Professor Alastair Stewart has extensive experience in the field of respiratory and inflammation research. He has published over 200 papers, has had numerous patents proceed to grant and has served on various peer review committees for the NHMRC and the scientific advisory boards of several Australian Medical Research Institutes. Professor Stewart is Chair of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the The University of Melbourne; is Co-Director of the Lung Health Research Centre (LHRC); and is the Director of the national ARC Industry Transformation Training Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies (ARC CPTT). He is CSO and Director of TianLi Biotech, President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Pharmacologists and a member of the Nominating and Programming Committees of the Respiratory Structure Function assembly of the American Thoracic Society. His editorial roles include Chief Editor of the Translational Pharmacology section of Frontiers in Pharmacology and Senior Associate Editor of the American Society for Mechanical Engineering Journal (ASME), Journal of Engineering and Science in Medical Diagnostics and Therapy. Prof Stewart is developing and applying the concept of mechanopharmacology in drug discovery and ultra-high content screening through his capacity as member of the Inaugural Board of the International Microphysiological Systems (MPS) Society, and a steering committee of a CSIRO-initiated review of Non-animal models for preclinical development.

Danilo Tagle is currently Director, Office of Special Initiatives at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he leads efforts in developing innovative tools and technologies that can greatly accelerate development of disagnostics and therapeutics. These programs involve interdisciplinary collaborations between intramural and extramural components of NIH, and entail partnerships with other agencies, such as FDA, NASA and DARPA, as well as with private sector. Some of the programs include tissue chips, 3D bioprinting, automated chemistry, electronic nose technology for disease diagnosis, and the isolation and analyses of exosomes for biomarker and therapy development. He has served on numerous advisory and review committees and editorial boards. He currently serves on the Biological and Physical Sciences Federal Advisory Committee, on the White House OSTP Microgravity Science and Technology Interagency Working Group, and serves as the point-of-contact for the liaison to the NASA/NIH/Department of Health and Human Services partnership. Dan obtained his PhD and MS in molecular biology and genetics from Wayne State University School of Medicine. He was an NIH National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow in human genetics at the University of Michigan. Dan has authored many scientific publications and has garnered numerous awards, including more recently the Roscoe O. Brady Award for Innovation and Accomplishment; the Henry J. Heimlich Award for Innovative Medicine; the HHS Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service: Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) Initiative, and the NASA Silver Group Achievemnet Award.

Professor Kevin Pfleger MA(Cambridge) PhD(Edinburgh) FBPhS is Director Biomedical and Health Innovation at The University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Western Australian Life Sciences Innovation Hub. He is also Immediate Past President of the Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists, Head of Molecular Endocrinology and Pharmacology at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Deputy Director of the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies and Chief Scientific Advisor to Dimerix Limited. Professor Pfleger has developed globally-recognised expertise in molecular pharmacology over the last 20 years. He also has experience in research translation, being a named inventor on a number of patent families and being a spin-out company Chief Scientific Officer for over 6 years. This company, Dimerix, is now listed on the Australian stock exchange and is in Phase 3 clinical trials for chronic kidney disease. Professor Pfleger is also a scientific co-founder of RAGE Biotech and chairs the Advisory Board of VeinTech, in addition to advising and mentoring a number of other start-ups and entrepreneurs. Professor Pfleger supports innovation and entrepreneurship training as Chair of both Perth Biodesign and Biodesign Australia, as well as co-Director of the Australian Clinical Entrepreneur Program.

Professor Nicolas Voelcker is the Director of the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN) and Professor at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University. The core research activity in his laboratory is the study of silicon-based nanostructures at biointerfaces. Following from this more fundamental research, his focus is on the application of silicon-based nanostructured materials in biosensors, biochips, drug delivery and regenerative medicine. He has authored over 520 peer-reviewed journal articles with over 25,000 citations, h-index 76, and has filed 48 patents. He has received fellowships from the German Research Foundation (DFG), the CSIRO and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He has served on the College of Experts of the Australian Research Council, is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, a winner of a Humboldt Research Award and a current Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow. As Director of the MCN, he is overseeing the largest joint venture in the Australian university system, and is supporting over 30 companies in their commercialisation endeavours.

Dr. Chia-Chi Chien, Science Leader in Advanced Ex Vivo Biosystems at Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) CSIRO, focuses on developing advanced 3D cell culture platforms to mimic complex organ models for predicting infectious disease pathogenesis and evaluating therapeutic agent efficacy. Her research aims to provide comprehensive insights into disease mechanisms, ultimately paving the way for innovative approaches to disease treatment.

Yi-Chin Toh is a Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. She is trained as a chemical and biomedical engineer, having obtained her B.Eng. and PhD from the National University of Singapore. She did her post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and A*STAR Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Yi-Chin's primary research interest is in engineering microphysiological systems that mimic biological complexity while being scalable, making them practical for routine drug testing. Her work on animal alternative technologies has earned her accolades, such as the Global 3R Award (2019) and the Lab on a Chip & Dolomite Pioneers in Miniaturization Lectureship Award (2022). Yi-Chin is an associate editor of Microsystems & Nanoengineering and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Lab on a Chip and AIP Biomicrofluidics. She is also a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts.

Dr Bryan Gao received his BSc(Hon) in Biomedical Sciences and his PhD in Mechanobiology in National University of Singapore. He then joined the University of Melbourne, ARC Centre for Personalised Therapeutics Technologies (CPTT), as a postdoctoral researcher in 2018, leading cross-disciplinary projects to develop engineering/LoC solutions for the unmet needs in biomedical research. His main research interests include microfluidic device innovation, in-vitro microenvironment control, and automated long-term culturing method, generating quality first-author publications in Nature Physics, Lab-on-Chip, and Applied Physics Letters. His key innovations has attracted strong industrial interest and led to two patent applications. Bryan also has substantial industrial experience, as founder and lead R&D Scientist of biotechnology start-ups during and after his PhD. He has recently completed his MBA training and the Researcher Exchange and Development within Industry (REDI) Fellowship through Australian Medical Research Future Fund, focusing on development and commercialisation of multiplexed perfusion technology with the industry partner

Jana graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Pharmacology. She received her Honours degree in 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Alastair Stewart, with the thesis titled: “The Art and Artefact of Static Culture”. Jana then began her PhD in 2022 with Prof. Alastair Stewart focusing on the characterisation of Casein Kinase 1 delta in circadian rhythm and cancer tumorigenesis. Her research goals include advancing the use of microphysiological systems for in vitro drug discovery. She was a general committee member of the ASCEPT student forum in 2023.