Minh Le
(National University of Singapore, Singapore)

Dr. Minh Le assumed the role of Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director at the Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, effective in 2019. Additionally, starting in May 2023, Dr. Le has served as an Adjunct Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore. She also currently holds editorial positions as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Extracellular Biology, Associate Editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, and Associate Editor of Cancer Nanotechnology.
Dr. Le’s academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Computational and Systems Biology from the Singapore-MIT Alliance, followed by five years of postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She has received several prestigious global and national awards, such as the L’Oréal Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowship in 2009, the Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship in 2011, and being featured in the book "Stories of Integration" as a Singaporean who made an impact in 2021. She was honored with the Falling Walls Venture Award for her leadership in a science start-up in 2021 and received the NUS Graduate Mentor of the Year Award in 2022.
Dr. Le is renowned for her contributions to extracellular vesicles and cancer biology. Her research group has developed a strategy to utilize extracellular vesicles derived from red blood cells for delivering nucleic acids, laying the foundation for her startup, Carmine Therapeutics, in 2019.

Minh Le
(National University of Singapore, Singapore)

Dr. Minh Le assumed the role of Assistant Professor and Graduate Program Director at the Department of Pharmacology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, effective in 2019. Additionally, starting in May 2023, Dr. Le has served as an Adjunct Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR, Singapore. She also currently holds editorial positions as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Extracellular Biology, Associate Editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, and Associate Editor of Cancer Nanotechnology.
Dr. Le’s academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Computational and Systems Biology from the Singapore-MIT Alliance, followed by five years of postdoctoral training at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. She has received several prestigious global and national awards, such as the L’Oréal Singapore for Women in Science National Fellowship in 2009, the Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship in 2011, and being featured in the book "Stories of Integration" as a Singaporean who made an impact in 2021. She was honored with the Falling Walls Venture Award for her leadership in a science start-up in 2021 and received the NUS Graduate Mentor of the Year Award in 2022.
Dr. Le is renowned for her contributions to extracellular vesicles and cancer biology. Her research group has developed a strategy to utilize extracellular vesicles derived from red blood cells for delivering nucleic acids, laying the foundation for her startup, Carmine Therapeutics, in 2019.

Wei Seong Toh
(National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore)

Wei Seong Toh, PhD, is an Associate Professor (tenured) and Research Director at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also a Principal Investigator at the NUS Tissue Engineering Program. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms for degeneration and developing strategies for regeneration of tissues of the musculoskeletal system. His team first reported that the small extracellular vesicles, popularly known as the exosomes underpin the therapeutic efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells in joint repair. To date, he has secured >S$8 million total funding, presented >50 plenary/keynote/invited talks, and published >80 publications accumulating h-index 44 and >15000 citations. He and his research team have garnered >40 research awards/honors, including the World's Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University from 2020 to present. He is currently the Secretary of SOCRATES, Society for Clinical Research and Translation of Extracellular Vesicles Singapore. He is also an executive committee member of APSEV, Asia-Pacific Societies for Extracellular Vesicles, and a member of ISEV, International Society for Extracellular Vesicles Task Force on Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Use of EV-based Therapeutics.

Yoon-Kyoung Cho
(UNIST, Korea, Republic of)

Yoon-Kyoung Cho is currently a full professor in Biomedical Engineering at UNIST and a group leader in the Center for Algorithmic and Robotic Synthesis at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Republic of Korea.

She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999, having obtained her M.S. and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from POSTECH in 1994 and 1992, respectively. She worked as a senior researcher (1999–2008) at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), where she participated in the development of in vitro diagnostic devices for biomedical applications.

She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea (NAEK), an associate editor of the journal ‘Lab on a Chip, a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a member of the board of directors of the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS).

Her research interests range from fundamental sciences to translational research in microfluidics and nanomedicine. Current research topics include a lab-on-a-disc for the detection of rare cells and extracellular biomarkers, quantitative analysis of single cells and cell migration, and systems analysis of intercellular communication.

For more details, visit http://fruits.unist.ac.kr.

Buddy Ratner
(University of Washington, USA)

Professor Buddy Ratner, PhD, is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Engineered Biomaterials Engineering Research Center, Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, and Professor in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is an expert in biomaterials used in medical devices and implants, and his lab is working on multiple bioengineering projects for tissues and organs. Dr. Ratner is a fellow and past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a fellow and past president of the Society For Biomaterials, a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of AVS (formerly the American Vacuum Society), a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a fellow of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. He has participated in the launch of numerous companies including Healionics, Inc., Asemblon, Inc. and Kuleana Technology, Inc. (focused on innovative dialysis devices). Dr. Ratner has authored more than 500 scholarly works and has more than 30 issued patents. His numerous awards include the 2014 Lifetime Inventor and Innovator Award from the University of Washington, the Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society; the Most Cited Paper Award (2015) from the Annals of Biomedical Engineering; George Winter Award, European Society for Biomaterials; and the Pierre Galletti Award of AIMBE.

Yoon Sung Nam
(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic of)

Yoon Sung Nam is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Sciences at KAIST. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT in 2010 and worked as a George W. Beadle Argonne Named Postdoctoral Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory before he joined KAIST in 2011. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University and a M.S. in Biological Sciences from KAIST. Professor Nam's research group focuses on nanoscale functional materials for nucleic acid biosensors, vaccine delivery, and phage therapy. He has a strong interest in identifying key factors and processes of biochemical recognition and selection of molecules/materials in biological systems, including peptide-mediated molecular recognition, ligand-cell receptor interactions, self-assembly of biomolecules, charge transfer mediators, and light harvesting processes.

Buddy Ratner
(University of Washington, USA)

Professor Buddy Ratner, PhD, is Co-Director of the Center for Dialysis Innovation, Director of the Engineered Biomaterials Engineering Research Center, Michael L. and Myrna Darland Endowed Chair in Technology Commercialization, and Professor in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He received his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is an expert in biomaterials used in medical devices and implants, and his lab is working on multiple bioengineering projects for tissues and organs. Dr. Ratner is a fellow and past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), a fellow and past president of the Society For Biomaterials, a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of AVS (formerly the American Vacuum Society), a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a fellow of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society. He has participated in the launch of numerous companies including Healionics, Inc., Asemblon, Inc. and Kuleana Technology, Inc. (focused on innovative dialysis devices). Dr. Ratner has authored more than 500 scholarly works and has more than 30 issued patents. His numerous awards include the 2014 Lifetime Inventor and Innovator Award from the University of Washington, the Distinguished Service Award from the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry; the Langmuir Lecture Award from the American Chemical Society; the Most Cited Paper Award (2015) from the Annals of Biomedical Engineering; George Winter Award, European Society for Biomaterials; and the Pierre Galletti Award of AIMBE.

Yoon Sung Nam
(Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic of)

Yoon Sung Nam is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Sciences at KAIST. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from MIT in 2010 and worked as a George W. Beadle Argonne Named Postdoctoral Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory before he joined KAIST in 2011. He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University and a M.S. in Biological Sciences from KAIST. Professor Nam's research group focuses on nanoscale functional materials for nucleic acid biosensors, vaccine delivery, and phage therapy. He has a strong interest in identifying key factors and processes of biochemical recognition and selection of molecules/materials in biological systems, including peptide-mediated molecular recognition, ligand-cell receptor interactions, self-assembly of biomolecules, charge transfer mediators, and light harvesting processes.

Ahmad Bikharudin
(Okayama University, Japan)

I am Ahmad Bikharudin, from Indonesia, and I am recently a 3rd-year PhD student at the Department of Biomaterials at Okayama University, Japan. My research interest is to develop novel functions and mechanisms of biomaterials for a range of biomedical applications.

Matthias Barz
(Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research, Leiden University, Netherlands)

Dr. Matthias Barz studied chemistry at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany) and Seoul National University (South Korea) received a diploma degree in chemistry in 2006 and a PhD in polymer chemistry from the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany) in 2010. Afterwards, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Maria J. Vicent at the CIPF (Valencia, Spain, Pharmaceutical Technology/Drug Delivery) and Prof. T. Kirchhausen at Boston Children’s Hospital (Boston, USA, Molecular Cell Biology). In 2013, he became independent junior research group leader at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (Germany), finished his habilitation in organic chemistry in 2017. Since 2020 he is full professor for biopharmacy at the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR) at the University Leiden (Leiden, Netherlands), leads the division of BioTherapeurics and is member of the management board of LACDR.
His group focusses on the development of nanomedicines based on polypept(o)ides, polymers combining polypeptides with polypeptoids, for applications in cancer immune therapy, cancer theragnostic (pre-targeting), autoimmune diseases and control of antibacterial infections.
Dr. Matthias Barz has published more than 150 research papers, commentaries, reviews, book chapters and patents. For his independent research he received numerous awards, including the most prestigious Chemie Dozentenpreis (FCI), the Hermann Schnell Scholarship (GDCH) and was named ACS PMSE Young Investigator in 2018. In 2022 he had the honor to deliver a speech at Dias Natalis of Leiden University (most important honoree lecture for professors in Leiden).

Ho Jeong Jeon
(Korean Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic of)

Hojeong Jeon received his B.S. (2001) and M.Sc. Degree (2004) in Mechanical Engineering from the Seoul National University, Korea. He holds a Ph.D. (2011) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, US. He joined Biomedical Research Institute at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in 2012 as a senior research scientist and was promoted to a principal research scientist in 2017. Since 2021, he has also been a professor at the KU-KIST Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Korea University. Now, he is a head of the Biomaterials Research Center. Jeon’s current research interests are in micro/nano surface modification for functional biomaterials, microfabrication for tissue engineering and implantable biomedical devices. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers.

Taher Saif
(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)

Dr Taher Saif received his BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and Washington State University respectively in 1984 and 1986. He obtained his Ph.D degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University in 1993. He worked as a Post Doctoral Associate in Electrical Engineering and the National Nanofabrication Facility at Cornell University during 1993-97. He joined the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during 1997. He is curently the Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor in the department. His current research includes cancer tumor micro environment, mechanics of neurons and cardiac cells, development of biological machines and materials, and electro-thermo-mechanical behavior of nano scale metals and semiconductors. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health. He received the Warner T. Koiter Medal from American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2018, and the Engineering Science Medal from the Society of Engineering Science in 2020. He became Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2023.

Ho Jeong Jeon
(Korean Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, Republic of)

Hojeong Jeon received his B.S. (2001) and M.Sc. Degree (2004) in Mechanical Engineering from the Seoul National University, Korea. He holds a Ph.D. (2011) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, US. He joined Biomedical Research Institute at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in 2012 as a senior research scientist and was promoted to a principal research scientist in 2017. Since 2021, he has also been a professor at the KU-KIST Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Korea University. Now, he is a head of the Biomaterials Research Center. Jeon’s current research interests are in micro/nano surface modification for functional biomaterials, microfabrication for tissue engineering and implantable biomedical devices. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers.

Arum Han
(TEXAS A&M University, USA)

Dr. Han is the Texas Instruments Professor of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Chancellor’s EDGES Fellow and the Presidential Impact Fellow of Texas A&M University. He also holds joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering, is a Graduate Faculty of the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Faculty of the Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience, and Faculty of Toxicology. His research focuses on development of microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip, and organ-on-a-chip systems that enable unique biological experiments at high throughput and high accuracy that can then be readily adopted by the broad bio/medical science community. He has pioneered the area of high-throughput microfluidics for microbiology applications, and have been applying these technologies for synthetic biology, host-pathogen interactions, infectious disease, and microbial bioproduction. Developing technologies that enable complex multi-step biological assays that involves mammalian cells, microorganisms, and viruses to be conducted in high-throughput microfluidics format are some of his key accomplishments. He has also pioneered the area of organ-on-a-chip systems for feto-maternal interface and preterm birth research, and is applying these microphysiological system models for new therapeutic development and environmental toxicant testing. He is an extremely prolific multidisciplinary researcher, with more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, and has been leading and co-leading numerous multi-disciplinary projects. He is also the director of the AggieFab Nanofabrication Facility, a campus-wide core user facility. Under his leadership, the AggieFeb went through rapid expansion. He currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Biomedical Microdevices.

Michiya Matsusaki
(Osaka University, Japan)

Michiya Matsusaki was born in Kagoshima, Japan in 1976. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2003 from Kagoshima University. He started his academic career as a Postdoctoral fellow at Osaka University in 2003. He was a visiting scientist at Lund University in 2004. In 2006, he joined the Department of Applied Chemistry in the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015 and to full Professor in 2019. He was a JST-PRESTO researcher (Concurrent position) from 2008 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2019. He was awarded 20 awards including the Young Scientist’s Prize by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. His research interest is biomaterials and tissue engineering for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical applications.

Deepak Choudhury
(Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Singapore)

Dr Deepak Choudhury is currently a Principal Scientist and Group Leader of Biomanufacturing Technology at Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) A*STAR. His research interests include biomaterials/ biofabrication processes development for cellular agriculture, regenerative medicine, cell therapy and tissue engineering. Dr. Choudhury and his team have published several unique insights in the CM field – starting with cover story on “The business of cultured meat”, which catalogued CM companies/meat focus/funding landscape, etc. The team wrote two more analyses in 2020 on the nomenclature and impact of 3D printing in CM. Then in 2021-2022, followed up with state of edible scaffolds, developing CM ecosystem, fermentation effect, as well as the first patentometric analysis in the CM.

Dr Choudhury was invited as an expert for consultation on “Scientific advice on cell-based food products and food safety considerations” in 2022. This 3-day consultation session was organised by FAO & WHO in Singapore. Dr Choudhury is recipient of the 1st & 2nd Alternative Protein Seed Challenges under Singapore Food Story (SFS) R&D Programme, as well as a Co-Investigator of the CentRe of Innovation for Sustainable banking and production of cultivated Meats (CRISP Meats) established in Singapore. He has secured > S$4 million in competitive funding and has five patent applications and more than 35 publications. Dr Choudhury has also been an active reviewer of technical and review journal articles in the alternative proteins/cultivated meat space, including for Nature Food, NPJ Science of Food, Future Foods, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Trends in Food Science and Technology, etc.

Tatsuya Shimizu
(Tokyo Women's Medical University, Japan)

Prof. Tatsuya Shimizu is now Director & Professor, Institute of Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Science, Tokyo Women's Medical University (TWMU). He graduated from Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo and got medical doctor (M.D.) in 1992. After two-year clinical training, he made a specialty of cardiovascular medicine including catheterization and got Ph.D in 1999. After that, he moved to TWMU and started the research of tissue engineering based on “cell sheet technology”. Especially, he has engaged in myocardial tissue engineering and successfully fabricated beating myocardial tissues. Recent works are engineering thick vascularized tissues and 3-D tissue model systems for heart, liver and kidney. Furthermore, he has started the research for cultivated meat production since 2017. Now he is leading several cultivated meat national projects, in particular the development of a circulating cell culture system using algae and animal cells. Based on these achievements, he has published about 250 papers (H-index 63) and received several awards in the fields of cardiology and regenerative medicine.

Michiya Matsusaki
(Osaka University, Japan)

Michiya Matsusaki was born in Kagoshima, Japan in 1976. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2003 from Kagoshima University. He started his academic career as a Postdoctoral fellow at Osaka University in 2003. He was a visiting scientist at Lund University in 2004. In 2006, he joined the Department of Applied Chemistry in the Graduate School of Engineering at Osaka University as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015 and to full Professor in 2019. He was a JST-PRESTO researcher (Concurrent position) from 2008 to 2011 and from 2015 to 2019. He was awarded 20 awards including the Young Scientist’s Prize by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. His research interest is biomaterials and tissue engineering for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical applications.

Deepak Choudhury
(DR, Singapore)

Dr Deepak Choudhury is currently a Principal Scientist and Group Leader of Biomanufacturing Technology at Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) A*STAR. His research interests include biomaterials/ biofabrication processes development for cellular agriculture, regenerative medicine, cell therapy and tissue engineering. Dr. Choudhury and his team have published several unique insights in the CM field – starting with cover story on “The business of cultured meat”, which catalogued CM companies/meat focus/funding landscape, etc. The team wrote two more analyses in 2020 on the nomenclature and impact of 3D printing in CM. Then in 2021-2022, followed up with state of edible scaffolds, developing CM ecosystem, fermentation effect, as well as the first patentometric analysis in the CM.

Dr Choudhury was invited as an expert for consultation on “Scientific advice on cell-based food products and food safety considerations” in 2022. This 3-day consultation session was organised by FAO & WHO in Singapore. Dr Choudhury is recipient of the 1st & 2nd Alternative Protein Seed Challenges under Singapore Food Story (SFS) R&D Programme, as well as a Co-Investigator of the CentRe of Innovation for Sustainable banking and production of cultivated Meats (CRISP Meats) established in Singapore. He has secured > S$4 million in competitive funding and has five patent applications and more than 35 publications. Dr Choudhury has also been an active reviewer of technical and review journal articles in the alternative proteins/cultivated meat space, including for Nature Food, NPJ Science of Food, Future Foods, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Trends in Food Science and Technology, etc.

Maartje Bastings
(EPFL, Switzerland)

Maartje Bastings is a biomaterials engineer leading the Programmable Biomaterials Laboratory at EPFL. Dr. Bastings studies how rigidity versus flexibility and uniform control over nano-geometry interplay toward (super-)selectivity, using DNA as programmable engineering tool. Selectivity is key for the performance of nanotherapeutics, as it defines where and when an interaction will – or can – take place. Her team discovered that super-selective multivalent interactions can be achieved in the low-valency regime when binding units are spatially and geometrically constrained, a concept she defined as “Multivalent Pattern Recognition (MPR)”. She showed that molecular flexibility at interfaces comes with a cost in selectivity and demonstrated that the super-selectivity of materials for immune engineering can be controlled by their mechanical and structural design. Supporting the development of bioactive DNA-based nanomaterials, she made key contributions to ensure structural stability and methods to guide cell-uptake, which now are widely adopted as common-practice in the field.

Dan Luo
(Cornell University, USA)

Bio: Dr. Luo obtained his B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China and his PhD from The Ohio State University. He arrived at Cornell in 1998 for his postdoctoral training under Prof. Saltzman in the School of Chemical Engineering before joining the Cornell faculty in the Dept. of Biological and Environmental Engineering in 2001. He was promoted to full professorship in 2011. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award, the Cornell Provost’s Award for Distinguished Scholarship, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, the Journal of Materials Chemistry Inaugural Editorial Board Award, New York State Faculty Development Award, CALS College Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Basic Research, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Point-of-Care Diagnostics Grand Challenge Award. He was also selected four times by Cornell’s top undergraduate seniors (Merrill Presidential Scholars) as a Cornell outstanding professor/mentor. Dr. Luo' group has published more than 150 peer reviewed papers with more than 20 in the top journals including subseries of Nature and Science (e.g. Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Science Robotics, etc). Dr. Luo has delivered close to 300 plenary or invited talks around the world. In 2013, Dr. Luo was elected as a College Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

Wenlong Cheng
(University of Sydney, Australia)

Wenlong Cheng is a professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Sydney. He was a professor and director of research in the Department of Chemical&Biological Engineering at Monash University, Australia. He is currently NHMRC Investigator Leadership Fellow and a fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and was an Ambassador Tech Fellow in Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication. He earned his PhD from Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005 and his BS from Jilin University, China in 1999. He was Alexander von Humboldt fellow in the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics and a research associate in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering of Cornell University. He founded Monash NanoBionics lab at the Monash University in 2010. His research interest lies at the Nano-Bio Interface, particularly self-assembly of 2D plasmonic nanomaterials, DNA nanotechnology, electronic skins and stretchable energy devices. He has published >200 papers. He is currently the scientific editor for Nanoscale Horizon (Royal Society of Chemistry) and the editorial board members for a few journals including Nanoscale, Nanoscale Horizons, Nanoscale Advances, Advanced Sensor Research, Advanced Electronic Materials, ChemNanomat, Advanced Sensors and Energy Materials, iScience, Chemosensors, Austin Journal of Biomedical Engineering, FlexTech and Wearable Electronics.

Maartje Bastings
(EPFL, Switzerland)

Maartje Bastings is a biomaterials engineer leading the Programmable Biomaterials Laboratory at EPFL. Dr. Bastings studies how rigidity versus flexibility and uniform control over nano-geometry interplay toward (super-)selectivity, using DNA as programmable engineering tool. Selectivity is key for the performance of nanotherapeutics, as it defines where and when an interaction will – or can – take place. Her team discovered that super-selective multivalent interactions can be achieved in the low-valency regime when binding units are spatially and geometrically constrained, a concept she defined as “Multivalent Pattern Recognition (MPR)”. She showed that molecular flexibility at interfaces comes with a cost in selectivity and demonstrated that the super-selectivity of materials for immune engineering can be controlled by their mechanical and structural design. Supporting the development of bioactive DNA-based nanomaterials, she made key contributions to ensure structural stability and methods to guide cell-uptake, which now are widely adopted as common-practice in the field.

Josep Puigmartí-Luis
(Department of Materials Science & Physical Chemistry, University of Barcelona, Spain)

Prof. Dr. Josep Puigmartí-Luis is a Professor at University of Barcelona, working on controlled synthesis of functional materials with the aid of microfluidic technologies. His work in supramolecular and flow chemistry, has been awarded with “Premi Antoni de Martí i Franquès de Ciències Químiques”, award from the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (2009), St. Jordi award from the Institut d’Estudis Catalans and the Societat Catalana de Química (2006) and an ETH fellowship in 2008. In 2012, he was appointed a Ramon Y Cajal (RyC) researcher, and in 2015 was awarded an ERC starting grant to study and control self-assembly processes of metal-organic based crystalline materials. In 2019, he was appointed as an ICREA Research Professor, and since 2020, his group is located at the University of Barcelona (UB). He was also awarded "Rising Star Award" from IEEE-3M Nano Community in 2023.

BAIYAN SUI
(Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China)

Baiyan Sui received his Ph.D. degree in Basic Science of Stomatology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China) in 2017. He is a Research Associate at the department of dental materials, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine; College of Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He is also a Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Biomaterials, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) for a year in 2022. His research interests lie in the construction of functional inorganic nanoparticles for tumor therapy, the biological evaluation of various biomaterials, and the development of bioactive glasses for regenerative medicine.

Ji Ho Park
(KAIST, Korea, Republic of)

Ji-Ho Park is Associate Professor of Bio and Brain Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea. He holds an Affiliate appointment in the KAIST Institute of Health Science and Technology at KAIST. He received a B.S. degree in Materials Science and a M.S. degree in Medical Science from Yonsei University, South Korea. He then moved to the USA and received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from University of California, San Diego under the direction of Professor Michael Sailor in 2009. He joined the faculty in the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering at KAIST in 2011 after postdoctoral studies at University of California, Berkeley under Professor Peidong Yang. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. He is the recipient of Young Investigator Award from the Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is the author of over 120 research publications in journals including Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, and PNAS, in subjects related to nanomedicine, drug delivery, and biomaterials. He has 30 patents or patents pending.

Gabe Kwong
(Georgia Tech, USA)

Dr. Kwong is an Associate Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He earned his B.S. from UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. from Caltech both in Bioengineering. His research program is centered at the interface of bioengineering, immunology and medicine. His group pioneers cell therapies and biosensors to address frontier challenges in cancer, transplantation medicine, and infectious diseases. Among his distinctions, Dr. Kwong is a recipient of the NIH Director's New Innovator and Pioneer Awards, and currently leads the $49.5 million Cancer and Organ Degradome Atlas (CODA) project, a multi-institutional research enterprise supported by ARPA-H to revolutionize multi-cancer early detection. Dr. Kwong co-founded two biotechnology companies, and holds over 35 issued or pending patents.

Yoonkey Nam
(KAIST, Korea, Republic of)

Dr. Yoonkey Nam is a Professor in Bio and Brain Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He received the B.S. degree from Seoul National University in 1997, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2003 and 2005, respectively. Since 2006, he has been with KAIST, where he is now a Professor of Bio and Brain Engineering and principal investigator of Neural Engineering Laboratory (https://neuros.kaist.ac.kr/). He served as the organizing committee member of MicroTAS 2015 and IEEE EMBC 2017, and as the Academic Program Chair of The Korean Society of Medical & Biological Engineering (KOSOMBE, 2010-2011), and The Korean BioChip Society (KBCS, 2017). His current research interests include the application of micro-and nanotechnology in neuroscience, Brain-on-a-Chip technology, electrical and optical neural interface technology, and multichannel neural signal processing. He is the recipient of the Young Biomedical Engineer Award from KOSOMBE (2011), and the Early Achievement Award from KBSC (2013), and elected as ‘The Top 100 Technologies and Leaders in 2025 Korea’ from The National Academy of Engineering of Korea in 2017.

Ji Ho Park
(KAIST, Korea, Republic of)

Ji-Ho Park is Associate Professor of Bio and Brain Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea. He holds an Affiliate appointment in the KAIST Institute of Health Science and Technology at KAIST. He received a B.S. degree in Materials Science and a M.S. degree in Medical Science from Yonsei University, South Korea. He then moved to the USA and received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science from University of California, San Diego under the direction of Professor Michael Sailor in 2009. He joined the faculty in the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering at KAIST in 2011 after postdoctoral studies at University of California, Berkeley under Professor Peidong Yang. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. He is the recipient of Young Investigator Award from the Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is the author of over 120 research publications in journals including Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, and PNAS, in subjects related to nanomedicine, drug delivery, and biomaterials. He has 30 patents or patents pending.

BIN YANG
(Guangzhou Medical University, China)

Bin Yang received his B.Sc and Ph. D degrees in the College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences from Wuhan University (2005-2014), and worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State University from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, he joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Guangzhou Medical University as an associate professor. His research interests focus on developing functional polymeric nanomedicines for targeted drug delivery and cancer immunotherapy.

Artur Moreira Pinto
(LEBABE - University of Porto, Portugal)

Artur M. Pinto graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences, obtaining his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto (PT). His PhD work was carried out at LEPABE - FEUP, INEB-i3S, and University of Washington - Bioengineering Department - Buddy Ratner's Lab (USA). After his graduation, Artur has been appointed as a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Materials and Interface Chemistry Lab (SMG) - Eindhoven University of Technology (NL), where he developed research work on graphene-based materials for electronic and biomedical applications, namely 3D printing of polymeric implants. Also, he was also Lecturing at the Chemical Engineering and Chemistry Department (Nanotechnology course). Following his Post-doc, Artur has been appointed as Researcher at INEB-i3S, being Principal Investigator of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) R&D project "NovaDerma", whose work plan comprised the development of innovative nanomaterials/drugs conjugates to be integrated in pharmaceutical formulations for the phototherapy of skin diseases, such as basal cell carcinoma. Meanwhile, he has been awarded a long-term Researcher position at LEPABE-FEUP, on the competitive national call CEEC-IND, carrying out his research activities on both institutions. Artur has been the main supervisor of 2 Postdocs, 9 Research Fellows, 2 BSc students, 1 MSc Student in Erasmus, 5 PhD students awarded a FCT grant (ongoing). He has supervised also 12 BSc/MSc trainees, 10 MSc students thesis. His >30 publications on 2DnMat/biomedical field have been cited >1700 times and have an h-index of 14 (i10 of 17). In the last 5 years he has published 22 articles, 10 of which in journals with IF>10 and 12 as the last author. His work has resulted in over 100 conference presentations, including several invited talks and workshops, resulting in 2 patent requests and 1 world patent granted. During his career, Artur has been involved in several international collaborative research projects, working directly with partners from institutions in countries such as the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Finland. The projects he has been involved in as a PI or proposal writer, amount to a total funding above 1M€. Artur has been performing the evaluation of international research projects, and has been invited for chairing and refereeing in prestigious conferences on his field of work. He recently organized a Symposium on Advanced Materials at the MRS Fall Meeting, and another one on 2D-Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications (UT Austin Portugal) together with colleagues from the USA. Also, Artur has received the Julia Polak European Research Award in recognition of the work developed in the field, by the European Society for Biomaterials. Artur has co-written a chapter on Carbon Biomaterials for the most recently-released 4th edition of the world-renowned book Biomaterials Science: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine. He is currently, Principal Investigator of 2 FCT projects, one of them from the UT Austin Portugal Program, whose work plan focuses on developing new 2D nanomaterials for cancer photo/immunotherapy. He is also Lecturing at FEUP's Chemical Engineering Department and supervising a team of >10 research fellows/PhD/MSc students.

Melis Emanet
(Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy)

Melis Emanet (female, born on May 22nd, 1989) is a Postdoctoral Collaborator at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Italy, Department of since July 2020. She received her bachelor's degree in the Molecular Biology and Genetic Department at Istanbul University, Turkey. In February 2019, she received her Ph. D. in Biotechnology (with honors) from Yeditepe University, Turkey. Smart Bio-Interfaces, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia. She was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Sabancı University in Istanbul, Department of Engineering and Natural Science between July 2019 – July 2020. Her main research interest is smart nanomaterials for nanomedicine and interactions at bio and nano interfaces. She participated as a researcher in 3 projects founded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). She has published 18 peer-reviewed papers and 15 conference papers in international journals and conferences, besides 2 book chapters in international books. She was also a teaching assistant of biochemistry and analytical chemistry lectures at the Department of Genetic and Bioengineering at Yeditepe University for 6 years between 2013 and 2019.

Nathaniel Hwang
(Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of)

Nathaniel S. Hwang is currently a tenured full professor in the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea. Prof. Hwang is a member of Institute for Chemical Processes and BioMAX Institute at Seoul National University. In addition, he also holds an adjunct position in Stem Cell Graduate Program and Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering at the Seoul National University.
Prof. Hwang received a bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering in 2002. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2007 under the guidance of Professor Jennifer Elisseeff. After doctoral studies, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, San Diego, Department of Bioengineering, and worked with Professor Shyni Varghese. From 2008 through 2011, he worked as a postdoctoral associate in Professor Robert Langer’s laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2011, Dr. Hwang joined the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University.
Prof. Hwang is currently leading a group of students that work together to develop new biomaterials, study stem cells, and design new technologies for regenerative medicine. In particular, Prof. Hwang’s laboratory is working toward the fabrication of bio-synthetic microenvironments conducive to stem cell differentiation by manipulating scaffold properties and incorporating the desired biological signals. In addition, Prof. Hwang’s laboratory is developing non-viral strategies for a direct conversion stem cell technology. He has published over 110 research articles and book chapters covering biomaterials and stem cells for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration (h-index >41, citations>6300). Prof. Hwang is an active member of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society and Korean Society for Biomaterials.

Nathaniel Hwang
(Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of)

Nathaniel S. Hwang is currently a tenured full professor in the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea. Prof. Hwang is a member of Institute for Chemical Processes and BioMAX Institute at Seoul National University. In addition, he also holds an adjunct position in Stem Cell Graduate Program and Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering at the Seoul National University.
Prof. Hwang received a bachelor degree in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering in 2002. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2007 under the guidance of Professor Jennifer Elisseeff. After doctoral studies, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, San Diego, Department of Bioengineering, and worked with Professor Shyni Varghese. From 2008 through 2011, he worked as a postdoctoral associate in Professor Robert Langer’s laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2011, Dr. Hwang joined the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Seoul National University.
Prof. Hwang is currently leading a group of students that work together to develop new biomaterials, study stem cells, and design new technologies for regenerative medicine. In particular, Prof. Hwang’s laboratory is working toward the fabrication of bio-synthetic microenvironments conducive to stem cell differentiation by manipulating scaffold properties and incorporating the desired biological signals. In addition, Prof. Hwang’s laboratory is developing non-viral strategies for a direct conversion stem cell technology. He has published over 110 research articles and book chapters covering biomaterials and stem cells for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration (h-index >41, citations>6300). Prof. Hwang is an active member of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society and Korean Society for Biomaterials.

Marc-Andre Fortin
(CR-CHU de Québec - Université Laval, Canada)

Prof. Marc-André Fortin is the head of the Biomaterials for Imaging laboratory at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec (CR-CHU de Québec - Université Laval in Quebec City). He is a full professor at the department of Mining, Metallurgy and Materials Engineering at U. Laval. He is the founder and the manager of CR-CHU de Qc’s small-animal imaging platform (magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and X-ray computed tomography), mainly dedicated to the study of nano(bio)materials in vivo. Dr Fortin graduated with a Ph.D. from Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique – Énergie et Matériaux (INRS-ÉMT - Montréal), followed by a Postdoc in biomedical imaging at Uppsala and Linköping Universities (Sweden; in biomedical imaging). Dr Fortin received twice a Career Award from the Fonds de la Recherche en Santé du Québec (FRQS Junior 1 and 2; 2008 - 2016). His main research interests include the development of nano(bio)materials for imaging applications, new strategies to image the biodistribution of nanomaterials in vivo, additive manufacturing of biomedical polymers for enhanced visibility in biomedical imaging, as well as novel routes for radioactive nanoparticles synthesis. Dr. Fortin has published more than 70 scientific papers (ACS Nano, Nanoscale, Advanced Materials, Chemistry of Materials, Journal of Controlled Release…), 3 book chapters and 3 reviews in the field of nanomaterials for imaging. He holds several patents on novel nanoparticle synthesis routes by plasma technologies. Currently, he holds funding from NSERC, CIHR, CFI, FRQNT, and NRCan. He is a member of the College of Reviewers of the Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR; Pharmaceutical Sciences panel). At U.Laval since 2007, he lectures on materials analysis, biomedical imaging, and nanotechnology for biomedical applications. He chaired the International Gold Conference 2022 (www.gold2022.org), a scientific platform uniting research in gold-based nanomaterials for high-technology applications.

Maartje Bastings
(EPFL, Switzerland)

Maartje Bastings is a biomaterials engineer leading the Programmable Biomaterials Laboratory at EPFL. Dr. Bastings studies how rigidity versus flexibility and uniform control over nano-geometry interplay toward (super-)selectivity, using DNA as programmable engineering tool. Selectivity is key for the performance of nanotherapeutics, as it defines where and when an interaction will – or can – take place. Her team discovered that super-selective multivalent interactions can be achieved in the low-valency regime when binding units are spatially and geometrically constrained, a concept she defined as “Multivalent Pattern Recognition (MPR)”. She showed that molecular flexibility at interfaces comes with a cost in selectivity and demonstrated that the super-selectivity of materials for immune engineering can be controlled by their mechanical and structural design. Supporting the development of bioactive DNA-based nanomaterials, she made key contributions to ensure structural stability and methods to guide cell-uptake, which now are widely adopted as common-practice in the field.

William M. Shih
(Harvard University, USA)

Dr. Shih is a Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Cancer Biology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. William studied Biochemical Sciences at Harvard for his A.B. (1990–1994) and Biochemistry at Stanford for his Ph.D. (1994–2000) He did a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute (2001–2004) and has since been back at Harvard as a faculty member. His laboratory develops self-assembling DNA nanostructures and devices for use in biomedical applications.

Andreas Herrmann
(RWTH Aachen University, Germany)

Andreas Herrmann studied chemistry at the University of Mainz (Germany). From 1997 to 2000 he pursued his graduate studies at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, in the group of Prof. Klaus Müllen. Then he worked as a consultant for Roland Berger Management Consultants in Munich (2001). In the years 2002 and 2003, he returned to academia as a postdoctoral fellow working on protein engineering with Prof. Don Hilvert at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. In 2004, he was appointed as a head of a junior research group at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research. From 2007 to 2017 he held a position as full professor at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, where he headed the chair for Polymer Chemistry and Bioengineering. Since June 2017, he is scientific board member of the DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen, Germany, and fills a position as full professor at RWTH Aachen University for Macromolecular Materials and Systems. In 2018, he became vice-director of the DWI – Leibniz Institute and director in 2023.

Youngeun Kim
(Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of)

B.S., Materials Science and Engineering (double major in Biomedical Engineering), Carnegie Mellon University (2011)
Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University (2016)
Postdoc, Harvard University (2017-2022)
Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University (2022-present)

Bingyun Li
(West Virginia University School of Medicine, USA)

Dr. Bingyun Li is a full Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at West Virginia University (USA). He is a member of the Society for Biomaterials (SFB), Materials Research Society (MRS), Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Chinese Association for Biomaterials (CAB), and International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS). Currently, Dr. Li is serving as the President of CAB and Liaison Committee Chair of SFB. Dr. Li is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Dr. Li’s research focuses on advanced materials, bioengineering, and nanomedicine. He has supervised 100+ trainees, and his research group has published 112 peer-reviewed articles (h-index=53), four edited books, 11 book chapters, 12 provisional/full patents, and 178 abstracts. Dr. Li has given 67 invited talks including three keynote presentations at national and international conferences.

Jeremy L. Gilbert
(Clemson University, USA)

Jeremy L. Gilbert, Ph.D. (Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, 1987), is the Hansjörg Wyss Endowed Chair for Regenerative Medicine and Professor of Bioengineering in the Department of Bioengineering at Clemson University. He is the director of the Clemson – Medical University of South Carolina Bioengineering Program, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research – Part B: Applied Biomaterials and past president of the Society For Biomaterials. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers (FAIMBE), a fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE) of the international union of societies of biomaterials science and engineering (IUSBSE), and an associate member of The Hip Society. He was Professor of Biomaterials at Syracuse University for 18 years and an assistant and associate professor at Northwestern University for 11 years before that. Dr. Gilbert’s research area is primarily focused on metallic biomaterials, orthopedic implants and their degradation in the human body, implant retrieval analyses and development of advanced electrochemically-based test methods for medical devices and biomaterials. He has investigated orthopedic alloys and conjoint degradation modes related to tribology and electrochemistry (tribocorrosion). He also has carried out research focused on electrochemical control of biological processes including infection and cellular apoptosis at metal implant surfaces.

Jianjun Guan
(Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Professor Guan is Earl E. & Myrtle E. Walker Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. Professor Guan’s research interests are in functional biomaterials and microenvironments for cell and drug delivery; oxygen sensitive biomaterials for non-invasively and real time imaging and detecting tissue oxygen during vascularization therapy; and cardiovascular, skin, and musculoskeletal tissue regeneration. His research covers regenerative medicine, polymer, drug delivery, nanomedicine, stem cell, biomechanics, surgery and biomedical imaging fields.

Bingyun Li
(West Virginia University School of Medicine, USA)

Dr. Bingyun Li is a full Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at West Virginia University (USA). He is a member of the Society for Biomaterials (SFB), Materials Research Society (MRS), Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS), American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Chinese Association for Biomaterials (CAB), and International Chinese Musculoskeletal Research Society (ICMRS). Currently, Dr. Li is serving as the President of CAB and Liaison Committee Chair of SFB. Dr. Li is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Dr. Li’s research focuses on advanced materials, bioengineering, and nanomedicine. He has supervised 100+ trainees, and his research group has published 112 peer-reviewed articles (h-index=53), four edited books, 11 book chapters, 12 provisional/full patents, and 178 abstracts. Dr. Li has given 67 invited talks including three keynote presentations at national and international conferences.

Ranjit De
(Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Korea, Republic of)

Dr. Ranjit De is an innovative researcher who has received foundational training in polymer science, specifically exploring the physicochemical properties of polyelectrolytes in solution phase. However, he has since ventured into the realm of polymeric nanoparticles, light-responsive nanomaterials, etc., and their applications in various fields. His motivation stems from the conviction that revolutionary technologies can arise when different research areas converge.

One of his notable inventions is a versatile nanocarrier capable of loading and delivering sensitive therapeutics with protein-like properties, while also safeguarding them from degradation caused by heat and enzymes. This technology paves the way to negate the requirement of refrigeration otherwise required for the protection of proteinaceous therapeutics, e.g., vaccines, as the nature does. Consequently, it offers a solution to the challenges associated with transporting sensitive therapeutic materials to remote areas of developing countries lacking refrigeration infrastructure. These significant findings were featured on the cover page of a science journal published by the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry.

In another recent project, Dr. De devised a simple, rapid, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method to create nitrogen-enriched carbon quantum dots using a readily available microwave oven. These zero-dimensional nanomaterials exhibited excellent solubility in both aqueous and organic environments, making them suitable for a wide range of applications. These include the development of invisible ink, light-emitting polymeric molds, long-lasting stability on cellulose papers, finger imprinting, metal ion detection, pH sensing, ROS sensing, and bioimaging/drug delivery. Moreover, when these fluorescent graphitic carbon dots were tested on human neuroblastoma cells, they demonstrated exceptional cell viability, reaching approximately 100%. The groundbreaking nature of this work was acknowledged by its selection for highlighting on the cover page of a journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr. De also bears expertise in fabricating molecule sensor using the array of nobel metal nanostructures. Employing the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), the detection of such molecules have been highly successful wven when they were present in extremely low concentrations.

Dr. De's contributions have not gone unnoticed, as he received the esteemed 'J. K. Mittal' award for delivering the best oral presentation on his doctoral research from the Indian Society for Surface Science and Technology. His work has resulted in the publication of over 30 research papers to date, and researchers worldwide are actively utilizing his technologies.

Furthermore, Dr. De's overarching goal is to seamlessly integrate nanomaterials into biological systems, introducing functionalities that surpass the limitations of biology itself. By achieving this objective, he aims to transcend our biological boundaries and enable novel applications of nanomaterials in diverse biological contexts.

His objective is to be enriched with academic excellences through interdisciplinary research that supports proficiency to compete global challenges beyond the fields of nanotechnology, chemistry, biology, and physics to yield purpose driven discovery for societal benefits. He is inquisitive, fun-loving, and always ready to assist and collaborate. He believes “Interdisciplinary research is the future of science, and the measure of success is its real-life impact”.

Takahiro Nomoto
(University of Tokyo, Japan)

Takahiro Nomoto studied materials science in Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, and joined the laboratory of Prof. Kazunori Kataoka, starting his career as a researcher of biomaterials and drug delivery. After obtaining Ph.D. in Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, he has worked as Assistant Professor in Chemical Resources Laboratory (Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Innovative Research from 2016), Tokyo Institute of Technology. He started his original research projects by re-interpreting/constructing Ringsdorf's model of polymer-drug conjugates. One of the most important achievements is the extremely simple polymer-drug conjugates for boron neutron capture therapy. In addition, he has developed polymer-drug conjugates for photodynamic therapy and polymeric iron chelators for potentially modulating tumor immune environment. In 2023, he moved to Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo as Associate Professor, and his laboratory started. His team conducts research to create new medical technologies by integrating various research fields with a focus on drug delivery.

Nicholas Dunne
(Dublin City University, Ireland)

Nicholas Dunne is the Full Professor of Biomaterials Engineering and holds Executive Directorship for the Medical Engineering Research Centre and Biodesign Europe at Dublin City University (Ireland). Prof Dunne's research programme lies at the interface of materials science, engineering and biology, and his group focuses in the development of stratified approaches for the design, manufacture and characterisation of drug-biomaterial combination medical devices for efficacious hard and soft tissue repair and regeneration. This work spans fundamental mechanisms at the host/material interface as well as translational research to target non-union bone defects, bone metastases and chronic wounds. This research programme has been developed via a strong, interdisciplinary research programme complimented with over-arching international research institute and industry collaborations.

Takahiro Nomoto
(University of Tokyo, Japan)

Takahiro Nomoto studied materials science in Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, and joined the laboratory of Prof. Kazunori Kataoka, starting his career as a researcher of biomaterials and drug delivery. After obtaining Ph.D. in Department of Bioengineering, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, he has worked as Assistant Professor in Chemical Resources Laboratory (Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Innovative Research from 2016), Tokyo Institute of Technology. He started his original research projects by re-interpreting/constructing Ringsdorf's model of polymer-drug conjugates. One of the most important achievements is the extremely simple polymer-drug conjugates for boron neutron capture therapy. In addition, he has developed polymer-drug conjugates for photodynamic therapy and polymeric iron chelators for potentially modulating tumor immune environment. In 2023, he moved to Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo as Associate Professor, and his laboratory started. His team conducts research to create new medical technologies by integrating various research fields with a focus on drug delivery.

Shivam Gupta
(National Tsing Hua University, Chinese Taipei)

Dr. Shivam Gupta received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan in 2019. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow under the supervision of Prof. Nyan-Hwa Tai at the National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan. He completed Master of Technology in Materials Science and Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. His research interests encompass syntheses of carbon nanomaterials, metal oxide semiconductors, ferrites and their composites; and the applications of the synthesized nanomaterials in electromagnetic interference shield, biosensors, energy, electric devices and environmental science.