Dr. Fang has been trained in multiple disciplines, including a bachelor's degree in Geology from Yangtze University, a master's degree in Biogeochemistry from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a doctoral degree in Chemical Oceanography from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA. He then completed his postdoctoral training in Microbiology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Currently he is a Chair Professor at College of Oceanography and Ecological Sciences, and Director of Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Hadal Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University in Shanghai, China. His primary research interest is marine microbiology and biogeochemistry, focusing on studying microbial mediated cycling of nutrient elements, particularly carbon and phosphorus, in the deep ocean. He has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications in renowned journals including Microbiome, Genome Biology, Trends in Microbiology, etc. Dr. Sun obtained his BSc and MSc at the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China and Ph.

D. in geochemistry at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He served on the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP, 2011-2013) and the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP, 2013-2015); Goldschmidt Medal Evaluation Panel (2013-2015), Board of Directors (2015-2018) of the Geochemical Society. He is currently the editor of Solid Earth Sciences, and an Associate Editors of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Chinese Journal of Geochemistry, Journal of Oceanology and Limnology. He works in the field of marine geology, with speciality and research interests that include the subduction factory and mineralization; plate geodynamics and climate change. He published more than 400 peer reviewed papers with a citation of more than 18,000. Xi Yu is a professor at College of Oceanography and Ecological Science of Shanghai Ocean University in Shanghai, China. She holds a bachelor's degree in pharmaceutics from Northwest A&F University and a PhD in microbiology from Nankai University, China, which included joint training at Yale University.

Following postdoctoral research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, she joined Shanghai Ocean University. Professor Yu's research focuses on marine microbiology, particularly unique microbial resources and life processes in extreme marine environments. She has led national research projects and contributed to the UN Ocean Decade programme "DOME" (Deep Ocean Microbiomes and Ecosystems). Her work on deep-sea fungal natural products has significantly advanced the field of deep-sea biological resources.