Baralle (PhD 1969, U. of Buenos Aires -UBA) has been director general at Intl. Centre for Genetic Eng. and Biotech. (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy (2004-14). He now leads the ICGEB RNA Biology Group and is vis. prof. in Buenos Aires. From 1968 to 1974 studied Medicine at UBA and completed his MD in 1984 at the U. of Naples. Previously, he worked at the Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Fundación Campomar and at the MRC Lab. of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK. From 1980 to 1990, he was university lecturer of pathology at Oxford and fellow of Magdalen College. In 1990 he joined ICGEB. He is an elected member of EMBO and of the Argentine Acad. of Sciences. In 1977 he published the first complete primary structure of an eukaryotic mRNA, βglobin mRNA. His current research focuses on RNA splicing and RNA-protein interactions in neurodegenerative diseases. He has published over 220 papers.

Mizrahi is the professorial director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She also directs the MRC/NHLS/UCT Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit and the UCT node of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, which is co-hosted by the Universities of Stellenbosch, Witwatersrand, and Cape Town. Awards include the 2013 Christophe Mérieux Prize from the Mérieux Foundation and Institut de France; UNESCO-L'Oréal For Women in Science Prize (Africa and Middle East region, 2000); the Gold Medal of the SA Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2006); and the Order of the Mapungubwe: Silver of South Africa (2006). She is fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and a Fellow of UCT.

Hassan is currently president of Sudanese National Academy of Sciences. He was professor and dean of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Khartoum; chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for International Development, Germany; president of the InterAcademy Partnership; founding executive director and president of TWAS; president of the African Academy of Sciences; founding president of the Network of African Science Academies; chairman of the Council of the United Nations University; chairman, Honorary Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Nigeria. Among his honours: comendator, Grand Cross, and National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; and officer, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He is a recipient of G77 Leadership Award and the Abdus Salam Medal for Science and Technology. He is a member of several merit-based academies of science, which include Pakistan Academy of Sciences; Academy of Sciences of South Africa; the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the Royal Society.