Plenary lecture title: From Toxins to Therapeutics: Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Analogs for the Tailored Treatment of Acute Decompensated Heart Failure
Manjunatha Kini graduated from University of Mysore, Mysore, India and completed postdoctoral trainings in Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA, before joining National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1994. He became a Professor, Department of Biological Sciences in 2005. He was Joint Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS; and Adjunct Senior Principal Investigator, Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore. He held adjunct positions in Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia; University of Oxford, Oxford; and University of South Australia, Adelaide. He was the inaugural ‘Class of ’62 Professor’, Faculty of Science, NUS. He was a Visiting Professor/Scientist in Universities and Research Institutes in India, China, USA, Japan and Netherlands. Kini conducts basic and applied research on venoms from animals and saliva of blood-feeding animals. He is an established world leader in the field of toxins as well as in thrombosis and hemostasis. His main research focus is “From Toxins to Therapeutics”, where he identifies novel bioactive proteins from venoms or saliva, determines their modes of action, and designs potential drug-leads based on their structure. He was the Co-founder of ProScience, Richmond, Virginia and Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, ProTherapeutics, Singapore. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Toxin Reviews for 10 years and now the Editor Emeritus. He serves as Associate Editor and member of editorial boards of several international journals. Kini played major roles in the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis; International Society on Toxinology; and International Proteolysis Society.
