Marcelo Knobel was the 12th Rector of the University of Campinas (Unicamp), in Brazil, where he is a Full Professor of Physics. He held other leadership roles, including: Executive Director of the Unicamp Exploratory Science Museum, Vice-Rector for Undergraduate Programs, Vice-President of the Brazilian Physics Society and Executive Director of the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano). Knobel has already published more than 300 scientific papers, in addition to numerous opinion pieces in both national and international newspapers and magazines. He is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (Elsevier). Knobel is an Eisenhower Fellow (2007), Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2009) and Lemann Fellow (2015). He is Member of the Governing Council of the Magna Charta Observatory.

Marcelo Farina is the leader of the laboratory of experimental neuropathology of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil, where he teaches biochemistry and develops basic research in the field of biochemistry, toxicology and neurosciences.He holds a BSc in pharmacy (1997) and a master degree (1999) in toxicological biochemistry, both from the Federal University of Santa Maria. He earned his PhD in biochemistry (2003) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.Farina's main research interests include the mechanisms mediating the toxic effects of environmental pollutants toward the central nervous system, with a particular emphasis on the potential occurrence of neurodegenerative disease as consequence of pollutant-induced neurotoxicity. The most important accomplishments derived from the research developed in his laboratory (Federal University of Santa Catarina) are related to: (i) the role of the selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase on the mechanisms of neurotoxicity elicited by the environmental contaminant methylmercury, (ii) beneficial effects of probucol and probucol-derivatives in mitigating neuronal injury in neurodegenerative processes.

Dr. Marques obtained his Ph.D. in 2002 from the Department of Microbiology at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais working on the characterization of wild poxviruses. After obtaining his Ph.D. he joined the laboratory of Bryan Williams at the Cleveland Clinic in the state of Ohio, USA in 2002 where he studied nucleic acid sensing mechanisms. In 2006, his interest in the area of RNA interference led him to move on to a new position in the laboratory of Richard Carthew where he developed Drosophila melanogaster models to study antiviral defense. Dr. Marques returned to Brazil in 2010 to join the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. He has extensive experience in diverse areas of research such as virology, immunology, bioinformatics and genetics. Since his return, he has dedicated a lot of his time to research on the development of novel approaches to the fight transmission of arboviruses by mosquitoes such as Dengue virus. He has also pursued ways to contribute to the improvement of Brazilian science by getting involved with science policy and public outreach.

Yraima Cordeiro holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) (1999), a Master's degree (2001) and Doctor's degree (2005) in Biological Chemistry by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). She is currently Associate Professor of the Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the Faculty of Pharmacy of UFRJ. He has experience in the field of Biochemistry and Biophysics of macromolecules, working mainly in the following subjects: prion protein, protein aggregation and folding, spectroscopy, protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions and screening of protein aggregation inhibitors. From September 2011 to January 2016, she was vice-coordinator of the Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PPGCF) of the Faculty of Pharmacy, UFRJ. Since March 2016 she is the Coordinator of the PPGCF. She was a member of the World Academy of Sciences - TWAS (2010-2014) and an affiliate member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2012-2016). Since 2017, Yraima is a TYAN member.