Michael Bader graduated in Biology at the University of Freiburg, Germany in 1984 and gained his PhD in 1989 and in 2010 the Full Professorship, Charitè at University Medicine in Berlin. During his career he has won several awards. Since 1994 he has been group Leader in the Hypertension research at the Max-Delbruck-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. His research work focuses mainly on Molecular biology of genes coding for cardiovascular hormones; Generation and characterization of genetically altered animal models for the functional analysis of cardiovascular hormones and Development of transgenic technology in mouse and rat

Federica was born in Pavia, in 1983. She graduated in Biotechnology at University of Pavia in 2005 (BSC). She obtained a MSC at University of Milan in Plant Biotechnology in 2007 and gained her PhD in Plant Molecular Biology and Production in 2010. Since 2010 she has worked in a large research centre in Milan, Italy, contributing to manage two mouse facilities as well as being involved in personnel training. In 2011, she was also involved in a LEAN transformation, which took place in one of the two mouse facilities.

James Bussell has been involved in animal research for over 20 years and for the majority of that time he has been associated with the production and use of Genetically Modified (GM) mice. During his time in the Comparative Genomics Division of GlaxoSmithKline he became proficient in many aspects of transgenic and knockout mouse production including all the required elements of embryo recovery, handling, micromanipulation and implantation and culturing techniques for Embryonic Stem Cells helping in standardizing their pre-injection archiving; he played a lead role in developing the company’s cryopreservation capability along with the breeding and experimental protocols for the utilization of their Cre-Lox technology models Since 2007 his attention has focused on many aspects of the optimization of GM production and facility management after joining The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. As part of this role he heads the Institutes Research Support Facility leading a skilled team of technicians who support the animal welfare and procedural activities of the Institutes Model Organisms program.

Manuela graduated in Veterinary Medicine in 1993 and specialized in Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine in 2002 at the University of Milan, Italy. Since 1998 she has worked as a freelance consultant veterinarian for a large research centre in Milan, Italy. Currently she has legal responsibility for animal welfare (D.L.vo 116/92)

After graduating in Aerospace Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Cristian initially worked as Project Leader in a manufacturing company producing power presses and consulting for a private engineering practice. He joined a specialized company in 2003 as Project Manager. Currently he coordinates the Project Management team.

Steve is Director of the Cube, which is based in Cambridge, U.K. and Dublin, Ireland. For the last ten years he has specialised in Biomedical and Biology facility design, building and refurbishment projects. He completed his first Animal Facility project in 1985. He currently provides specialist services and consultancy on a wide range of projects in the UK and internationally. Steven has followed a philosophy of designing facilities which meet the needs of the research, improve animal welfare, enable better science and create an environment which recognises the welfare of the staff. He is actively involved in the new educational programmes of the IAT and is Secretary of The Board of Educational Policy and The Syllabus Review Board. He is also a member of UFAW/RSPCA rodent and rabbit welfare groups, which published Refining Rabbit Care in 2006 www.rspca.org.uk/researchrabbits He is a Fellow of the Institute of Animal Technology and completed his MSc in Animal Technology in 2004.

Adrian has recently been appointed Director of Biological Services at University College London.

As a microbiologist with >30 years experience in the lab animal industry working in lab animal microbiological monitoring and genetic testing, Adrian was with Harlan Laboratories since 1991. He built up the laboratory service such that Harlan Laboratories UK is one of the leading labs involved in health monitoring. During his career, Adrian has established laboratories in commercial and university settings nationally and internationally.

He has been involved in many aspects of laboratory animal science and technology in addition to health monitoring. He was Director, Animal Resources Centre, Perth, Western Australia, worked in laboratory animal diet supply, and has worked on the development of flexible film isolators.

Adrian’s field of specialism, however, is laboratory animal health monitoring.
He was a member of both of the FELASA Working Groups formulating recommendations for health monitoring of rodents, and more recently was a member of the FELASA Working Group on accreditation of health monitoring programmes and laboratories.

He frequently presents talks to scientific meetings and contributes to courses for veterinary surgeons, scientists and animal technicians.

Alessandra graduated from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) with a degree in Management, economics and industrial engineering. For the first few years after graduation she worked as project manager for a company manufacturing flyback transformers and later for a company operating in the field of plastics recycling. In 2004 she started working for a specialized company as project manager, contributing to managing projects from the design phase to the installation of equipment, as well as being involved in training and testing activities.

Alberto graduated in Veterinary Medicine (Summa cum Laude) in 1992 and specialized in Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine (Summa cum Laude) in 2002 at the University of Milan, Italy. Since 1999 he has worked for a large research centre in Milan, Italy, where he manages three mouse facilities. His scientific interests are focused on the development of mouse models of human tumors and infectious diseases and the study of spontaneous diseases of laboratory mice He is author of 30 papers published in international peer-reviewed journals.

Ina was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1971 and obtained a university diploma in applied science in nutrition and home economics in 1998.
From 1998 to 2003 she worked in the Neodisher detergent applications department at the chemical company Dr. Weigert GnbH & Co. KG in Hamburg. After a short period (2003-2005) spent in a health and rehabilitation centre as nutritionist, in 2006 she returned to Dr. Weigert GnbH working once again in the Neodisher detergent applications department.

Boris Jerchow works at the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, Germany. He is Assistant Director of the institute's animal facility and Head of its Transgenic Core Facility since 2005. Before his career with MDC he was employed as Head of Transgenic Technologies with Swiss based RCC, now part of Harlan Laboratories. Boris was trained as a chemical engineer at the Berlin Institute of Technology and then did his PhD in genetics with Walter Birchmeier where he had his first contact with genetically engineered mice. Boris is a member of the International Society for Transgenic Technologies since (ISTT) since 2005 and was elected member of its executive council in 2007.

Enrica was born in Milan, Italy, in 1981. She obtained a BSD (2004), and an MSD (2006) in Biomedical Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. From 2002 to 2006 she collaborated with the Laboratory of Functional Anatomy of the Locomotor Apparatus (University of Milan), publishing as co-author 8 scientific papers. Since 2007, she has been IO & QA Assistant with SVS Stericheck Consulting s.r.l. (Legnano, Italy), providing advice on Good Manufacturing Practice in pharmaceutical production.

PierAnna graduated in Biological Science from the University of Milan in1991 , gaining a PhD in Zootechnical Sciences in 1999 and a specialization in Laboratory Animal Sciences in 2002. Since 2001 she has been involved as a researcher of infectious diseases in domestic animals and currently heads the Bacteriological Diagnostic Section at the Microbiology and Immunology branch of the Department of Animal Pathology, Hygiene and Veterinary Public Health in Milan.
She is the author of 70 scientific papers, 30 at an international level, some of which deal with anti-prionic molecules both in vivo and in vitro.
Her research work focuses mainly on veterinary bacteriology and mycology and particularly in classical diagnosis of animal infectious diseases, studies of bacterial strain characterisation and bacterial antibiotic-resistance. She is also involved in environmental microbiology in rabbits and other laboratory animals.

Gianpaolo graduated in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) at the University of Parma (Italy). He gained his Master of Science in Laboratory Animals at the Royal Veterinary College in London (UK). For many years he worked as production manager of a large SPF in the Germ-free and Gnotobiotic rodent units, with responsibility also for the health status and monitoring of the rodents bred. Since 2000, on a consultancy basis, he offers Scientific support to various private institutions. He is also Professor at the Veterinary Faculty (Milano) in the post-graduate course on Laboratory Animal Medicine.

Gemma is the head of the Division of Special Zoology and Animal Models of the Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine of the Italian National Research Council in Rome. She graduated in Veterinary Medicine and specialized in Laboratory Animal Science and Medicine at Milan University. She is past president of the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations (FELASA), past president of the Italian Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AISAL), special consultant for the International Council of Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) and has served as Vice-president on the board of the Italian Association for Primatology (API). Her research interests are mainly focused on aspects relating to the health and welfare of laboratory animals, in particular, non human primates and she has been Scientific Supervisor of several research projects.

Mauro Pistello graduated in Biological Sciences, curriculum Biomedicine, at the University of Padua in1988 and received the Ph.D. in Virus Immunobiology at the University of Pisa in 1993. From 1993 to 2001 he has been Assistant Professor and since then Associated Professor in Clinical Microbiology at the University of Pisa, Medical School. From 2006 to 2009 he has been Visiting Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA. He also worked at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, State University of Utrecht, NL, and at the Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Glasgow, UK. His main interests are the natural history, pathogenesis, and vaccines against lentiviruses and use of lentiviral vectors for gene therapy and vaccination. Additional areas of research include hepatitis C virus and TT virus

Jan-Bas Prins received his masters degree with distinction from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. His majors were genetics and immunology. He went on to doing his PhD in Laboratory Animal Science with Prof. Dr. L. van Zutphen at the University of Utrecht. After a research period with the group of Dr. J. Todd at the University of Oxford, UK, studying the genetics of Type I diabetes, he went on to the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. There he worked in the Department of Immunology and subsequently became the head of the pre-clinical division of the Department of Pulmonary Diseases. In 2002, he took the position of Director of the Central Animal Facility of the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands. A position he still holds. A few years ago, he obtained his license as Laboratory Animal Welfare Officer (FELASA category D). Jan-Bas Prins is the chair of the Dutch Laboratory Animal Science Association and President Elect of FELASA.

Esther graduated in Biology at the Catholic University Nijmegen, The Netherlands, in 1989 and gained her PhD in Medical Microbiology in 1995. Her working experience: 1995 – 1998 PHD at the department of Gastroenterology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen; 2000-2005: PHD at the department of Medical Microbiology / ICLAS reference lab for rodent viruses, University Medical Centre Nijmegen. 2003: Initiative QM Diagnostics as director QM Diagnostics BV Representative of QM Diagnostics scientific reference centre of the ICLAS Laboratory Animal Network www.iclas.org/Network.htm

Dr. Staffeldt was born in Molln, Germany in 1948 and since 1978 he is working with Dr. Weigert GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg as the head of det. Application technology. From 1964 to 1967 he worked as chemical laboratory assistant at Beiersdorf AG in Hamburg 1972 graduated from the Technical higher education institution in Berlin as chemical Engineer 1975 graduated form the Technical University in Berlin in chemistry 1978 Dr. rer. nat degree from the Technical University in Berlin

Executive Editor, ALN Europe and CEO of Science Associates, a UK based consultancy agency -specialising in management reviews, applications of IVC systems and control of Laboratory Animal Allergy. Previously Head of Biological Services at major UK research facilities. Associated with over 20 publications in cancer research; laboratory animal allergy, animal science and laboratory animals welfare indicators.