Jieping Zhu received his BSc from Hanzhou Normal University in 1984 and his MSc from Lanzhou University in 1987 under Professor Y. -L. Li. In 1991, he obtained his PhD from the Université Paris XI under Professor H. -P. Husson. After 18 months post-doctoral research with Professor Sir D. H. R. Barton at Texas A & M University in USA, he joined the Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles (CNRS) in December 1992, where he is currently Director of Research. His main research interests center on the development of novel synthetic methods, their application in the synthesis of bioactive natural products, and the design of novel multicomponent reactions.
Dr. Zhu has published over 110 research papers.

Hugues Bienaymé gained his PhD in organic chemistry at the university of Paris under Professor A. Lubineau, than took up a post-doctoral position at the University of Geneva under the supervision of Professor W. Oppolzer. He joined Rhône Poulenc (Aventis) in 1991 where he held various research positions in process and discovery chemistry. From 1995 to 2000 he was head of the combinatorial and discovery chemistry group for the company's central research department, developing multi-component condensations as a general tool to accelerate drug discovery. In 1996 the company awarded him the title "associate professor".
In 2001, Dr. Bienaymé founded Chrysalon, a start-up in the field of combinatorial chemistry. After the company's merger in 2003, he became managing director and CSO of Urogene, a biotech company dedicated to discovering new drugs in urology.
Hugues Bienaymé is the author or co-author of more than 40 publications and patents.