Dr. Tatiana Tatusova is a Senior Scientist at the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) at the National Institutes of Health since 1993. She is the Genome Group Coordinator where she is leading a group of software developers and biologists working on NCBI Genome resources. Dr. Tatusova received her Master of Science degree and her Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics at the Moscow State University in Russia. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests focus on computer-assisted comparative genomics, developing software tools for analyzing and representing the bio-molecular sequence data.

Dr. Wayne Matten is a molecular biologist and outreach/instructor at NCBI. He provides general user support, designs and presents workshops on the use of NCBI databases and tools, and he is involved in ongoing efforts to improve the usability of the NCBI website. Prior to joining the NCBI in 2002, Dr. Matten completed a Post Doc with the National Cancer Institute.  His PhD is from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Ms. Salima M’seffar, Head of the library at the National Institute of Hygiene, Morocco.

Yassine Souilmi, Ph.D. Student working on personalized and translational medicine. Souilmi received his Master of Science degree in Bioinformatics and his Bachelor degree in Physics. His research interests focus on breast cancer risk prediction in Moroccan population. Souilmi participated in the development SNP4Forensic Project© during his Master’s thesis.

Imane Allali is a PhD student in metagenomics analysis. She received her master degree in bioinformatics and her bachelor degree in physics at the University of Mohammed V.  Her research is about metagenomic approach for studying colorectal cancer in Morocco. In her master’s thesis, she worked in the 3D modeling of a protein.

Mohammed Benhafid is a virologist at the Central Virology Laboratory of the National Institute of Hygiene inMorocco. He graduated from theUniversityofFesin 1992 with a major in Animal Biology and joined the Ministry of Health in1995. In2000 he obtained a Master degree in Molecular and Cellular Physiopathology from the University of Fes. Benhafid made an important contribution in the Poliomyelitis Eradication Program inMoroccoand was nominated Manager of the National Reference Polio Laboratory since 2005. He also made significant contributions in the establishment of the first Rotavirus Surveillance Program inMoroccoand became the national reference in the field since 2006. He is presently the Director of the National Rotavirus Laboratory. He is involved in extending the laboratory activities to other viral gastroenteritis. Mr. Benhafid also worked on other infectious diseases such as rubella, measles, influenza and varicella. In addition to these activities, Benhafid is member of American Society for Microbiology (ASM) since 2005 and was named as ASM country liaison since2008. Inrecognition of his contribution to development and expanding ASM activities inMoroccohe was named ASM ambassador forMoroccoin 2012.