Nicolas is Head of Lead Generation Drug Design in Vitry-sur-Seine, Sanofi-Aventis R&D. By providing insilico support to Drug Discovery teams (Oncology, Anti-Infectives, CNS…), Drug Design actively contributes to the development of drug candidates, both small molecules & protein therapeutics. Prior to joining Sanofi in 2004, Nicolas had been with Vernalis in Cambridge, UK, with Cheminformatics responsibilities in the Computational Technology group. His contributions to Drug Discovery fields include Protein Design, Structure-Based Drug Design, Virtual Screening & Cheminformatics. He gained his Ph.D in Cheminformatics from the Université d’Orléans & his Mastère in Drug Design from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie in Lille, France, following undergraduate studies in biophysics & chemistry.

Catherine Dacquet graduated in 1984, received a PhD in 1988 from the University of Bordeaux, France, with a thesis on the regulation and the pharmacology of the voltage dependent calcium channels on vascular smooth muscle cells at the Institute of cellular biology and neurochemistry – CNRS- Bordeaux- France. From 1989-1993, Catherine Dacquet directed the department of pharmacological research in angio-phlebologia at Innothera Industry where she had the responsibility of the drug discovery and the management of the laboratory of pharmacology. In 1993, she joined Servier as head of project research in pharmacology in charge of receptology laboratory in molecular and cellular pharmacology department. In 1999, Catherine Dacquet was in charge of the research program in the discovery of new Selective PPAR Modulators. She worked as a scientific coordinator between Servier and an academic network in biology and chemistry. Actually, as a project Director, she is in charge to the identification of new compounds for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Her current responsibilities include the coordination and the scientific evaluation of the academic research programs in cardio-metabolic diseases.

Pierre Desreumaux MD, PhD. Professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Lille, France. Since 2001, he is heading the Academic Research Center on Inflammatory Digestive Diseases in Lille with research focus on novel therapies in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Studies are focussed around mediators, molecules, cells (cell therapy) and microorganisms having the ability to regulate inflammation and visceral pain including cytokines, nuclear receptors, opioid and cannabinoid receptors, lactobacillus and yeasts. Pierre Desreumaux is classified in the top 1% ranking scientist (ISI Web Science) contributing so far to more than 200 peer-reviewed full papers. Besides these academic activities, Pierre Desreumaux is a member of scientific Committees (INSERM since 2008, Lille University since 2012) and the founder of DIGESTSCIENCE, an European Foundation for Research on intestinal diseases.

Hu Xianming was born in 1950, in Hubei, China. After graduation from the university in 1978, he continued to study as graduate student until 1981 when he obtained a master degree of science from the Chemistry Department of Wuhan University. He got a position of researcher at Chemistry Institute of Hubei Province in February of 1982 to January of 1985. He went back to Wuhan University again in February of 1985 and worked in the Center of Analysis Science of Wuhan University until October of 1992. He came to the Netherlands to join the Professor Kellogg's group in 1992 as a visiting scholar and a Ph.D. candidate. He got his Ph.D. degree in Groningen University of the Netherlands in 1995. Prof. Hu Xianming was the dean of pharmacy college in Wuhan university (from May of 2001 to June of 2010). His research work covers a wide range of organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry. he has published over 100 papers and declared 14 chinese patents. Recent research interests at his laboratory focus on: (1) Medicinal chemistry including natural products and traditional medicine. (2) Biomaterials and drug delivery system. phone number:0862768759887(O); fax:0862768759100 E-mail: xmhu@whu.edu.cn

Ralf Jockers is researcher at INSERM, currently working at the Institut Cochin (Paris). After studying biology and biochemistry at the University of Cologne (Germany), he performed his doctoral thesis in Braunschweig (Germany) on the "Development of biosensors for herbicides on the basis of the photosystem of phototrophic bacteria”. In 1993, he received a scholarship from the European community to perform his post-doctoral training with Prof. Dr. A. D. Strosberg (Paris). It was here that he became interested in G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). Since 2002 he runs his own research team that studies the role of GPCRs, in the development of obesity, diabetes and mental disorders. He is co-author of >100 research articles and gave >80 invited conferences, is a member of the Faculty of 1000 (Molecular Pharmacology section) and Editor-in-Chief of « Frontiers in Cellular Endocrinology ».

Charlie Laughton is Associate Professor and Reader in Molecular Recognition, in the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham. Charlie studied for his DPhil in synthetic organic chemistry under George Fleet at Oxford before spending three years as a postdoc with the Cancer Chemotherapy Research Group at Aston University (Birmingham) working with Malcolm Stevens, Andy Gescher, and John Hickman. He then moved to the Institute of Cancer Research in London for seven years, working with Steven Neidle, before taking up a position in the School of Pharmacy at Nottingham. Charlie's main interests are in the study of biomolecular recognition and function, and the translation of these studies into drug discovery and development projects.

Après des Etudes de Pharmacie (1992) et un DEA de « Chimie fine » (1993), l’étudiant Marc LE BORGNE a effectué une Thèse d’Université à Nantes dans le Laboratoire de Pharmacochimie dirigé par le Pr. Guillaume Le Baut, sur une thématique principalement focalisée autour de la conception et la synthèse d’inhibiteurs non stéroïdiens de l’aromatase. En 1999, il a ensuite intégré l’Université Atlantique de Nantes comme Maître de Conférences à la Faculté de Pharmacie. Ses thématiques de recherche ont évolué vers de nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques comme la lanostérol 14-déméthylase et le couple de kinases PI3K/Akt. En 2008, il a poursuivi sa carrière d’Enseignant-Chercheur à l’Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 en tant que Professeur de Chimie Thérapeutique. Depuis le 1er janvier 2011, il dirige l’Equipe de Recherche « EA 4446 Biomolécules Cancer et Chimiorésistances ». De nouvelles cibles thérapeutiques sont en cours de développement comme la pompe d’efflux ABCG2 et la protéine kinase CK2.

Benoît Rigo was born in 1946 in Paris, France. After an Engineer diploma in textile chemistry from the Institut Technique Roubaisien, he obtained in 1975 a PhD-Engineer in Organic Chemistry from the University of Lille under the supervision of Professor P. Pigache, then became associate professor of organic chemistry in the Hautes Etudes d’Ingénieurs de Lille (HEI). In 1981 he worked a brief time at PennState under the supervision of Professor R. A. Olofsons on the decarboxyethylation of enaminoesters. His work on pyroglutamic acid chemistry allowed him to became Docteur-ès-Science in 1984. While working on HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, he also obtained in 1992 a ‘Mastère’ degree in Drug Design from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Lille (ENSCL) and the Albert Lespagnol Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (ICPAL). Since 1984 he is a full Professor at HEI and directs his Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, now part of the EA 4481 of Lille 2 University. In the field of bioactive compounds, he worked inter alia on fungicide products, on potassium channel openers, inhibitors of topoisomerases, of protein mTor, and is currently interested on the inhibition of protein farnesyltransferase, of tubulin polymerization and of P2X7 channel. However, his other interest is the chemistry of pyroglutamic acid, considered as a scaffold for heterocyclic syntheses, and the many ways for theses derivatives to produce N-acyliminium salts.

Diplômé Pharmacien en 2000 à l’Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), il a réalisé son mémoire de fin d’étude dans le cadre d’un stage Erasmus au ‘North East Surrey College Of Technology’, Epsom, UK. M. Van Antwerpen devient assistant à la Faculté de Pharmacie en octobre 2000 et débute une thèse de doctorat en Chimie Pharmaceutique Organique dans le Service du Professeur Jean Nève. Il obtient son DEA en Santé Publique en 2002 et présente sa thèse de Docteur en Sciences Pharmaceutiques à l’ULB en juin 2006. Ensuite, il profite de sa période post-doctorale pour créer de nouvelles collaborations, notamment, avec l’Université de Lille 1 et l’Université BOKU à Vienne où il effectue des stages de recherches dans les domaines de la glycobiologie et de la cinétique enzymatique. En 2008, il est nommé à la Faculté de Pharmacie comme professeur assistant, poste qu’il occupe aujourd’hui où il développe la recherche en spectrométrie de masse pour la Faculté. Son sujet de prédilection est le rôle et l’inhibition de la myéloperoxydase dans les processus inflammatoires chroniques. Il participe à différents colloques et congrès nationaux et internationaux et a publié plusieurs articles (40 articles et lettres), abstracts, lettres, commentaires dans des revues internationales à comité de lecture.

Haibing Zhou received his B.Sc. degree from Yan’an University in 1994 and his Ph.D. degree of Organic Chemistry from Sichuan University in 2000. He then worked at The University of Hong Kong with Professor Chi-Ming Che as a research associate for one year. After pursuing postdoctoral works with Professor Howard Alper at University of Ottawa and Professor John A. Katzenellenbogen at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he moved to Wuhan University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences as a Professor in 2007. His current research interests are development of novel selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) for estrogen receptor and novel imaging agents for targeted breast cancer therapy.