Lopes is full professor at the Mathematics Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil. After obtaining his PhD in 1977 from the Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada in Rio de Janeiro, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Maryland, College Park. He was appointed Comendador of the National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil, in 2005, and elected to Brazilian Academy of Sciences in 2007.

Teixeira (MD) is full professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). He obtained his PhD in 1994 at the National Heart and Lung Institute, University of London. He was president of the Brazilian Society of Pharmacology (SBFTE, 2011-14) and Inflammation (SBIN, 2018-20). Member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit. He is currently President of the International Association of Inflammation Societies (IAIS, 2023-2026). Teixeira demonstrated the crucial role of the microbiota and microbial-derived products in controlling inflammatory and behavioural responses, and the relevance of inflammation in mediating tissue damage and lethality during infectious diseases, especially arboviral infections. This knowledge has led to mechanistic molecular studies which have led to new targets for anti-inflammatory drug development, specially for the induction of the resolution of inflammation. He has participated actively in clinical studies which led to the approval of vaccines for COVID-19, Dengue and Chikungunya.