inherited Diseases Section of the European Federation of Neurological Societies (EFNS), and for four years he has been Chairman of the EFNS Developmental Neurosciences Panel. He represents Italy at the World Federation of Neurology and at the EU Specialized Doctors Board (Neurological Section). He is also a member of the EFNS Scientific Committee and EFNS representative at the European Brain Council (Rare Diseases).

Dr. Blair Leavitt is currently a Scientist at the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Genetics & the Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology (Associate) at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Leavitt completed his MD, CM at McGill, medical internship at Columbia-Presbyterian, neurology residency and fellowship at Cornell and Harvard. A long-standing member of the HSG, HD clinical trial investigator, and neurologist at the UBC HD medical clinic in Vancouver. He also has an ongoing clinical program in neurogenetics with a focus on the hereditary movement disorders specifically in the various forms of ataxia, dystonia and the chorea-form disorders. He is currently involved in clinical studies on HD and other hereditary triplet repeat disorders such as spinocerebellar ataxias and Friedrich's ataxia. Using genetically-modified mouse models of human diseases as his primary tool, Dr. Leavitt's research focuses on developing new therapies for devastating neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

James Niedel is a Founder and Managing Director of New Leaf Venture Partners, where he focuses on biopharmaceutical investments. Prior to joining the venture capital industry in 2002, Jim was Chief Science and Technology Officer for GlaxoSmithKline, and from 1995 to 2001 he was a member of the board of directors of Glaxo Wellcome plc with responsibility for Global Research and Development, Information Technology and Product Strategy. Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, Jim was Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Duke Medical School, where he had completed an Internal Medicine residency and a Hematology-Oncology fellowship. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. (Biochemistry) degrees from the University of Miami, was selected a Searle Scholar, and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London).

Xi He received his PhD degree from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. He's team focuses on understanding the mechanism of Wnt signaling in vertebrate development and human diseases. Dr. He is particularly interested in canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling and noncanonical Wnt signaling in anterior-posterior patterning, gastrulation, and cell polarity regulation in Xenopus and mouse embryos, in modeling human cancer and diseases involving abnormal Wnt signaling, and in chemical biological and therapeutic targeting of Wnt signaling. Dr. He was a Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences, Klingenstein Fellow in Neuroscience, W. M. Keck Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research, and is currently a Scholar of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Dr. He also holds a Chang-jiang Guest Professorship at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, inducted by the Ministry of Education of China. Dr. He has served in several review and advisory panels/committees in the USA, Canada, European Union, and China.

Martin J. van den Bent, MD is trained as a neurologist, since 1992 he is working at the Neuro-Oncology Unit of the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2002 he became the head of the Neuro-Oncology unit, which is focused on the treatment of primary brain tumors and on neurological complications of cancer and its treatment. He is currently professor of Neuro-Oncology at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. He has been the principle investigator of a large number of international multicenter trials on both high and low grade glial tumors, most of which were conducted through the EORTC Brain Tumor Group. Many of these trials had extensive translational research projects attached to them, focusing on the identification of prognostic and predictive molecular parameters of outcome to treatment. He has been the secretary of the EORTC Brain Tumor Group from 1996-2002, and from 2002-2009 he was the chair of this internationally well recognized group. He has served as the Chairman of the Central Nervous System section: 14th European Cancer Conference and of the Dutch Neuro-Oncology Working group. He has published widely, not only on the treatment of primary brain tumors but also on neurological complications of systemic cancers. He has been chairing and lecturing at numerous national and international educational symposia and scientific meetings on neuro-oncology. He wrote many chapters in textbooks on neuro-oncology, and he is currently with the Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology group revising the endpoints and response criteria of trials in neuro-oncology.