Bruno Sarmento is Principal Investigator and Group Leader at Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto (UP), and Invited Associate Professor at Instituto Universitário de Ciências da Saúde (IUCS), Portugal. His research is focused on the development of functionalized nanomedicines and their application in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. In particular, nanoformulations of biopharmaceutical drugs with interest in diabetes, cancer and infectious diseases. He has also specialized in in vitro 3D multicompartmental healthy and diseased models, as reliable and relevant pre-clinical platforms for drug and nanomedicines efficacy screening and to perform in vitro/in vivo correlation. He published more than 500 papers in international journals, and has more than 30,000 citations. He edited 5 books, participated in more than 60 invited/selected talks in national and international meetings and was awarded several distinctions. He is editor of European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of several international journals, including the Journal of Controlled Release, Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery and Pharmaceutics.  Bruno Sarmento was the first Chair of the Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Delivery Focus Group of the Controlled Release Society (CRS) and is now President-elect of CRS and member of CRS College of Fellows.

José das Neves is Associate Researcher at Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (i3S), University of Porto, Portugal, and Invited Assistant Professor at Instituto Universitário de Ciências da Saúde (IUCS), Portugal. His research focuses on mucosal drug delivery, particularly via the vaginal and rectal routes. He developed and expanded on the use and understanding of cell- and tissue-based models for evaluating nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems for local therapy and prophylaxis. José is the author of 87 peer-reviewed articles in the broad field of drug delivery, editor of five other scientific books and guest editor of ten special issues in international journals. He also serves as editorial board member of international journals in the field of drug delivery and biological sciences, including Biomedical Technology (KeAi/Elsevier), Pharmaceutics (MDPI), Nanomaterials (MDPI) and PLOS ONE (PLoS).

Juliana Viegas is a Junior Researcher supported by Marie Sklodowska-Curie/ERA Postdoctoral Fellowship, specialized in nanomedicines and advanced preclinical models for skin diseases, with a strong focus on melanoma. Holding a Master and Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, her research expertise includes lipid-based formulations, 3D cellular models, and iRNA-based therapies. Juliana Viegas has extensive experience in both academia and the pharmaceutical industry, providing a perspective on translational research that bridges scientific innovation and clinical application. She has established lipid-based nanoparticles as well high-throughput in vitro models to enhance drug screening for skin cancer. She has authored, up to date, 27 peer-reviewed articles (9 as first author), and three book chapters. She is also a co-inventor of a pharmaceutical patent of a liposome (BR 10 2021 024317-1). In 2022 her work in skin cancer was recognized with a Seal of Excellence from the European Commission (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01).