Workshop Leader and Speakers
Prof. Dr. Fernando Albericio
Fernando Albericio is Research Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa & Full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Barcelona. He was the Inaugural Rector of Yachay Tech (Ecuador), which is called to be the first Latin-American university based into the Innovation, and Founder and General Director of the Barcelona Science Park. Currently, he is catalyzing the creation of BioDurban.
His major research interests cover practically all aspects of peptide synthesis (new reactions, building blocks, coupling reagents, solid phase supports, protecting groups, and linkers) and combinatorial chemistry methodologies, as well. Lastly, his group is concentrating efforts in greening peptide synthesis. Furthermore, his group is also involved in synthesis of peptides and small molecules with therapeutic activities (cancer and infectious diseases), and in nanotechnology, developing new systems for drug delivery and strategies for diagnostics as well.
He has published more than 1000 scientific articles, filed more than 60 patents, and graduated more than 75 Ph.D. students.
Professor Dr. Beatriz G. de la Torre
Research Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Beatriz G. de la Torre obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Barcelona (Spain). After adilated career in Spain, she is presently a research Professor at KRISP, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Durban, South Africa).
She has been working extensively on glyco, nucleo-, and lipopeptides. Her scientific interests are focused more on the discovery of new antimicrobial peptides, including those for fighting tuberculosis, peptide-based vaccines, and peptide-based drug-delivery systems.
Lastly, she is also deeply involved in developing GREEN Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis Strategies.
Dr. Anamika Sharma
DST-Inspire Faculty, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology
Dr. Anamika Sharma obtained her Masters (General Chemistry) and Ph.D. from University of Mysore (India) in 2015. Her Ph.D. work involved classical solution peptide synthesis (CSPS) and bioconjugation. She further worked at Peptide Science Laboratory at the University of KwaZulu Natal (South Africa) for more than 5 years. She also worked in the area of synthetic organic chemistry as a Research Associate at Syngene International (Bangalore, India). Currently, she is working as DST Inspire Faculty at CSIR- Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Hyderabad, India. Her research includes organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry, for application in peptides chemistry which has resulted in several research publications in high impact scientific journals. Her current research interest is in developing reagents for peptide chemistry and greening SPPS.