Willem M. de Vos (1954) received a cum laude PhD degree at the State University of Groningen that was partly done at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, stayed for a post-doc at the NIRD (now IFR) in the UK, and became research manager at NIZO, the research institute of the Netherlands dairy industry. Here he established a research group on lactic acid bacteria and (at the age of 32) became the first Professor of Bacterial Genetics and later Chair of Microbiology at Wageningen University, where he also served as Director of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences. While continuing his chair, in 2000 he became Programme Director Microbial Functionality and Safety at the Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, now known as the Top Institute Food and Nutrition, a public/private centre of excellence in the Netherlands (TTI). In 2007 he was selected as Finland Distinguished Professor and also became Professor of Molecular Microbiology at Helsinki University. He has supervised more than 60 PhD students, (co)authored over 350 peer-reviewed papers, and was involved in the filing of more than 25 patents or patent applications. He received several international awards, including the Rhone Poulenc Dairy Science Award, and is among the ISI highly cited authors in Microbiology (h factor > 60)

Dr. S. Dusko Ehrlich received his Ph.D. from Université Paris VII in 1973 and was a research associate of Prof. Joshua Lederberg, Nobel prize winner, at Stanford University Medical school from 1973 till 1977. He joined INSERM as a Research Director in 1977, founded and led a research group at the CNRS Institute Jacques Monod at the University Paris VII until 1986. He joined INRA as a Research Director in 1986, founded the Microbial Genetics Unit and directed it till 2008. He founded the Microbiology Department of INRA in 1991 and chaired it till 2002. He has authored over 300 research papers and holds an H-index of 58. He is a member of EMBO, the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and the French Academy of Agriculture, currently coordinates the European Commission FP7 project MetaHIT (Metagenomics of the Human Intestinal Tract) and serves as co-chairman of the International Human Microbiome Consortium.

Marie France de La Cochetière is a chemist, she received her PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Bretagne Occidental . She is a permanent staff scientist (INSERM) since 1983. After working for several years at Rijkuniversiteit – Groningen –Netherlands, she started a research group with professor C Chastel in Brest. She joined professor G Potel research group in Nantes where she developed a co-research group with Atlangene-Silliker focus on pattern recognition studies of microbiota communities in humans. She is interested in new technologies, their potential application in diagnostics and in multiple interventions in combination (care, bio molecular sciences, engineer and simulation). She is member of international net workings, the French society for microbiology and the French society for microbial ecology. She works in acute connection with health care providers.

Professor Lars Engstrand holds a donation position sponsored by the Swedish Institute for Infectious Control, at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm. He is head of Department of Bacteriology and has more than 25 years experience as a clinical bacteriologist. His research interest includes the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal infections. In a number of studies, population-based epidemiology has been combined with clinical and basic microbiological science, including molecular biology and genetics. Such approaches have been applied on studies of the human microbiota. His group has initiated the use of new diagnostic tools in clinical microbiology such as pyrosequencing and its large-scale development - the 454 Life Sciences technology.

Richard Brereton obtained his BA, MA and PhD from the University of Cambridge and was subsequently employed by the University of Bristol, where he is currently Professor of Chemometrics. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Statistical Society and Royal Society of Medicine. He is author / editor of seven books including Chemometrics for Pattern Recognition (Wiley, 2009) and has published 322 articles, 136 of which are refereed papers. He has given 152 invited lectures in 23 countries worldwide, and supervised 117 coworkers in Bristol. He has worked on the development and application of pattern recognition studies on microfloral communities in both humans and mice, and his group has developed pattern recognition software for applications to a variety of problems including those in biology and medicine.

Dr Dustin J. Penn was educated in USA, graduating with a BSc in Biology in 1988 at the University of Central Oklahoma, a MS in Zoology at the University of Florida in 1992 and a PhD in Biology at the University of Utah in 1997. He then did a postdoctoral fellowship at the same place for 2 years where he then became Assistant Research Professor up to 2002. After nearly 15 years in the US, Dr Penn moved to Europe where he has been appointed as Director and Senior Scientist at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, in Vienna, Austria. He also became visiting Professor in Biology at the University of Newcastle in 2003-2004. Dr Penn research focuses on individual odor and microflora. Using chromatograph-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), molecular profiling (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis or DGGE) and chemometric techniques with key expert like Richard Brereton, his work consists in determining whether genetic relatedness influences variation in axillary volatiles, microflora, or both.

Gordon originates from Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and was educated at University of Glasgow, graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry in 1987, and a PhD in Protein Biochemistry in 1991. He then did a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Strathclyde, also in Glasgow, in the area of environmental and waste biotechnology. It was during this time, that he began practicing his favoured discipline of microbial biochemistry. Gordon joined Unilever R&D Colworth in 1993, and in all the time since, his main focus has been using his microbial biochemistry skills to unravel the biochemical origins of body odours, mainly axillary (underarm) odour, but also foot malodour. More recently, he has done further work for the Deodorants category in the areas of hyperpigmentation and irritation of axillary skin. His current role is to provide scientific leadership to a Colworth-based team specialising in these topics on behalf of the Deodorants category.

William Wade’s first degree was in Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia, graduating in 1978. After obtaining a PhD in Oral Microbiology at the University of Wales, he was appointed to a lectureship there in 1987. He subsequently moved to the University of Bristol to take up a Senior Lectureship and then, in 1996, to King’s College London, to take up his current posts of Professor of Oral Microbiology and Honorary Consultant Clinical Scientist. He has published widely in the fields of oral, medical and general microbiology and received substantial external funding from UK Research Councils, Charities and Industry. His current interests include the molecular characterisation of the oral microbiome, unculturable bacteria and the development and evaluation of novel agents for the prevention and treatment of oral infection.

Prof. Dr. Christine Lang is a biologist, she received her PhD in molecular biology of fungi at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 1985. After working for several years in R&D in the chemical industry (Chemische Werke Hüls AG) she established a research group at the Technische Universität in Berlin focussing on microbial metabolic engineering and recombinant protein production. She was co-founder of the company ORGANOBALANCE GmbH – targeting the development of novel microbial cultures for food, feed, cosmetics and pharma - in 2001 and is the company’s CEO. Dr. Lang is teaching genetics at the Technical University of Berlin.

Dr Richard Bojar originates from England, and was educated at several universities, graduating with a BSc in Biology in 1983 in Manchester, a MLSO (Microbiology) at the Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences in 1986 and a PhD in Microbiology in 1990 at Leeds. He started working on skin in 1991 at the University of Leeds as Research Fellow & Trials Manager, then he became Senior Research Fellow for the Skin Research Centre, Principal Research Fellow since 2005. In the mean time he established the Leeds Skin Centre for Applied Research, a Spin-Out of the University of Leeds and is Managing Director since 2007.

Jean Krutmann is Professor of Dermatology and Environmental Medicine and Director of the Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung (IUF) at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf. His research is in the field of dermatotoxicology and immunodermatology within special emphasis on environmentally-induced skin diseases. He is author or co-author of more than 200 papers. He is the recipient of the International Arnold-Rikli-Award, the Albert Fleckenstein Award, the Paul Gerson Unna Award, the Oscar Gans Award, the C.E.R.I.E.S.Research Support Award and the Dermopharmacy Innovation Award. He currently also serves as coordinator of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre 728 “Environment-induced Aging Processes“ at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.

Professor Larry J. Forney received his PhD in Microbiology and Public Health from Michigan State University (USA) in 1982. Currently he is a Professor of Biological Sciences and Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Idaho. He is also the Director of the Initiative for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST) which receives funding from the National Institutes of Health as a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. His research focuses on the evolutionary ecology of prokaryotes, with an emphasis on the microbial ecology of the human vagina. The research done on the microbial ecology of the human vagina has centered on defining differences in the species composition of vaginal communities in women of different ethnic groups and and ages. One objective has been to understand how differences in species composition might affect ecosystem stability and function, as well as risk to various diseases. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Idaho he held positions as Professor of Microbial Ecology at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, as Associate Director of the NSF Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University, and as a Senior Scientist at Synergen, Inc. Dr. Forney is a fellow in the American Academy for Microbiology.

Dr. Catherine Davis received her Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology & Immunology from Creighton University (1989) and M.S. in Pathology from Washington University-St. Louis. She joined The Procter & Gamble Company in 1995 and currently is a Principal Scientist in PS&RA supporting the Feminine Care/Health and Wellness business. Currently, she leads an international team of experts in research on Toxic Shock Syndrome. Her research focuses on the urogential health of women – specifically characterizing the microbiota using culture-independent techniques. Prior to joining P&G, she held faculty positions at the University of Colorado Health Science Center and The University of Iowa. Dr. Davis is a fellow in the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Frank Schuren received his PhD at Groningen University in 1987 on the molecular biological analysis of fungal development. After a postdoc on genetic transformation systems in filamentous fungi at the same University and a postdoc at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland he joined TNO in 1996. At TNO he started the implementation of microarray technology in applied research. Together with his colleague Roy Montijn he developed a number of new microarray-based technologies which are successfully implemented in applied microbial research. In the area of complex flora analysis novel microarray-based tools were developed for analyzing human and animal intestinal, oral, skin and vaginal microbial populations. These tools enable the generation of microarrays without prior knowledge on the microbial population composition and the straightforward analysis of large numbers of samples at once. Results obtained with partners on the human vaginal microbial population composition will be presented.