Editor-in-Chief

Aurel Popa Wagner

Aurel Popa Wagner, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
Professor, Aging and Neural Repair Laboratory
University of Greifswald, Germany

Biography

Old age is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to systemic vascular disorders like stroke and poor recovery from brain injuries. Therefore, the aim of Prof. Popa-Wagner’s group is to unravel cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying aging progression and its significance for brain diseases. His group has a long-standing interest in molecular mechanisms of brain remodelling in the aged rat brain. Recently Prof. Popa-Wagner became interested in systemic aging by aiming to model gene regulatory networks for regenerative processes after brain injury in aged animals. Another avenue of recent research is cellular therapy of stroke by using bone marrow-derive mesenchymal and mononuclear cells. Dr. Popa-Wagner received his PhD in biochemistry at Institute of Biochemistry, University of Karlsruhe, Germany, followed by postdoctoral training at Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. Subsequently, DR. Popa-Wagner held tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Medicine Erlangen, Germany and Associate Professor at the Department of Neurology, Medical University, Greifswald, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald. In 1996, he was appointed Professor of Experimental Neurology at the Clinic of Neurology, Medical University, Greifswald, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Greifswald. Since 1998 he has been appointed Professor of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Craiova, Romania. In 2012, he joined the the Department of Psychiatry, University of Medicine, Rostock, Germany and from 2017 he joined the Chair of Vascular Neurology and Dementia at the Clinic of Neurology, Medical University, Essen, Germany.

Research Interest

The aim of Aurel Popa Wagner group is to unravel cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying aging progression and its significance for brain diseases. The group has a long-standing interest in molecular mechanisms of brain remodelling in the aged rat brain. His group has studied the plasticity of the aging brain in response to stimuli for more than 15 years and to stroke injury in aged animals for the last 10 years. Overall our results suggest that: (1) although older animals retain the potential for brain plasticity-related cytogenetic events after injury, the expression of key brain plasticity-associated genes and proteins is often attenuated and temporally altered; (2) an important cellular event associated with restricted axonal growth after stroke in aged animals is the early formation of a scar in the infarcted region; (3) Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor lowers mortality and enhances neurogenesis in the brains of post-stroke aged animals; (4) vascular wall reactivity is exacerbated in the post-stroke aged animals. Expertise: aged animals models of cerebral ischemia; behavioral analysis; recording of EEG and various physiological parameters by telemetric measurements; MRI for small animals; immunohistochemical procedures, proteomics, genomics.

Marek Malecki

Marek Malecki, MD PhD
Editor-in-Chief
President, Genetic and Biomolecular Engineering
PBMEF, San Francisco, USA

Biography

Marek Malecki MD PhD is President of Phoenix Biomolecular Engineering Foundation, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Molecular Medicine, and Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin. He earned MD degree at the Medical Academy, Poznan followed by Residency/Fellowship in Molecular Medicine in Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen. He earned PhD at the National Academy of Sciences, Warsaw followed by the postdoctoral fellowships in molecular biology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Salzburg and Vienna, ETH, Zurich, Utrecht University Medical School, Utrecht, Cancer Center, Vienna, Cancer Center, Amsterdam, Biozentrum, Basel. Dr Malecki developed a novel technology to identify and isolate single living pluripotent stem cells followed by their clonal expansion and molecular profiling including sequencing their proteomes, transcriptomes, and genomes. This technology serves also for reprogramming the stem cells for their use as the vectors in gene therapy of cancer. The technology, protected by the US and WIPO, is currently streamlined to clinical trials. He is the first author on the peer-reviewed articles. He is often an invited speaker and courses’ faculty at the international professional conferences. Dr Malecki is Editor in Chief of the Journal of Genetic Syndromes and Gene Therapy and Member of the Editorial Boards for many high-impact professional journals. He is the member of the American Medical Association, American Association of Human Genetics, American Antibody Society, Southern California Biotechnology Council, and Rho Chi Honor Society for Excellence in Teaching and as the Faculty Role Model.

Research Interest

cancers of ovaries, cancers of testes, cancer stem cells (CSC), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), genetic disorders, iatrogenic genetic mutations, gene therapy, targeted gene delivery, fertility sparing therapy, biobanking, in vitro fertilization.

Alex F Chen

Alex F Chen, MD, PhD, FAHA
Editor-in-Chief
Director, Department of Surgery
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA

Biography

Alex F. Chen is Director of VA Vascular Surgery Research, and an Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He has received a MD from Hunan Medical University in 1985 and a PhD in Pharmacology from Southern Illinois University in 1995. He is serving as an editorial board member of several reputed journals.

Research Interest

Vascular and endothelial cell biology
Endothelial progenitor cells
Redox regulation of endothelial function in diabetes and hypertension.