Valeriia Gorbunova is a predoctoral student at the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC-CSIC), working on the ENTRY-DM project under a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) fellowship. Her research focuses on the synthesis and design of oligonucleotides for applications in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1. Prior to this, she completed a research placement at the Institut de Myologie in Paris under the supervision of Dr. Stéphanie Tomé, studying the role of CCG interruptions in CTG repeat expansion in Myotonic Dystrophy type 1, with contributions to work on DNA repair, DNA methylation, and molecular mechanisms in DM1. She holds a Double Master's Degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics obtained in collaboration between the University of Padova (Italy) and Université Paris Cité (France).

Alex Greer is a doctoral student at Durham University, working on nucleotide chemistry under the supervision of Prof. David Hodgson. His studies focus on the development of robust, scalable approaches to nucleoside triphosphate synthesis and purification. He graduated with an M.Chem. from Durham University in 2022, completing his Master's project under the supervision of Prof. Steven Cobb, where he synthesised fluorinated amino acids to elucidate metabolic pathways in the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. In 2021, he was awarded a Wellcome Biomedical Vacation Scholarship at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Prof. Stuart Conway, where he synthesised novel acetylated lysine mimics to inhibit bromodomain factors in the Leishmania parasite.

Otto is a Postdoctoral Knowledge Exchange Associate specialising in oligonucleotide chemistry, supervised by Prof. Glenn Burley at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, in collaboration with the CPI Advanced Medicines Manufacture Innovation Centre (MMIC). Otto graduated with an MChem from the University of Sheffield in 2019, where his final-year project focused on the synthesis of saturated oxaborole compounds under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin Partridge. He then moved to Glasgow to pursue a PhD in the Burley Group at the University of Strathclyde, completing it in 2024. His doctoral research established a chemoselectivity profile for the difluoromethylation of nucleosides for the development of next-generation nucleoside and oligonucleotide therapeutics, leading to several promising candidates. During his PhD, Otto also completed a three-month placement at GSK Stevenage in the Department of Chemical Biology investigating novel cystine labelling probes. His current research investigates the effects of these difluoromethylated modifications on the biophysical and pharmacological properties of oligonucleotides. In parallel, his knowledge exchange role involves co-management of an oligo synthesis facility and active collaboration on a range of academic and industrial projects, including the CPI oligo skills academy.

Cristina Ugedo is a predoctoral researcher in the field of non cannonical nucleic acid structures arising from repeated sequences involved in rare diseases, under the supervision of Miguel Garavís and Carlos González at the Institute for Physical Chemistry in Madrid, Spain and awarded with the funding of the Ramón Areces Foundation.

Arpan Banerjee is a PhD student in the group of Prof. Claudia Höbartner at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Würzburg. He completed his BS-MS (Major in Chemistry) at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, in 2024. During his Master's studies, he worked on the synthesis and backbone modification of morpholino antisense oligonucleotides and the development of next-generation chimeric oligonucleotides. His current research focuses on developing cell-stable catalytic RNAs for biomedical and therapeutic applications. He is part of the international doctoral programme RNAmed and was awarded a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds PhD Fellowship to support his ongoing doctoral research in the Höbartner group.

Emma Tixier is a PhD student at the Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IBMC) in Strasbourg, France. Her research focuses on the development of functional nucleic acids, such as aptamers and DNAzymes, using droplet microfluidics as a high-throughput screening platform.

Massimo Trincas is a PhD student in the Department of Molecular Chemistry (DCM, I2BM team) at the University of Grenoble-Alpes (France), working at the interface of chemistry and biology. His research focuses on the design, synthesis and screening of DNA-encoded chemical libraries (DELs) for the discovery of ligands targeting G-quadruplex DNA structures, with potential applications in therapeutic development and gene regulation. His work combines organic synthesis, molecular biology, high-throughput affinity selection, sequencing-based analysis and biophysicals studies. He holds an MSc in Organic Synthesis for the Pharmaceutical and Agrochemical Industries and a BSc in Chemistry and Biology, both from the University of Grenoble-Alpes.

Matic Kovačič is a PhD student at Slovenian NMR Centre at National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, Slovenia, under the supervision of Prof. Janez Plavec. He utilizes NMR spectroscopy as the main method for structural and interaction studies of peptides/proteins, nucleic acids and small molecules. His PhD studies focus on the interactions between disordered arginine-glycine-rich protein domains and DNA G-quadruplex aptamers, as a continuation of his Master's research study of aptamer modification by covalently bound pyrene moieties. The macromolecules of interest in these studies are proteins that are overexpressed in cancer cells and their nucleic acid-binding partners that could act as a therapeutic agent themselves or act as an additional recognition element on existing but not specific enough anti-cancer drugs. Apart from his faculty studies, he was also involved in various research collaborations with industry partners and continues to collaborate with other research groups that require NMR spectroscopy in their projects.

Finn Dicke obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degree in chemistry in Cologne before joining the lab of Stephanie Kath-Schorr for his doctoral studies. Here, he works on chemically modified nucleobases which stabilize Z-RNA and Z-DNA, a usually unstable left-handed double helix structure of nucleic acids. His work is part of the DFG-funded graduate school "reloc" RTG 2550 focusing on protein relocalization.