Dr. Chrysoula Tassou is Research Director in Food Microbiology in the Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products (ITAP) of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization DEMETER and currently President of the Scientific Council of ITAP. Her research interests are: Food Microbiology-Safety, Microbial diversity in foods, Fermented foods, Functional foods - Probiotics and their use as starters in fermented foods, Biopreservation - Natural antimicrobial agents, Use of modern techniques in Food Microbiology. She has coordinated 10 competitive research projects, EU and national and has been scientific leader or team member in 30 research projects. She is editor (PLOS ONE, Frontiers in Microbiology, Foods, Fermentation) and reviewer in international scientific journals, member of scientific societies and evaluator/reviewer for national and European research projects. She is member of the working groups of “Food Safety” and «Food Processing and Packaging» of the Greek Technological Platform "Food for Life", member of the European platform. She is Supervisor and/or Committee member for PhD and MSc students of Cranfield University (UK), Reading University (UK), Agricultural University of Athens, Democritus University of Thrace and Aegean University.

Evangelos Topakas is an Associate Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens and Associate visiting Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering of Luleå University of Technology in the field of Industrial Biotechnology. He leads the Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis (IndBioCat) group consisted of three postdocs researchers and five PhD students. His main research interests focus on (i) Discovery and recombinant expression of novel biocatalysts for the modification of plant cell wall material, (ii) Biocatalysis: discovery of novel reaction systems and biocatalysts for the synthesis and modification of bioactive compounds, (iii) Industrial Biorefinery: production of biopolymers and bioactive compounds from residual agroindustrial biomass, (iv) Molecular mechanisms and kinetics in enzyme processes based on complex carbohydrate substrates, (v) Study of the function/structure of novel biocatalysts, (vi) Saccharification and fermentation of agricultural wastes towards the production of second generation biofuels, (vii) Valorization of olive oil mill wastewater for the microbial production of industrial enzymes and nutraceuticals, (viii) Discovery of novel marine biocatalysts for the degradation of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and (ix) Utilization of biowaste and lignocellulosic biomass for the production of high added-added value products from microalgae. He is a Chief Editor of the Catalyst journal (MDPI), Biocatalysis Section and Associate Editor in Frontiers of Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Section of Industrial Biotechnology.

Prof. Kostas Kormas leads The Microbial Communities and Habitats in Aquatic Environments Laboratory (MiCHAEL) at the University of Thessaly. MiCHAEL focuses on freshwater/marine microbial ecology and aquatic animals-microbe interactions. K. Kormas is a founding member of MikroBioKosmos. Currently, he is an Academic Editor of the journal PeerJ and currently serves as the Greek Ambassador for the International Society for Microbial Ecology.

Danae Venieri is Associate Professor in Environmental Microbiology in the School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete. She leads the lab of Environmental Microbiology and her main research interests focus on a) the application of novel disinfection techniques for the inactivation of various pathogenic microorganisms contained in water and wastewater, including bacteria, viruses and parasites. Recent research studies deal with Advanced Oxidation Processes (heterogeneous photocatalysis/solar photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis etc.) and the application of novel photocatalytic materials in lab- and pilot-scale applications; b) the dispersion of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes into the aquatic environment and their elimination rates during disinfection techniques and wastewater treatment methods; c) the biodegradation of pollutants using various microorganisms; d) the investigation of ecotoxicity of emerging micro-contaminants, including antibiotics and estrogens, and the effect of their by-products towards microbial consortia and e) the assessment of microbiological quality of the aquatic environment through the monitoring of pathogenic microorganisms and the risk assessment for public health. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology (Publisher: John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the Society of Chemical Industry) and Editorial Board member of Catalysts (MDPI).

Hera Karayanni is Assistant Professor in Hydrobiology at the Department of Biological Applications and Technologies, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina. She leads the Microbial Ecology lab (https://sites.google.com/site/aquamicrolab/) and her main research focus on investigating the diversity of prokaryotes and microeukaryotes in different aquatic environments and deciphering the factors that shape the structure of their communities. Current research deals with the biogeography of protists and the role of micropollutants as vectors of pathogenic and non-pathogenic microbes between ecosystems.

Katherine M. Pappas is Assistant Professor in Genetics - Molecular Microbial Genetics, in the Department of Genetics & Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, School of Sciences, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her research interests lie in the fields of genomics, transcriptomics, transcriptional regulation, bacterial cell-cell signaling, plasmid biology, synthetic biology, and genetic/strain engineering. She has mostly worked with bacteria of biotechnological importance such as the ethanologenic Zymomonas mobilis and the phytopathogenic Agrobacterium tumefaciens. She is collaborating with US DOE national laboratories, as well as US and European academic institutions. She has been a primary investigator, coordinator or consortium member in many competitive national and international research programs, has served as appointed editor or ad hoc reviewer in high IF journals, and as invited evaluator in national and foreign research programs and institutions. She has been a member of the scientific society 'Mikrobiokosmos' since its inauguration, member of eight other national and international scientific societies, ASM international mentor (2010- ), and ASM country ambassador (2018-2020).

Dimitrios Karpouzas is a Prof. in Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly. He heads the Laboratory of Plant and Environmental Biotechnology. His main research interests focus on (a) the interactions of pesticides and veterinary drugs with soil microorganisms and the determination of the factors driving the outcomes of these interactions (microbial adaptation towards biodegradation or toxicity?) and (b) the interactions between plants and the soil and plant microbiome. He is a member of the National Committee of Pesticides and Associate Editor of the journal BIODEGRADATION and FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY.