Biographical note

Dr. Ahmed Barhoum is an Associate Professor of nanomaterials science and Head of the Nanostruc Research Group (Helwan University). He is currently working at the DCU University (Ireland). His research interests include the synthesis of nanomaterials for catalysis, drug delivery, and biosensing. He has won several scientific awards and prizes: Helwan University Prizes (Egypt, 2020 & 2019), CAS Fellowship (China, 2019), IFE Fellowships (France, 2012 & 2018), FWO Fellowships (Belgium, 2015 & 2016), Medastar Erasmus Mundus (Belgium, 2012), Welcome Program (Italy, 2012) and many more. He serves as an expert evaluator for the National Science Centre (NCN, Poland), Czech Science Foundation (GACR, Russia), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, Switzerland), and Innovators Support Fund (ISF, Egypt), among others. He is on the editorial board of Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, Frontiers in Nanotechnology, Nanomaterials, and editor of 10 handbooks (Elsevier and Springer Nature), PI/Co-PI of 12 projects, and co-author of 150 publications. Zeynep Altintas is a full professor and the Chair of Bioinspired Materials and Biosensor Technologies at the University of Kiel, Germany. She has been the Head of Biosensors and Receptor Development Group at the Technical University of Berlin since 2016. She completed her Ph.D. on biomedical sensors at the age of 25 with the outstanding Ph.D. student award. Her Ph.D. period brought her several other research prizes and fellowships. Following a one-year postdoc position at the Cranfield Biotechnology Centre, she continued her academic career as a faculty member of Biomedical Engineering at Cranfield University (the UK) until 2016. She leads an interdisciplinary research group in the domains of biosensor technologies, computational chemistry, receptor design, functional polymers and their applications in (bio)chemical sciences, nanomaterials applications, and design, synthesis, and characterization of biomimetic materials.