Prof. Shum is widely recognized in emulsion, biomicrofluidics, biomedical engineering and soft matter; he receives the inaugural Hong Kong Engineering Science and Technology Award 2022, Croucher Senior Research Fellowship 2020, Rising Start Award by Ton Duc Thang University (Vietnam), NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Fund in 2019, Young Scientists Award in Microsystems and Nanoengineering Summit 2019, IEEE Nanomed New Innovator 2018, the Early Career Award by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong in 2012. He became a fellow of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers in 2023, a member in the Global Young Academy (first from Hong Kong) in 2021, a founding member (in 2018) and President (in 2021) in the Young Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 2017. He serves as an associate editor for Biomicrofluidics (American Institute of Physics), editorial board member for Microsystems and Nanoengineering (Springer Nature) and Scientific Reports (Springer Nature) and an editorial advisory board member for Lab-on-a-Chip (RSC).

Aram Chung obtained his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Seoul National University (SNU) in 2006, followed by a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 2011. From 2011 to 2013, he conducted postdoctoral studies in Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He then assumed the role of Assistant Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In 2017, Dr. Chung moved to the School of Biomedical Engineering at Korea University, where he currently serves as a Professor.

His research pioneered the establishment of microfluidic platforms for immunotherapy, genome editing, and cellular engineering. Additionally, he has taken on a leadership role in technology entrepreneurship, co-founding a company (MxT Biotech) that commercializes intellectual property developed in his lab.

Daniel Citterio received his Doctoral degree in Natural Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich (Switzerland) in 1998. From 1998-2002, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Keio University with Prof. Koji Suzuki. Upon return to Switzerland, he worked as a researcher at ETH, before joining Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc.. In 2006, he moved back to Keio University, where he became a tenured Associate Professor in 2009 and Professor in 2014. In 2016, he has been admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). He serves as a co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, as well as on the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Sensors. In 2022, he has been awarded the Chemical Society of Japan Award for Creative Work. His research is focusing on the development of chemical sensors and biosensors. More recently, his research team is strongly engaged in the development of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) for low-cost point-of-need applications.

Dan Tagle is Director of the Office of Special Initiatives at NCATS where he many coordinates efforts towards development of disruptive technologies in translational research. He obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He was an NIH National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow in Human Genetics at the University of Michigan. He has served on numerous committees, advisory boards, and editorial boards. He has authored many scientific publications and has garnered numerous awards, including more recently the Roscoe O. Brady Award for Innovation and Accomplishment, and the Henry J. Heimlich Award for Innovative Medicine.

Hirofumi Shintaku is Professor at the Institute for Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, and RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader. He has received numerous awards, including the Young Engineers Award from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, the highest honor for young mechanical engineers. His current research focuses on technology development for single-cell biology leveraging electrokinetics in micro and nanoscale and integrating phenotyping and single-cell omics.

Dr. Hiroshi Kimura is a Professor in Micro/Nano Technology Center at Tokai University, where he has been since 2012. During 2017-2018, he was a visiting research fellow at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Tokyo in 2007. From 2007 to 2012, he worked at the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo, eventually as a project assistant professor. His research interests are mainly in fundamental microfluidic devices and systems technologies and their applications to biological sciences, including microphysiological systems.

Dr. Jessie S. Jeon is Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Korea. She received her SB, SM, and PhD in the Department of Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and worked as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) before joining KAIST. Her research focuses on the development of microfluidic platforms that can mimic organs and disease models for understanding the mechanisms of biological phenomenon, screening for drugs and utilizing them in patient-specific personalized medicine.

Dr. Jing Chen has amassed 28 years of expertise in Microfluidics, MEMS, and Manufacturing Engineering. He earned his PhD from Tsinghua University, furthered his research at the University of Michigan, and served as a tenured professor at Peking University for 16 years. In 2014, Dr. Chen founded HiComp, which specializes in microfluidic and lab-on-chip products for various industries. He has authored over 180 papers, 70 patents, and 6 books, making significant contributions to the field.

Dr. Jonghoon Choi is a full Professor in the School of Integrative Engineering at Chung-Ang University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the School of Dentistry at Yonsei University. Dr. Choi’s research aims to develop novel nanobiosensors and smart nanobiomaterials for their applications in nanomedicine. Dr. Choi has authored more than 140 SCI(E) journal articles and other numerous publications, and patent/disclosure applications. His work has been published in top journals, including Nature Nanotechnology, Journal of Controlled Release, and Journal of the American Chemical Society, which has been cited >6100 times with the h-index over 41 to date. Dr. Choi has been serving as an editorial board member for SCI(E) Journals, including PLoS ONE, Analytical Sciences, and Biotechnology & Bioprocess Engineering.

Lydia L. Sohn received her A.B. (Chemistry and Physics, 1988), M.S. (Physics, 1990), and Ph.D. (Physics, 1992) from Harvard University. She was an NSF/NATO postdoc at Delft University of Technology and a postdoc at AT&T Bell Laboratories (1993-1995). Sohn was an Assistant Professor of Physics at Princeton University prior to joining the Mechanical Engineering Dept. at UC Berkeley in 20013. Her work focuses on developing quantitative techniques to probe single cells. Sohn has received numerous awards including the NSF CAREER, Army of Research Young Investigator Award, DuPont Young Professor Award, and a Bakar Fellowship. In 2014, she was one of five winners in the “Identifying Platform Technologies for Advancing Life Sciences Research” competition for her work on Node-Pore Sensing. Most recently, she was elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Manabu Tokeshi is a Professor at the Division of Applied Chemistry at Hokkaido University. He is also a Visiting Professor at Innovative Research Center for Preventive Medical Engineering and Institute of Innovation for Future Society at Nagoya University. He received his PhD degree from Kyushu University in 1997. After a research fellow of the Japan Society of Promotion of Science at The University of Tokyo, he worked at Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology as a research staff (1998-1999), a group subleader (1999-2003), and a group leader (2003-2004). He also worked at the Institute of Microchemistry Technology Co. Ltd. as President (2004-2005) and at Nagoya University as an Associate Professor (2005-2011). In 2011, he visited Karolinska Institutet as a Visiting Researcher and he joined the Hokkaido University as a Professor. His honors include the Outstanding Researcher Award on Chemistry and Micro-Nano Systems from the Society for Chemistry and Micro-Nano Systems (2007), the Pioneers in Miniaturisation Prize from the Lab on a Chip (The Royal Society of Chemistry)/Corning Inc. (2007), the Masao Horiba Award from HORIBA, Ltd. (2011), The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry Award (2018) and Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) (2019). His research interests are in the development of micro- and nano-systems for chemical, pharmaceutical and clinical applications.

Mandy B. Esch is a project leader in the Microsystems and Nanotechnology Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She received a Diploma (equivalent to the American M.S. degree) in Biology and a Dr. rer. nat. (equivalent to the American Ph.D. degree) in Biotechnology from the Julius Maximilians University in Würzburg, Germany. During her PhD research she developed paper-based microfluidics and microfluidic biosensors for the detection of pathogens. In 2001, Dr. Esch joined the Cornell Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility as life sciences liaison. In 2007, she joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. While there, she developed patents for cell culture on a porous 3D surface and for a multi-organ microphysiological system (MPS). She was part of the team that in 2015 received the Lush Science Prize for designing multi-organ fluidic cell culture systems. From 2015 to 2016 Dr. Esch spent a year as Assistant Professor at Syracuse University (Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering), where she taught nanobiotechnology. In August 2016 Dr. Esch moved to NIST, where she is focusing on integrating sensors with tissues-on-chips and multi-organ microphysiological systems.

Michael Obtained his PhD in Analytical Chemistry in 2001 from the University of Tasmania, before spending time at the University of Virginia (USA), University of Bern (Switzerland) and with deltaDOT (UK). He returned to UTAS in 2004 as an Australian Research Council fellow (APD 2004-2008) followed by two subsequent ARC fellowships (QEII 2009 – 2013; Future Fellowship 2014-2017). He has published over 200 peer-review papers, is co-inventor on a number of patents and has 5 commercial products at market based on his research. His research focuses on the development of portable analytical technology for out-of-lab measurement. He was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2022.

Nancy L. Allbritton is the Frank and Julie Jungers Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Her research focuses on the development of novel technologies for applications in single-cell analysis, micro-arrays and fluidics, and organ-on-chip and has resulted in over 180 full-length journal publications and patents and led to 15 commercial products. Her research program has been well funded by the National Institutes of Health with $60 million in grant funding since 1994. Four companies have been formed based on her research discoveries: Protein Simple (acquired by Bio-Techne in 2014 for $308M), Intellego (subsequently integrated into International Rectifier), Cell Microsystems (www.cellmicrosystems.com), and Altis Biosystems (www.altisbiosystems.com). Dr. Allbritton is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. She obtained her B.S. in physics from Louisiana State University, M.D. from Johns Hopkins University, and Ph.D. in Medical Physics/Medical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University.

Noah Malmstadt is Professor at the University of Southern California. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Caltech and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. Following postdoctoral work at UCLA, he joined the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at USC in 2007. Malmstadt is the recipient of a 2012 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award. His research focuses on microfluidic strategies to facilitate material fabrication and biophysical analysis. He has pioneered the integration of ionic liquids as solvents in droplet microreactors and the application of microfluidic systems to synthesizing biomimetic cell membranes. Microfluidic analytical techniques he has developed include methods for measuring the permeability of cell membranes to druglike molecules and techniques for measuring ionic currents through membrane proteins.

Ryuji Yokokawa is currently a Professor at Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University, Japan, and a Visiting Researcher at RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR), Japan. Before the current position, he was an Associate Professor Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University (2011–2019), an Assistant Professor at Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University (2009–2011), and a Lecturer at Department of Micro System Technology, Ritsumeikan University (2005–2009). He was a project researcher of Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency (PRESTO, JST) (2008–2014), and an adjacent faculty of World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative, Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Kyoto University (2010–2012).

He has authored or co-authored 82 peer-reviewed journal and 158 conference papers, 1 book chapter, and has 7 patents issued or pending. He has served as a technical or organizing committee member in many international conferences including IEEE NEMS, MEMS, Sensors and NANOMED. He has received 21 academic awards such as The Young Scientists’ Prize, The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2016.

Seiichi Ishida has been Professor of Division of Applied Life Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Sojo University, and Guest Researcher of Biological Safety Research Centre at National Institute of Health Sciences since 2020. He received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Science from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1993, and conducted postdoctoral studies at The Cancer Institute (Tokyo) and at Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Duke University Medical Centre. He used to be Senior Researcher (2000-2007) and Section Chief (2007-2020) of Division of Pharmacology at National Institute of Health Sciences. His research focuses primarily on the development of in vitro cell assay platform for the evaluation of drug metabolism and drug induced liver injury and their application to the regulatory science field.

Sven Kreutel studied biology at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. After his graduation in biology, he received his PhD in microbiology and protein biochemistry at the University of Hohenheim under Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuhn and Dr. Dorothee Kiefer working on the light sensing and signal transduction in photosynthetic bacteria. Since then he worked in different sales and sales manager positions within the life science industry from clinical research over biology to nanoparticle sciences. In 2021 he was appointed as CEO of the American subsidiary of Particle Metrix.

Professor Tae-Joon Jeon is currently a visiting scholar at the Sydney Pharmacy School and a professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at Inha University, Korea, where he also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Biopharmaceutical Engineering. He earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Seoul National University in 2001 and a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from UCLA in 2008. After completing postdoctoral research at UCLA, he joined Inha University in 2009, becoming a full professor with early promotion.

Professor Jeon has served as Dean of Admissions at Inha University and was a consultant and scientific advisory board member for AquaZ A/S in Denmark from 2009 to 2012. He was also a visiting professor at the University of Southern California in 2016. Leading a research group of two postdoctoral fellows and 19 students, his work focuses on drug delivery systems, biochips/biosensors, and tissues/organs-on-a-chip for alternative drug testing. His prolific research includes over 90 peer-reviewed articles and 41 patent applications, with 26 patents issued. Leveraging his patented technologies, he co-founded Q'rious Biotech, Inc., a company specializing in antibiotic testing.

Dr. Yoshinobu Baba is Professor of Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University. He is also a Director of FIRST Research Center for Innovative Nanobiodevices, Nagoya University and a Director of Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Nagoya University. He is an Associate Editor of Anal. Chem. of American Chemical Society and serving to over 20 scientific journals, including Nanoscale of Royal Society of Chemistry and Biomicrofluidics of American Institute of Physics, as an editorial/advisory board member. He is a co-initiator for the world largest Nanotech/Nanobio International Meeting and Exhibition in Japan and International Academy of Nanomedicine. He is a general chair of numerous international meetings (microTAS, MSB, NanoBioEXPO, ISMM). He has been admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and received over 113 awards for his contributions in nanobiotechnology: MERCK Award in 2004, award from the Applied Physics Society of Japan in 2006, and The CSJ (Chemical Society of Japan) award for creative work in 2008. His major area of interest is nanobiosicence and nanobiotechnology for omics, systems biology, medical diagnosis, tissue engineering, and molecular imaging. He is the author or co-author of 767 publications, including research papers, proceedings, reviews, and books and is also an inventor of over 70 patents. He has delivered more than 726 plenary and invited lectures at conferences. His work has been cited on 299 occasions by newspapers and televisions.