John McKinneyProfessor John McKinney received his Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University (New York, NY) in 1994 for studies on cell cycle regulation in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
in the laboratory of Fred Cross. From 1995 to 1998, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of William Jacobs at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY), where he studied mechanisms of persistence in
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
. In 1999, he returned to Rockefeller University to establish his own laboratory as an Assistant (1999-2004) and then Associate (2004-2007) Professor. In July 2007, the lab relocated to the Global Health Institute in the School of Life Sciences at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, where McKinney is Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Microsystems (LMIC). Our research focuses on understanding the mechanistic basis of bacterial persistence in the context of host immunity and antimicrobial therapy, using
M. tuberculosis
as a "model" system.
Mohammad Khaja NazeeruddinDr. Md. K. Nazeeruddin received M.Sc. and Ph. D. in inorganic chemistry from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India. He joined as a Lecturer in Deccan College of Engineering and Technology, Osmania University in 1986, and subsequently, moved to Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, as a Research Associate. He was awarded the Government of Indias fellowship in 1987 for study abroad. After one year postdoctoral stay with Prof. Graetzel at Swiss federal institute of technology Lausanne (E P F L), he joined the same institute as a Senior Scientist. His current research focuses on Dye-sensitized solar cells, Hydrogen production, Light-emitting diodes and Chemical sensors. He has published more than 380 peer-reviewed papers, ten book chapters, and inventor of 40 patents. The high impact of his work has been recognized with invitations to speak at over 80 international conferences, including the MRS Fall (USA, 2006) and Spring 2011 Meetings, GORDON conference (2014), and has been nominated to the OLLA International Scientific Advisory Board. He appeared in the ISI listing of most cited chemists, and has more than 33'500 citations with an h-index of 89. He is teaching "Functional Materials" course at EPFL, and Korea University; directing, and managing several industrial, national, and European Union projects on Hydrogen energy, Photovoltaics (DSC), and Organic Light Emitting Diodes. He was awarded EPFL Excellence prize in 1998 and 2006, Brazilian FAPESP Fellowship in 1999, Japanese Government Science & Technology Agency Fellowship, in 1998, Government of India National Fellowship in 1987-1988. Recently he has been appointed as World Class University (WCU) professor by the Korea University, Jochiwon, Korea (http://dses.korea.ac.kr/eng/sub01_06_2.htm) and Adjunct Professor by the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Michael GraetzelProfessor of Physical Chemistry at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Michael Graetzel, PhD, directs there the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use to generate electricity and fuels from sunlight. He invented mesoscopic injection solar cells, one key embodiment of which is the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC). DSCs are meanwhile commercially produced at the multi-MW-scale and created a number of new applications in particular as lightweight power supplies for portable electronic devices and in building integrated photovoltaics. They engendered perovskite solar cells (PSCs) which turned into the most exciting break-through in the history of photovoltaics. He received a number of prestigious awards, of which the most recent ones include the RusNANO Prize, the Zewail Prize in Molecular Science, the Global Energy Prize, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, the Marcel Benoist Prize, the King Faisal International Science Prize, the Einstein World Award of Science and the Balzan Prize. He is a Fellow of several learned societies and holds eleven honorary doctor’s degrees from European and Asian Universities. His over 1500 publications have received some 220’000 citations with an h-factor of 218 (SI-Web of Science) demonstrating the strong impact of his scientific work.
Thierry MeyerOriginaire de Genève, né en 1961, Thierry Meyer reçoit en 1986 son diplôme (MSC) dingénieur chimiste de lEcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Il reçoit en 1989 son doctorat (PhD) à EPFL pour sa thèse sur le micromélange dans des milieux fortement visqueux. Il rejoint l'institut du génie chimique de 1989 jusqu'à 1993 en tant que scientifique senior dans le domaine des réactions de polymérisation. Il entre, en 1994, à la division " Pigments " de Ciba-Geigy SA, où il travaille au développement et à la mise en production de plusieurs pigments de hautes performances. Il assume la fonction de chef de projets pour l'introduction de nouveaux pigments en fabrication. En 1997, il est nommé chef de fabrication pour la production de la division pigments de Ciba Spécialités Chimiques SA à Monthey. Il est pendant cette même période nommé chargé de cours à l'EPFL. Retournant à l'institut du génie chimique d'EPFL à Lausanne vers la fin de 1998, il a été nommé « d'enseignement de maître et de recherche » (MER) pour mener un nouveau groupe de recherche dans le domaine des polymères et les fluides supercritiques, et enseigner aux chimistes, ingénieurs chimistes et en sciences des matériaux, les disciplines telles que le développement de procédés, l'introduction au génie chimique, le chimie organique et des polymères au programme de bachelor et master. En 2005 il assume la responsabilité du service de Sécurité et Santé au Travail de la faculté des sciences de base en plus de ses activités de recherches traitant de la gestion des risques (risk management) et des fluides supercritiques. Il enseigne actuellement l'introduction au génie chimique au niveau bachelor, le risk management au niveau master et des cours de formation continue dans le domaine de la sécurité (safety) et de la gestion des risques (engineering risk management). Il agit également comme consultant et expert en matière de risk management et génie chimique auprès du tribunal de l'ICC (chambre de commerce internationale) du World Business Organization, auprès de plusieurs bureaux d'études et de consultants ainsi quauprès dindustries. Thierry Meyer est actuellement membre de plusieurs associations internationales de la fédération Européenne du génie chimique et de la société chimique Américaine et American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Il a été élu Président de la European Working Party on Polymer Reaction Engineering de 2001 jusqu'à 2006. Il est actuellement le représentant académique Suisse dans la European Working Party on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion et dans la European Working Party on Education. Il est membre de plusieurs editorial boards: Chemical Engineering Research and Design, Macromolecular Reaction Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, Journal of Chemical Health and Safety.
