Department of Biotechnology, Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig , Germany;
Stefan Dübel is Full Professor of Biotechnology and Director of the corresponding department at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany. He also heads the technology transfer office "Center for Molecular Engineering" at iTUBSmbH and works as a consultant for biotech/pharmaceutical companies and US/EU government institutions. His research topics are Antibody Engineering, Phage Display, Animal-Free Antibody Generation, Anti-Cancer-Antibodies, Intrabodies, in vitro Evolution, Synthetic Biology, Biosensors, Hyperphage, SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies.

Clemens Schöpf-Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany;
Harald Kolmar is full professor of Biochemistry at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. His current scientific interests mainly focus on protein engineering and design, nanobiotechnology, antibody engineering, chemical biology and development of tailor-made peptides and miniproteins for applications in diagnostics and therapy. His research interests are Peptides, Protein Engineering, Biochemistry, Protein Expression, Biotechnology, Proteins and Recombinant Fusion Proteins.

Biotech Startup, Zurich, Switzerland;
Dr. Christian Klein is Distinguished Scientist and Department Head Cancer Immunotherapy Discovery at the Roche Innovation Center Zurich, specialized in the discovery, validation and preclinical development of antibody-based cancer immunotherapies and bispecific antibodies. During his 16 years at Roche he has made major contributions to the development and approval of obinutuzumab, the preclinical development of currently nine clinical stage bispecific antibodies/antibody fusion proteins, and the development of Roche’s proprietary bispecific antibody platforms e.g. the CrossMAb technology and immunocytokine and T-cell bispecific antibody platforms. 2017 he completed his habilitation in biochemistry at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and acts as external lecturer there.

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium;
I obtained a MSc degree in Molecular Biology in 1997 and a PhD degree in Applied Biological Sciences in 2004, both at the Free University Brussels, working on cancer genetics and investigating the interaction between cancer cells and tumor-infiltrating macrophages. After my PhD, in 2004-2005, I joined a team at the USA National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland to study ovarian cancer genetics. I returned to the Free University Brussels to fulfill a number of postdoc positions, at first continuing my research on cancer genetics and the interplay between cancer cells and their microenvironment. During these studies I got acquainted with antibody engineering and became skilled in the art of nanobody technology. From 2007 on I started to apply nanobodies as tracers for molecular imaging. Currently I'm a full professor heading a team at the Free University Brussels applying nanobodies as vehicles for imaging and therapy in the fields of oncology, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases.

Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;
Sai Reddy is an Associate Professor of Systems and Synthetic Immunology at ETH Zurich in the Department of Biosystems Science & Engineering (D-BSSE, Basel, Switzerland). He is the principal investigator of the Laboratory for Systems and Synthetic Immunology. Systems immunology uses quantitative measurements, computational biology and machine learning to describe and understand the complexity of the immune system. His group has developed a number of methods in systems immunology to greater understand adaptive immunity, in particular with a focus on antibody repertoire sequencing and analysis. Synthetic immunology is based on using methods in molecular and cellular engineering to control immune cell function and behavior. His group has established methods to reprogram immune cells for applications in directed evolution and cellular immunotherapy, with an emphasis on engineering the immunogenome.

Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;
Dr Pietro Sormanni is a group leader supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. His research focuses on the development of innovative data-driven technologies of rational antibody design, to obtain antibodies against targets that have been challenging to access using conventional approaches, and to improve or predict biophysical properties crucial for the successful development of antibody therapeutics. In his work he has established numerous collaborations and industrial partnerships, whose outcomes are beginning to demonstrate that computational approaches can be applied alongside established procedures to streamline antibody development, and to offer time- and cost-effective novel alternatives. Prior to taking up this post, Pietro held a postdoctoral Borysiewicz Biomedical Sciences Fellowship from the University of Cambridge, obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, and an MSc in Theoretical Physics from the University of Milan.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA;
Shohei Koide, Ph.D. is a synthetic protein scientist. His research integrates mechanistic biochemistry and directed evolution to create highly functional but still simple proteins. He is the inventor of the FN3 Monobody technology, and has made important contribution to synthetic antibody technologies. He has pioneered many applications of synthetic binding proteins to biology, chemistry and medicine. Previously he was Professor at University of Chicago and at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. He is an elected fellow of the AAAS and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a co-founder of Aethon Therapeutics.

Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacology of Natural Products, University of Ulm Medical Center, Ulm, Germany;
Dr. Christoph Schmidt is a Professor of Experimental Pharmacology at the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmacology of Natural Products, University of Ulm Medical Center. He studied pharmaceutical sciences at the LMU Munich (Germany) and received his Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom; under the guidance of Prof. Barlow), working on the structure and function of the complement regulator factor H. After his studies, Dr. Schmidt moved to the US for his postdoc, where he worked at the Innate Immunity/protein Chemistry laboratory (under the guidance of Prof. Lambris), focusing on developing a complement inhibitor. Since 2017 he has been a group leader at the Institute of Pharmacology of Natural Products and Clinical Pharmacology at Ulm University in Germany. After a short stay as a Professor of Biochemical Pharmacy at the Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, he was appointed Professor of Experimental Pharmacology at the University of Ulm Medical Center. He and his team use numerous techniques to investigate the complement system to design new therapeutic molecules. His work has made fundamental contributions to the complement field, which includes extensive work on how the cascade is organized and regulated.