Prof. Raymond J. Andersen is a professor at the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. His research interest involves the isolation and structure elucidation of novel organic metabolites produced by both terrestrial and marine organisms. Biosynthetic studies are carried out on the novel metabolites when it is feasible. As a rule, the molecules investigated have to meet one or more of the following criteria: i) they should be of theoretical interest due to the novelty of their biogenesis – for example terpenes with new carbon skeletons, ii) they should display in vitro biological activity which makes them potential leads for the development of pharmaceutical agents and/or iii) they should display biological activities that allow them to play a central role in the biology of the producing organism (i.e. chemical ecology). He earned his Ph.D. from University of California at San Diego under the mentorship of Prof. D.J. Faulkner and Postdoctoral fellowship from Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of Prof. G. Büchi. Among the many recognitions, Prof. Andersen is the recipient of Chemical Institute of Canada – Merck Sharpe and Dohme Lecture Award, Royal Society of Canada – Rutherford Medal in Chemistry, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Arthur E. Schwarting Award from the American Society of Pharmacognosy, and the Paul J. Scheuer Award.

Prof. Mary Garson is Professor Emerita of Chemistry at the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane, Australia. She obtained her PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK on the biosynthesis of fungal polyketides). After postdoctoral fellowships in Rome and Cambridge, she migrated to Australia where she began her research into marine natural products and their biosynthesis.

Mary is currently Vice President and President-elect of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and Chair of the IUPAC Science Board. She is a Past President of Division III (organic and biomolecular) of IUPAC and has served twice on the Bureau of IUPAC). She was co-chair of the IUPAC100 Management Committee overseeing the IUPAC centenary celebrations in 2019, and has served as the inaugural Chair of the Committee for Ethics, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (CEDEI). She is best known as the creator of a global networking breakfast event (GWB) for women chemists which since 2019 has resulted in >1500 events in 100 countries.

An unusual form of professional recognition is the naming of a new species of marine flatworm as Maritigrella marygarsonae. In 2023, the American Chemical Society Journal of Natural Products published a special issue recognising her outstanding contributions to natural products chemistry. Mary holds a Distinguished Fellowship of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and in 2014 was named as one of their “175 faces of Chemistry”.

In 2019, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to education and as an advocate for women in science.

Dr. Doralyn S. Dalisay a pharmacist, microbiologist and natural products chemist whose expertise and research interests cover microbial, marine invertebrate, and plant natural products for drug discovery. She obtained her PhD in Microbiology at University of New South Wales, Australia. Dr. Dalisay received a postdoctoral fellowship to specialize on marine natural products chemistry at University of California, San Diego, USA. Dr. Dalisay was been engaged in several drug discovery scientific research undertakings at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA. She returned to the Philippines as Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Balik Scientist in June 2015 to establish research program on natural products drug discovery at the Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology (C2B2) in University of San Agustin. She is a pioneering scientist to work on the biodiversity, biological activities and chemistry of marine sediment-derived actinobacteria from Philippine archipelago for antibiotic, anticancer, and anticovid drug leads. Her laboratory at C2B2, Iloilo City, houses a library of more than 3,000 highly diverse marine sediment-derived actinobacteria isolates that serves as “Microbial BioBank for Drug Discovery Research” in the country.

Dr. Dalisay has published research papers in high impact journals. Her publication received more than 3290 citations. She has three US patents on compounds with antibiotic and anticancer activities. She has won a number of awards in recognition for her research, publications and patents. Just recently, she received the 2022 Eduardo Q. Quisumbing Award for Basic Research, 2022 Excellence Award in Innovation by the Australian Excellence Award by Australian Embassy in the Philippine, 2022 Science for the People Award for Basic Research by Department of Science and Technology, 2022 IDLAB Award for Basic Research by Department of Science and Technology, Region 6, 2020 NRCP Achievement Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2019 Most Outstanding Professional in the field of Pharmacy awarded by Philippine Regulatory Commission and the 2019 Best Mentor Award for Health Research awarded by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.

She is a Diplomate of the Philippine Academy for Microbiology. She is the founding and current Director of the Center for Chemical Biology and Biotechnology at University of San Agustin. Her research program is supported by Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Council for health Research and Development (PCHRD), National Research Council of the Philippines- Department of Science and Technology (NRCP), United States Agency for International Development, Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (USAID-STRIDE) Program and University of San Agustin.

Professor Dr Nor Hadiani Ismail obtained her Ph.D. in natural product chemistry from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 1999. Her PhD thesis entitled Chemistry and Biological Activity of the Roots of Morinda elliptica won the Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui medal for the Best Postgraduate Thesis 1999 by Institut Kimia Malaysia. She is a professor in Chemistry at Universiti Teknologi MARA and served as the director of Atta-ur-Rahman Institute for Natural Products Discovery (AuRIns), until recently. The institute focuses on discovery of bioactive compounds from Malaysian plants and microbial sources towards several target diseases such as diabetes, cancer, malaria and dengue. With more than 200 research publications, she was recognized as Top Research Scientist Malaysia in 2017. A fellow of the Malaysian Chemical Institute and Malaysian Academy of Science, Prof Nor Hadiani is the current president of Malaysian Natural Product Society.

Prof. Prasat Kittakoop is a professor at the Department of Chemical Sciences, Chulabhorn Graduate Institute, Bangkok, Thailand. His research interest is focused on the isolation and characterization of bioactive natural products from plants, fungi, and marine invertebrates. Currently, he is interested in the application of nanoparticles in biological systems. In addition, asymmetric synthesis via Aldol or nitro condensation by enzymatic catalysis or by homogeneous catalysts is also of his interest. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from University of Wales, College of Swansea in the UK. Among the many recognitions, Prof. Kittakoop is the recipient of Young Scientist Award from the Foundation for the Promotion of Science and Technology under the Patronage of His Majesty the King, Lectureship Award from the 2nd International Conference on Cutting-Edge Organic Chemistry in Asia, Gold Medal Award from the Chirantan Rasayan Sanstha, India for academic achievements, and World Top 2% Scientists in Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry.

Dr. Mari Maeda-Yamamoto is an executive scientist at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), a Professor at the University of Tsukuba, and the president of the Self-care Food Council, Japan. Her research interests are studying on physiological functions of green tea, especially in immunological regulation and developments of functional agricultural foods. She joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) after completing the Graduate School of Horticulture at Chiba University, Japan in 1986, received her Ph.D. from Kyushu University in 1992, and worked as a senior researcher at the Vegetable and Tea Research Institute, director of food function research division, director of Agri-food Business Innovation Center, and director of healthcare innovation research before assuming her current position. Since November 2018, she has been the Principal Investigator of the Cabinet Office’s Strategic Innovation Program for Creative Innovation (SIP2) on “Contribution to the Extension of Healthy Life Expectancy by Establishing Health Systems through Food”, which aims to realize a healthy and long-lived society through food. In recent years, her expertise in studying green tea and developments of new agricultural products with function claims have been recognized and received many awards, including the Technology Award from the Japanese Society for Agricultural Chemistry and the Food Immunology Award from the Japanese Society for Food Immunology in 2016, the Food Immunology Award from the Japanese Society for Food Immunology, and the Japan Agricultural Award from the Japanese Society of Agronomy in 2018.

Denise Manker joined Bayer Crop Science with the acquisition of AgraQuest, Inc. in August, 2012. She is responsible for advising farmers, distributors and technical crop advisors on best use practices involving biological products in various countries throughout the world. She also manages the Citrus Greening research collaboration between Bayer and the grower-funded Citrus Research and Development Foundation. She was recently recognized as Bayer’s expert in biologicals and was appointed as a Distinguished Science Fellow. As one of AgraQuest’s founding scientists in 1995, she served in a number of different roles during the growth of the startup biological pesticide company, including head of R&D, oversight of global field trials involving biological products, guiding several key crop strategies and managing numerous industrial collaborations.

She is listed as an inventor on 36 issued U.S. patents and numerous foreign patents, and is the recipient of the American Chemical Society Western Regional Industrial Innovation Award and the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Award for development of Serenade. She holds a Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography where her research involved identification of novel natural products from marine invertebrates and investigations into their bioactivity and biosynthetic origin and a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of South Florida.

Prof. Keiichi Namba is a professor at the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Director of RIKEN-JEOL Collaboration Center, and affiliated with the JEOL YOKOGUSHI Research Alliance Laboratories. The research interests of Prof. Namba are in structures, functions, and dynamics of biological motor complexes, such as actomyosin and bacterial flagellar motor, to elucidate the mechanisms of high energy efficiency. He earned his Bachelor of Engineering Science (Biophysics), Master of Engineering Science (Biophysics), and Ph.D. (Biophysics) from Osaka University. Among the many recognitions, Prof. Namba is the recipient of the Osaka Science Prize, The 2009 Biophysical Society Founders Award, European Molecular Biology Organization Associate member, American Academy of Microbiology Fellow, Imperial Prize and Japan Academy Prize, and The Japanese Society of Microscopy Award (Setou Award)

Naveen, a seasoned professional with 18+ years in academia, industry, and healthcare, boasts expertise in Protein Biology and an MBA from XLRI. His roles span Marketing, Technical Support, and Business Development. Noteworthy for contributions to Cervical Cancer and metabolism research, Naveen’s passion lies in gene and protein studies. As Senior Technical & Product Marketing Manager at Merck, he focuses on cutting-edge technologies in Protein & Pathway Analysis for the Asia-Pacific region, leveraging his unique perspective from industry and academia to drive advancements in life sciences.

Dr. Gian Primahana is the Manager for Advanced Characterization for Chemistry Laboratory at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN: Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional), the only national research body of Indonesia, located in Cibinong, Bogor Regency. His research interest is focused on natural product chemistry, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance. He earned his Dr. rer. nat. from Helmholtz Center for Infection Research and Technische Universität Braunschweig while his Bachelor and Master’s degreeswere earned from Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta. His research program has received support from various sponsor agencies such as the German Indonesian Antiinfective Cooperation and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Chin-Hoe Teh obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from University of Sains Malaysia. He joined Bruker Malaysia as a NMR Application Scientist in 2011. He supports South-East-Asia region and provides the assistance to the customers especially who are new in the natural products – plant metabolomics fields. His expertise is with different latest software solutions both for pure compound and mixture to drive many possible NMR applications into the easier and better. He is part of NMR method and application development.

Prof. Jean-Luc Wolfender is a natural product chemist and full Professor at the Phytochemistry and Bioactive Natural Product research unit of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Geneva. He currently serves as the vice-dean of the Faculty of Sciences. In the 1990s, he played an instrumental role in introducing LC-MS and LC-NMR techniques for the purpose of profiling crude plant extracts in natural product-based drug discovery research programmes aimed at dereplication. He is currently developing pioneering strategies for metabolomics utilizing MS and NMR in projects related to phytochemistry, microbial interactions, and phytotherapy. His expertise lies in the de novo structure identification of biomarkers at the microgram scale and the development of miniaturized approaches that combines activity‐based HPLC profiling and high content information bioassays. His main research interests are centred on searching for novel, inducible, bioactive natural products in response to different biotic and abiotic stimuli. He also studies the mode of action of phytopharmaceuticals from a systems biology perspective. He has multiple partnerships with South American and Asian countries, primarily focused on conducting bioactivity-guided isolation studies to uncover novel natural products of therapeutic interest. Additionally, he is active in organizing workshops to promote metabolomics within the natural product community.

Professor Hang Hubert Yin was born in Beijing in 1976. After studying for a bachelor’s degree at Peking University, he received his PhD from Yale University in 2004 under the supervision of Professor Andrew Hamilton and then spent a post-doctoral period at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine with Professor William DeGrado. In 2018, Professor Yin joined the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Tsinghua University as a founding Deputy Dean. Prior to joining Tsinghua, he was a tenured faculty member of the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests lie at the interface of chemistry, biology, and engineering with particular focuses on structure-based drug design, extracellular vesicles, cell signaling biochemistry, biotechnology development, and membrane protein simulations. Professor Yin is a recipient of many accolades for his research in chemical biology and drug discovery, including the Wu Jieping-Paul Janssen Medical & Pharmaceutical Award, American Chemical Society David W. Robertson Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry, OKeanos-CAPA Senior Investigator Award, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, Beijing Outstanding Young Scientist, CAPA Distinguished Junior Faculty Award, NSF CAREER Award, AACR Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award, Sidney Kimmel Scholars Award, and HHMI Collaborative Innovation Award among others. Professor Yin’s is currently serving as a member of the Academic Committee of Tsinghua University, a Vice President of the Chinese Society of Extracellular Vesicles (CSEV), the Editor-in-Chief of Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, and a deputy editor of the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles.