Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai is an American biologist best known for advancement of understanding of the intricate relationship between animals and microbes. She currently is director of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center and Professor in the Department of Biology and the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. Dr. Margaret McFall-Ngai is a professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine and Public Health, and member of the Symbiosis Cluster group, University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Eye Research Institute. Her laboratory studies two areas: 1) the role of beneficial bacteria in health using the squid-vibrio model; 2) the biochemical and molecular ‘design’ of tissues that interact with light. In addition, she has been heavily involved in promoting microbiology as the cornerstone of the field of biology.

Research focuses on host responses to interactions with beneficial microbes. Within this context, the studies of my laboratory address five major questions: 1. How are environmentally rare bacteria harvested from the host's habitat during the onset of a horizontally transmitted symbiosis? 2. By what mechanisms does the host recognize its specific symbiotic partner(s)? 3. What are the influences of symbiotic bacteria on the developmental of the host tissues with which they associate? 4. How is the symbiont population maintained in balance over the host's lifetime, such that neither does the symbiont overgrow the host nor does the host eliminate the symbiont? 5. What are the similarities and differences between pathogenic and beneficial animal-bacterial interactions?

Dr. Fischetti has over 40 years experience in the anti-infectives field. He is Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology at the Rockefeller University, in NY. Over those years his laboratory has been involved in understanding the earliest events in gram-positive bacterial infection, so that strategies may be devised to prevent infection. His laboratory was the first to identify lytic enzymes as novel therapeutics to decolonize human mucous membranes of bacterial pathogens and treat systemic infections caused by these organisms. The first lysin against serious Staphylococcal infections has successfully completed phase 1 and is currently in phase 2 testing in hospitals. His laboratory also identified the mechanism by which gram-positive bacteria attach their surface proteins in the cell, which is now being used as a target for antibiotic development. Dr. Fischetti is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the National Academy of Inventors, and was the recipient of two NIH MERIT awards. He has been editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Infection and Immunity for 10 years, and serves as advisory editor for the Journal of Experimental Medicine and Trends in Microbiology among others. Dr. Fischetti serves on the scientific advisory board of ContraFect, Bioharmony, and the Trudeau institute and is also a trustee of the Trudeau Institute. He has published over 240 primary research articles, over 70 textbook chapters and is a co-editor of two major books on gram-positive pathogens. He is an inventor of over 40 issued patents dealing with the control of infectious diseases. Dr. Fischetti received a Ph.D. in Microbiology from New York University.

Investigates bacterial infectious disease and the use of phage enzymes and their derivatives to block infection.

Dr. Rosario Russo is the Scientific Officer of Giellepi S.p.A. (Italy) and his main expertise concerns healthy effects of nutraceuticals. He is currently involved in the biological evaluation of plant extracts and probiotics both in preclinical and clinical studies. In 2010, he received PhD in Toxicology focusing his research on preclinical evaluation of biological activity of natural products. He was trained in Pathology and technologies applied to laboratory animals and in 2013 get the Master of Science in Preclinical and clinical research and development of drugs. From 2006 to 2013, he worked at University of Naples Federico II in the laboratory of Toxicology. During that period, he collaborated with many public research organizations, where he focused his research on the immunomodulatory effects of natural compounds and food contaminants.

Healthy effects of nutraceuticals

Dr. Laura Knoll is currently Professor of Medical Microbiology & Immunology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Molecular & Genome Biology of Microbes; Immunology

Dr. Mozhgan Sepehri is an Assistant Professor of plant-microbe interactions at Shiraz University, Iran. Dr. Sepehri’s research program provides novel insights into host adaptation to environmental stresses induced by plant microbial communities. She incorporates biotechnological approaches such as proteomics and metabolomics to decipher the molecular mechanisms of induced abiotic stresses in plants by beneficial microorganisms. Dr. Sepehri seeks a fuller understanding of the phytobiome as a natural supply of bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms with the individual or collective capacity to promote plant health.

• Plant-Microbe Interactions • Integrated Omics Approaches in Plant Systems Biology • Phyllosphere Microbiology • Bio and Phyto-Bioremediation of Heavy Metal Contaminantion