Molecular Mechanisms of Action of Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals for Chronic Diseases

Shima Abdollahi, PhD, is currently assistant professor in North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran. She earned her BS, MS and PhD degrees in nutrition sciences from Tabriz, Tehran, and Shahid Sadoughi universities of medical sciences, respectively. She received a research grant from Iran national science foundation (INSF) for her doctoral thesis on the effect of resveratrol supplementation in patients with diabetes. Shima has experience in gene expression studies, as well as systematic review and meta-analysis studies. Dr. Syam Mohan is currently working as an Associate Professor at Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. Before that, he was at the University of Malaya, the oldest and premier public university in Malaysia. He graduated from TN DR MGR Medical University, India, in 2003. In 2007 he joined MS Pharmacology. His research outcomes were so outstanding that his Master's degree was upgraded to Ph.D. with a fellowship, awarded by University Putra Malaysia. He undertook a year of senior research fellowship (Postdoctoral) at the University of Malaya, later joined the Department of Pharmacy as Associate Professor, and established the pharmaceutical biology research group in the Pharmacology Unit. His specific expertise is focused on the pharmacology of cancer and inflammation. He acquired an overall H-index of 40 with his high number of research publications (120) in ISI-cited journals. Dr. Syam, the author of one book, also holds two patents. He was also one of the two selected participants from Asia who received a fellowship to attend the FEBS Advanced Lecture Course on Translational Cancer Research at Portugal organized by the Federation of European Biochemical Society, UK, and was a member of the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) and is an active member of Malaysian Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Society (MBMBS). He has organized several workshops and seminars and has attracted over US$ 250 000 as research funding so far, which includes the prestigious High Impact Research grant from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, and the Ministry of Education funding, Saudi Arabia. Recently he has been positioned among the Top 2% of scientists of the world for the consecutive two years (2020 & 2021) by a research study conducted by Stanford University. He also plays his role as a member of several international scientific organizations, editorial board, and reviewer for many international peer-reviewed journals. Recently, he has been appointed as an International Grant reviewer for the South African Medical Research Council. As a conscientious and potentially valuable scientist, he has been acknowledged and recognized by the Governments of various countries, including Iran and Malaysia. Yashwant Pathak, PhD, is currently the associate dean for faculty affairs at College of Pharmacy, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida. Pathak earned his MS and PhD degrees in pharmaceutical technology from Nagpur University, Nagpur, India, and EMBA and MS degrees in conflict management from Sullivan University, Louisville, Kentucky. With extensive experience in academia and industry, Pathak has over 150 publications, research papers, abstracts, book chapters, and reviews to his credit. He has presented over 180 presentations, posters, and lectures worldwide in the field of pharmaceuticals, drug delivery systems, and other related topics. He has received several national and international awards including Fulbright Senior Scholar fellowship for Indonesia, Endeavour executive fellowship from Australian Government, CNPQ research award from Brazil Government and also was recognized by USF as outstanding faculty award and global engagement achievement award.

1. Role of Epigenetics in Human Diseases: Bioactive Food Peptides for the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Diseases through Modulation of the Epigenome 2. The Interactions between Functional Foods, Epigenetics, and Chronic Diseases 3. Immunological Compromises in Chronic Diseases and Use of Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals 4. Molecular Mechanisms to understand chronic diseases and Immune Function: application of functional foods and Nutraceutical Interventions 5. Functional food and obesity and metabolic syndrome 6. Epigenetics and chronic diseases, role of functional foods in preventing tumorigenesis 7. Curcumin as a functional food in cancer 8. Integration of Biotechnology & Nanotechnology in chronic diseases: Interventions with functional foods and Nutraceuticals 9. Nanodelivery Of Bioactive Food Components in Chronic Diseases 10. Understanding the mechanistic pathways against neurodegenerations with focus on Ayurvedic point of view use of rasayanas (Ayurvedic functional foods and Nutraceuticals) 11. Inflammatory diseases and prevention and treatment using functional foods and nutraceuticals 12. Role of functional food in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease: A hope of neuroprotection
13. Gastrointestinal Tract and Digestion challenges in chronic diseases and applications of functional foods and nutraceuticals 14. Benefits of Nuts in the Management of Chronic Diseases