Keynote  Speakers

Prof. Ulrich Hennecke studied chemistry at the University of Marburg (Germany) before joining the group of Prof. Thomas Carell for his PhD studies on nucleic acid chemistry (PhD 2007, LMU Munch, Germany). After a postdoctoral stay with Prof. Jonathan Clayden (University of Manchester, UK), he moved to the Organic Chemistry Institute of the University of Münster as junior group leader (2008). In 2018, he joined the Organic Chemistry Research Group (ORGC) at the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels (VUB) as Associate Professor. His research interests involve synthetic organic as well as bioorganic and nucleic acids chemistry with a special focus on halogenated organic compounds and their synthesis by new catalytic, enantioselective methods. 

Prof. Steven Ballet completed his PhD with promotor Prof. Dirk Tourwé at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB, Brussels, Belgium) in 2007. During his PhD formation, he was submerged in the magical world of peptides and peptidomimetics and specialized in the synthesis of conformationally constrained amino acids. Directly following his PhD training, he went for a first postdoctoral stay in Australia at the University of Adelaide with Professor Andrew Abell. At the UofA, he applied ring closing and cross metathesis reactions on amino acid and peptide substrates. As such, dimeric but also ring closed peptide scaffolds could be obtained. More specifically, RCM was used to stabilize ('staple') the helical conformation of alpha and beta peptides. As a second postdoctoral training, He went to the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (IRCM, Montreal, Canada) for a specialized training in the opioid peptide field. Together with Prof. Peter W. Schiller, he designed bifunctional opioid ligands with dual MOR/DOR agonist profiles and hybrid opioid/non-opioid multitarget ligands. Since 2010 Prof. Ballet is appointed as a faculty member at his alma mater, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he pursues his efforts in the peptide and peptidomimetic field. Main research themes include synthetic organic methodology with focus heterocyclic compounds intended for Medicinal Chemistry purposes, peptide and protein epitope mimicry, and soft materials for regenerative medicine and controlled-drug release applications. 

Prof. Martin O. Onani is a distinguished Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Nanoscience at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, where he also serves as the Head of the Department of Chemistry. He holds a BEd (Sci) (1988) and MSc (Chem) (1996) from Kenyatta University, Kenya, and a PhD (Chem) (2003) from the University of Natal, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the same institution.

With a research focus spanning inorganic chemistry and nanomaterials, Prof. Onani’s work is at the forefront of applications in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, diabetes, cancer treatment, and catalysis. He has played a pivotal role in the DST/Mintek NIC Biolabels Platform since 2007, contributing to the development of advanced diagnostic and therapeutic nanotechnology-based systems. Recognized as a C-rated researcher by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF-SA), Prof. Onani’s expertise extends beyond academia into industrial applications, particularly in nanotechnology-driven healthcare solutions and catalytic processes. His contributions bridge the gap between fundamental research and translational applications, reinforcing his standing as a leader in the field.

Prof. T. Makhafola is a biochemist with a PhD from the University of Pretoria (2015). He is the Director of the Centre for Quality of Health and Living in the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences at the Central University of Technology; Free State. His research focuses on bioactivity of natural products and synthetic compounds particularly their anticancer effects and genotoxicity. He holds a C2 rating from the NRF, and he is the recipient of the NRF-BELSPO award and the NRF-FRF award. He is currently a STIAS fellow under the Iso Lomso Fellowship. In 2020, he was amongst the 29 selected candidates of 130 nominations from all 26 universities for the Future Professors Programme (FPP) initiated by the Department of Higher Education and Training. In 2022, he established one of the CUT’s state-of-the-art Biochemistry and Tissue Culture facility - The Centre for Quality of Health and Living (CQHL), envisioned to drive improvement in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness that maximises healthy outcomes for the people. He is a member of the Toxicology Association of South Africa (TOXSA) and South African Association of Botanists (SAAB). He is appointed as an extraordinary lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Pan African Cancer Research Institute (PACRI).

Prof. Greg Smith is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cape Town. He obtained his undergraduate degree at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa (SA) and went on to complete his MSc and PhD on the synthesis of metal-containing polymers and dendrimers as olefin transformation catalysts, under the supervision of Prof. Selwyn Mapolie at the University of the Western Cape (SA). He later joined the University of Bristol (UK) as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Ian Manners.

His research interests in the discipline of Organometallic Chemistry, a subset of Inorganic Chemistry, investigates the synthesis of small molecule and macromolecular organometallic complexes. His primary activities are the development of Platinum Group Metal (PGM)-based complexes, with two broad themes/applications, aimed at the beneficiation of PGM resources available in South Africa. The first theme centres on the use of the organometallic compounds as homogeneous catalysts, whilst the second theme entails investigations into the application of organometallic complexes as chemotherapeutic agents.

Dr. Mukut Gohain is a co-inventor of Enmetazobactam, a novel anti-infective (NCE) for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections which got FDA approval in 2024 in combination with cefepime to treat critical urinary tract infections (cUTIs). Dr. Gohain Completed Ph.D. from Northeast Institute of Science and Technology, India in 2005; postdoctoral research from the Universidad de Burgos, Spain; and the University of the Free State, South Africa. After completing his PhD, he worked as a research scientist at Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Sanmar Specialty Chemicals Ltd. He served as a senior scientist at Chemical Process Technologies (CPT) in Waltloo, Pretoria. Currently he is principal Scientist, manager, and head of R&D at Chemical Process Technologies, where Dr. Gohain leads a team of scientists in developing cost-competitive industrial technologies for various active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for human and animal health. Dr. Gohain has also been involved and leading the BILL and MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION-funded projects to develop cost effective commercial process technologies for APIs of various life-saving drugs at the CPT API Plus laboratory in collaboration with “Medicine for All" institute at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA. Dr. Gohain is also a recipient of the prestigious Achiever’s Award 2024 in Science and Innovation conferred by the esteemed Pratidin Network Media. Dr. Gohain also serves as an external supervisor/co-supervisor in industrial settings in collaboration with Witwatersrand University.