Scientific Board
Paul Knight, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Knight is the Chair of the Anesthesiology Department at SUNY Buffalo, in addition to his professorships in Anesthesiology and Microbiology. Dr. Knight’s research focuses on pathogenesis of aspiration pneumonitis, host response to post-operative pneumonia, pulmonary inflammatory response in COPD surgery patients, bacterial modulation of lung inflammatory response, and brain-derived Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) and adrenergic responses in neuropathic pain. Dr. Knight’s lab resides in UB’s Witebsky Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology.
Suryaprakash Sambhara, Ph.D.
Dr. Sambhara is the Chief of Immunology for Center for Disease Control and Prevention – Influenza Division. He received his Ph.D. from University of Toronto in immunology. Following his graduate work, he worked at Sonofi-Pasteur, a pharmaceutical company. Subsequent to his industry involvement, he accepted a position at Center for Disease Control and since has been involved in studies regarding influenza vaccine development and alternate public health concerns regarding influenza such as enhancing vaccine effectiveness in elderly patients. He has authored papers in Lancet, Nature, and Science regarding influenza work, and is currently developing a new pan-antiviral strategy fitted for nano-particle delivery.
Syde A. Taheri, M.D.
Retired cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, a clinical professor, and an award-winning inventor of products including medical devices. Dr. Taheri has been invited to many national and international conferences to speak with the surgical community including his innovative, life-saving treatments including regenerating the heart muscle of heart-attack patients and repairing aneurysms.Dr. Taheris medical and health-related inventions target the growing
need for sensitive, minimally invasive treatments for patients afflicted with heart and vascular diseases. He is currently working with NanoAxis to create nanomedicine based products.
Dr. Cheng is an Assistant Professor of Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at SUNY-Buffalo. Dr. Cheng has developed new methodologies for the synthesis of polymers and nanomaterials with well-controlled structures for biomedical applications. His research areas include polymer-drug conjugates, polyelectrolytes, brush polymers, as well as biodegradable polymers, nanoparticles, and nanocapsules. His current research focus is to integrate polymeric nanostructures with functionality and biodegradability to create idealized multifunctional systems for drug and gene delivery.