Protein Misfolding and Human Diseases

Dr. Pranav Kumar Prabhakar is currently working as a Professor and Head at Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Nagaland University, Meriema, Kohima, Nagaland, India. He is among the World’s Top 2% Scientists (list published by Stanford University, USA, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025). He completed his PhD in Biotechnology from IIT Madras. His research focuses on elucidating molecular mechanisms and strategies for oral insulin delivery and mimicking signaling pathways in metabolic disorders (diabetes) using natural products. Dr. Pranav is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Asia-Pacific Chemical, Biological & Environmental Engineering Society. He serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for many reputed national and international journals. His honors include a travel grant from IIT Madras and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to attend ATTD 2009 in Greece, approved by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). He has published over 160+ research articles, authored/edited 24 books, and 48 book chapters, and delivered 9 oral and poster presentations at scientific meetings.

Dr. Ajit Prakash completed his B.Sc. Biotechnology at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, and M.Sc. Genomics at Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu, India. Further, Dr. Ajit obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2016 from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He carried out his first postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge, UK. Following this he worked at Lovely Professional University as an assistant professor for almost a year and then finally relocated to the USA for his second postdoc at the University of North Carolina, Chaple Hill, USA. After 5 years of postdoctoral research at UNC, he is currently working as a Research Associate at UNC, Chapel Hill, USA. In addition to 3 book chapters and a book which are under publication, Dr. Ajit has published 16 high-impact research papers/book chapters in the fields of protein biochemistry, structural biology, and molecular biology related to disease conditions like cancer, and neurological disorders.

Dr. Mohammad Ashhar Iqbal Khan is currently a Research Associate in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He completed his PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi in 2016. Dr. Khan's doctoral research focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and Parkinson's using biophysical techniques. As a postdoctoral researcher at UNC Chapel Hill and Lund University in Sweden, he expanded his expertise to study key cell adhesion proteins vinculin and metavinculin linked to cardiomyopathies and cancer. He has authored several peer-reviewed publications and delivered invited talks and poster presentations at scientific conferences. He is a recipient of prestigious fellowships and awards including the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship and the Carl Trygger Foundation Postdoctoral Scholarship. He serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for many reputed national and international journals.