Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany;

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, George Washington University, Washington, USA;
I completed my PhD in Human Genomics in Medical University of Sofia, Bulgaria. After my postdoctoral training in Cancer Genomics (NICHD, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA), where I led the effort for the identification of new genes responsible for human genetic disorders, in September 2013 I joined the George Washington University, as a Co-Director of the McCormick Genomic and Proteomic Center (MGPC) at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In this position, I focused on developing novel methods to analyze functional genetic variants through integrating layers of genomic information. In the last several months I focused my research on single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Working on scRNA-seq data, I am particularly interested in developing novel approaches to assess genetic variation, splicing and posttranscriptional modifications, and to inter-connect them with gene expression and other phenotype features. I have over 25 year of experience with both wet and dry lab genetic approaches and technologies, including design and development of new methods and analyses.

Université de Lorraine: Nancy, Lorraine, France;
I completed my PhD in Chemistry in the Institute of Biochemistry from the Lomonossov University of Moscow. After several postdocs in the Enzymology laboratory from Gif-sur-Yvette (France) and the Institute of Biochemistry from the Lomonossov (Moscow), I have been established as a Professor of Molecular Biology at the Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France. I have over 30 years of experience in the field of RNA modifications, from studying pseudouridine synthases and methyltransferases to the development of high-throughput approaches to identify and characterize of RNA modifications

Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Italy;
Simone Rampelli is assistant professor in Chemistry and Biotechnology of Fermentation, Dept. Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy). His research activity, documented by 55 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and >30 participations in national and international congresses, is mainly focused on the characterization of the compositional and functional structure of the human gut microbiome, and its impact on human health.

JES Tech, Houston, TX, USA;
Sarah Stahl, M.S, is a research scientist in the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Microbiology Laboratory. She has served as a project scientist for many analog and spaceflight investigations, including the Biomolecule Sequencer flight experiment that demonstrated the first DNA sequencing aboard the International Space Station (ISS). With the goal of applying sequencing to microbial monitoring, Sarah has overseen the implementation of a culture-independent, direct swab-to-sequencer method in many extreme environments, including the ISS.

Head of research at Igenomix;
Trained in science in the University of Valencia, Spain, Dr Carmen Rubio specialized in cytogenetic studies in human reproduction, partly in the University of Barcelona. She completed her PhD in the field of Reproductive Genetics and post-doctoral research included research in male and female meiosis at the laboratory of Drs. Patricia Hunt and Terry Hassold (Washington State University, USA). She has published more than 100 papers in the main peer-reviewed specialist journals in the field, books chapters as well as numerous lectures at conferences worldwide. Currently she is the head of research for embryonic chromosomal abnormalities at Igenomix, focused on non-invasive approaches of embryo aneuploidy.

Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy;
Silvia Turroni is senior assistant professor in Chemistry and Biotechnology of Fermentation, Dept. Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy). Her research activity, documented by 98 publications in international peer-reviewed journals and >100 participations in national and international congresses (of which > 45 as invited speaker), is mainly focused on the characterization of the compositional and functional structure of the human gut microbiome, and its impact on human health.

Genomics Unit, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Dummerstorf, Germany;
Klaus Wimmers is Director of the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Dummerstorf, Germany, and Professor of Animal Breeding and Husbandry at the University of Rostock, Germany. He obtained a degree in Veterinary Sciences from the Freie Universität Berlin in 1989, earned his doctorate at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in 1996 (Dr. rer. nat.) and habilitated in 2002 at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in animal breeding and genetics. His main fields of interest are physiological, genetic and epigenetic principles of expression and differentiation of traits related to animal welfare and resource efficiency in farm animals.