Biographical note

Devrim Balköse, PhD, graduated from Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) Chemical Engineering Department in 1969. She received her MS and PhD degrees from Ege University, İzmir, Turkey, in 1974 and 1977 respectively. She became Associate Professor in macromolecular chemistry in 1983 and Professor in process and reactor engineering in 1990. She worked as research assistant, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor between 1970-2000 at Ege University. She was the Head of Chemical Engineering Department at İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, Turkey, between 2000-2009. She is now a faculty member in the same department. Her research interests are in polymer reaction engineering, polymer foams and films, adsorbent development, and moisture sorption. Her research projects are on nanosized zinc borate production, ZnO polymer composites, zinc borate lubricants, antistatic additives, and metal soaps. Daniel Horak, PhD, graduated from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, Czech Republic, where he received MSc degree in macromolecular chemistry. His PhD degree in chemistry was obtained from the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic , where he is employed as the Head of the Department of Polymer Particles. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa in Canada with Professor Frechet in 1983-84, winner of the scholarship from the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science, at the Technological University of Nagaoka with Professor Imai in Japan in 1987-88, visiting scientist at the Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with Professor Frechet in 1993-94. He also served as a visiting scientist at the University of Montreal in Canada in 2001. His research activity includes magnetic nano- and microspheres, polymer particles by heterogeneous polymerization techniques including emulsion, suspension, and dispersion polymerization; properties of the particles, their chemical modifications and applications in medicine, biochemistry, and biotechnology; immobilization of enzymes and antibodies; hydrogels, sorbents and ion exchangers; and advanced separation media. He is member of the International Polymer Colloid Group, organizer and chairman of the Polymer Colloid Symposium in Prague 2008 and 2014, editorial board member of Journal of Colloid Science and Biotechnology, and supervisor of PhD students. He has published more than 150 original scientific papers, 7 book chapters (Polymeric Materials Encyclopedia, Strategies in Size Exclusion Chromatography, Citus Books), 10 reviews, many lectures and communications at international symposia, and 7 patents. He has published in Biomaterials, Bioconjugate Chemistry, Journal of Polymer Science, Polymer Chemistry Edition, Polymer, Journal of Materials Chemistry, Chemistry of Materials, among others. Ladislav Šoltés, PhD, was born in 1950 in Czechoslovakia. His expertise encompasses macromolecular and analytical chemistry. He has been employed for over 30 years at academic research institutes in Bratislava , Slovakia. His research related to the polysaccharides, which started over two decades ago, resulted in patenting a novel approach "clathrate complexes formed by hyaluronic acid derivatives and use thereof as pharmaceuticals". His current research interests are focused on the studies of hyaluronan oxidative damage and the regulation of this process. Dr. Šoltés is the only distinguished representative of Slovakia in the International Society for Hyaluronan Sciences, USA. In 2007 he was named Scientist of the Year of the Slovak Republic.