Sibylle Vonesch obtained her PhD from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2015. During her doctoral studies with Ernst Hafen, she employed genome-wide approaches to study how intra-species genome variation shapes hereditary traits. In 2015, she joined Lars Steinmetz’s group in Heidelberg, Germany, as a postdoctoral researcher, where her work focused on genomics and the development of multiplexed genome editing technologies in the yeast S. cerevisiae. In 2021, she established the Laboratory for Genome Editing and Systems Genetics at KU Leuven and the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology. Her team develops CRISPR-based high-throughput genome editing tools for microbes and applies them in large-scale genetic screens to study fundamental principles in molecular and complex trait genetics. 

Ruben Vazquez Uribe studies microorganisms and how to harness them to improve human health, protect the environment, and enhance food quality and production. His research bridges microbiology, synthetic biology, and biotechnology to explore and engineer individual microorganisms and complex microbial communities. Ruben earned his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the Technical University of Denmark, conducting research under the supervision of Morten Sommer. In 2020, he became group leader and co-led the Bacterial Synthetic Biology section at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability at the Technical University of Denmark. Since 2023, he has been with the VIB Center for Microbiology as Head of Fermentations in the group of Jeroen Raes. Throughout his career, Ruben has developed and applied novel technologies in synthetic biology, gene editing techniques, microbiome research, food fermentation, functional metagenomics, biosensors, and cultivation-based multiplexed phenotyping. By leveraging microbes, he aims to develop innovative solutions in health, pharmaceuticals, environmental science, and food technology.

Hooman Hefzi is an Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark, leading the Advanced Mammalian Cell Engineering group. The group’s focus is optimizing biologics production through data-driven improvements to host cell lines, leveraging high-dimensional omics data and AI/ML classifiers for target identification. Previously, he led the Omics and Modeling Team in Biologics Technical Development at Biogen. Hooman received his Ph.D. in Dr. Nathan Lewis’s lab at UC San Diego, where he led the reconstruction of the first genome-scale metabolic model of Chinese hamster ovary cells and showed that the Warburg effect is dispensable for normal proliferation in mammalian cells.