Dr. Shaifali Bhalla is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean of Administrative Affairs at Midwestern University College of Pharmacy, Downers Grove, IL. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA in 2005. Dr. Bhalla's ... laboratory focuses on the role of the central endothelin (ET) system in opioid tolerance and withdrawal. Her research interests include exploring the signaling mechanisms involved in the pharmacological actions of opioid analgesics. In recent studies, the lab group has identified that ET-A antagonists attenuate opioid withdrawal, and her research group is presently investigating the cyclic AMP and calcium signaling pathways by which endothelin-A receptor antagonists enhance opioid analgesia and reverse analgesic tolerance. The Bhalla lab is also evaluating the role of endothelin-A and endothelin-B receptors in neuroadaptations in the brain during opioid withdrawal. Here interests also include the role of α2-adrenergic receptors and imidazoline receptors in opioid analgesia. Students in her laboratory have the opportunity to evaluate signaling pathways and changes in receptor binding, function, and expression with acute and chronic opioid treatment in in vitro and in vivo systems. In her role as faculty member, Dr. Bhalla directs and teaches courses on Pharmaceutical Calculations, Introduction to Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, and Physical Pharmacy and Dosage Forms in the first year of the Pharm.D. curriculum. She also lectures on the Pharmacogenomics (PGx) of CNS drugs in a PGx elective and serves as research mentor for students at the College of Pharmacy, Masters in Biomedical Sciences programs in the College of Health Sciences, and the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Bhalla has received 11 teaching awards for her dedication to her students. At Midwestern University, Dr. Bhalla has provided leadership as Chair of several committees: University Faculty Development Committee, Faculty Promotion in Rank and Tenure Committee, Faculty Research Stimulation Grant Proposal Review Committee, Student Promotion and Graduation Committee, Student Leadership and Research Award Committee, and Pharmaceutical Sciences Department Strategic Planning Committee. She was also elected as the College Faculty Representative on the Executive Committee, the Dean's Advisory Council, and Faculty Delegate for AACP. Dr. Bhalla has also served in appointed roles as Faculty Advisor to the Association of Indian Pharmacists of America, and the African Student Pharmacist Association. Dr. Bhalla is involved in various professional organizations: the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), and the American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP). Most recently, she has held elected leadership as the Secretary and Treasurer, as well as Communications Officer, both for the Neuropharmacology Division of ASPET.

Audrey is an experienced researcher in microbiology, parasitology with significant experience in molecular biology and 3D mammalian cell culture. As Product Manager, she is responsible for CN Bio's PhysioMimix™ Organ-on-a-chip systems and their implementation in research ... laboratories. Audrey gained her PhD at the University of East Anglia and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of California - Los Angeles before joining CN Bio over 4 years ago.

Matt entered the research field over 20 years ago as a lab animal technician at the TSI/Mason contract research facility. He has worked at both contract facilities such as TSI and OREAD Biosafety as well in industry at Pharmacia, Pfizer, and Sanofi-Aventis. During that period he ... has performed a variety of surgical procedures including device implantation, transplants, orthopedic defect, ocular and vascular implants, cardiac surgery, and brain and spinal procedures. His experience ranges from mice and rats to non-human primates and livestock. In addition, he holds four patents for novel surgical devices and implants and has been training technicians, scientists, veterinarians, and physicians in surgical techniques and procedures for over 15 years. Outside of the surgical realm, he has been a study director, sonographer, Safety Pharmacology scientist, and manager. Currently Matt supervises a team of technicians and surgeon-technicians at Genzyme who support the Boston hub and perform over 1250 surgical procedures a year. Matt was also on the board of directors for the Academy of Surgical Research for over ten years, serving as their program chair for three of them as well as educational chair for two. Currently he is the program chairman for the New England branch of AALAS.

Between 1994-2015 he worked at EKF Diagnostics in Wales (formerly Argutus Medical) where he introduced and promoted a wide range of novel kidney and liver tests, including important biomarkers that are now being evaluated by the IMI (Innovative Medicines Initiative) and FDA as ... qualified for use in toxicological testing. He developed strong relationships with hospitals, clinical research organizations and pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Glaxo Smith Kline and Johnson and Johnson. From 1975-1992 Martin Shaw filled many technical and marketing roles at Pharmacia Diagnostics (now Thermo-Fisher). He and his coworkers developed and introduced the first commercial tests for neonatal hypothyroidism, celiac disease, and a range of novel biomarkers to monitor allergy and inflammation. Bringing testing close to the patient is important and Martin brings this experience from being Marketing Manager at Magnasense Technologies, Finland, where he introduced and promoted a novel point-of-care test system based on magnetically labelled antibodies. Martin has published several peer-reviewed articles on biomarkers and presented at many scientific congresses, including being guest speaker at the FDA.

Over the past 16 years, Mr. Shipton has amassed deep domain expertise in cell-based products and services. Currently serving as President of Novabiosis, Inc. Mr. Shipton brings a skill for implementing sales-driven business strategies, an extensive track record of meeting and ... surpassing targeted sales objectives, and a passion for translating customer needs into solutions that exceed expectations. Prior to joining Novabiosis, Mr. Shipton served as Chief Operating Officer for Hurel Corp, overseeing Hurel's commercial operations. Before joining Hurel, Matthew served as the Central and Southern U.S. Regional Sales Manager for Bioreclamation IVT (formerly CelsisIVT), where he was responsible for leading regional revenue generation and new account growth. In that capacity Mr. Shipton organized and led multiple, dedicated strategic initiatives, including establishing the CelsisIVT partnership with the Research Institute for Liver Disease (RILD) in China, as well as consummating long-term supply agreements with a number of the major pharmaceutical companies. Prior to CelsisIVT, Mr. Shipton served as Director of North American Business Development for Cyprotex, PLC, a UK-based contract research organization ("CRO") specializing in preclinical drug discovery services. Before Cyprotex, he was Regional Sales Manager for CellzDirect, a Durham, NC based provider of primary hepatic cell-based products and services which in 2008 was acquired by Invitrogen (now Thermo Fisher). Mr. Shipton holds Master's and Bachelor's Degrees in Chemistry from, respectively, North Carolina State University and Youngstown State University.

Dr. Qingyan Sandy Au is Director of Multiplexing at NeoGenomics. In this role, She is responsible for overall scientific and operational function of Multiplexing modality including MultiOmyxTM , PhenoImagerTM, Rarecyte CTC technology platforms and imaging analysis. She has over ... 15 years of experience in multiplexed immunofluorescence assay development & validation in cell and tissue-based assays in support of exploratory, translational and clinical research studies. Sandy earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California at Riverside, and she also holds Master's degree in Genetics from Fudan University.

Dr. Marsha Pierce is an assistant professor at Midwestern University where she studies the role of marine natural products in neuroscience drug development. Dr. Pierce received her BS in biology and MS and PhD in biomedical sciences at Creighton University. Her postdoctoral ... research examined the role of marine natural products effects on cellular signaling, neurite outgrowth, and post-stroke recovery under the mentorship of Thomas Murray at Creighton University.