Prasit Palittapongarnpim received his M.D. (1st class honor) from Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, the Certificate of Proficiency in Pediatrics from Chiangmai University and Postdoctoral training at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He also earned B.Sc. in both Medical Sciences and Mathematics. His main scientific interest is on molecular biology and genomic epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as well as AMR. He founded and leads the Emeritus Professor Pornchai Matangkasombut Center for Microbial Genomics at Mahidol University. He also worked on antituberculous drug discovery and founded the Tuberculosis Research Laboratory, jointly hosted by Mahidol University and the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC). He serves as editorial board members and reviewers of several journals and funding agencies both in Thailand and abroad. He served several times as a temporary advisor to WHO. He has published about 120 papers with about 3000 citations and h-index of 26. He is awarded as a top 1% researcher of Mahidol University in 2022and 2023. Prasit Palittapongarnpim previously served as the Executive Vice President of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and including Vice President for Research of Mahidol University as well as executive committees of several government agencies, including National Vaccine Policy Committee and National Committee for Emerging Infectious Diseases Preparedness. He was a steering committee of Asia Pacific Emerging Infectious Disease Research Network. He is now a University Council member of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) and Thaksin University, Executive Board member of Faculty of Medicine, Chiangmai University and Faculty of Medical Technology, PSU, and, the Planning Committee of the Asian and Pacific Rim Research Integrity Network.

Montarop Yamabhai is a Prof. of Mol Biotechnology at Suranaree U. of Tech. (SUT), Thailand. She received a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from Mahidol U., and a Ph.D. in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill. She was a postdoc at UTSW-Med Ctr, Dallas and was a Humboldt fellow at MPI-CBG, Dresden. She is a member of TSB and AFOB. Her current projects involve valorization of agricultural wastes using enzymes and engineering antibodies for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. She was the chair of School of Biotech for 9 years. She has published 84 peer-review articles with an h-index of 28, supervised more than 40 graduate students. She is listed as one of Thailand Senior scholars.

Growing up as a young child in Los Baños, the ‘Special Nature and Science City of the Philippines”, Ronilo has been exposed to the importance of science and nature early on. His passion for learning and research was even further cultivated by getting involved in various researches early in his career. He contributed to the pioneering efforts in introducing Planetary Health, a new transdisciplinary field and movement, in the Philippine academia. Integrating different fields in the study of human-caused disruptions on Earth and their effect on the integrity of the environment and ultimately on human health is key in crafting policies and initiatives to address these issues and achieve sustainable development, agricultural productivity and one health. He is the project leader of the PCAARRD funded project on Emerging Pathogens in the Water and Aquaculture of the 7 Lakes of San Pablo. He is also part of the DOST-funded NICER CAVES program project on metagenomic analysis of bat gut and guano-associated microbes, the UPLB Technical Working Group for Asian Swine Fever and Other Economically Important Diseases and the UP National Zoonosis Center Program where he co-leads the Microbial Research Division. He works on research projects in topics concerning microbial ecology, glycobiology, taxonomy and biotechnology of pathogens and diseases including antimicrobial resistance, water quality,food safety, aquaculture and agriculture sustainability and biomarker search for detection of diseases/pathogens of economic and public health importance. He finished his PhD in Engineering (Advanced Science and Biotechnology) from Osaka University where he studied the N-glycosylation of yeasts belonging to Phylum Basidiomycota, important in understanding their biology, taxonomy and exploring their biotechnological and diagnostic importance and as treatment targets. He is currently a faculty member (Associate Professor) at the Institute of Biological Sciences of UP Los Baños. He also serves as business manager of the Philippine Society for Microbiology Inc., the PRO of the Coalition for Agricultural Modernization of the Philippines and the incoming President of the Philippine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Southern Luzon Chapter. He co-hosts a weekly online show at Radyo DZLB Online titled PAK! Para sa Agrikultura at Kalikasan that tackles issues related to the environment and agriculture. He is the OIC Dean of the UPLB Graduate School, a registered microbiologist of the Philippine Academy for Microbiology and the Microbiology Section Chair of the National Research Council of the Philippines Biological Sciences Division.

Ursela G. Bigol is currently a Supervising Science Research Specialist at the Environment and Biotechnology Division of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). She earned her postgraduate degrees, both her PhD and MS in Biochemistry, at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine – Manila. She also received a UNESCO Post-Graduate Diploma in Microbiology from the International Center for Biotechnology (ICBiotech) in Japan. Dr. Bigol served as a resource speaker in numerous scientific conferences and meetings circumventing research developments in microbiology and biotechnology. She is  actively involved in various professional organizations promoting scientific knowledge including the Philippine Society for Microbiology, Philippine Network on Microbial Culture Collection and the National Research Council of the Philippines, among others. Over the years, she is committed to popularizing scientific research through publications and trainings. She has also mentored undergraduate and graduate students, providing valuable insights and technical assistance to their theses and special research projects.