Marion Strehle studied biology and chemistry at the university Würzburg where she finished her PhD thesis 2003. During her PostDoc time at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena her research interests were focused on the development of innovative bio-spectroscopical methods for a fast, robust and very sensitive quality control of natural products. In addition to her research activities she was responsible for the public relation of the 2002 founded research framework "Biophotonik", funded by the BMBF, and for the organization of the international Bunsen discussion meeting "Raman and IR spectroscopy in Biology and Medicine" (2004) and the biophotonic symposium "Struktur und Dynamik biologischer Zellen mit optischen Methoden auf der Spur" (2005).

Jürgen Popp received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Würzburg in 1995 and joined the group of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. W. Kiefer, University of Würzburg, where he finished his habilitation. He became full professor at the University of Jena and Director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry. Since 2002 he has been speaker of the research framework "Biophotonik" funded by the BMBF. In 2005, he became Head of the Microsystem Devision of the Institute of Physical High Technology. His work has been awarded the faculty prize of chemistry (1995), the Bayerischer Habilitationsförderpreis (1997), the Förderpreis der Würzburger Korporationen (2001), and the Kirchhoff-Bunsen award (2002).