Anne-Marie Caminade studied at the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse where she completed a first thesis on ozonation reactions of unsaturated bonds in phosphorus chemistry under the supervision of Max Koenig. After a first Post-Doc at the French Petroleum Institute (IFP) of Rueil Malmaison, under the direction of Hubert Mimoun, she joined the CNRS in 1985 as a research fellow at the University of Toulouse. She then completed a second thesis on complexes of low-coordinate phosphorus compounds, under the supervision of Jean-Pierre Majoral, and a second post-doc, thanks to an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, to work on antimony and bismuth compounds in the laboratory of Prof. Michael Veith at the University of Saarbrücken (Germany). Back in Toulouse, not at the University but at the CNRS's Coordination Chemistry Laboratory (LCC), she worked on phosphorus-zirconium complexes, then on phosphorus macrocycles. She then created the theme "phosphorus dendrimers", which allowed her to become director of research at the CNRS in 1997, then director of research exceptional class in 2014, and finally deputy director of the LCC (DUA, 2021-2024). She continues to develop the theme of phosphorus dendrimers in many fields, ranging from homogeneous catalysis to nanomaterials, sensors, and especially nanomedicine, with in particular activities in the fields of cancer, inflammation, and infections.

Her research has resulted in more than 570 publications and 18 patents, and is at the origin of the creation of 2 start-ups, Dendris and IMD-Pharma. She was elected a member of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc) and the Academia europaea in 2022. She has received awards from the four largest chemical societies of the European Union (France 2021, Germany 2022, Spain and Italy 2024) and from the Gay-Lussac Federation – French Academy of Sciences (2024). She is an advisory editor of the Chemical Society Reviews and a guest editor of many special issues (Chem. Soc. Rev., Coord. Chem. Rev., Molecules, Pharmaceutics, J. Pers. Med., Cancers, etc.) and of this thematic issue of the Comptes-Rendus Chimie.

     Janine Cossy studied at the Université Champagne-Ardenne in Reims, where she completed her PhD in photochemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Pierre Pète. After a two-year post-doctoral stay with Prof. Barry M. Trost, at the University of Wisconsin (USA), she returned to Reims where, in 1990, she became Director of Research at the CNRS. The same year, she was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at the ESPCI Paris. Janine Cossy's research focuses on the synthesis of natural products and biologically active molecules (mainly with anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties) and on the development of selective synthetic methods in a variety of fields (photochemistry, radical chemistry, rearrangements, organometallic couplings, enzymatic reactions, enzymatic reactions, etc.). Currently, her work is focused on green chemistry, where she is developing catalytic synthetic methods using enzymes and low-pollution reagents.

Her research work has resulted in over 570 publications and 18 patents. She was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 2017 and to the Académie nationale de pharmacie in 2022. She was President of the Organic Chemistry Division of the SFC (now SCF), a member of the Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Division at IUPAC. She was associate editor of Organic Letters (ACS)-and, right now, she is associate editor of Tetrahedron and associate editor of the Comptes-Rendus Chimie of Académie des Sciences. She is the co-founder of two companies, CDP-Innovation and Acanthe Biotech.

Juliette graduated her doctorate in organic chemistry at the University of Caen (France), in the field of organocatalysis and asymmetric synthesis under the supervision of Pr. Marie-Claire Lasne. She then followed an Industrial Post-doctoral fellowship at Zeneca Life Science Molecules in UK in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Integrated into the R&D department, she focused on developing new technology platforms in chemo- and bio-catalysis at Avecia – CDMO (Contract Development Manufacturing Organization) in Huddersfield (UK). Besides, she co-wrote a chapter in « Asymmetric Catalysis on Industrial Scale », Wiley-VCH. She also involved through the UK national organization “Innovative Manufacture Initiative” for investigating new technical tools to speed up efficiency through R&D projects.
Back to France, she had several R&D process development positions within PPG-Sipsy (now Zach System) and PCAS (now SEQENS). She was appointed R&D Manager on one of the industrial site at PCAS (now SEQENS) focusing on process development of some key technologies, including polymers for controlled drug release and was Head of Biocatalysis for Pharmaceutical Synthesis. She was then appointed CEO of Protéus (a protein science company integrated since 2017 in SEQENS).
Today, she values 25 years’ experience in the field of synthetic chemistry and industrial biocatalysis to leverage R&D network and bridge scientific communication gap between various area of chemistry and business. Juliette is author and co-author of more than 20 scientific articles. She currently holds the position of Scientific Communication Manager at SEQENS – an integrated global leader in pharmaceutical solutions & specialty ingredients, 16 manufacturing sites, 9 countries, 9 R&D Centers, +300 research scientists & experts.

Frédéric Leroux is a CNRS Research Director at the University of Strasbourg. He is currently Director of the "Laboratoire d'Innovation Moléculaire et Applications" (UMR7042-LIMA CNRS–Université de Strasbourg–Université de Haute-Alsace). From 2014 to 2024, he was Director of the CNRS LabCom with Bayer.
His research focuses on the chemistry of organofluorine compounds, and in particular on the exploration of innovative and benign methods for incorporating fluorine atoms or new fluorinated groups (OCF₃, OCHF₂, CHF₂, ...) into molecules of interest to the life sciences. His research is carried out in close collaboration with industrial partners.
He has published over 150 papers, 22 patents, 14 books and book chapters and presented his work at over 125 conferences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Distinguished Member of the Société chimique de France. Since 2016, he has been Director of the “GIS CNRS Réseau français du fluor” and President of the “Association franco-japonaise de chimie fine et thérapeutique”. Since 2023, he has been Scientific Delegate of the CNRS Corporate Relations Department.

     Janine Cossy studied at the Université Champagne-Ardenne in Reims, where she completed her PhD in photochemistry under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Pierre Pète. After a two-year post-doctoral stay with Prof. Barry M. Trost, at the University of Wisconsin (USA), she returned to Reims where, in 1990, she became Director of Research at the CNRS. The same year, she was appointed Professor of Organic Chemistry at the ESPCI Paris. Janine Cossy's research focuses on the synthesis of natural products and biologically active molecules (mainly with anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties) and on the development of selective synthetic methods in a variety of fields (photochemistry, radical chemistry, rearrangements, organometallic couplings, enzymatic reactions, enzymatic reactions, etc.). Currently, her work is focused on green chemistry, where she is developing catalytic synthetic methods using enzymes and low-pollution reagents.

Her research work has resulted in over 570 publications and 18 patents. She was elected to the Académie des Sciences in 2017 and to the Académie nationale de pharmacie in 2022. She was President of the Organic Chemistry Division of the SFC (now SCF), a member of the Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Division at IUPAC. She was associate editor of Organic Letters (ACS)-and, right now, she is associate editor of Tetrahedron and associate editor of the Comptes-Rendus Chimie of Académie des Sciences. She is the co-founder of two companies, CDP-Innovation and Acanthe Biotech.

Dr. Eng. Salah Jellali currently holds the position of senior researcher in Water & Environmental Engineering at the Centre for Environmental Studies and Research (CESAR) of Sultan Qaboos University. His primary research focus revolves around local management and governance of solid and liquid wastes within the framework of circular economy and sustainability. A key area of his expertise involves the conversion of organic biomass into biochars. He has coordinated and participated in various national and international projects centered on the reuse of biochars as efficient adsorbents for wastewater treatment and/or as biofertilizers in agriculture. Additionally, he has actively contributed as a member of organizing and scientific committees for numerous international conferences on water and the environment. He has authored over 120 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters and supervised several PhD theses and Master's students. Dr. Jellali received the best researcher awards of SQU in 2023.

Dr. Mejdi Jeguirim is a Professor at the University of Haute-Alsace (France) in the field of energy, process engineering, and kinetics modeling. He has coauthored more than 200 refereed international journal papers in his research field and is a member of the editorial boards for the following international journals: Energy, Energies, Energy for Sustainable Development, Biofuels, and the International Journal of Green Energy.
He is involved as a scientific expert for more than 50 international scientific journals as well as for several national and international research programs. He has received the French National Research Excellence Award for researcher with high-level scientific activity for the 2009–2012, 2013–2016, 2017–2020, and 2021–2024 periods. Dr. Jeguirim has appeared in the World’s Top 2% Scientists ranking established by Stanford University since 2019.