Manfred B. Lutz (born 1961) grew up in the Black Forest in the Southwest of Germany where he also studied pharmacy in Freiburg (1984 -1989). After his PhD in Immunology with Bruno Kyewski at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, he first contacted dendritic cells in 1993 when he joined Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli's lab in Milano, Italy. Since 1996 he works at the Department of Dermatology with Gerold Schuler in Erlangen, where he is currently leading a research group. He became Assistant Professor in 2001.


Nikolaus Romani (born 1952) originates from the Montafon valley, a renowned skiing area in Western Austria. He combined skiing, learning and research at the University of Innsbruck where he obtained his PhD in biology 1983. After two years at the Rockefeller University in Ralph Steinman's laboratory (1987-88) he - together with Gerold Schuler, his co-worker and mentor - helped to make Innsbruck one of the first "dendritic cell strongholds" in the Old World. He became Associate Professor in 1990 and has been involved in dendritic cell research at the Department of Dermatology of "Innsbruck Medical University" ever since.


Alexander Steinkasserer (born 1958) originates from South Tyrol (Northern Italy) and apart from skiing he spent most of his youth on football grounds. He studied biology in Innsbruck (PhD). Afterwards he moved to the Institute of Immunology in Munich (1986-1989) and then to the University of Oxford (1989-1993). Next he went to the Novartis Research Institute in Vienna, were he encountered for the first time dendritic cells (1993-1996). Then he spent two years at the research departments of Immuno-Baxter in Vienna, before he obtained his Professorship at the University of Erlangen were he works since 1998 and heads the Department of Experimental Dermatology.