„JOHN ATANASOFF“ CENTER
FOR BIO AND NANO PHOTONICS, JAC BNP

Dr. Refetoff is a world leader on the relationship between human genetic abnormalities and defects of thyroid hormone regulation, synthesis, transport and action with many other important contributions to many areas of endocrinology which bridge bench research and clinical practice. He is best known for discovering and defining the molecular basis of the syndrome of resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) called the Refetoff syndrome. This work proved that thyroid hormone action is receptor mediated, against the then prevailing dogma of direct action on mitochondria, and was instrumental in characterizing the receptor’s dominant negative action. The NCBI Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man lists under Refetoff Syndrome 8 inherited conditions. Indeed, Dr. Refetoff’s pioneering work over the past 40+ years has essentially defined the fields of molecular defects in thyroid hormone synthesis, transport and action. His work has made major contributions to our understanding inherited endocrine diseases. Throughout his career, he has received numerous prizes and awards and has published 357 (so far) peerreviewed manuscripts – the majority of which appeared in leading journals - Nature, Nature Genetics, Cell, JCI, PNAS, JAMA and NEJM.

Dr. Samuel Refetoff

Research Area A. Biomedical research from the clinic to the lab leading to drug discovery. DNA repair, genomic instability, genetic diseases.

Prof. Stoyno Stoynov, has made a significant research impact in the area of the maintenance of genomic stability and DNA repair. He and his group were the first to demonstrate how regulation of replicative DNA unwinding by S-phasic checkpoint maintain genomic stability in the presence of DNA lesions or replication blocks. The group showed that the Mrc1/Tof1/Csm3 protein complex interacts with the MCM helicase to prevent massive DNA unwinding when DNA synthesis is inhibited. For the last three years, the group also develops and applies advanced fluorescence microscopy of living cells and UV laser micro-irradiation, which opens up new horizons for the study of kinetic of the recruitment and removal of the proteins to the sites of DNA damages.

Prof. Stoyno Stoynov

Research Area A. Biomedical research from the clinic to the lab leading to drug discovery. DNA repair, genomic instability, genetic diseases.

Prof. Tenio Popminchev has several revolutionary contributions in the field of Coherent Radiation Science and Extreme Nonlinear Optics with patented technologies. He has published over 120 articles, including high impact impact journals such as Science, Nature Photonics, Nature Physics, Physical Review Letters, PNAS, with more than 3,300 joint quotes and h-index 22. He is the founder of three patents , who have a significant scientific breakthrough and been selected as one of the top 10 rising young scientists for the 2016 Science News Magazine nominated by Nobel laureates or newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences. Prof. Popminchev recently created ultramodern laboratories at the Faculty of Physics of the University of California at San Diego and the Center for Contemporary Nanoscience. In parallel, he also formed a research team at the Institute of Photonics at Vienna Technological University under a contract for young researchers with the prestigious European Research Council. (http://popmintchev.ucsd.edu/team/)

Prof. Tenio Popminchev

Prof. Giulio Cerullo is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of ultra-short pulse sources and their spectroscopic applications. It is a pioneer on non-linear optical parametric amplifiers that are widely used in many scientific laboratories around the world to generate sub-10 fs of the visible field. Professor Cerrulo has published over 350 articles that have attracted more than 13,000 citations (H-index: 60). He is a member of the Optical Society of America (OSA) and a member of the ERC Advanced Grant for a Supermassive Spectroscopy Project on Biomolecules.

Prof. Giulio Cerullo

Dr. Oraevsky is the world leader in the field of research on optoacoustic imaging and laser ultrasound. He is best known as the father of optoacoustic imagery because he has not only invented this rapidly developing biomedical imaging technology of the 21st century, but is also the creator of a large community of researchers. The focus of his efforts is to develop an ophthalmic tomography system for imaging breast cancer. Dr. Oraevsky has published over 100 reviewed articles, cited over 9500 times and 11 chapters of books. His h-index is 49. He is the main inventor of 20 patents and patent applications. Throughout his career, he has received great awards and awards, including the Innovation Award from the Berthold Leibinger Foundation. Dr. Oraevsky's research over the last 25 years essentially identifies the field of clinical optoacoustic ultrasound imaging with multiple medical applications in diagnostics, treatment and surgery.

Dr. Alexander Oraevsky

Prof. Pankov is a leading Bulgarian specialist in stem cell biology. His group created the first three Bulgarian embryonic stem cell lines. Now his interests are focused on identifying specific physical factors that can direct the distribution of pluripotent stem cells. Prof. Pankov has made a considerable research impact on the field of integrin signaling and the mechanisms regulating the interaction between the cells and their microenvironment. Based on this experience, his group is working on the development of living cell biosensors to assess the surface biocompatibility of new materials prepared for regenerative medicine. He has co-authored more than 50 scientific papers in international scientific journals, including Science, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, JCB, PNAS (USA), MCB, JBC, JCS, etc. With more than 7000 quotes, he is one of the most cited Bulgarian specialists in the field of cellular and molecular biology.

Prof. Rumen Pankov

Prof. RJ Duane Miller is a leading scientist in the development of coherent multi-dimensional methods for spectroscopy, related laser technology, and in introducing the concept of using ultra-violet electron sources for dynamic structural analysis. The electron sources developed by his group are bright enough to trace the movement of atoms in real time. The team led by him was the first to record the movement of the atoms during chemical reactions - the very nature of the chemical process was directly observed. This work has made one of the most desirable experiments in science - providing chemists with a direct observation experiment. He has published over 200 scholarly articles, a book by R.J. Duane Miller has been the head of more than 60 Ph.D. students and students, as his former students currently run faculties or have positions in Yale, Michigan (2), Kaiserslautern, NIST, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Fritz Haber Institute, McGill, U Waterloo, University of Tokyo, Tokyo Technical Institute, Harvard, U Toronto and others. His scientific achievements are recognized with the awards: "A.P. Sloan Fellowship, Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, Guggenheim Fellowship, Presidential Award for Young Scientist (USA), Polany Prize, Rutherford Medal in Chemistry, CIC Medal, and numerous lectures.

Prof. RJ Duane Miller

Dr. V. Petrov has a significant contribution in the field of ultra-short light pulses, non-linear frequency transformation, optical materials, etc. In particular, he develops the first pseudosecond optical parametric generators pumped from ultra-fast titanium-sapphire amplifiers that operate in the near infrared range. Its research activity focuses on this technology being able to be applied to the mid-range infrared range of the spectrum. He co-authored about 450 articles in reviewed scientific journals and more than 480 conferences presentations. He has coordinated several international projects and has developed two European Community consortia within the framework of the 6th and 7th Framework Programs. The latter of these programs was dedicated to the development of laser systems in the mid infrared area for minimally invasive surgery. Dr. Petrov is a member of OSA. He has served in the committees of several major international conferences, CLEO, ASSL-ASSP, Europhoton, and Ultrafast Optics. He is a regular reviewer for several international optical magazines and editor (lasers) for the Optics Letters magazine.

Dr. Valentin Petrov

Prof Neshev is a leading scientist in the field of photon technologies. There are significant achievements in fields such as nonlinear optics, metamaterials, etc. In the last few years Prof. Neshev is actively involved and is a leading researcher of optical dielectric meta-surfaces. The team led by him first proposed and demonstrated the concept of Huygens meta-surfaces, which for the first time allowed the creation of ultra-thin surfaces that can modify the light wave front and ultra-high efficiency polarization. This revolutionary idea has led to the development of high-performance optical holograms, lenses and wavelength plates. The high efficiency of these ultra-thin devices also enabled their application in new ultra-high sensitivity biosensor technologies. Prof. Neshev's team first applied these sensors to detect different proteins and biological molecules, which strongly influenced the development of nano-bio-technology. Prof. Neshev has published 200 articles in international journals that have received more than 7700 citations and a h-index of 45 (Google Scholar).

Prof. Dragomir Neshev

PhD in Physics (including Quantum Electronics and Nonlinear Optics) at the Physics Dept. at SU "St. Kl. Ohridski "in 1994. In 2003 he acquired the permanent academic position" Assoc. Professor "in Physics of Wave Processes at SOU. Since 2015 for three years he held Research Professor Appointment at ITMO University, Sankt Petersburg within the framework of the Russian academic excellence project "5-100". Currently – Director of John Atanasoff Centre for Bio and Nano Photonics established by Sofia University (http://bionano-bg.eu/) Research is focused in a relatively broad field known as Physics of ultra-fast optical processes and technologies, including both the generation of ultra-short pulses in various spectral regions (UV, VIS, NIR and Mid-IR) and their use for Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy and Nonlinear Optical Phenomena. Principle investigator (PI) of more than 15 public and privately-funded R&D grants; He is an author of >100 publications. (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-fk5D9IAAAAJ&hl=en ). Over the past five years, he established two new laboratories for advanced experimental research at SOU: "Laser Physics and Applications lab" (http://www.phys.uni-sofia.bg/~ibuch/layout.php?page=news ) and "Femtosecond Мolecular Photonics laboratory. Leadership in Industrial Innovation: Development of Innovative Laser Systems and scientific equipment, for: International Research Institutes and Universities in: England, Germany, Italy, India, China and United States: It includes leading research labs as: Rutherford Laboratory, UK: Los Alamos National Lab, USA; Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, etc. Based on his research achievements on 2002 it was done technology transfer to high-tech manufacturer which now is one of the world leaders in femtosecond transient absorption spectrometers for academia and industry. Contributions to early careers of excellent young researchers: Advisor of more than 39 graduate students (two and more years of training in the research laboratory-31 graduate, 8 PhD students, five postdocs)

Prof. Ivan Bachvarov