Michael J. BETENBAUGH is Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. He is a researcher in the area of cell engineering for mammalian and insect cell biotechnology specializing in protein expression, apoptosis, glycosylation, metabolism, cell cycle, and chaperones. Dr. Betenbaugh received the Young Investigator Award from National Science Foundation, the James Van Lanen Award from the American Chemical Society, and the Cell Culture Engineering Award this year. He was a founding member of the Society of Biological Engineering and he currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal, Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
Email: Michael J. Betenbaugh
Institute Homepage: Betenbaugh Lab

Emma MASTER is professor at the University of Toronto (Canada) and adjunct professor at Aalto University (Finland). Her research concentrates on the discovery and development of enzymes and non-catalytic proteins that tune and functionalize main biopolymers of plant biomass, thereby creating sustainable pathways to novel bio-based materials from renewable plant sources. The biotechnologies and bio-based products developed through her research supports the establishment of circular bio-based economies that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while creating new opportunities for forest and agricultural sectors. Awarded a Finland Distinguished Professor Fellowship in 2010, Emma also received an ERC Consolidator grant in 2016. She is the leader of Genome Canada’s SYNBIOMICS project, and in 2021 has received a Connaught Innovation Award for her work on plant-based, renewable alternatives to petrochemical compounds.
Institute Homepage: http://www.chem-eng.utoronto.ca/

Steve WITHERS is the Khorana Professor of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, and the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair of Chemical Biology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His research roots are in mechanistic enzymology and carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry, with a particular focus upon glycosidases and glycosytransferases. More recently he has been applying the tools of site-directed mutagenesis and directed evolution to the generation of novel catalysts for the assembly of oligosaccharides. He now serves as director of UBC's Centre for High-throughput Biology (CHiBi) and co-director of the new Graduate Program in Genome Science and Technology (GSAT).
Email: Steve Withers
Institute Homepage: http://www.chem.ubc.ca/stephen-withers
http://www.chibi.ubc.ca/

Bojan Zagrovic is a Professor of Molecular Biophysics at University of Vienna. He obtained a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and PhD in biophysics from Stanford University. After an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship in the group of Wilfred F. van Gunsteren at ETH Zurich, he became a group leader and scientific director at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences in Split Croatia. Since 2010, he has been leading a research group and teaching at University of Vienna. His interests include theoretical and computational analysis of biomolecular dynamics and interactions and, in particular, RNA-protein interactions. He has been awarded the START Prize of the Austrian Research Fund FWF and is the member of the Junge Kurie of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Email: Bojan Zagrovic
Institute Homepage: http://www.mfpl.ac.at/