Liubov Sichel has earned a PhD in microbiology from Moscow State University. She has 11 years experience in a Biotechnology Industry in which she focused her activities in Microbial Enzymes, Polysaccharides, Amino Acids, probiotics and Probiotics Cell Fragments and other microbial products for medical use. She was awarded a Gold Medal for her contribution to the development of genetically engineered human interferon. She built first biotechnology faculty in Ukraine and was subsequently appointed as the first Dean. Liubov Sichel has received many awards for several biotechnological products. Her current activities are focused on Probiotic Biotechnology. She has 189 Publications(most in Russian), 35 patents.

Professor, Handong Global University, South Korea. Formerly, (1987–2007) Head and Director: Institute of Hygiene and Toxicology, Federal Research Centre for Nutrition, Karlsruhe, Germany, and Hon. Professor for Industrial Microbiology at the Technical University Karlsruhe (KIT), Germany (1996-2007). President of the ICFMH of IUMS since 1996. Member of the Advisory Council of the Association of Food Legislation and Food Science of the German Food and Nutrition Industry since 1989. He has published > 300 scientific papers, > 60 book chapters, and is editor or co-editor of 5 scientific textbooks, and member of the editorial board of several international scientific journals.

Marco Manfredi pediatrician and gastroenterologist, carried out his education at Parma University where he completed his PhD in Pediatric Gastroenterology in 2004. Currently, he is Assistant Manager in General Pediatrics and in Gastroenterology at “Pietro Barilla” Children’s Hospital, University of Parma, Italy. He has published more than 50 papers, included chapters of textbooks and is a scientific reviewer for several reputed medical journals. He was also Editor of an international book on Helicobacter pylori infection.

Iryna Sorokulova, Professor of Microbiology, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA. She received her MS degree in Microbiology from Taras Shevchenko Kiev State University (Ukraine) and PhD, D.Sc. Degrees in Microbiology from the Institute of Microbiology and Virology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. She has received a solid background in formulation and regulation of biological products during the training courses in Bureau of Biologics (Ottawa, Canada) and Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories (Boston, USA). Dr. Sorokulova is the author of 74 refereed scientific publications, 4 books, and 23 patents.

Byong Lee obtained his degrees at University of Brit. Col., McGill University and studied his PhD (Microbiology/Immunology) at Hahnemann Medical College/University of Pennsylvania and has completed his PhD at Laval University, Canada. He was Professor (AAFC Chair) in Departments of Food Science and Microbiology/Immunology, McGill University for more than 26 years; he is Distinguished Professor, School of Biotechnology Jiangnan University, China and Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Microbiology/Immunology, McGill University, Canada. He has been an invited professor at Korea Seoul National University, France INRA/University of Bourgogne, Ireland Food Research Center, England Institute of Food Research/University of Reading, Canada National Research Council, and Champlain Industry as a Research Director, Canada. Lee has published 175 refereed journals, two text books on Food Biotechnology, 16 book chapters and 15 patents/inventions. He gave 96 invited speeches at the international and internal conferences. He supervised more than 100 graduate students post-docs. He has received many honors and awards including Marquis Who’s Who in the World and he is serving as three editorial board members.

Gabriela Riscuta MD, MS. CNS is a Program Director in the Nutritional Science Research Group at the Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute .In this position she plans, develops, directs, and coordinates extramural research programs in diet, nutrition and cancer as related to cancer prevention. At NCI, Dr. Riscuta‘s role includes the examination of bioactive food components, i.e. essential and non-essential nutrients, as modifiers of cancer risk and tumor behavior. Some of her projects focus on determining how specific genes and/or molecular targets are influenced by bioactive food components. Her activities include grants management, mentoring students and organizing national and international webinars. Dr. Riscuta received a prestigious Merit Award in 2012 from NIH for the creation of a webinar series for physicians, researchers and those involved with research translation to understand the strength and the weakness of the evidence about the health effects of a food/bioactive food components. Dr. Riscuta also teaches Nutrition courses at Montgomery College, Rockville MD, both on campus and online.

S.K. Dash has completed his PhD at the age of 30 years from South Dakota State University (USA). He has served as Director of Food and Drug at South Dakota State prior to founding UAS Laboratories, a leading probiotic company in Minneapolis, MN (USA). He is an adjunct professor at South Dakota State University and has more than 40 research papers to his credit.

Prof. Giuseppe Mele, Pediatrician. Giuseppe Mele is the Past National President of FIMP, the Italian Federation of Pediatricians and Scientific Coordinator. He gained his degree in Medicine and Surgery in 1977; he specialized in pediatrics with full marks. He has always been passionate about civil and human rights and this brought him to fight for the rights in his category through the channel of medical unionism. He has been involved in the health system both on a professional level and from a political and unionist point of view. During his twenty-year medical and trade union experience, he can count numerous attendances to events such as: Ministerial Commissions, Scientific Boards, prestigious publications and national and international congress events. In 2013 he has been nominated expert for the Advisory Committee for the Pediatric area of the Italian Medicines Agency.

Min-Tze Liong is an Associate Professor at the School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia. She obtained her PhD majoring in food microbiology and safety, from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia in 2006 at the age of 28. Dr Liong has published over 80 papers in international peer-reviewed journals, four book chapters and edited two scientific books. Dr Liong is also on the Editorial Board of several international journals and has reviewed over 100 journal manuscripts for reputable international journals. She has also delivered keynote and plenary lectures both nationally and internationally. Her research emphasizes on probiotics, prebiotics, nutraceuticals and the utilization of agricultural wastes for the production of bioproducts. Dr Liong has graduated both MSc and PhD students and is currently supervising two MSc and nine PhD students, all in full research mode. Dr Liong was the recipient of the Best Final Year Research Student Award, presented by Victoria University, Australia in 2006 and was the top three finalists for the Malcolm Bird Award, presented by the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology in 2006. She was also named as one of the three top young women scientists in Malaysia in 2007 and was awarded the For Women In Science fellowship by L’Oreal-UNESCO.

Franco Vicariotto, Medicine Doctor (Ph.D.-medicine), is a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is now senior consultant of San PIO X Hospital of Milan. He has been deputy head of division of Ob/Gyn. of Niguarda Hospital of Milan for almost 20 years where he had conducted important researches in the field of Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is one of the founders and Vice-president of the scientific society Esidog Italia (European Society for Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynaecology) and the member of the National board of S.I.C. (Italian society of Contraception). He is author of many publications and recognized moderator-spokesman in specialized conferences in Italy and abroad.

Svetoslav Todorov has completed his Ph.D at Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria, and postdoctoral studies from Stellenbosch University, Matieland, South Africa. At the moment, he is visiting professor at Sao Paulo University, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has published more than 90 papers in reputed journals and serving as a member of the editorial board. He is reviewer for more than 30 international journals.

Since June 2012, Dr. Shinji Fukuda has been a project leader of gut environmental systems biology and an associate professor at the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Japan. Dr. Fukuda received his Ph.D. in 2006 at Meiji University, studying the generation of beneficial probiotics via genetic modification approach. Prior to joining Keio University, Dr. Fukuda worked as research fellow in RIKEN Research Center for Allergy and Immunology, Japan, where he established a novel profiling techniques for understanding host-microbial crosstalk in the gut.

Tony Mutukumira gained his PhD at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway following research on lactic dairy fermentations. Tony started his teaching career in 1996 at the University of Zimbabwe, rising to Senior Lecturer/Head of Institute of Food Nutrition and Family Sciences. Since then, Tony has also spent time at universities in the United Kingdom and Swaziland, before joining the Institute of Food Nutrition Human Health, NZ, where he teaches food technology, food microbiology, preservation, safety and quality. His research interests include food fermentations with special interests in the technology of indigenous products, probiotics and functional foods, product development, and emerging preservation technologies such as high pressure processing (HPP). Tony is a member of several professional bodies including the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology, South African Association of Food Science and Technology, South African Society of Dairy Science and Technology, IUFoST Committee on Distance Education. He is current Secretary of the Food Safety Working Group of CIGR. Tony has published over sixty papers in scientific journals and, presented and chaired at several international conferences.

Dilek Heperkan has completed her PhD in 1986 from Egean University, Turkey. She worked as a researcher for 10 years in TUBITAK, National Scientific and Research Council. She participated as a member of World Working Party of Mycotoxin (2002-2007). She worked as a visiting scientist in the USA in 2001. She also visited Universite de Vigo, Spain and gave lectures by Erasmus Programme in 2007. She organized a number of national and international meetings. Recently, she organized 23rd International FoodMicro 2012 Congress together with ICFMH. She is currently working as a full time Professor in Istanbul Technical University, Food Engineering Department.

Susana Marta Isay Saad studied Pharmacy and Biochemistry at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, where she also received her PhD Degree in Food Science. Since 2007, she is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, USP - Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Technology, were she teaches Food Technology since 2000, for the undergraduate students of Pharmacy and of Nutrition and “Probiotic cultures: technological applications” for post-graduation students. Susana and her research group develop probiotic and synbiotic dairy and non-dairy products, for which they evaluate microbiological, instrumental texture, physico-chemical, and sensory features during shelf-life and their probiotic and synbiotic potential through in vitro tests. Susana is Associate Editor of Brazilian Journal of Microbiology. She authored 11 chapters in books and 40 peer-reviewed publications.