Lacerda (PhD, Biophysics, 1983) is Titular Professor, Federal U. of Ceará in Fortaleza, Ceará and Fluminense Federal U. in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a CNPq-National Research Council of Brazil Senior Researcher (1A) and a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He is a Member of the FEC-Academy (Future Coasts Academy) and of ISME (International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems); under these institutions and UNESCO-UNEP he has coordinated global research programmes on mangrove conservation and coastal zone management in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. He received the Excellence Award in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, U. of Florida (1995); the BUNKA-SUMITOMO Prize of Scientist of the Year (1999); and the Bunge Prize 2011 in Oceanography. In 2018 received the National Order of Scienctific Merit from the Federal government. Lacerda has authored over 290 journal papers, 80 book chapters and 21 books and majored over 100 PhD, MSc and Postdoc researchers.

Lépine is professor at the Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, University of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in 1977 at Université de Paris VII, and became full professor at the University of São Paulo in 1999. He made important contributions to Astronomy, like the discovery of the first water vapor extragalactic megamaser, and the study of a Cassini-like ring in the Galactic disk with a minimum of stellar density and also of gas density, at the corotation radius. Lepine was the Director of his Institute from 2001 to 2005, and President of the Brazilian Astronomical Society for 2 years in the past. He is now the coordinator on Brazilian side of the joint Brazilian-Argentinean LLAMA project, which is installing a 12 m radiotelescope for sub-mm waves in the Andes, at 4800 m altitude.

Linden is Full Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Neurogenesis, and former Director (2004-2007) of the Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chagas Filho, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. His research work is directed at mechanisms of development of the central nervous system and neurodegeneration. His achievements in cellular neurobiology have led him to become a senior investigator of the Brazilian National Research Council and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow in 2002. He received the Grand-Cross of the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit in 2007. He is also a senior member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (1998) and member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences (1999).

Lopes is full professor at the Mathematics Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. After obtaining his PhD in 1977 from the Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada in Rio de Janeiro, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Maryland, College Park. He was appointed Comendador of the National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil, in 2005, and elected to Brazilian Academy of Sciences in 2007.

Lopes-Cendes is a physician who earned her medical degree at UNICAMP, Brazil. She completed her specialty training in pediatrics before obtaining her Master of Science and PhD in neuroscience at McGill University, Canada. Her research focuses on neurogenetics, specifically epilepsies, with a keen interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. Using advanced multi-omics techniques, her team is renowned for its expertise in next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics analysis of complex genomic data, non-coding RNAs, and single-cell methodologies. For her scientific achievements, Lopes-Cendes has received numerous awards and distinctions including membership in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and TWAS. She founded the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (www.bipmed.org), launching Latin America's first public genomic database, and contributing to the development of LatinGen (www.latingen.org), a platform for sharing genetic and genomic information in the region. These projects have laid the groundwork for adopting genomic testing in Brazil. Beyond her research, she is an attending physician at UNICAMP University Hospital.

Maculan is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Systems Engineering and Computer Science of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ). He worked as Visiting Professor in European and North American universities, supervised over 60 Ph.D. theses and 150 M.Sc. dissertations, published 6 books and over 100 papers in scientific journals. Currently President of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies – IFORS, former President of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1990-1994) and National Secretary for Higher Education (2004-2007), his membership includes the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (Paris, France). He was honored with several awards such as: Doctor Honoris Causa (Université Paris 13), Chevalier dans l’Ordre National du Mérite (France) and Grand-Cross for Scientific Merit (Brazil).

Mazzafera is a full professor at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), São Paulo, Brazil. He graduated in agronomy and his main knowledge area is plant physiology. He started his career at Agronomic Institute of Campinas, working with coffee, a crop that is still his passion. He teaches plant physiology/biochemistry in undergraduate and graduate courses and supervised more than 120 MSc, PhD and postdoctoral students. Nowadays, his main research areas are lignin metabolism and crop nutrition in coffee, sugarcane, soybean and eucalyptus. He published over 300 refereed scientific articles, book chapters, and technical publications. During his career, he had intense administrative activity. He was head of department at Unicamp twice (1997-2003), director of the Institute of Biology (2006-2010), advisor to the dean of research (2003-2006), advisor to the rector (2011-2013) and director of the National Laboratory of Bioethanol Science and Technology (CTBE) (1985-1986). He is a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Sciences of São Paulo. He is a level 1A researcher at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

McManus, BSc from University College Dublin (1987), MSc from University of Edinburgh (1988) and PhD from University of Oxford (1991), received a post-doctorate scholarship at the University of Sydney (2002). She is full professor of Universidade de Brasilia and CNPq scholarship holder (1A). She has experience in animal genetics and breeding, in conservation of animal genetic resources and landscape genetics. McManus has published more than 400 articles in peer reviewed journals with editorial board, 24 book chapters, more than 550 abstracts in conferences, and supervised more than 200 student. She participates in joint projects at the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Council of South Africa and Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), France, among others. She is a reviewer for 38 national and international journals, and 11 development agencies as well as associate editor for Tropical Animal Health and Production. She was director of international affairs for CAPES/Ministry of Education, Brazil. McManus is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit.

Menck (PhD Biochemistry, 1982, at the University of São Paulo) is Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, USP, São Paulo, where he was Head of the Dept. of Microbiology and Vice Director, Vice-President and President of the Brazilian Society of Environmental Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis and Teratogenesis (SBMCTA), and of the Brazilian Society of Genetics. He participated in the organization of many scientific meetings, including as Chair for the V Congress of SBMCTA, 57th and 58th Annual Congress of Genetics, 11th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens and five meetings on Molecular Mutagenesis and DNA repair (FARM-DNA) (São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil). His prizes include the Award of Scientific and Technological Merit from the State of São Paulo, Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, member of the Order of National Scientific Merit, Commander Class. He is also member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo.

Morel is director, Centre for Technological Development in Health (CDTS), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro. A molecular biologist and medical doctor, he received his MD from the Medical Faculty, Federal Univ. of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, and completed PhD work at the Biophysics Inst., Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro, and Molecular Biology Dept., Swiss Cancer Inst., Lausanne. He has led research projects in molecular parasitology and collaborated with others on neglected diseases and capacity building. He was previously: Professor, UnB; president, FIOCRUZ; and director, UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, where he moved WHO forward in areas such as the unveiling of genomes of parasites and vectors, and establishing relationships with product-development partnerships and global ventures in public health.

Moura is director, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia and vice-Pres., World Meteorological Organization. He was previously: Dir. Gen., Intl. Res. Inst. for Climate and Society, Columbia U.; snr. researcher and dir. meteorology, INPE, Brazil; and physics prof., U. of Taubate, Brazil. He has advanced research in climate forecasting, El Nino and Atlantic influences on droughts in northeastern Brazil and contributed to application of meteorological satellites and climate modelling in agriculture and water resources. He works on climate forecast system for global food security and relationships between climate and vector-born diseases. Awards include: Rossby Award, MIT; Awards from U. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Brazil; Award for Young Scientists, WMO, Geneva; Santos Dumont Medal, Min. of Aeronautics; Tamandaré Award, Navy, Brazil; elected Hon. Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, 2013.

Professor and Head of the Institute of Pharmacology and Molecular Biology at the Federal University of São Paulo. Obtained her PhD at Unifesp and post-doctoral training as a Fogarty fellow at the Univ. of Southern California. Since 1985, she is a 1A research fellow of the National Research Council for the Scientific and Technological Development. Her research field is molecular and cell biology of glycoconjugates. At Unifesp, she was the first woman to become Pro-Rector of Undergraduate and Pro-Rector of Research and Graduate programmes. She is a member of several national science and education councils and has received several national and international awards and honours. She is president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (BAS), co-chair of the Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences and Governing Board member of the International Science Council. She is member of the BAS, The World Academy of Sciences, and the Latin America Academy of Sciencies. Former president of the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2007-2008), honorary president, vice-president (2007-2011) and president (2011-2017) of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Sciences

Nussenzveig Lopes (PhD, 1991, UC Berkeley, USA) is full professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; prior to this she was a professor at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Her research area is fluid dynamics and partial differential equations. She served as editor-in-chief for the Brazilian Math Society publishing company and on several mathematics journal editorial boards; she is managing editor for Orbita Mathematicae, the new journal of the Unión Matemática de América Latina y el Caribe. She was second vice-president of the Sociedade Brasileira de Matemática Aplicada e Computacional. She served on the scientific council of the Centre International des Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées - CIMPA. She is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. She was inducted to the Order of Scientific Merit, Comendador class, and she was an invited speaker at the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians. She received the TWAS Award in Mathematics in 2022.

Oliva is a prof. at the Inst. of Physics of São Carlos, U. of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in Protein Crystallography and Structural Bio. at the U. of London in 1988. He was the key leader in the establishment of Protein Crystallography res. in Brazil, including the development of the first protein crystallography beamline at the Braz. Natl. Synchrotron Lab., and has served as pres. of the Braz. Natl. Council for Scientific and Techn. Development - CNPq (2011-2015). He is member of the Braz. Acad. of Sci., the Natl. Order of Scientific Merit of Brazil, Intl. Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Inst. (1997-2001), Fellow of Birkbeck College (2014-) and was profiled by the American magazine Time and CNN (1999) as one of the 50 Latin-American Leaders for the New Millennium. His main res. interests are in structural bio., drug discovery and development against tropical infectious diseases.

Goulart graduated as a pharmacist at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, where she then got her PhD in Science (1983). She did postdoctoral studies in London, Münster, and Paris. She was a Visiting Professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Département de Chimie, Paris (2004–2005, 2007, 2008). She is now a Full Professor at the Federal University of Alagoas, Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology (UFAL); a researcher 1B at Brazilian Research Council (CNPq); and full member of the Brazilian Academy of Science (ABC), since 2015. She has published 210 articles, nine patents, 12 book chapters. She received several awards: Young Scientist Award by CNPq (1985); Foreign Young Chemist Award (1997) at International Symposium-Electroorganic Synthesis ’97, Japan; National Award Marie Curie - Distinguished Women on Chemistry by the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (SBQ) (2011); Jabuti Award (2012); Award Roberto Alves de Lima, by UFAL (2018); Prêmio Inovadores by Inova, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (2020); and Brazilian Women in Science, Scientific Leadership by SBQ/American Chemical Society (2021). She supervised 31 MSc, 40 PhD students and 10 postdoctoral fellows.

Pena is professor of biochemistry at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil, where he graduated in medicine in 1970. He became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada in pediatrics in 1975 and obtained his PhD in human genetics at the University of Manitoba in 1977. He is member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and received the Great-Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit of Brazil in 2006. is currently a member of the National Council of Science and Technnology of Brazil. Among other honours, he was awarded the 2007 TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences. He was president of the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and member of the Council of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). He created and directs the Danilo Pena Foundation, which grants scholarships to poor students with high intellectual potential.

Rech has been a scientist at EMBRAPA Recursos Geneticos e Biotecnologia, Brazil, since 1981. He obtained his PhD in 1989 at the University of Nottingham, England. He is recognized by his studies on the recombinant DNA technology and its application for development of processes and products with economic and social impacts. His work focuses on the molecular and biochemical mechanisms that governt several types of protein-conformational expression. His awards include: Prize Estado de Sao Paulo Governator; Embrapa Prize for Research Excellence; Commander of the Order of National Scientific Merit, Brazil; and Fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

Reis is Prof. of Political Sociology at the Federal U. of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She obtained her BA (sociology) and MA (political science) in Brazil and her PhD (political science) from MIT. She has been visiting professor at several universities including UC San Diego, Columbia U., MIT, and the Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Munich. She chairs the Interdisciplinary Res. Network on Inequality (NIED) at UFRJ. She is former president of the Natl. Ass. for the Social Sciences. (ANPOCS); former secretary general of Brazilian Sociological Society; she has also served in the Executive Committee of both the International Political Science Association (1988-1994) and the International Sociological Association (2006-2010), and was vice-president of the International Science Council (2018-2021).

Rios-Neto is a visiting professor in the applied economics graduate programme at the Federal University of Ouro Preto. From April 2021 to December 2022, he served as the president of the Brazilian National Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and from May 2019 to March 2021 he was the director of surveys at IBGE. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he was a distinguished Lemann Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2015–2016). In 2015, he retired as a full professor of demography at CEDEPLAR-UFMG, where he served from 1980. In 2010, he received the Brazilian Federal Government Medal of Scientific Merit, and in 2006 he was appointed as Tinker Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. From 2004–2011 he was president of the National Committee on Population and Development, and from 1999–2002 he was president of the Brazilian Population Association. From 1996–2000, he served as graduate training director in demography at CEDEPLAR. In 1996, he carried out postdoctoral research in demography at the University of Texas, Austin. He earned his PhD in demography from the University of California at Berkeley.

Savino was graduated in Biological Sciences at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (1974), got his MSc degree in Histology and Embryology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (1979), PhD degree in Cell and Tissue Biology at the University of São Paulo (1982), and had a post-doc training in Cellular Immunology at Necker Hospital, Paris (1983-1985). Presently, he is full researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; Editor-in-Chief of the journal NeuroImmunoModulation and Associated Editor of Frontiers in Immunology. He received international awards, namely the title of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques (France), Doctor Honoris causa by Sorbonne Université (France), the Luis Federico Leloir Medal (Argentinian government), Guest of Honor (National University of Rosário, Argentina) and Eduardo Charreau Award (Argentinian Government). His research is focused in cellular immunology, with emphasis in cell migration in the hemopoietic system; neuroimmune interactions; cell therapy and immunotherapy in neuromuscular diseases.

Sial is full professor (retired, 2012; Emeritus Professor, 2016) in the Department of Geology, Federal U. of Pernambuco, Brazil (UFPE). He obtained his PhD from UC Davis (1974) and did postdoctoral work at the U. of Texas at Austin (1977-78), U. of Georgia at Athens (entire 1983, entire 1988) and U. of Wisconsin (2001). He also trained in Portugal, Canada, Japan and Scotland. He founded a Laboratory for Stable Isotope Studies at UFPE, only one in South America with facilities to analyze O isotopes from silicates, and pioneered the use of isotope stratigraphy in S. America. He has received several honours including: Silver Hammer and José Bonifacio Golden Medals (Brazilian Geological Society); Centennial Medal, Engineering School, UFPE; National Order of Scientific Merit commendator and Grao Cruz classes (by President of Brazil decree); special foreign member, Society of Resource Geology, Japan; and foreign member, Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Portugal.

Silva is prof. of biochemistry at the Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), dir. of the Jiri Jonas Natl. Center of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and scientific dir. of the Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. His research interest revolves around the understanding of biological recognition processes, especially how proteins correctly fold, misfold into species involved in neurodegenerative diseases, and form supramolecular complexes, such as virus particles. His work has opened new vistas for the use of pressure perturbations in the field of protein folding, structure and dynamics. He was nominated fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, member of the Brazilian Acad. of Sciences. His honours include: Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit (Great-Cross), TWAS Prize in Biology and the FCW Prize in General Science from Fundação Conrado Wessel.

Simis is emeritus full prof., Federal U. of Pernambuco, Brazil, and presently a FAPESP Vis. Sen. Researcher at ICMC-USP. He is First Class research grant recipient from the Brazilian Research Council. He earned his PhD from Queen's U., Canada. In Brazil, he was prof. at IMPA in Rio de Janeiro until 1980. He was president of the Brazilian Mathematical Society and has been member on several occasions of international commissions of the IMU and TWAS. He has been director of 3 workshops in his field at the ICTP. He is a recipient of the Natl. Medal Grã-Cruz for Scientific Merit, Min. of Science and Technology, and was a JS Guggenheim Fellow. He has been awarded other fellowships from the Max-Planck-Institut, Japan Soc. for Promotion of Science and the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica. He is a member of the Brazilian Acad. of Sciences and serves on several committees in Brazil. His mathematical work concerns the interlaciing of commutative algebra and algebraic geometry.

Souza Filho was born in 1975, in Jucás, Brazil, and received his doctorate in physics from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2001. In 2000, he joined the group of Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a PhD visiting student, where he worked on single carbon nanotube resonance Raman spectroscopy. He has authored and co-authored about 270 papers in refereed international journals including review articles, book chapters, and books. He is currently a full professor of physics at the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. He was one of the recipients of the 2009 Sômiya Prize awarded by the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) and elected fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Science in 2018. His main research interests are the electronic and optical properties of nanomaterials with emphasis on carbon nanostructures.

Teixeira graduated in biological sciences, and obtained a MS degree in molecular biology at University of Brasília (1986). She received her PhD in Biochemistry in 1990 from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and did postdoctoral training on molecular parasitology at the University of Iowa, in the US. In 1997, she became an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where she became a Full Professor in 2013. In 2005, she was awarded an international grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She acted as Vice-Head and Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology at UFMG and President of the Brazilian Society of Protozoology (SBPz). She also acted as Head of the Centre for Vaccine Technology at UFMG (CTVacinas) where she is currently Vice-Director. For more than 30 years, she has studied genome, gene expression and host-parasites interactions involving Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania species with the aim of developing new treatments and methods to control Chagas disease and leishmaniasis.

Teixeira (MD) is full professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). He obtained his PhD in 1994 at the National Heart and Lung Institute, University of London. He was president of the Brazilian Society of Pharmacology (SBFTE, 2011-2014), Brazilian Society of Inflammation (SBIN, 2018-2020), Member of the Brazilian Academy of Science (currently vice-President responsible for Regions Minas Gerais and Center-west) and Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit. He is currently Vice President of the International Association of Inflammation Societies (IAIS, 2023-). Teixeira demonstrated the crucial role of the microbiota and microbial-derived products in controlling inflammatory and behavioural responses, and the relevance of inflammation in mediating tissue damage and lethality during infectious diseases, especially arboviral infections. This knowledge has led to mechanistic molecular studies which have led to new targets for anti-inflammatory drug development. Special focus is given to molecules which bind and block the function of 7-TM chemotactic receptors and induce the resolution of inflammation.

Tenenblat obtained her MSc (1969) at the Univ. of Michigan and PhD (1972) at the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro. She has served in various capacities at the Univ. de Brasilia, Brazilian Mathematical Society, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology (Brazil) and other organizations and committees. She is professor emeritus of mathematics at the Univ. de Brasilia. An expert in differential geometry, she has advanced understanding of the interaction between differential geometry and partial differential equations. With S.S. Chern and other collaborators, she helped develop the classification of systems of differential equations that describe pseudo-spherical surfaces. Her membership includes: Brazilian Mathematical Society; American Mathematical Society; Brazilian Academy of Science; and Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science. She received the Comendador de Ordem Nacional do Merito Cientifico from the President of Brazil in 1996.