Dr. Mariana Medina Sánchez earned her degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of San Buenaventura in Bogotá, Colombia, where she also worked as an assistant professor and researcher while pursuing postgraduate studies in education and biomedical engineering. She later moved to Barcelona, Spain, to complete her master’s and PhD studies under Prof. Arben Merkoçi at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, focusing on nanomaterials-based and inkjet-printed electrochemical biosensors for disease diagnostics. After her PhD, she joined IFW Leibniz in Dresden, Germany, as a postdoctoral researcher and was soon promoted to group leader under Prof. Oliver Schmidt. Her research centered on medical microrobots for in vivo fertilization and targeted drug delivery, including sperm-based micromotors and real-time deep-tissue tracking systems. She received an ERC Starting Grant for her project MicroGIFT. Since 2020, she has led an independent research group at IFW Leibniz and, in 2022, began heading a joint group with TU Dresden and B CUBE focused on bioinspired microrobots and microsensors. In 2024, she was appointed Ikerbasque Research Professor and Group Leader at CIC nanoGUNE in San Sebastián, Spain.

Gabriel Ortega obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the Ramon Llull University, IQS School of Engineering and continued his scientific pursuits by completing his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and CIC bioGUNE, Spain. In 2016, Dr. Ortega joined the laboratory Prof. Kevin Plaxco at the University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Center for Bioengineering (United States). In his postdoctoral research he advanced the development of aptamer-based sensors for continuous, real time in vivo measurements; developed new tools to study the biophysics of protein-surface interactions; and explored new strategies for optimizing the response of biomolecular receptors. In 2021, Dr. Ortega became an Ikerbasque Research Fellow in the Precision Medicine and Metabolism Lab at CIC bioGUNE. In 2022, he was awarded a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship, and he currently holds the position of Emerging Scientist.Dr. Ortega investigates the biophysical principles governing biomolecular function to develop innovative biomedical and biotechnological applications. His work spans extremophile adaptation, rare diseases, protein electrostatics, biosensors, and molecular engineering, with a focus on advancing personalized medicine through smart diagnostics and imaging technologies.

Dr. Javier Ramón Azcón - ICREA Professor & Group Leader, Biosensors for Bioengineering (B4B). Dr. Javier Ramón has served as Group Leader at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona, Spain, since 2017. He leads the ‘Biosensors for Bioengineering’ group, which focuses on integrating sensor technology and nanotechnology with tissue engineering. His team aims to develop organs-on-a-chip (OOC) platforms by coupling fully functional tissues with microscale biosensor technology. They are pioneering OOC platforms integrating biosensors for disease modeling (diabetes, muscular dystrophies) and drug discovery. Principal Investigator of ERC Starting Grant DAMOC developing multi-organ chips, and CaixaHealth project TATAMI targeting rare diseases. Founded spin-off Vitala; collaborates globally with academia (Tohoku), hospitals (Sant Pau), and industry (NovoNordisk, Grifols). h-index: 34 | 3,789+ citations | ORCID: 0000-0002-3636-8013

Since 2018 Francesca Selmin is Associate Professor in Drug Delivery at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Milano and since 2023 she is Director of Hospital Pharmacy.
She received her Ph.D. in “Chimica del Farmaco” at University of Milano in 2001. She was invited at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky (USA) as visiting scientist in Dr. DeLuca’s Lab where she improved her knowledge on the design and characterization of biodegradable drug delivery systems.

Dr. Ziberi is a full time professor at the Physics department of Physics, University of Tetova.
He earned his BSc in Physics in Tirana Albania in 1998 and his MSc in 2001 and PhD in 2006 at the University of Leipzig in Germany. From 2002 until July 2010 he worked as a scientific employee at the Leibniz Institute for surface modification in Leipzig, Germany, working on surface engineering and nanostructuring of different materials using low energy ion beams. Dr. Ziberi is board member of the institute Alb-Shkenca and of the NanoAlb excellence group of ASA in Tirana. He was awarded the Fulbright scholarship in 2018 at Harvard Medical school, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, working on combination of radiotherapy and imunnotherapy using immunogenic biomaterials loaded with nanoparticles for cancer treatment. He is a Global Health Catalyst and member of the Global Oncology University. He is reviewer in a number of scientific journals, has more than 40 publications and over 100 contributions in international conferences, from which more than 20 are invited. Dr. Ziberi was member of scientific infrastructure and bio-nanotechnology group of the framework program HORIZON2020 in Brussels and evaluator of CEEPUS programs.