Raquel AIRES-BARROS is Professor at the Department of Bioengineering (DBE) at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) and Senior Researcher at Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences (iBB). Coordinates the scientific-pedagogical area of Biomolecular and Bioprocessing Engineering of DBE at IST and is Vice-President of IST School Board. Current research interests include the development of new separation processes with high performance and efficiency for purification biopharmaceuticals, with special emphasis on the purification of antibodies and the development of devices- "Lab-on-a-Chip" - for protein purification / separation of cells in the microscale. She is chair of the Session of Downstream Processing (DSP) of the European Society of Biochemical Engineering Sciences (ESBES), President of the Portuguese Society for Biotechnology and editor of Separation and Purification Technology Journal. 
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Paola BRANDUARDI received a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Milano, with an internship at the Vienna BioCenter, working on the yeast cell cycle progression. She moved in 2000 at the University of Milano Bicocca as Post-Doc, where she started to work on Industrial Biotechnology now covering the role of Professor in Chemistry of Fermentation and Industrial Microbiology. Paola’s group is interested in the development of sustainable microbial-based bioprocesses, mainly valorizing residual biomasses as in the concept of biorefineries and bio-manufacturing. This is pursued by tailoring microbial strains, mainly but not exclusively Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces yeasts, for the production of fine and bulk chemicals, biofuels, nutraceuticals. Synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, screening protocols and adaptive laboratory evolution are the approaches used to leverage microbial potential, including robustness against stress, to match industrial requirements. She is coordinator of the PhD program in “Converging Technologies for Biomolecular Systems”. Principles and concepts of Open Science and RRI are embedded in her academic and industrial researches as in her teaching and communication activities.
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Giorgio CARTA is Lawrence R. Quarles Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia. He teaches Transport Phenomena and Bioseparations Engineering. He has served as chair of the International Symposium on Preparative and Process Chromatography – PREP annually since 2009. He is also involved in professional education, including an annual short course in protein chromatography at the University of Virginia and at BOKU. His research employs experimental and theoretical approaches to understand the fundamental underpinnings of chromatographic separations and develop new materials and optimize processes for bioseparation applications. 

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Alan DICKSON is Professor of Biotechnology in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester, based in The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (https://www.mib.manchester.ac.uk), and has primary research interests in industrial applications of mammalian cells as factories for production of therapeutic recombinant proteins and viral vectors. The lab uses a portfolio of cellular and molecular biological techniques to develop approaches to enhance recombinant product amount and quality. Alan directs the Manchester Centre of Excellence in Biopharmaceuticals and is part of the organisational group for BioProNET2, promoting collaborations at the academic/industrial interface.