Bio
Marek M. Kowalczuk is a professor at the Centre of Polymer and Carbon Materials, Polish Academy of Sciences, Zabrze, Poland, and head of the Group of Innovation, Technology and Analysis Service. He received a PhD degree in 1984 from the Faculty of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland, and a D.Sc. degree in 1994 from the same University. Since 2010 he has been a professor of chemistry, nominated by the President of Poland. He was a visiting professor at the Ohio State University (Columbus, OH, USA), a visiting lecturer at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, MA, USA), a Marie Curie EU fellow at the University of Bologna (Italy), and a professor in chemistry at the University of Wolverhampton (UK). He was elected as a member of the Chemistry Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He is the author and co-author of over 180 scientific papers and a score of patents. His main scientific interests are biodegradable polymer materials, novel initiators and mechanisms of anionic polymerization related to the synthesis of biodegradable polymers possessing desired architecture, biodegradation of synthetic and natural polymers, polymer mass spectrometry, and forensic engineering of advanced polymeric materials.

Bio
Dr. Puskas received a PhD in plastics and rubber technology in 1985, and an M. E. Sc in organic and biochemical engineering in 1977, from the Technical University of Budapest, Hungary. Her advisors were Professors Ferenc Tüdös and Tibor Kelen of Hungary, and Professor Joseph P. Kennedy at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA, in the framework of collaboration between the National Science Foundation of the USA and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Her research is now focusing on the integration of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment with breast reconstruction. She and her business partners received a Phase II SBIR grant from NSF to demonstrate the effectiveness of her polymeric diagnostic agents, in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic. Her Center of Advanced Elastomers for Healthcare, supported by the Rubber Division of ACS and the Breast Cancer Innovation Foundation, also received an NSF grant helping her commercialization efforts. Professor Puskas has raised over $4 million for research in Canada, and over $10 million while at the University of Akron. As a coinventor of the polymer used on the Taxus® coronary stent, Puskas helped the University of Akron generate more than $5 million in license fees. Professor Puskas is the winner of the 2017 Charles Goodyear Medal, the most prestigious award given by the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society. She joined the Faculty of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering (FABE) at the Ohio State University as a tenured Full Professor in January 1, 2019, and became a Distinguished Professor in 2020.

Bio
Iza has an MSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Silesia, Poland completed in 1990. Within biosciences her research first focused on anatomy and histology (interactions between heavy metals and enzymatic activity in brain tissue). In 1991 she took a position as a junior research worker in the Institute of Polymer Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Zabrze, Silesia, with a special interest in the biodegradability of different synthetic polymer blends. After one year there she decided to take a PhD researcher/lecturer post at the University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland with a special interest in microbial biotechnology concerning the production of biodegradable polymers by bacteria under different environmental conditions. She completed her PhD in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. After that in 2000, she joined the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. Since then, her research is focused on the cost-effective synthesis of new biomaterials using bacterial biopolymers, produced from bacteria using eco-sustainable feedstock and their chemical derivatization which can transform the crude polymer into a range of highly valuable products. Her research also focuses on the application of nanoparticles for anti-cancer therapy and as antimicrobial agents in wound dressings. She has published numerous research papers in highly ranked scientific journals, authored several chapters in biotechnological books. Iza has also given a broad number of invited lectures at international conferences. She has coordinated and participated to funded research projects at the EU as well as national level in the area of biopolymers, nanoparticles and bioactive cements. Iza teaches on a wide variety of microbiology and biotechnology courses, both undergraduate and postgraduate level where she puts her knowledge and experience to good effect. Iza is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.