Dr. Andrews is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a member of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, the Hatos Center for Neuropharmacology, and the California NanoSystems Institute. Dr. Andrews received her B.S. in Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University and earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry as a U.S. Department of Education Fellow working at the National Institute of Mental Health, where she was later a postdoctoral fellow and senior staff fellow. At the NIMH, Andrews and her mentor, Dr. Dennis Murphy, discovered and characterized a novel serotonin neurotoxin, 2’-NH2-MPTP. Dr. Andrews was also instrumental in early studies on serotonin transporter-deficient mice. Andrews is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, American Chemical Society, and Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry. She has been the recipient of an NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence, an Eli Lilly Outstanding Young Analytical Chemist Award, an American Parkinson’s Disease Association Research Award, and a Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD) Independent Investigator Award. She is a fellow of the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum and a Serotonin Club elected councilor. Recently, Dr. Andrews became Associate Editor for ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

Javier Ramon got his PhD in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Barcelona (UB). Posteriorly during their post-doc stay, he was working under the direction of professor Mizutani at Hyogo University in Japan on lithography fabrication, microfluidics and dielectrophoresis technic (2009-2011). After their post-doctoral stay (2011), he was hired by the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR) at Tohoku University as Assistant Researcher. The AIMR-WPI institute is Japan's third most relevant institute and one worldwide material science reference. He joined the group of Prof. Matsue in the device/systems group, and in April 2013, he was promoted to Assistant Professor. In 2015 he joined as Ramon y Cajal researcher IBEC. In 2020, he became an ICREA Research Professor and is now leading the Biosensors for Bioengineering group, focused on integrating fully functional tissues with microscale biosensor technology to obtain "organs-on-a-chip".

Dr Aristeidis Bakandritsos (1977, Greece) is the Group Leader and senior researcher at the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute - RCPTM of Palacky University Olomouc and at VSB-TUO, CEET, MELab in Ostrava (Czech Republic). He received his BSc in 2001 from Chemistry Dept (A.U. of Thessaloniki, Greece) and PhD in 2006 in chemistry from the NKUA & N.C.S.R. “Demokritos”, Athens Greece. He worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Patras (Materials Sci. Dept.), and as a visiting scientist at the Materials Sci. Dept., Cornell University. In 2012 he was elected at the Dept. of Materials Sci., University of Patras as a lecturer and later as an assistant professor until 2015-2016, when he joined RCPTM as a senior researcher and later as the head of a research division. In 2020 he also received a senior researcher position in VŠB–Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. He is mentor in several Marie Curie projects and coordinator or PI in European Horizon 2020 projects. Research interests include the functionalization of nanomaterials and their application in energy storage, catalysis, and biomedicine. Results have been published in more than 130 articles (h-index 39), in peer-review journals.

Prof. Gustau Catalán earned his degree in physics at the Universitat de Barcelona in 1997 and his PhD, also in physics, at Queen’s University of Belfast in 2001. He held research positions at the Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats in Mallorca (2002- 2004), the University of Groningen (2004-2005) and the University of Cambridge (2005-2009). In 2009, he was appointed ICREA Research Professor and joined the ICN2 as leader of the Oxide Nanophysics Group. At the ICN2, with the help of an ERC Grant, he set up one of the world’s first laboratories of flexoelectricity.

Gianni Ciofani is Senior Researcher Tenured at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia -Italian Institute of Technology, IIT- (Pontedera, Italy; since 2019), where he is Principal Investigator of the Smart Bio-Interfaces Research Unit (since 2017) and Coordinator of the Center for Materials Interfaces (since 2021). He has been Associate Professor at the Polytechnic University of Torino (Torino, Italy; 2015-2019) and Visiting Professor at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan; 2021). His main research interests concern smart nanomaterials for nanomedicine, microphysiological systems, and nanomedicine in altered gravity conditions. He is coordinator or unit leader of several projects: in particular, he was awarded with a Starting Grant and three Proof-of-Concept Grants by the European Research Council (ERC). Thanks to grants from the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, he had the opportunity to carry out four experimental campaigns onboard the International Space Station. In 2018, his real-scale model of the blood-brain barrier was highlighted in the Annual Report on the ERC Activities and Achievements. He is co-founder (2022) and Scientific Advisor of “Kidaria Bioscience SRL”, an IIT spin-off company dedicated to the preparation and characterization of cosmetic and nutraceutical products based on natural-derived active ingredients. He is also co-founder (2021) and member of the executive committee of “ERC in Italy APS”, a non-profit association of ERC awardees born to promote fundamental and frontier research in Italy. Gianni Ciofani is Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, appointed by the President of the Italian Republic on December 27th, 2022.

Graduated in Chemistry in 1993 at the University of Amsterdam. PhD student at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, from 1994 to 1998 (supervisors: Prof. Wim Nieuwpoort and Prof. Ria Broer). Post-Doc in the group of Prof. Francesc Illas of the University of Barcelona with a Marie Curie fellowship from 1998-2000 (subject: magnetism in low-dimensional Heisenberg systems). Post-Doc in the Quantum Chemistry group of the University Rovira i Virgili (2000-2005) with a Ramón y Cajal fellowship. Presently ICREA Research Professor in the same group.

Nunzio Denora earned his PhD in Pharmaceutical Technology from the University of Palermo in 2004. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Kansas University, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in 2006. His academic journey progressed, and in 2019, he was promoted to Associate Professor. As of July 2023, he holds the position of Full Professor in Pharmaceutical Technology and Legislation at the University of Bari, where he leads a cutting-edge research laboratory focused on advanced drug delivery systems. Throughout his career, Professor Denora has authored over 205 peer-reviewed publications and is the inventor of 10 patents. He also serves as the Coordinator of the Industrial PhD program in "Sustainable Technologies for Medicines and Diagnostics Development" and plays an active role in shaping pharmaceutical education and research. In addition, he is the Secretary of the Italian Society of Pharmaceutical Technology and Legislation (SITELF). His research is at the forefront of pharmaceutical innovation, focusing on the development of advanced drug delivery systems using state-of-the-art technologies such as 3D printing, prilling, and microfluidics.

Fabio Di Francesco received a degree in physics and PhD in bioengineering from the University of Pisa, where he is currently associate professor in analytical chemistry. His research interests are at the interface of analytical technologies, nanomaterials and medicine, with an emphasis on the identification, in easily accessible body fluids (breath, oral fluid, sweat …), of chemical markers with clinical interest and the development of sensors and low cost technologies for the translation of research results into the clinical practice and everyday life. He is responsible of many research projects at regional, national and EU level.

Yasuaki Einaga received his BS (1994), MS (1996), and PhD (1999) from the University of Tokyo. After 2 years as a research associate at the University of Tokyo, he started a faculty career as an assistant professor in Keio University in 2001, where he was promoted to full professor in 2011. He has been also a research director of JST-CREST (2011-2014), JST-ACCEL (2014-2020), and NEDO (2020-). He was awarded "The Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work" in 2016 for his pioneering work in diamond electrodes. His research interests include functional materials science, photochemistry, and electrochemistry

Andrea C. Ferrari earned a PhD in electrical engineering from Cambridge University, after a Laurea in nuclear engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. He is Professor of Nanotechnology and the Director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre and of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Graphene Technology. He is Fellow of Pembroke College, the American Physical Society, the Institute of Physics and the Materials Research Society. His research interests include nanomaterials growth, modelling, characterization, and devices. He was awarded the Royal Society Brian Mercer Award for Innovation, the Marie Curie Excellence Award, the Philip Leverhulme Prize, The EU-40 Materials Prize, The Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. He is also the Chairman of the Executive Board of the EU Graphene Flagship

Professor Gianluca Fiori, professor of Electronics at the Information Engineering department, currently holds two prestigious grants from the European Research Council. With an ERC Consolidator Grant project already underway, Prof. Fiori is also one of the 55 European researchers awarded an ERC Proof of Concept at the end of 2020. This grant of 150,000 euros from the European Research Council is aimed at supporting ideas that have strong potential for generating an innovative marketable product.

Jose A. Garrido is an ICREA Research Professor and leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, which explores novel electronic materials, such as graphene and other 2D materials, and their potential in electronic and bioelectronic applications.
He received his Master’s and PhD degrees in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1996 and 2000, respectively. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a postdoc at the Walter Schottky Institute, Technische Universität München (Germany). He obtained his habilitation in experimental physics at this university in 2010 and from 2011 to 2015 held a lecturer (Privatdozent) position at its Department of Physics.
In 2015 Jose A. Garrido joined the ICN2 where, in addition to his role as Group Leader, he is Vice-Director. He is the coordinator of thei-VISIONproject funded byLa Caixa Foundation, where 5 institutions join forces in the development of a retinal implant to restore vision. Since October 2022, he has also coordinated the EIC Pathfinder MINIGRAPH project, in which 7 institutions from 5 countries work together to develop and validate a new generation of brain implants with closed-loop neuromodulation capabilities enabled by high-density arrays of graphene microelectrodes.
Jose A Garrido is also the founder, Chief Scientific Officer, and member of the Board of Directors of INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, an ICN2 spin-off that aims at the commercialization of graphene-based neural devices for medical applications. Employing ICN2-patented technology, INBRAIN has made a tremendous step towards the clinical use of graphene-based BCI therapeutic technology with the recent approval by MHRA (England regulatory approval body) of the first-in-human clinical study using graphene neural interfaces. Additionally, together with ICN2, the company received €2.5M in the framework of the EIC Transition program sponsored by the European Commission to accelerate the clinical translation of graphene transistors for brain-computer interfaces.

Fatih Inci is an associate professor at Bilkent University, Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology (UNAM). Earlier, he worked as an academician and postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School-Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard-MIT. His scholarly pursuits are centered around advancing microfluidics, biosensing, and microneedle technologies for biomedical applications. He has published 75+ papers, 8 book chapters (3 chapters in-press), and 3 editorials, as well as edited 3 books (2 books in-progress). He also holds a notable portfolio of 23 national and international patents, including two licensed products. His research has not only graced the covers of 12 esteemed journals but has also received acclaim from a multitude of prestigious institutions and organizations that include National Institutes of Health (NIH)–National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and Science–AAAS, as well as renowned publications including Nature Medicine, AIP, JAMA, Newsweek, and Popular Science. Actively engaged in research projects, he has played pivotal roles in securing over 50 grants, accumulating a substantial total budget exceeding $8 million USD from national and international entities. In addition, his contributions have earned him 40+ national/international awards and accolades, from organizations such as from National Science Foundation (NSF), Junior Chamber International, The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA), Science Academy, European Molecular Biology Organization-European Science Foundation, Horizon 2020-European Commission, Harvard Medical School-Brigham & Women’s Hospital, American Chemical Society, METU Mustafa Parlar, Association of Science Heroes, Doktorclub, Istanbul University, and Istanbul Technical University

ICREA Research Professor Josep Nogués earned his degree from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in 1986. After obtaining his PhD at the Kungliga Tekniska Höskolan (RoyalInstitute of Technology) in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1993, he moved to the University of California San Diego (USA) to complete his postdoctoral studies. Four years later he returned to the UAB as an associate researcher, becoming an ICREA research professor in 2001 and a founding member of the former Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN) shortly thereafter. His Magnetic Nanostructures group was formally integrated into the ICN structure in 2006.

Giulia Palermo is a computational biophysicist and Associate Professor at the University of California Riverside in the Department of Bioengineering and Chemistry. She is a native of Italy where she earned her Ph.D. in 2013 from the Italian Institute of Technology. During her doctoral studies, she was awarded an early career fellowship to join the group of Prof. Ursula Roethlisberger at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). In 2016 she became a post-doc at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) working with Prof. J. Andrew McCammon, thanks to a Swiss National Science Foundation post-doctoral fellowship.

Martin Pumera is the Director of the Center for the Advanced Functional Nanorobots and a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, and Chief Investigator of Future Energy & Innovation Lab at CEITEC, Brno, Czech Republic. He received his Ph.D. at Charles University, Czech Republic, in 2001. After two postdoctoral stays (in the United States and Spain), he became a tenured group leader at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, in 2006. In 2010 Martin joined Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, where he worked as a tenured associate professor for almost a decade. Prof. Pumera has broad interests in nanomaterials and microsystems, in the specific areas of electrochemistry and synthetic chemistry of 2D nanomaterials, nanotoxicity, micro and nanomachines, and 3D printing. Martin is “2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 Highly Cited Researcher” by Clarivate Analytics (as the only chemist in the Czech Republic). He published over 820 papers which received more than 50,000 citations. Martin's h-index is 114. Martin has supervised over 40 postdoctoral associates, 30 PhD students, 8 Master students and over 50 BSc students. Martin takes pride that 14 group members became faculty members at the Universities around the World, from Spain to Singapore. Total funding Martin received as PI is over 18 M EURO (current active funding 14.8 M EURO). Prof. Pumera is Editor-in-Chief of Appl. Mater. Today (IF 8.01) and member of Editorial Boards of ACS Nano, Small, Chem Eur J, Electrochem Commun, ChemElectroChem, Electroanalysis and other journals.

Prof. Josep Samitier is Director of IBEC and Full Professor in the Physics Faculty (Electronic Dep.), University of Barcelona. From February 1984 to June 1985 he was visiting research fellow at the Philips Electronic Laboratory, Paris, France. From March 2001 to June 2005 Prof. Samitier was Deputy Head of the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), and in 2003 he received the Barcelona city Prize of the Barcelona Council in the area of technology. Prof. Samitier is the coordinator of the Spanish Platform on Nanomedicine and the president of the Associació Catalana d’Entitats de Recerca (ACER).

Samuel obtained his PhD in Chemistry at Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2008. Currently, he is ICREA Research Professor, Group Leader and Deputy Director at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia. Before that, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Stuttgart, at the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at IFW Dresden, Germany, and at MANA-NIMS in Japan. He is currently honorary visiting Professor at HIT Harbin in China and Adjunct Professor at POSTECH University in South Korea.
Samuel received several awards (among others): The MIT TR35 Top Innovator Under 35 Spain 2014, Guinness World Records in 2010 and 2017, the Princess of Girona Scientific Award 2015 and the National Research Award for Young Talent 2016 by the Catalan Research Foundation, and this year receive the Scientific Excellence award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry and recently the prestigious Bank Sabadell Foundation award for "Basic Science and Engineering award". He is elected member of the Young Academy of Spain since 2020. He received the prestigious ERC-Starting grant in 2013 and the ERC-Consolidator Grant in 2019, together with two ERC Proof of concept grants. Besides extensive public funding (>8Mi Eur), he has cooperation agreements with the Private sector and hospitals.

Carsten Sönnichsen, born 1973 in Hamburg (Germany), studied physics in Hamburg and Cambridge. In 2001, he received his Ph.D. from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich, Germany (working for Jochen Feldmann). Following his experience in an international management consulting in Munich, Germany, he joined the Paul Alivisatos group in Berkeley as a postdoc. In 2005, he started his own group at the University of Mainz where he now holds a chair in physical chemistry. The group emphasizes on the production and application of nanoparticles as markers and sensors for biological molecules, optical single particle spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The work is funded among others by an ERC starting grant.

Dr Emmanuel Stratakis is a Research Director at the Institute of Electronic structure and laser (IESL) of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas(FORTH), where he is leading the “Ultrafast Laser Micro- and Nano- processing” laboratory(https://www.iesl.forth.gr/en/research/ULNMP-Group). He received his Ph.D. in Physics in 2001 from the University of Crete. He has been a Visiting Scientist at the University of California Berkeley in the fall semesters of 2006 and 2008.He has over 220 SCI publications and more than 8000 citations,h-index=48 (Scopus), and he has coordinated many National and EU grants. He has delivered more than 40 invited and keynote lectures and has been organizer and chair in major international scientific conferences. He has been an Editor of the journals 'Optoelectronic Advances', 'Materials Today (Bio)', 'Applied Sciences' and 'International Journal of molecular Sciences'. Since 2015, he is the Director of the European Nanoscience Facility of FORTH, part of the NFFA-Europe EU Infrastructure, where he is a member of the General Assembly. He is a National expert in the High-Level Group of EU on Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of COST. Since January 2020 he is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Biomimetic

Professor Francesco Trotta took a degree in Chemistry in 1982 at the University of Torino, Italy. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Sciences in 1987, at the University consortium of Torino, Genova, and Pavia. After short teaching in High School, he became a permanent researcher at the Department of IFM Chemistry. In the period 2006-2016, he was an associate professor of Industrial Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry-University of Torino. Since December 2016 he is a full professor of Industrial Chemistry in the same Department. He has worked with many Italian and foreign research groups. From 2001-2015 he was also an associate researcher at the Institute of Membrane Technology – National Research Council. He has got financial support from many enterprises and multi-billion companies such as Propack srl, Pieffe srl, Globalchimica srl, Kemin Cavriago, Oxon-Sipcam, Syngenta crop protection, Roquette Frères, Philips Morris International, Baxter Healthcare, etc. He is a member of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) and the Association of Science and Technology of Macromolecules (AIM). He is president of the Italian Association of Chemistry and Technology of Cyclodextrins and vice-president of the European Cyclodextrin Society. He is also part of the Italian Scientific Society (ISA) and co-founder of the Green Sciences for Sustainable Development Foundation (Venice, Italy). Since 2004 he is a member of the International Scientific Board of the International Cyclodextrin Symposium. He also was "Guest Editor” of the Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry. He was the editor of a Book from Wiley published in 2019. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Polymers, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has been an "invited speaker” to many international conferences. Over the years he has acted as examiner of numerous scientific articles for outstanding international journals. He is the author or co-author of more than 252 scientific papers, 20 industrial patents, 8 book chapters, 2 items of the Encyclopedia of Membrane, and more than 200 communications to national and international conferences. He has 8448 citations and an h-index of 53 based on scopus.com (April 2023). In nearly twenty years of teaching activity, he has taken numerous courses in Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Macromolecular Chemistry, and Chemistry of Materials. His research interests are focused on cyclodextrin chemistry, polymer synthesis and modification, drug delivery systems, molecularly imprinted polymers, and membrane phase transfer catalysis. Recently, Standford University Scientists Ranking recognize Professor Trotta in the Top 2% of World Scientists.

Driton is currently a Reader at King’s College London. He is a registered pharmacist and gained his PhD at the University of Nottingham. Prior to joining King’s, Driton contributed towards the establishment of a new School of Pharmacy (University of Lincoln). Driton’s research interests centre around understanding and overcoming the biological barriers to improve drug delivery, with a key focus on enabling injection-free administration of biotherapeutic drugs (peptides, proteins, nucleic acids). As part of this, he has specific interests in drug delivery systems, including nanomedicines and exosomes, that potentially enable injection-free delivery. He is also interested in drug delivery for diseases of, or linked to, the gut. Finally, aspects of Driton’s research relate to the creation of improved (more predictive) in vitro models for use in medicines development, including organoids. Driton routinely collaborates with the pharmaceutical industry and his research has been funded by different UK Research and Innovation councils, charities and the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently leading the EU-funded ‘Nanoparticles in Environment and Medical Research’ (NanoKos) project. The overarching aim of Driton’s activity is to improve patient outcomes and access to medicines through translational drug delivery research.

Paul S. Weiss holds a UC Presidential Chair and is a distinguished professor of chemistry & biochemistry, bioengineering, and materials science & engineering at UCLA. He received his S.B. and S.M. degrees in chemistry from MIT in 1980 and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. He was a postdoctoral member of technical staff at Bell Laboratories from 1986-88 and a visiting scientist at IBM Almaden Research Center from 1988-89. He served as the director of the California NanoSystems Institute and held the Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences at UCLA from 2009-14. Before coming to UCLA, he was a distinguished professor of chemistry and physics at the Pennsylvania State University, where he began his academic career in 1989. He has authored over 500 publications, holds over 40 patents, and has given over 1000 invited, plenary, keynote, and named lectures. He is involved in startups from his and other labs in biotechnology, food security, energy, entertainment, and healthcare. Weiss was a member of the U.S. National Committee to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2000-05). He has been the technical co-chair of the Foundations of Nanoscience Meetings and thematic chair of the Spring 2009 and Fall 2018 ACS National Meetings. He was the senior editor of IEEE Electron Device Letters for molecular and organic electronics (2005-07), and was the founding editor-in-chief of ACS Nano (2007-2021). At ACS Nano, he won the Association of American Publishers, Professional Scholarly Publishing PROSE Award for 2008, Best New Journal in Science, Technology, and Medicine, and ISI’s Rising Star Award a record ten times.

Chiara Zanardi is Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems of the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and associated to the Institute for Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity of the National Research Council of Italy. She received the degree in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Bologna and the PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. Her expertise mainly concerns the application of innovative materials and nanomaterials in amperometric sensing for the monitoring of biomarkers for human health, of environmental pollutants and of drugs of abuse. She is the co-author of more than 100 papers printed on peer-review journals, two patents, one book and three book chapters dealing with modified electrodes in electroanalysis