Bio
Dr. Akbari is an Associate Professor and Director of Laboratory for Innovations in Microengineering (LiME) at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Victoria. He is the section Editor in Chief of MDPI Micromachines- B2: Biofabrication and Tissue Engineering and Guest Editor of 6 Special Issues with MDPI.

Bio
Dr. Surjendu Maity is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. Prior to joining Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, he worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University School of Medicine, USA, and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. in Nanotechnology from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati and holds an M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. His research lies at the intersection of engineering and biology, where he develops next-generation microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip, and organ-on-a-chip platforms that closely mimic human physiology. By integrating biomaterials, biosensing, and computational modeling, his work aims to unravel complex disease mechanisms such as neurodegeneration, cancer, and inflammation, enabling more predictive drug screening and advancing personalized medicine. He holds multiple patents, has published in several high-impact journals, and is a recipient of the GYTI Appreciation Award (2021) for his contributions to innovation and translational research. With a strong foundation in transport phenomena, fluid mechanics, and reaction engineering, his broader vision is to bridge core chemical engineering principles with biomedical innovation to develop scalable, high-impact in vitro systems and point-of-care technologies that can transform the Indian healthcare system.