Biography: Dr. Muhammad Javaid Afzal is now an Assistant Professor Physics at the Govt. Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore, Pakistan. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2019 from the “The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan”. He is an enthusiastic, adaptive and fast-learning person with a broad and acute interest in the discovery of new innovative technologies. He particularly enjoys collaborating with people from different disciplines to develop new skills and solve new research challenges. Dr. Javaid has been working as an Assistant Professor Physics with Govt. of the Punjab, Pakistan for nearly 23 years since Sept., 1997. He won many international awards. At “The University of Lahore”, Dr. Javaid worked during his Ph.D. Physics in the laboratory of Physics and biomedical engineering for numerous experiments especially for varicose veins. Dr. Javaid leads the laboratory of Physics in Govt. Islamia College Civil Lines Lahore, Pakistan. The research interest in his group centers on Physics, electronics, nanotechnology and biomedical engineering, with an aim to discover new results to solve the unmet medical needs and do good research in Physics. Muhammad Javaid Afzal has his expertise in experimentation and simulation software (ANSYS and Fuzzy MATLAB) and their use in biomedical engineering for evaluation and passion in improving the health and wellbeing. His open and contextual simulation software based on responsive constructivists creates new pathways for improving healthcare. He has published high impact publications in Micromachines, Biologia, Elsevier and IOPScience etc.

Topic: Varicose Vein Implantation

Abstract: Bioengineered veins have benefits when someone needs surgery including dialysis, heart issues and now for varicose veins. The implantation of the bioengineered veins in place of varicose veins has essential benefits over the conventional treatment procedures. Around 26% adult people mostly female affected by varicose veins in old age. It is a common reason of distress, loss of efficiency and worsening the living conditions. Several traditional treatment techniques have been failed for proper handling of this disease. Blood chemistry is also a useful tool in solving this problem. Fuzzy Logic and ANSYS Fluent have been used for simulation of blood flow for this work. Chemically, silver proves its benefits in human lives. Therefore, silver based ascending and descending sinusoidal microchannels has been fabricated by using the micromachining process. These microchannels can be inserted as a replacement of these veins to maintain the excellent blood flow. This study have been presented an alternative method about the implant of ASMC and DSMC for varicose vein. After studying, chemical behavior of silver and blood chemistry, simulations and fabrication, experimental testing was performed. All simulated and experimental results are in a close agreement. Consequently, ASMC and DSMC can be implanted in varicose veins as a new treatment to continue the excellent blood flow from the same place to avoid tissue damaging and other problems.

Biography: Dr. Guojun Wang is now an Assistant Professor at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Florida, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2004 from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Wang has been working with natural product drug discovery in actinomycetes (one of the most prolific producers of bioactive compounds and drug candidates) for nearly 20 years since Sept., 2000, such as strain improvement, bioengineering, biochemical engineering, genome mining, and enzymology. At Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Dr. Wang leads the laboratory of biosynthesis & biocatalysis of marine natural products. The research interest in his group centers on drug-like compounds found in marine invertebrates and their associated microorganisms, with an aim to discover new chemistry and enzymology of marine natural products to solve the unmet medical needs in cancer and infectious disease. He has published high impact publications in Biotechnol Adv, JACS, Angew Chem, Org Lett, and Front Microbiol, etc.

Topic: Prospecting Deep-sea Actinomycetes as a New Source for Antimicrobial Agents

Abstract: Though natural products (NPs) derived from terrestrial actinobacteria are the major source of current antibiotics, the less-exploited deep-sea Actinomycetes have been proven an unprecedented source of novel NPs. Harbor Branch maintains a collection of deep-sea microorganisms (over 20,000 strains). In a preliminary study of 50 Actinomycetes that were isolated from diverse deep-sea sponges or unique environmental niches, we found more than half of the tested strains (27) were identified as active in at least one anti-microbial assay. We also found the rare earth salt lanthanum chloride (LaCl3) effectively elicited the production of cryptic metabolites. Of the 27 strains, the anti-microbial activity of 15 (>50%) were induced or enhanced by LaCl3 [1]. Here, we report the identification of new anti-MRSA angucycline antibiotics nocardiopsistins in a deep-sea Nocardiopsis sp. strain HB-J378 [2]. At the presence of LaCl3, we recently identified a brominated derivative (nocardiopsistin D, unpublished) of nocardiopsistin A. With only an additional bromine group, the anti-MRSA activity of nocardiopsistin D is over160-fold higher than that of nocardiopsistin A. This brominated compound also showed potent activities against VRSA (vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and other Gram+ pathogens such as Enterococcus faecium and Bacillus cereus.