Irving M. Shapiro , B.D.S., M.Sc., Ph.D., is the Gertrude and Anthony DePalma Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Vice-Chair (Basic Science) in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA. Dr. Shapiro earned his dental qualifications from the (Royal) London Hospital and received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of London. During his career, Dr. Shapiro has authored over 350 publications, co-edited four books, including The Intervertebral Disc, chaired two Gordon Conferences, and co-chaired meetings on the Growth Plate and the Spine. His investigations of the growth plate have lent new understanding to the basic mechanisms responsible for bone growth, as well as the role of ionic constituents, local nutrition, and oxygen tension during the maturation of cells of growth plate cartilage. More recently, his studies have focused on the intervertebral disc and events that lead to its degeneration. He established the importance of hypoxia inducible factor in maintenance of disc cell function and signaling pathways involved in the conservation of osmotic pressure in the disc. Continuing work initiated at the University of Pennsylvania, he created a class of new antimicrobial surfaces for use in joint replacement therapy and very recently, working collaboratively, he has helped to define new approaches to combat septic arthritis.

William Landis , B.S., S.M., Ph.D., is adjunct full professor in both the School of Dentistry at the University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, and the Division of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering at the University of Akron, Akron, OH. He holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, and master's and doctoral degrees in Biology and Biophysics, respectively, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. He has taught and conducted basic and clinical science research to understand the growth and development of the skeleton and teeth of humans and other vertebrates. His studies have led to the application of several analytical techniques, including high voltage electron microscopic tomography and laser capture microanalysis, to mineralized tissues; advancement of the avian leg tendon as a model for vertebrate mineralization; novel insight into the mechanism of collagen-mineral interaction at molecular and atomic scales; and the design and development of tissue-engineered human bone and cartilage. Dr. Landis has co-chaired the Gordon Conference on Calcium Phosphates and the Eighth International Conference on the Chemistry and Biology of Mineralized Tissues.  He has published over 175 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters and has edited five books in the broad field of biomineralization. He continues to lecture, conduct research and publish collaboratively, most recently at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany, and McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.