Dr. Elena V. Gorb is a researcher in the Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute, Kiel University (Kiel, Germany) since 2010. She studied biology at Kyiv University (Kyiv, Ukraine) from 1982 to 1987 and was a post-graduate student in the Department of Botany, Biological Faculty, Kyiv University, from 1987 to 1993. Elena V. Gorb received her Ph.D. in biology–botany from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in 1999. From 1993 to 2000, she worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Botany, Biological Faculty, Kyiv University. From 2000 to 2010, she was a researcher in the Biological Microtribology Group, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology (Tuebingen, Germany), and Evolutionary Biomaterials Group, Max Planck Institute for Metals Research (Stuttgart, Germany). Her research interests include insect–plant interactions focusing on insect attachment to plant surfaces, seed dispersal by animals, especially epizoochory and myrmecochory, natural hook-and-loop fasteners, and morphology of higher plants.

Prof. Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb received his Master of Science from Kyiv State University (Ukraine) in biology—zoology of invertebrates in 1989. In 1991, he got his Ph.D. in biology—entomology from the Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv, Ukraine. From 1990 to 1994, he was a researcher at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology, National Academy of Sciences, Kyiv, Ukraine. From 1994 to 1995, he was a postdoc at the Institute of Zoology, University of Vienna, Austria. From 1996 to 1998, he did postdoc research at the Max-Planck Institute of Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany. From 1998 to 1999, he was an assistant at the Institute of Special Zoology and Evolutionary Biology of Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany. Since 2008 to the present, he has been a group leader (Functional Morphology and Biomechanics) at Kiel University, Kiel, Germany. In 2010, he was elected the corresponding member of the Academy of Science and Literature Mainz, Germany. In 2011, he was elected a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina.