Dr. Julia Marín-Navarro obtained her MS (1998) and PhD (2004) from the University of Valencia, Spain. She conducted postdoctoral research at the Scripps Research Institute, USA (2005-2007) under a Ramon Areces Fellowship and at IATA-CSIC (2008-2016). Since 2016 she has been a faculty member at the University of Valencia (UVEG), becoming an Associate Professor in 2021. In 2022, her research was further affiliated with IATA-CSIC, as part of a collaboration between UVEG and CSIC.  Dr. Marín-Navarro research focusses on molecular engineering of industrially relevant enzymes. Her objectives include enhancing enzyme stability, modifying substrate or product specificity, and facilitating enzyme immobilization through molecular biology techniques such as random and directed mutagenesis or the creation of chimeric enzymes. She also employs bioinformatics tools for in silico mining of enzymes with specific properties, from large numbers of protein sequences retrieved from data banks. To date, her work has resulted in 37 scientific articles (10 as a first author, 7 as a corresponding author) and 4 book chapters. She has supervised 3 doctoral theses and 3 MS theses. Since 2004, Dr. Marín-Navarro has led the Laboratory of Enzyme Structure and Function At IATA-CSIC. She is also an Associate Editor of the World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology (Nature-Springer).

Dr. David Talens Perales holds an MS in Biology from the University of Valencia, Spain (2012), an MS in Molecular Approaches in Health Sciences (2013), and an International PhD in Biotechnology from the same university (2016). He also holds an MS in Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, Vocational Training, and Language Teaching from the Catholic University of Valencia (2017). During his studies, he received various fellowships (JAEintro-CSIC, JAE-Pre-CSIC, FPU) and awards, such as the Award for Best Master's Thesis from the Catholic University of Valencia and the Doctoral Extraordinary Award from the University of Valencia.

During their postdoctoral period he was working at the Agricultural Chemistry and Food Technology (IATA). He has dedicated his career to advancing enzyme biotechnology as a sustainable alternative for the agri-food and health industries, specializing in enzyme characterization, modification, and immobilization. His research has led to the discovery of extremophilic enzymes tailored for industrial applications, including a patented xylanase currently produced at scale and applied in the paper industry. Additionally, through molecular engineering, Dr. Talens-Perales developed improved versions of essential enzymes, resulting in three patents, including one for a modified invertase. His work has earned several prestigious awards, notably the "XVIII Ciutat d'AlgemesíScientific and Technical Award" in 2023 for his research on xylanases, as well as two FOTCIENCIA awards for science outreach. His contributions include 20 SCI publications, three patents, extensive participation in EU and national projects, and active science dissemination efforts in media. Currently, Dr. Talens-Perales’s research focuses on developing enzyme-based antimicrobial alternatives aimed at enhancing food safety and reducing antibiotic resistance, and is lecturer of Enzymology at the Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Martir.

Dr. Julio Polaina earned his MS (1976) and PhD (1980) from the University of Seville, Spain. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Solar Energy Research Institute (now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) in Golden, Colorado, USA (1980-1982), the Calrsberg Laboratory, Copenhagen, Denmark (1982-1985), and the Institute of Agricultural Chemistry and IATA in Valencia, Spain (1986-1988). He held prestigious postdoctoral fellowships from the European Molecular Biology Organization, The Carlsberg Foundation, and the Juan March Foundation. From 1988 to 2024, Dr. Polaina served a Research Scientist at CSIC, where he founded and led the Laboratory of Enzyme Structure and Function, at IATA in Valencia. His expertise encompasses microbial molecular biology, biotechnology and protein biochemistry. Dr. Polaina has co-authored over 100 scientific papers and six patents. He also co-edited the book Industrial Enzymes: Structure, Function and Applications (Springer, 2007), which is available in a Chinese edition (Science Press, 2010). He served as Editor-in-Chief of World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology (Nature-Springer) from 2009 to 2024.