BIOMATMEET2022

Dr. Zhuang Liu is a professor at Soochow University in China. He received his BS degree from Peking Universityin 2004 and PhD degree from Stanford University in 2008. In 2009, Dr. Liu joined Institute Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM) at Soochow University. Dr. Liu is now working in the field of biomaterials and nanomedicine, to develop smart materials and nanotechnology for biomedical imaging and cancer therapy. Dr. Liu has authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers, with a total citation of>60,000 times and an H-index at 130. He has been listed as one of ‘Highly Cited Researchers’ (Materials, Chemistry) by Thomson Reuters since 2015. He has been invited to be the Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) in 2015, and elected to be the Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2019. The awards he received include the Periodic Table of Younger Chemists by IUPAC,Biomaterials Science Lectureship by RSC, National Distinguished Young Scholar Award (Fund) by NSFC, etc. Now he is serving as an associate editor for Biomaterials.

Prof Chun-Sing Lee obtained his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of Hong Kong in 1987 and 1991 respectively. He then furthered his research career in the University of Birmingham of UK with the support from a Croucher Foundation Fellowship. He joined the faculty of the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 and is currently a Chair Professor of Materials Chemistry and the Head of the Chemistry Department. He also co-founded the Center Of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF) in 1998 and is now the Center’s Director. Prof Lee’s current research interests include organic electronics devices and nanomaterials for energy, environmental and biomedical applications. In 2016, he established the journal Materials Today Energy with Elsevier and serves as the Editor-in-Chief. Prof Lee has published more than 800 journal papers with over 40,000 citations and a Scopus h-index of 106.

Arben Merkoçi is currently ICREA Professor and director of the Nanobioelectronics & Biosensors Group at Institut Català de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), part of Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). After his PhD (1991) at Tirana University (Albania), in the topic of Ion-Selective-Electrodes (ISEs) Dr. Merkoçi worked as postdoc and senior researcher/invited professor in the field of nanobiosensors and lab-on-a-chip technologies in Italy, Spain, USA and since 2006 at ICN2. Prof. Merkoçi research is focused on the design and application of cutting edge nanotechnology and nanoscience based cost/efficient biosensors. The paper/plastic-based nanobiosensors involve integration of biological molecules (DNA, antibodies, cells and enzymes) and other (bio)receptors with micro- and nanostructures/motors and applied in diagnostics, environmental monitoring or safety and security. He has published around 310 peer review research papers (H index: 67 WOS; 82 GS), supervised 30 PhD students and has been invited to give plenary lectures and keynote speeches in around 200 occasions in various countries. Prof. Merkoçi is Co-Editor In Chief of Biosensors and Bioelectronics and member of Editorial Board of other journals. He is co-founder of two spin-off companies, PaperDrop dedicated to nanodiagnostics and GraphenicaLab to electronic printing.

Professor Itamar Willner is a Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His research interests include bionanoscience, DNA nanotechnology, biomimetic systems, catalysis, biocatalysis, photocatalysis, stimuli-responsive materials and drug delivery systems, energy conversion by artificial photosynthetic systems and biofuel cells. He received many awards including the Max-Planck Research Award for International Cooperation, The Israel Chemical Society Award, The Israel Prize in Chemistry, The Rothschild Prize, the EMET Prize and the Gold Medal of the Israel Chemical Society. He coauthored over 800 research papers, and was listed by Thompson Reuters/Clarivateas a Highly Cited Researcher andamong the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds (2014-2019). He has over 70,000 citations and has an h-index of 140 (Web of Science), 158 (Google Scholar). He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and of the German National Academy of Sciences – Leopoldina. He is or was a member of more than 30 Editorial Boardsor Editorial Advisory Boards of Journals, including Angew. Chem.; J. Am. Chem. Soc.; Nano Lett.; ACS Nano.; Materials Today Chemistry; ChemPhysChem, Langmuir, Small,ChemBioChem, and more

Mark did his PhD at the University of Oxford, followed by post-doctorial studies at Harvard Medical School before being appointed a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. He was awarded a Professorship in Combinatorial Chemistry in 1996 aged 34. He has been elected to fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and awarded a number of prizes including the Novartis Lectureship and the 2015 and 2019 Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden and Interdisciplinary prizes. He has published >350 peer reviewed papers, filed some 25 patents and is co-founder of Ilika Technologies (IPO 2010), DestiNA Technologies and Edinburgh Molecular Imaging. Mark is director of Proteus an Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration supported by major investment from the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council supporting some 20 post-docs and 20- PhD’s. Interdisciplinary is at the heart of Proteus - linking together disciplines such as optical physics, chemistry, biology and engineering.

Richard J. Spontak was a research scientist with Procter & Gamble before he joined the NCSU faculty in 1992. Spontak has over 104 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and his work has been featured on the cover of Microsc. Res. Tech. and Langmuir. Spontak conducts studies to improve the current understanding of microstructural polymer systems, which are of scientific interest as self-assembling polymers and commercial value as adhesives, (bio)compatibilizing agents, nanotemplates, and membranes. His group’s efforts are at the cutting edge of block copolymer research: e.g., they have obtained the first 3D images of the bicontinuous gyroid (Ia3d) and sponge (L3) morphologies. They characterize polymers with electronspectroscopic microscopy, and dispersions/gels with freeze-fracture replication and cryo-TEM techniques. Use of these tools has expedited the study of block copolymers and their blends/gels, and has helped to elucidate novel polymer gelation mechanisms, PDLC composition/morphology relationships, and interpolymer complexation. Other areas of interest include polymer alloying through mechanical attrition, transmission electron microtemography, and modification of polymer solutions via salting-in.

Artemis Stamboulis has research interests in the development and the microstructural characterisation of materials for biomedical applications. She has published over 70 research papers in international scientific journals. Artemis has an active research group and has supervised to completion of more than 55 postgraduate students. Artemis teaches at both undergraduate and postgraduate level (MSc/MRes in Biomaterials) and is interested in Education Research and particularly in Threshold Concepts in Engineering.

Dr Joachim Loo is Associate Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He holds a joint appointment at the Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) and is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), USA. He is also an international member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) for Sustainable Waste Management, and a member of the Coordinated Research Project (CRP) under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), United Nations (UN). His research interests include designing delivery systems for agri-food and biomedical applications. He has published more than 200 international journal papers (h-index: 53 – Web of Science), three book chapters and filed more than 15 patents. From his patented technologies, he has spun-off two companies, i.e.LiberaTx and Dietrics. Recently, he was also awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop delivery systems for nutraceuticals. He is currently a co-convenor of the ISO/TC 229 Nanotechnology National Working Group (WG3), under the Singapore Chemical Industry Council.

Malte C. Gather works at the interface between biophotonics and organic semiconductors, with particular focus on resonant and implantable devices. After a PhD on organic LEDs in 2008, he was a postdoc at University of Iceland and later at Harvard University, USA, where he developed the first laser based on a live cell. He was assistant professor at TU Dresden, Germany, from 2011 to 2013 before becoming a full professor at University of St Andrews, UK. He recently won the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship to set up a new research centre for nano- and biophotonics at University of Cologne, Germany.

Silvia Spriano was born in Turin (Italy) on 09/10/1969 and she is an Italian citizen. She works at Dipartimento di Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia (DISAT) -Politecnico di Torino as Associate Professor. She has got her Master Degree on July 1993 at Università degli Studi di Torino (Honours graduate -110/110 lode) and her PhD in Metallurgical Engineering on January 1997 at Politecnico di Torino. She teaches “Materials Science and Technology” and “Engineered surfaces for medicine” within the bachelor and master courses of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino.

Professor Mary Chan obtained her B.Eng (Chem) from the National University of Singapore in 1986 and earned her Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from MIT in 1993. Prior to joining NTU in 2001, she worked in the chemical industry. She was formerly a senior technical manager in Sipix Imaging (CA, USA) working on Epaper development. Pr Chan is an elected fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering. She is also on the Editorial Board of three international and highly reputed journals: (i) Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A (ii) American Chemical Society Applied Materials and Interfaces and (iii) Polymers for Advanced Technologies. Her research groups at the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and the Centre for Antimicrobial Engineering focus of the development of antimicrobial polymers and nanomaterials for the treatment of bacterial infections.

Cornelia Gabriela Palivan was born in Brasov, Romania, where she was educated until University level. She obtained both her BSc (1982) and MSc (1983) degrees at the University of Bucharest. After 7 years at the Institute of Chemical & Pharmaceutical Research, Bucharest, as project leader in various drug research oriented projects, Cornelia took up a position as Teaching Assistant at the University of Bucharest. Between 1992 - 1994, she made the experimental part of her PhD under the supervision of Professor Michel Geoffroy at the University of Geneva where her long held interest in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance of metal complexes began. In 1995, she gained her PhD degrees with Summa cum Laudae at the University of Bucharest, under the supervision of Professor Voicu Grecu. Two years later, Cornelia was appointed as a University Lecturer at Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest. In 1999, she moved to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Basel where she was involved in projects using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance to characterise paramagnetic centers in free radicals, metal complexes, and proteins. The introduction to pulse EPR methods was made during her research stage with Professor Arthur Schweiger at the ETH Zurich (2003-2004). She returned to Basel in 2004, as Senior Group Leader in the group of Prof. Wolfgang Meier, and started to develop new hybrid materials at the nanoscale by combining self-assembling copolymers with compounds possessing biological activity, such as enzymes and enzyme-mimics. Currently Cornelia is Professor in Physical Chemistry of the University of Basel, and the expertise of her group lies in particular in the design of bio-synthetic hybrid systems (nanoreactors, processors, electron-transfer nanodevices, and metal-exposed polymer membranes). Cornelia was awarded a number of fellowships during her career: Royal Society fellowship, EC-COST research fellowship, and TEMPUS mobility fellowship, supporting her collaboration with Dr. Bernard Goodman, at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, UK (1992, 1993, and 1998). In 1999 she was Academic guest at the Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva. In addition to research which is run jointly with Professor Wolfgang Meier, Cornelia is scientific reviewer for Elsevier, Wiley, and ACS publications, and is involved in organising the Swiss Soft Days workshops (since 2010)

Dr. Chunsheng Wu is a professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China. Dr. Wu received his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from ZhejiangUniversity, Hangzhou, China in 2009. He was a joint Ph.D. student of Micro SystemsLaboratories at University of California, Los Angeles, USA, from 2008 to 2009. He was aresearchassociate of Biosensor National Special Laboratory at Zhejiang University from 2010 to 2012.He was a post-doctoral fellow in the Institute of Nano- and Biotechnologies (INB) at AachenUniversity of Applied Sciences, Germany, from 2012 to 2015. His research is mainly focused on thedevelopment and application of biomaterial-based biosensors, olfactory and taste-based biosensors, chemical sensors and microsystems.He has published more than 40 papers as the first or corresponding author (1 paper was selected as ESI hot paper and 2 papers were selected as ESI highly cited papers).Dr. Wu is a committee member of the Biomedical Measurement Branch of the Chinese Society of Biomedical Engineering (CSBME).Dr. Wu served as the guest editors of several SCI journals including Chemosensors, Frontiers in Chemistry, and Biosensors.

Dr. Pooja M R, is currently working as Professor and PG Coordinator in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering. She has more than 35 research publications in peer reviewed international journals and international conferences. Her research interest includes Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Analytics and Health informatics. She has received appreciations for her multidisciplinary research with substantial contributions in the field of health informatics and Artificial Intelligence. She is nominated as Bentham Ambassador from INDIA in recognition of her research in Medical Informatics. In recognition of her research, she has been selected as Editorial Board Member for various peer reviewed journals and also is a member of the Technical Program Committee of various international conferences. She has delivered talks at various international technical platforms and is an invited speaker at various conferences and workshops. She is a member of various international professional Bodies.