Challa Kumar is currently the Group Leader of Nanofabrication at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD), Baton Rouge, USA. His research interests are in developing novel synthetic methods for functional nanomaterials and innovative therapeutic, diagnostic and sensor tools based on nanotechnology. He has eight years of industrial R&D experience working for ICI plc and UB Ltd prior to joining CAMD in 2001. He has worked at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, Germany, as a post doctoral fellow and at the Max Planck Institute for Kohlenforschung, Müheim, Germany, as an invited scientist. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in synthetic organic chemistry from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prashanti Nilayam, India.

Josef Hormes is currently the Director of the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) and Professor of Physics at Louisiana State University. Prior to joining CAMD in 1999, he was Director of the Synchrotron Radiation Facility at Bonn University, Germany, for over 15 years. He was also a visiting professor at the Imperial College, London, UK, and the Institute of Physics in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been actively involved in 'nano' research especially in the application of X-ray absorption spectroscopic tools for characterization of nanomaterials. He has more than 180 peer-reviewed publications, and obtained his doctoral degree and habilitation in Physics from Bonn University, Germany.

Carola Leuschner is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Reproductive Biotechnology at Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC), Baton Rouge, USA. Her research interests are in the field of drug development for cancer with emphasis on breast, prostate and ovarian cancer, eradication of metastases and multi-drug resistant cancers in vitro and in vivo. Prior to joining PBRC, she was an Instructor in the Department of Diet and Heart Disease, Louisiana State University. Dr. Leuschner had her postdoctoral training in the Department of Technical Microbiology of Hamburg University, and prior to that, obtained her Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Hannover, both Germany.