Dr. David M. Albala graduated with a geology degree from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He completed his medical school training at Michigan State University and went on to complete his surgical residency at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Following this, Dr ... Albala was an endourology fellow at Washington University Medical Center under the direction of Ralph V. Clayman. He practiced at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago and rose from the ranks of Instructor to full Professor in Urology and Radiology in eight years. After 10 years, he became a tenured Professor at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina. At Duke, he was Co-Director of the Endourology fellowship and Director for the Center of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Urological Surgery. He has over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has authored three textbooks in endourology and one in general urology. He serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Robotic Surgery, Journal of Endourology, Current Opinions in Urology and Urology Index and Reviews. He serves as a reviewer for eight surgical journals. At the present time he is Chief of Urology at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York and Medical Director for Associated Medical Professionals. He is considered a national and international authority in laparoscopic and robotic urological surgery and has been an active teacher in this area for over 20 years. His research and clinical interests have focused on robotic urological surgery. In addition, other clinical interests include minimally invasive treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) and the use of fibrin sealants in surgery. He has been a Visiting Professor at numerous institutions across the United States as well as overseas in countries such as India, China, Iceland, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore. In addition, he has done operative demonstrations in over 32 countries and 23 states. He has trained 16 fellows in endourology and advanced robotic surgery. In addition, Dr. Albala is a past White House Fellow who acted as a special assistant to Federico Pena, Secretary of Transportation, on classified and unclassified public health related issues.

Dr. Yan Asmann is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics at Mayo College of Medicine. Her research focuses on developing analytical algorithms and frameworks for multi-omics data mining, modeling, and integration. Dr. Asmann has applied these methods to study complex ... disorders and to identify diagnostic-prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. She is co-leader of the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core of Mayo Myeloma SPORE, and PI of the Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, and Data Management Core of a multi-center Alzheimer's Disease U19 grant. Dr. Asmann also co-leads the Mayo Clinic Neoantigen Therapy Program.

Dr. Antonio T. Baines is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and an adjunct professor in the Department of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill. He earned a ... bachelors degree in biology from Norfolk State University and a doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from the University of Arizona. Afterwards, Dr. Baines accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at UNC in pharmacology and radiation oncology under Drs. Channing Der and Adrienne Cox. His research focused on understanding the role of the Ras oncogene as a molecular target in pancreatic cancer oncogenesis. In August 2006, Dr. Baines accepted a tenure-track faculty position at NCCU where he currently teaches and conducts research as a cancer biologist. Also, he mentors high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in his laboratory. Pancreatic cancer is the 4th most common cause of cancer deaths in the United States with a high mortality rate and very limited treatment options. The overall focus of Dr. Baines research program is to identify and validate novel molecular targets in pancreatic cancer which can be targeted by potential cancer therapeutics. Additionally, his lab aims to understand the role of these molecular targets in the development and progression of normal cells transforming into cancer cells of the pancreas. Currently, Dr Baines studies the functional significance of the oncogenic Pim kinase family in pancreatic cancer growth and development. He hypothesizes that inhibition of these enzymes will be an effective approach for antagonizing the aberrant growth of pancreatic carcinoma. In addition to working with colleagues in academia, he collaborates with various pharmaceutical companies that are developing Pim inhibitors. Results from his studies will allow for critical validation of these kinases as novel therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancer treatment. Dr. Baines research has been funded by NIH and other grant sources. He has presented his research at various national scientific meetings such as the Society of Toxicology and the American Association for Cancer Research. In addition, Dr. Baines has given invited research seminars at universities such as Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University, Indiana University, North Carolina State University, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Keith L. Knutson, Ph.D., is a consultant in the Department of Immunology, Mayo Clinic in Florida, where he also serves as director of the Discovery and Translation Lab's Cancer Research Program. Dr. Knutson joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in 2005 and holds the academic rank of ... Professor of Immunology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Dr. Knutson is also Director of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center's Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy Program. Dr. Knutson received his B.S. in Microbiology at the University of Washington. He earned his Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Georgia and completed two postdoctoral fellowships in immunology, one at the University of British Columbia and the other at the University of Washington. Dr. Knutson is internationally recognized in the field of cancer immunology. His research focuses on the immunology and immunotherapy of breast and ovarian cancers, both the basic immunobiology and clinical translation, including clinical trials. His contributions to science include clinical development and testing of self-tumor antigen-specific vaccines in patients with breast and ovarian cancers. He currently has three FDA-approved vaccine trials underway and is principal investigator of 3 Department of Defense grants to test vaccines aimed at preventing recurrence breast cancer, including triple negative breast cancer for which there are no targeted therapies. Dr. Knutson is frequently invited to give presentations on his research both domestically and internationally, and he has authored numerous journal articles, abstracts and other written publications, consistently publishing in high-impact scientific journals. Additionally he holds reviewer responsibilities for several prominent publications. In recognition of his work, Dr. Knutson has received many awards and honors, including the Young Investigator Award-Pharmingen, conferred by the American Association for Cancer Research, and the prestigious Howard Temin Award, conferred by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute. He is also recognized as the 2017 Investigator of the Year at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Knutson is active in education and has mentored postdoctoral fellows, research associates and medical students, among others. He holds full faculty privileges in Immunology in Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Knutson's has several current and past memberships with professional organizations which include the Breast Cancer Research Program and the Ovarian Cancer Research Program of the United States Department of Defense, the Tumor Microenvironment Study Section of the U.S. National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review, and the Education and Training Committee for the Society for the Immunotherapy of Cancer. He is a Principal Investigator of the Artemis Project, National Breast Cancer Coalition, where he is leading efforts to produce prevention vaccines for breast cancer.

Jonas Korlach was appointed Chief Scientific Officer of Pacific Biosciences in July 2012. He was previously a Scientific Fellow, supporting commercial development of the PacBio RS II system and performing research aimed at developing new applications for SMRT technologies. He ... co-invented the SMRT technology with Stephen Turner, Ph.D., Pacific Biosciences Founder and Chief Technology Officer, when the two were graduate students at Cornell University. Dr. Korlach joined Pacific Biosciences as the company's eighth employee in 2004. Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Cornell University. Dr. Korlach is the recipient of multiple grants, an inventor on 70 issued U.S. patents and 61 international patents, and an author of over 70 scientific studies on the principles and applications of SMRT technology, including publications in Nature, Science, and PNAS. In 2013, Dr. Korlach was honored by the Obama White House as an Immigrant Innovator "Champion of Change." He received both his Ph.D. and his M.S. degrees in Biochemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology from Cornell, and received M.S. and B.A. degrees in Biological Sciences from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.

John Quackenbush is Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. John's PhD was in Theoretical Physics but a fellowship to work ... on the Human Genome Project led him through the Salk Institute, Stanford University, and The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), before joining Harvard in 2005. John's research uses massive data to probe how many small effects combine to influence our health and risk of disease. His published work has more than 87,000 citations and among his honors is recognition in 2013 as a White House Open Science Champion of Change. In 2012 he founded Genospace, a precision medicine software company that was sold to Hospital Corporation of America in 2017.

Montserrat Valdes is a highly skilled chemical engineer with a diverse background in research and industry. She holds a Master of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan and an Analytical Chemistry Diploma from the National Autonomous University ... of Mexico. Currently, Montserrat is working with CloudLIMS.com as a Scientist. Montserrat is an experienced chemist with expertise in the analysis of cannabis and nicotine-containing products. As a QC Chemist and Analytical Chemist, she has conducted numerous accredited testing methods to ensure the quality and compliance of cannabis products. Her experience also includes validating analytical testing methods and operating, calibrating, and troubleshooting a variety of analytical instruments, including HPLC-FLD/DAD/VWD, IC, and LC-MS. In addition to her work as a chemist, Montserrat has also served as a Research Engineer, successfully coordinating various environmental projects of great importance. These projects include the simultaneous capture of NH3 and H2S using nanoparticles, the biodegradation of surrogate naphthenic acids, and the adsorptive removal of antibiotics from livestock waste streams. Montserrat has also made significant contributions to scientific literature through her research articles and conference presentations. Her publications in journals such as the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering and Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering highlight her expertise in topics ranging from nanotechnology applications to biodegradation and wastewater treatment.