Prof. Emilio Jirillo has been a Full Professor of Immunology at Bari University since 1986, and a Scientific Director of the National Institute of Gastroenterology, Castella Grotte (Italy) from 1996 to 2009. His research areas include Microbial Immunity, Mucosal Immunity, Immunonutrition, Contact Dermatitis, Necrosis, Friedreich Ataxia, and Obesity. He has 494 publications with 8207 citations and an h-index of 48 (Scopus, 21 December 2023).

Prof. Dr. Raffaele Palmirotta received his M.D. degree in 1991 at the University of Chieti, Italy. He specialized in clinical pathology in 1996 and in medical genetics in 2006 at the University of Chieti, Italy. In 2001, he received his Ph.D. in “Molecular diagnostic techniques for the study of hereditary cancer and gene therapy” at the University of Chieti, Italy. From 2015 to 2020, he was a collaborator at the Oncogenomic Research Center “Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Oncology”, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy. In 2020, he became an Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Italy. His major scientific interest is focused on translational research and liquid biopsy. Dr. Palmirotta is the Principal Investigator and/or Coordinator of numerous studies granted by governmental and scientific organizations, a member of several national and international scientific societies, and a reviewer of several peer-reviewed scientific journals.

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Prof. Dr. Luigi Santacroce is an Assistant Professor in the Ionian Department of the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, and a Senior Consultant Microbiologist of the Lab Service of Microbiology and Virology of the Policlinico University Hospital of Bari. He graduated top of his medical school class in Bari, in 1990, followed by a specialization course in Cardiac surgery and in Digestive surgery. He then became a Consultant Microbiologist in 2006. He also followed a master’s program in Emergency medicine. Since the 1990s, he has been dedicated to research on the pathophysiology of human conditions, especially factors for the development of oncologic and infectious diseases. During the last decade, he started a cooperative program of research on regenerative medicine and stem cells. He is a Principal Investigator in international research programs, in particular about the human microbiota. He has served as a speaker and member of organizing committees in several scientific events, both national and international, and has written a number of scientific papers. Since 2010, he has been the President of the Nursing degree course at the University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, and Erasmus+ Coordinator at the same university. He is also a member and past President of the Italian Navy-University of Bari Joint Commission for teaching activity. He is also Dr. hc in International Relations at Logos International University and Peace Education at Instituto Educando Paz.