Histamines in Neurology and Psychiatry

Dr. Zhong Chen got his Ph.D in Okayama University, Japan, in 1999, and now is a professor in Zhejiang University, China. He was one of the Chinese National Distinguished Young Scientific Scholars and was considered as Distinguished Professor by Zhejiang University. His research interests mainly focus on two fields: 1) the roles of histamine and histamine receptors in ischemic cerebral injury and development of H3 antagonists; 2) Molecular mechanisms of epileptic pathogenesis and development of antiepileptic drugs.

During last five years, his research work has been funded by Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation and key project of drug developing foundation in China. As a Co-PI, Dr. Chen participated in one NIHR01 project and one Chinese National Basic Research Program of China (973 projects). He has published over 100 papers including Nature Neurosci, J Neurosci, Mol Med, Epilepsia, Br J Pharmacol, ect. And he has gained several Chinese National Scientific award in the last five years.

As the Executive Dean of College of Pharmaceutical Science and the vice Dean of Medical School, Zhejiang University, he puts a lot of efforts in pushing forward the collaboration and exchange between Pharmaceutical Colleges in China and abroad.

Weiwei Hu, MD, is a professor of Pharmacology at Zhejiang University. She has 113 publications in the pathogenesis mechanism of brain disorders, involving cerebral ischemia and psychiatric diseases, and drug target discovery. She is studying the role of histamine receptors in those brain disorders; the synaptic modulation by microglia, by employing the Cre-loxp system, optogenetics, chemogenetics, behavioral studies, in vivo and in vitro electrophysiological recording, calcium recording, human brain sample studies, et al. Prior to Zhejiang University, she did a postdoc at Lerner Research Institute in Cleveland studying microglia in synaptic plasticity.

Professor Rob Leurs studied Medicinal Chemistry at VU University Amsterdam and graduated in 1987. He performed his PhD research on G-protein coupled receptors and obtained his PhD degree from VU University in 1991. As a postdoctoral fellow at INSERM in Paris, he was involved in the cloning of genes encoding histaminergic and serotonergic receptors. In 1993, he was awarded with a 5-year fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Rob Leurs was appointed as assistant and full professor of the Division of Medicinal Chemistry in respectively 1998 and 2000. From 2003 to 2005, he was one of the two scientific directors of the Leiden-Amsterdam Center of Drug Research. From 2005 to 2008, he was member of the executive board of the Top Institute Pharma. Professor Leurs served as director of the Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2006 and as vice-dean of the Faculty of Science from 2007 until 2010. He was awarded the Galenus Research Prize in 1997, the Organon Award for Pharmacology in 2000, and a Pfizer Academic Award and a STW/NWO Pionieer grant both in 2001. Moreover, the research group was selected as one of the few Dutch centers of excellence in Chemistry in 2014 and awarded 2 M€ TOP-PUNT grant of the Dutch foundation for Chemical Sciences. In 2016, he has been appointed as member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Leurs is currently involved in research on G-protein coupled receptors, with specific emphasis on ligands and receptor proteins for histamine and chemokines. Moreover, he is co-founder of Griffin Discoveries, a company that is valorizes the G-protein coupled receptor expertise and is currently involved in the discovery and development of GPCR receptor ligands. Next to that, he has in recent years started a new line on structure based development of potential drugs against Neglected Tropical Diseases. Prof. Leurs has been project leader of a NTD project of the Dutch Top institute Pharma and project leader of the EU-funded program Phosphodiesterase inhibitors for Neglected Parasitic diseases (www.PDE4NPD.eu).