Prof Bakker is head of the molecular diagnostics and forensics and cytogenetic laboratories of the Center of Human and Clinical Genetics at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) Leiden, The Netherlands, where he was appointed as full professor in 2000. Prof Bakker is (co-)author of over 200 scientific publications. One of his main lines of research involves de novo mutations and germline mosaicism in human genetic diseases. In 1977 he joined the research group of Peter Pearson in Leiden at the department of Human Genetics, where he started to work in the Cytogenetics Laboratory as a technician. During the late 70s and early 80s he was one of the pioneers in molecular genetic techniques and its applications in medicine that led to the development of the first prenatal test for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in 1985. Since 1989, Prof Bakker is in charge of the diagnostic molecular genetics laboratory in Leiden. In 1994 he started a second opinion forensic DNA laboratory which is fully accredited according to the ISO17025 standard. In 1998 the molecular diagnostics was also accredited according to this standard. Through 1997 to 1999 Prof Bakker was chairman of a consortium of 9 collaborating Dutch DNA diagnostic laboratories, a unique set up of Dutch DNA labs that make agreements on diagnostic tests to be offered, and serve a population of 16 million.

Dr Barton is Chief Scientist at the National Centre for Medical Genetics in Dublin, Ireland. Having trained in Trinity College Dublin and The Queen's University of Belfast, he joined the research group of Uta Francke at Yale University, where he was involved in research on gene expression and gene mapping. He then joined Malcolm Ferguson-Smith's group in Cambridge University, where he first became involved in diagnostic genetics. He set up the NHS molecular genetics diagnostic laboratory in Cambridge in 1988 and then the Dublin laboratory in 1995. Dr Barton has been involved in work to monitor and improve the quality of genetic testing for many years. He was for 10 years a member of the steering committee of the UK National External Assessment Scheme in molecular genetics, which established a model of EQA now used throughout Europe. He is a member of the management group of the European Molecular Genetics Quality Network (EMQN) and co-ordinator of the EU-funded CRMGEN project, developing certified reference materials for genetic testing. Dr Barton has published 75 papers in peer-reviewed journals on many aspects of the molecular genetics of inherited disorders.

Dr Janssen is currently head of the Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics of the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He studied biology in Leiden, The Netherlands. In 1988 he joined the research group of Prof. Galjaard and Dr. Halley at the Department of Clinical Genetics Rotterdam, where he and his co workers managed to identify three major genes: TSC1 and TSC2, both causing tuberous sclerosis, and PKD1, causing polycystic kidney disease. In 1996 he moved to Germany to set up a diagnostic service in Heidelberg. His laboratory soon became one of the largest laboratories for molecular diagnostics in Germany. Dr. Janssen's main interest is the cloning of disease genes involved in complex disorders. He is (co-)author of more than 30 scientific publications and received several scientific awards.

Dr Reed is the former Director of the Queensland Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, and the Director of Research and Development of Benitec Ltd. Dr Reed is internationally known with over 23 years experience in biotechnology, including as a co-founder and Director of a company that was a world leader in livestock reproductive technologies in the late 1980s. He is the holder of several patents, and has written more than 70 scientific articles and published 2 books, including a handbook for the legal profession on forensic applications of DNA fingerprinting. He has been instrumental since 1991 in biotechnology innovation in the Australian State of Queensland, and in developing innovation policy and strategic direction for the State Government. Dr Reed was recently appointed Vice-Chair of the Australian Government's Australian Biotechnology Advisory Council which was established to advise the Australian Government on priority issues in biotechnology.

Dr Renier is a specialist in reproductive endocrinology. He currently works at the Institute for Fertility and Embryology (LIFE) in Leuven, Belgium, where Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) is implemented. He received his MD in 1986 from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, as well as his specialist degree and a doctorate in science (PhD). The PhD degree resulted from many publications on the role of inhibins and activins in reproductive endocrinology and its use in prenatal detection of genetic disease. He was a medical director of a large pharmaceutical company between 1992 and 2000. During this period he published an atlas on female hormones and their enzymes and received the licence for medical information and pharmacovigilance of pharmaceutical products. He is currently an editorial board member and reviewer of several scientific journals. He is a member of the Belgian Scientific Advisory Board of Gynaecologists and several advisory boards of pharmaceutical companies. Dr Renier is currently president of the Immune Response Modulators Advisory Board (IRMA) and the Estrogen-Progestogen Working Group (ESPRO).

Prof van Oost is a member of the Veterinary Faculty at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and performs research and DNA diagnostics of inherited disorders in domestic animals. He studied Chemistry and specialized in Biochemistry at the University of Utrecht, and did his PhD studies on blood platelet biochemistry at the University Hospital in Utrecht from 1975-1981. He was a postdoctoral fellow from 1981-1983 at the Thrombosis Research Center, Temple University, in Philadelphia where he continued his platelet studies, and from 1983-1986 at the Biochemistry Department from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where he studied the molecular biology of blood coagulation. From 1986-1995 he headed the DNA diagnostic laboratory at the Department of Human Genetics at the Catholic University in Nijmegen. Besides building up a rapidly growing diagnostic laboratory, he was involved in major discoveries made in Nijmegen in the field of human genetics. He attracted research grant support for the study of kidney and muscle diseases as well as from the Dutch Research Counsel. He initiated the national collaboration of the DNA diagnostic laboratories and was the first chairman of this consortium in the Netherlands. In 1995 he was appointed as Professor in Clinical and Molecular Genetics at the Department of Companion Animals at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. In this position he focuses on the application of molecular genetic approaches of inherited disease in animals. He has been advisor and co-advisor on 6 PhD projects, currently supervises 6 PhD students, is author on 125 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is coordinator of the cluster Clinical and Molecular Genetics in the graduate school "Animal Health" (GSAH).