Dr. Arutchelvan Rajamanikam is a researcher and senior lecturer from the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya (UM). He has been active in understanding the role of highly prevalent protozoan parasite, mainly, Blastocystis sp. in healthy and diseased individuals. Arutchelvan completed his undergraduate studies in the field of Resource Biotechnology in 2010 and ventured into Parasitology during his Masters studies(MMedSc) in University of Malaya (2015). His interest in understanding the interaction and synergism of intestinal parasite and gut microbiome led him to complete his doctoral studies(PhD) in University of Malaya in the year 2019. Arutchelvan currently aims to make use of data analytics and data science to  decipher the gut microbial diversity patterns, metabolic profile and function in understanding health and explore the predictive ability of the gut microbiome for the benefit of preventive medicine. He has currently embarked into various projects relating to gut microbiome in colorectal cancer and mental illness with special reference to parasite with fundings closed to RM 1 million. He also contributes as reviewer for various ISI-indexed journals. Recently he was appointed as a working group member for European Cooperation in Science and Technology action (CA21105). His current research interest includes the host-parasite interaction in Blastocystis sp. and Acanthamoeba sp.

Dr Tan Boon Chin is an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Research in Biotechnology for Agriculture (CEBAR) at the University of Malaya (UM). He obtained his BSc in Biotechnology from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and his PhD in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Nottingham. He joined UM as a postdoctoral research fellow before progressing to the position of Senior Lecturer. Dr Tan's interests span plant molecular biology and biochemistry. His current research aims to combine omics and molecular approaches to understand the regulatory mechanisms of transcription factors in environmentally stressed crops, to identify ways to improve crop tolerance for near-future climates. These include (1) developing a product in the form of biostimulants to mitigate climate stress for these crops, (2) developing appropriate educational programmes for farmers to promote sustainable agriculture, and (3) making recommendations to policymakers. Dr Tan's research interests also encompass genetically manipulating biosynthetic pathways in plants to produce beneficial bioactive compounds. Additionally, he explores the potential of using plants as an alternative platform for producing high-value recombinant pharmaceutical proteins. Dr Tan served as the Lead Consultant for the National Biosafety Policy and Action Plan project. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Plant Growth Regulation (JPGR) and Annals of Botany (AoB), and serves on the Editorial Boards of BMC Plant Biology, Heliyon, Molecular Biotechnology (MOBI), Asia Pacific Journal of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (APJMBB), Discover Food, Discover Plants, and the Journal of Agribusiness Marketing (JAMA). Dr Tan is also the President of the Malaysian Society for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (MSMBB), an Honorary Secretary General of the Asia Oceania Agricultural Proteomics Organization (AOAPO), a council member of the Malaysian Proteomics Society (MAPS), Malaysian Society of Plant Physiology (MSPP), and Malaysian Society of Systems and Synthetic Biology (MyBioSS), and an eLife Community Ambassador.  He received several awards, including the Royal Society-Newton Advanced Fellowship (2017), the Travel Award for the Asia Pacific Biosafety Association Conference from the United States Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program (2017), and the Alltech Young Scientist Award 2012/13. His research group is committed to applying their expertise and ideas to catalyse efforts to achieve the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG2). See the interview: https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/the-source/blog/blogposts-communicating-research/enhan...

Nader Ghaffari Khaligh received his Ph.D. in Organic chemistry from the University of Guilan, Iran, in 2013. Since 2015, he has worked as a researcher at the Nanotechnology & Catalysis Research Center, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. His publications, including papers, reviews, and mini-reviews, focus on heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis, sustainable chemistry and energy, the synthesis of heterocycles, and multi-task reagents such as ionic liquids and Functional polymers. ‎ He has been elected as a World's Top 2% Scientist Career-Long Citation ‎Impact and a World's Top 2% Scientists single-year by Stanford University in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025. He serves as the Associate Editor and Section Editor of two international journals and is a member of the Editorial Board of several other international journals.