Mahmut Çalışkan is a Professor in the Biotechnology Division of the Biology Department at Istanbul University. He obtained his first degree, a BSc, from Middle East Technical University, Ankara and attended to University of Leeds, Department of Genetics, England for his PhD studies. His main research areas include the role of germin gene products during early development, genetic variation among organisms and the characterization and biotechnological use of halophilic archaea.Muzaffer Arıkan holds a PhD degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics and works as an assistant professor in the Biotechnology Division of the Biology Department at Istanbul University. His research focuses on understanding structure and function of microbial communities from various ecosystems through omics analyses.