Plant Pathology, Diseases and Immune System

Kiran Mysore is a Professor at the Plant Biology Division at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. He also holds Adjunct Professorship at Oklahoma State University. He received his Bachelor’s at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (India), Master’s at Clemson University and Ph. D. at Purdue University in 1999. He did his postdoctoral training at Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University. His research interests center on molecular plant-microbe interactions. He has published over 100 papers on this and related topics in international journals.

Plant Genomics

Arie Altman received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture and is Professor of Horticulture and Plant Biotechnology (Ret.), Founding Director of Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture. He was President of the International Association of Plant Biotechnology, former Director of the Otto Warburg Center of Biotechnology in Agriculture, member of Israel National Committee for Biotechnology and Committee for Transgenic Plants. His research interests include molecular control of plant response to drought and salinity, agricultural biotechnology, forest tree biotechnology and plant tissue culture. He published over 180 research publications and served as Editor of 5 biotechnology books. He is (past and present) Editor and Editorial Board member of Plant Physiology, Annual Review of Plant Biotechnology and Applied Genetics, In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant, Plant Cell Reports, and others. Prof Altman was Invited Professor and Scientist at: Amsterdam Free University, INRA Versailles and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris and Orsay, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, N.J., USA, Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Botany Dept., University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, and others.

Molecular regulation of plant response to drought and salinity, Forestry biotechnology , Plant tissue culture and propagation

She is a Professor and principle investigator at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She received a Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Plant cell biology. She is a recipient of many awards and grants for her valuable contributions and discoveries in major area of research. Her research interests lie in plant cell biology, transgenic crop and plant biology. She is the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member of many peer reviewed journals and her area of expertise credits her with many publications in national and international journals. She is committed to highest standards of excellence.

Plant Cell biology Plant Biotechnology

Michael Orzolekis is Professor Emeritus of Vegetable Crops department of Pennsylvania State University, US. He was the Program Leader of Integrated Crop Management Systems for Vegetables and Berries.

Environmental modification - Use of High Tunnels, plastic mulches, row covers and drip irrigation on the growth and yield of vegetable/horticultural crops. Culture and Management - Effects of cultural techniques and management systems on growth, development and yield of vegetable crops. Specialty crop and germplasm evaluation related to production, marketing and utilization.

Desh Pal S. Verma is a full professor at the Ohio State University, USA. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in biology and chemistry, and M.Sc. degree in botany from Agra University, India, and his Ph.D. degree in plant physiology and biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Italy. His pioneering research work includes the identification and characterization of nudulins and phragmoplastin, and genes responsible for proline and callose biosynthesis in plants. He has served on the editorial boards for several international journals, edited eleven scholarly books, and published over 160 original research papers.

Statistical Genetics, Human Microbiome, Statistical Analysis, Computational Statistics, Applied Statistics, and Molecular Genetics

Dr. Sachin Rustgi, born in 1980, is currently affiliated as Assistant Research Professor, and member of the Molecular Plant Sciences Graduation Program with the Washington State University at Pullman. He holds a master’s degree in Botany from the M.J.P. Rohilkhand University at Bareilly and a Ph.D. degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the C.C.S. University at Meerut. Immediately after graduation in 2006 he joined WSU and ever since working there in different capacities. His research is a balance between applied and basic with an emphasis on the targeted improvement of small grain cereals. His major research interests include, but are not limited to the development of i) dietary therapies for the ‘gluten syndrome’ by engineering nutritionally enhanced wheat genotypes with reduced amount of immunogenic gluten proteins and glycemically rich amylopectin; ii) genetically resistant wheat and barley genotypes to major rhizopathogens of the U.S. Pacific Northwest by biomimetic engineering of wheat lines to produce an antifungal antibiotic pyrrolnitrin, or a chitin degrading enzyme endochitinase; and iii) herbicide (imidazolinone) tolerant, industrially compatible and nutritionally enhanced barley cultivars by breeding for herbicide tolerance, reduced proanthocyanidin content and increased grain lysine content, respectively. For the basic research perspective, he is interested in deciphering: (a) genes and signaling pathways contributing to yield stability under stress environments; (b) molecular mechanism underlying the diploid-like pairing behaviors of polyploidy wheat; and (c) molecular and cytogenetic events that shaped wheat genome following allopolyploidization. Dr. Rustgi has published 53 research articles in well-recognized national and international journals with the impact factors ranging from 0.486 to 9.809. The timely publication of the research and review articles in the thrust areas of plant sciences resulted in a total of 1638 citations of his work and an h-index as well as i10-index of 15 and 16, respectively. Moreover, he presented posters in 39 national/international conferences, and authored two books entitle “In silico development and use of SSR and SNP markers in bread wheat: Gene derived markers and genome fractionation a glimpse in the wheat genome” and “Natural dietary therapies for the gluten syndrome”.

My research is a balance between applied and basic sciences with a focus on targeted improvement of cereals using tools of structural and functional genomics. The major research activities include development of natural dietary therapies for the ‘gluten syndrome’ by engineering wheat genotypes with reduced gluten content and expressing gluten-detoxifying enzymes, biomimetic engineering of wheat lines to produce an antifungal antibiotic pyrrolnitrin, systemic expression of an antimycotic enzyme endochitinase, and development of herbicide (imidazolinone) tolerant barley cultivars.

Dr. Nirmal Joshee is an Associate Professor of Plant Science in the College of Agriculture, Family Sciences and Technology at the Fort Valley State University (FVSU, Fort Valley, GA). Currently, he is serving as the Coordinator, Graduate Program in Biotechnology. Dr Joshee earned his Ph.D. in the year 1987 from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India on the reproductive biology of glycoalkaloid yielding solanums. He has conducted post-doctoral research work in Japan (Biotechnology Institute, Akita) on ‘Molecular Biology of Water Stress Induced Genes in Rice’ and the USA (University of Nebraska Medical Ctr., Omaha, NE) on ‘Human Gene Therapy’ before joining Fort Valley State University in 2001. Dr. Joshee is one of the founding members of American Council of Medicinally Active Plants, a society of professionals dedicated to the medicinal plant research. Dr. Joshee has been actively involved in research for the past twenty five years in the field of plant tissue culture and conservation, validation of medicinal plants used in traditional medical systems, molecular biology of stress induced genes in plants, gene transfer strategies for plant transformation, and sustainable use of fast growing tree Paulownia for Bioenergy. Graduate students conduct their thesis research on antitumor medicinal plant Scutellaria and lignocellulosic bioenergy crop Paulownia in my lab.

Ongoing Research Grants: 1. 2013-2016. Capacity building USDA NIFA. Title: Developing a sustainable bioenergy system: Paulownia production for fuel, chemicals, and materials. P.I.: Nirmal Joshee 2. 2011-2014. Capacity building USDA NIFA. Title: Germplasm conservation, Anti-adipocytic and anticancer activity and metabolic engineering in the genus Scutellaria. P.I.: Nirmal Joshee As Co- Investigator: 3. ($143,000) J. H. Lee, T. H. Terrill, N. Joshee. 2013. Strengthening instrumental analytical techniques of undergraduate and graduate students in food and agricultural sciences. USDA/NIFA-1890 CBG.

Meira Ziv is a Professor in the Robert H Smith Institute of Plant Science and Genetics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). Her research interests are in the physiology and morphogenesis of plant organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis in large scale liquid cultures; shoot-malformation, hyperhydricity and the role of oxidative stress in the control of plant development in bioreactor cultures for efficient acclimatization and survival ex vitro; bulb and corm development in geophytes cultured in liquid cultures in relation to carbohydrate metabolism.

Plant morphology and physiology in tissue culture plants. Biotechnology aspects of various plants propagated in large scale pre-sterilized disposable bioreactors and their in vitro acclimatization. Physiological aspects of bud and root regeneration, control of hyper-hydricity and malformation in plants regenerated liquid cultures. Enhanced hardening in vitro, using growth retardants and silicon Developmental physiology of corms, tubers and bulbs storage organs produced in vitro.

Dr. Rubin is the Rachel and Jacob Liss Emeritus Professor of Agronomy and Weed Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His areas of research include biochemical pathways, herbicide resistance, and weed management. Dr. Rubin is very active in service to international academic and research institutions and is a member of several International Weed Society organizations including the Israel, European, Japan, and American societies. His research has led to being awarded three patents for herbicide activity and formulations development.

Physiological and biochemical mechanisms of herbicide action in crops and weeds. Herbicide resistance in weeds, mechanisms and environmental implications. Safe use of herbicide- resistant transgenic crops. Fate and behavior of herbicides in agro-ecosystem. Environmentally safe and new herbicide formulations. Weed biology and ecology. Weed management and control in major crops.

Dr. Ilan Sela is a Co-Founder of Beeologics, LLC and serves as its Chief Scientist. Dr. Sela has over 15 years of experience in Fiber Optics. He contributes more than five decades of accumulated knowledge in virology, plant and insect pathology and RNAi technologies to specifically address the long-term well being of the bees. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Optichrom, which he Co-Founded. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of PetroMetrix, a manufacturer of analyzers for the petro-chemical industry, which was founded by him in 1992. From 1989 to 1992, he worked as a Researcher with the Los Alamos National Laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico, working in the Electronic Research Group on novel materials for IR detectors and Optical Switching. He is world renowned for his innovative work in virology and is credited with identifying, sequencing and naming the Israel Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) in 2002. As a Professor Emeritus of Virology and Molecular Biology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he sits on the Faculty of Agriculture at the Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics (Virus Laboratory), and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Molecular Biology, Virology and Genetic Engineering. His current research is focused on bee viruses including Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the expression and silencing vectors for plants, and the integration of viral sequences into host genomes. Over the course of his career, he has authored more than 100 papers that have appeared in reviewed scientific journals. He has also supervised 106 graduate students theses. He is the author of over 30 publications in the field of Applied Spectroscopy. Dr. Sela earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Virology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A universal platform (IL-60) for expression and silencing in plants. The use of the IL60 platform for protecting plants from viruses, bacteria (including phytoplasmas) and fungi. Innate immunity in plants. RNA silencing of plant and viral gene expression. Integration of viral RNA sequences into host genomes. Bee viruses. Exchange of genetic information between Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) and the bee genome and its relation to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). RNA silencing in bees as a tool to control IAPV (and CCD), and bee parasites (Varroa, Nosema).

Milan S. Stanković is the assistant professor of Biology and Ecology department.Currently he is the editorial Board Member of “Research in Plant Sciences” and “Advanced Crop Science” Journal.

Biology Plant science

Tianzhen Zhang, Professor of Genetics and Crop Breeding in Nanjing Agricultural University. He has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from Nanjing Agricultural University and postdoctoral studies from Ruhr University at Bochum in Germany under the Marie-Curie Fellowship for Post-Doctoral Research. He is the directors of Cotton Hybrid R & D Engineering Center (the Ministry of Education) and Cotton Research Institute in NAU. He has published more than 150 papers in cotton genetics, genomics and molecular breeding in peer-reviewing reputed journals and co-authored 8 books, and has been serving as the Co-chair from 2011-2013 and Chair of Int Cotton Genome Initiate from 2013-2015, Int. Organizing Committee member for ICGI Research conference and editorial board member of PLoS ONE.

Genetics, Plant Genomics

ACADEMIC AWARDS 1983 BSc Lanzhou University,China 1986 Msc The Postgradute School, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 1989 PhD University of East Anglia, UK ASSOCIATIONS AND FELLOWSHIPS 1987 University Studentship, University of East Anglia, UK 1987 Overseas Research Student Awards, University of East Anglia, UK 1995 K.C. Wang Fellowship, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 1990 Postdoc Fellow, John Innes Center and University of Oxford (with Prof. E. S. Coen, FRS 　　 and Prof. H. G. Dickinson), UK 1995 Research Scientist, The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Center, UK 1997 Principle Investigator, Institute of Developmental Biology, The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences, China 1999 Assistant Director, Institute of Developmental Biology, The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences,China 2000 Professor, Faculty of Life Sciences, The Postgraduate School, The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences, China 2001 Principle Investigator, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Chinese 　　 Academy of Sciences, China 2001 Associate Director, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Chinese 　　 Academy of Sciences, China 2002 Adjunct Professor, College of Life Sciences, Beijing University, China 2004-2014 Director,Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology,The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences,China

Molecular control of self-incompatibility in Antirrhinum Molecular studies on pollination and fertilization in rice Identification of genes controlling cotton fiber formation

WenJun Zhang is the professor in Sun Yat-sen University and International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. He is the president of International Society of Computational Ecology and International Society of Network Biology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of international journals, Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ISSN 2220-8860), Computational Ecology and Software (ISSN 2220-721X), Network Biology (ISSN 2220-8879), Arthropods (ISSN 2224-4255), and Environmental Skeptics and Critics (ISSN 2224-4263). He achieved his Ph.D. degree in epidemiology and modeling in Northwest A&M University. He has served as a postdoctoral fellow in epizootic modeling of vegetable insects in Sun Yat-sen University. He visited University of Arizona in 1996. He was a project scientist and postdoctoral fellow in mathematical ecology, working on ecological algorithms and computer programming, in International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) between 1997 and 2000. He has served as a senior research scientist, working on simulation model of insect-NPV-crop system in Wageningen University in 2002. Editor-in-Chief Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ISSN 2220-8860) Computational Ecology and Software (ISSN 2220-721X) Network Biology (ISSN 2220-8879) Arthropods (ISSN 2224-4255) Environmental Skeptics and Critics (ISSN 2224-4263)

Network Biology; Biomathematics; Computational Science; Modelling; Ecology; Environmental Sciences; Agricultural Sciences.

ACADEMIC AWAREDS 1984 BSc Lanzhou University, China 1987 MSc Lanzhou University, China 1994 PhD Wageningen University, The Netherlands ASSOCIATIONS AND FELLOWSHIPS 1990 PhD Fellowship, European--China PhD Program 1994 Research Fellow, Wageningen University 1996 Research Fellow, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA 1996 Research Fellow, The Institute of Molecular Agrobiology,Singapore Employment History 1987 Teaching Assistant, Department of Biology, Lanzhou University,China 2000 Senior Scientist, The Institute of Molecular Agrobiology,Singapore 2002 Senior Scientist, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory,Singapore

Plant development generally Cell polarity and cell fate during gametogenesis Functional genomics Biotechnology

Dr.Dariusz Malinowski has completed his PhD at the age of 25 years from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich and postdoctoral studies from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. He is the Professor of Forage Agronomy at Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Vernon. He has published more than 60 papers in scientific journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of Acta Agrobotanica, Crop Science, and Crop, Forage and Turgrass Management journals. His research focuses on adaptation of forage crops to drought stress and management of forages in semi-arid environments, and breeding of winter-hardy hibiscus.

1)Develop and evaluate productive cool-season perennial grasses that withstand summer conditions in the Texas Rolling Plains. 2)Identify and improve annual medics for use in summer-dormant tall fescue pastures.

Anna Wenda-Piesik has completed her DSc at the age of 41 years from UTP University of Science and Technology. In 2002-2003 she was an internship researcher at the Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman, USA. Currently, her position is Associate Professor, at The Department of Agronomy, UTP in Bydgoszcz, Poland. She is the Head of The Laboratory of Experimental Methods. She published 80 original articles, the total IF is at 32,751, the total number of citations is at 229, h- index 9 and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.

Agronomy

Mandeep Singh Azad working as scientist in Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu from last 7 years. I have been a recipient of Netherland Fellowship 2017, Inter bull New Zealand fellowship, Orange Knowledge programme fellowship 2018,Netherlands. I had made around 100 research contribution in form of research papers, popular articles and abstracts in international and national Journals. Also have 3 books publications with international and national publishers.

Agricultural Sciences

Dr. Grace Chen obtained her Ph.D from University of Wisconsin at Madison, and did her postdoctoral studies from University of California ̶ Plant Gene Expression Center. She has published more than 44 papers in reputed journals is globally recognized as an expert on oilseed biotechnology.

Plant Gene Expression

Nurul Faridi has completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, England, UK, 1988 and worked at the International Rice Research Institute and Intl. Maize and Wheat Research Institute, Mexico from 1989 to 1994, and then worked in the Department of Soil & Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University until 2003 before joining with the USDA Forest Service. He has been working in conventional and molecular plant cytogenetics for the last 25 years and published about 70 papers in reputed journals.

Forest science

Leon Daniel van Rensburg is a soil physicist lecturing soil and water management at the University of the Free State, South Africa. He established and maintained a vibrate post-graduate research team, which currently consisted of 2 post-doctoral fellows, 4 doctoral students and 8 master students. The team focus mainly on soil and water management off dryland, irrigation as well as natural field and they published in the last 6 years about 45 scientific articles. He is leading two projects of national importance for South Africa, viz. (i) Management guidelines for technology transfer to reduce salinisation of irrigated land with precision agriculture funded by the Water Research Commission and (ii) the soil water balance of the Ghaap Platue as influenced by open cast mining funded by Sishen Iron Ore Company (Anglo American Kolomela). Both projects are scheduled for five years.

Agriculture Science

Petronia Carillo is an associate professor of plant physiology at the University of Campania, Italy. She has a strong theoretical and practical background in plant physiology, plant molecular biology, enzymology and metabolite profiling. Her research interests are centered on the interactions between nitrogen assimilation and carbon metabolism, and their short-term and long-term control mechanisms in photosynthetic organisms (unicellular algae and plants). At present, her main focus is the metabolite profiling of crop plants and plant model systems for the comprehension of the fundamental plant molecular and physiological responses to salinity, instrumental for developing new strategies to improve salt tolerance in agricultural crops. Since 2001, she collaborates with researchers of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany, for developing new high-throughput methods to measure enzyme activities and metabolites in plants. She is also interested in the valorization and reuse of agricultural residues in a bio-economy perspective

plant physiology, plant molecular biology, enzymology and metabolite profiling

Vanderlan da S. Bolzani is full professor at Sao Paulo State University (UNESP). Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), member of the Brazilian Academy of Science (ABC) and São Paulo Academy of Science (ACIESP) and TWAS, is CNPq Fellow level 1A, and has received several awards, highlighting: 2015 ABIQUIM Award on research innovation; 2014 CAPES-Elsevier Award for the contributions to science in Brazil, Distinguished Woman in Science Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, conceived by ACS & IUPAC (2011); Simão Mathias Medal, the highest honor conferred by Brazilian Chemical Society (2011). With Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, under guidance of Prof. Otto R. Gottlieb, at University of São Paulo, in 1990 she was awarded with a fellowship from DAAD for a short training at University of Hannover. After a post-doctorate at Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPISU-USA) under guidance of Prof. David Kingston, she joined to the UNESP, and since 2003, is member of the Biota-FAPESP Program Coordination. Her field of interest is plant science, and has been involved in the isolation, bioactivity and function of secondary metabolites and peptides from plants, and recently has been involved on metabolomics and medicinal chemistry. Has published > 270 papers, 7 patents, and 5 book chapter (ih = 39). Since 2011 is member of the Scientific Advisory Board of L’Oréal in Paris.

bioactivity and function of secondary metabolites and peptides from plants

Caroline Janitz is the manager of the Next-Generation Sequencing Facility at Western Sydney University, Australia. Along with supervising her team, Caroline is responsible for both the development and implementation of technological improvements in the NGS pipeline. Caroline acquired her PhD in molecular genetics from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Hans Lehrach, the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin. Her PhD thesis focused on an investigation of the molecular mechanism of renal damage in the course of rat hypertension using laser microdissection and Affymetrix gene expression profiling.

Molecular Genetics, Geneexpression

Taoufik Ksiksi is an Associate Professor (Plant Ecology) working at the UAE University. He deals with the impact of environmental factors/stresses on eco-physiological parameters of desert plants. Karthishwaran Kandhan is Post-Doctoral fellow at the UAEU. His expertise relates to the assessment of phytochemicals on plants species.

Plant Ecology

André Luis de Alcantara Guimarães has completed his Ph.D. in Botany from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and postdoctoral studies at the Faculty of Pharmacy from UFRJ. He is an associate professor of Faculty of Pharmacy from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He has published papers in reputed journals of Plant Science, especially with galls and their metabolical changes on host plants, and research with medicinal plants.

medicinal plants

Nabil Killiny is Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology & Citrus Research and Education Center (CREC), Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences, University of Florida. The French Society of Phytopathology, awarded with student fellow travel Award, 2004 Synergistic Activities: Ad Hoc Manuscript Review: Plant Pathology, Phytopathology, Journal of Bacteriology, PLoS One, Journal of Insect Physiology, Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions,Current Microbiology, Electron Microscope Techniques, Biomedicine and Biotechnology, European Journal of Plant Pathology

Plant Pathology, Phytopathology

A.A. Ivlev has completed his PhD at the age of 27 years from Chemical Technology University of D.I. Mendeleev. and got his 2-nd PhD from Institute of Chemical Physics of RAS. In 2005 he has discovered a link between carbon isotope distribution and temporal organization of cell processes and was awarded with medal “To Author of Scientific Discovery” by Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. Since 1995 he is Professor of Russian State Agrarian University of K,A. Timiryazev. He has published 66 papers in reputed journals and 4 monographs. The field of his scientific interests includes isotope fractionation in metabolism, photosynthesis, plant physiology, cell mechanisms, evolution, climatology.

plant physiology, cell mechanisms, evolution, climatology.

Dr. Molinari graduated with honor on March 28 1984 in Biology at Bari University, at the end of a one-year internship in Cell Biology, where he prepared an experimental thesis concerning Helium-Neon Laser effects on rat liver mitochondria. He worked as visiting scientist in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Imperial College of London, UK, and later on at University of California, Riverside, UCR, USA. Since 2001 he is a Senior Scientist at IPSP. His present research topics involve molecular mechanisms of genetic and induced plant resistance to pests and the characterization of plant immune system. More than 70 papers published on International Journals. H-index 12

Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Professor in Horticulture,Plant Biotechnology, ornamental plants.

plant science, ornamental plants

Dr. Eng. Claudia Arcidiacono is an Associate Professor of the University of Catania, Italy, where she obtained her PhD in 1998. President of the MSc in ‘Safeguard of the Territory, Environment and Landscape’, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania. She was Coordinator of the international PhD course in 'Agricultural Engineering' of the University of Catania and at present she is member of the board of the international PhD course ‘Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science’, University of Catania. She is author of more than 90 publications. She is fellow of CIGR, Eurageng, ISHS, and AIIA. Her research interests regard GIS analysis for rural land planning, analysis of biomass feedstock production, image classification and feature extraction for rural land planning, LCA analysis of biomass production processes

biomass, Landscape

Rajinder Singh is currently a Principal Research Officer at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. Rajinder has been with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board for the last 19 years. He holds a PhD in Plant Genetics and is currently the Head of Genomics Unit of the Advanced Biotechnology & Breeding Centre, at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). Rajinder has authored and co-authored more than 32 refereed publications

Plant Genetics

Dr Milan S. Stankovic has received his PhD in University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science, Republic of Serbia during the period of 2007-2012. Currently, he is working as assistant professor an the same University. His research has included Plant biology and ecology. He is serving as an editorial member of several reputed journals like Plants, Advanced Crop Science, Research in Plant Science. He has authored 45 scientific papers published in international journals, 8 scientific papers published in national journals, 36 International conference proceedings and 46 national conference proceedings

Plant biology and ecology

Mr. Muhammad Usman, Former , Government of Pakistan who retired from service after a spotless career of about 35 years with senior level experience on research and development of integrated agricultural production particularly Plant Genomics on a sustainable way. Mr. Usman is basically an agricultural scientist working on the yield and quality of various products and published several research papers. Mr. Usman is consider as the senior most scientist in the world, always participated in the international conferences as a keynote speech, renowned speaker, organizing committee member as well as moderator of the conferences around the world.

Agriculture

Ana Claudia Macedo Vieira has completed his PhD at the age of 36 years from University of São Paulo, Brazil. She is associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and coordinates the pharmacobotany Laboratory, which conducts research with galls on sandbank environment, control of drugs and medicinal plants. Develops university extension projects with rational use of medicinal plants and unconventional food plants to farmers. She has published papers in reputed journals of Plant Science, Especially with galls and metabolical changes on host plants, and research with medicinal plants,

Plant Genetics

Dr. Yinghua Huang is a Research Geneticist for U.S. Department of Agriculture and serves as the Lead Scientist for the Plant Genetics Program. Before that, he served as faculty member for Oklahoma State University for ten years and now remains an Adj. Professor at the university. He is a member of editorial boards for several scientific journals. He earned a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Michigan Technological University. His scientific background is in plant genetics and molecular biology, and he has considerable research experience in plant biotechnology, genomics and crop improvement. During his early career, Dr. Huang made a breakthrough in developing a reliable system for producing transgenic larch plant, which represents the first record of genetically engineered conifer tree, carrying the important traits such as resistance to insects and herbicide. Another example of his recent research accomplishments is the systematic evaluation of the US sorghum germplasm collection (> 42,000 accessions), leading to the discovery of important new sources of resistance to greenbug and sugarcane aphids, the most important insects of field crops, including barley, sorghum and wheat, then incorporation of the new resistance into crop breeding programs. Furthermore, using the cutting-edge microarray, RNA-seq and the next-generation sequencing technologies, his lab has generated the differential expression profiles which resulted in the identification of the key genes and the networks that regulate the host defense against insect pests, crop yield traits, and bioenergy quality in sorghum

Plant Genetics, Molecular biology and Microbiology

Dr. Florence V. Dunkel has done his Ph.D in Entomology, from Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison. She also has many honors For her Excellent Teaching and outstanding Research Accomplishments in Management of Grain Quality and Security in World Markets 2004. she also received Charles Lindbergh Grant Award in Anthropology. She also has many keynote presentations in various summits. She also received EXTRAMURAL GRANTS for Teaching.

Research interest of Florence V. Dunkel include plant-based natural products for insect management, particularly related to postharvest ecosystems. Current projects include exploration of Montana wheat varietal resistance to postharvest insects; use of plant-based products with entomopathogenic fungi for management of insects; and use of natural products in the holistic management of malaria in West African (Malian) villages.

Dr. Shigetou Namba works in Department of Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences in the university of Tokyo.

Agricultural and Environmental Biology, Molecular Plant Pathology

Dr. Stephen K. Herbert researches the stress physiology of photosynthetic organisms. He is especially interested in oxidative stress and the antioxidant systems of chloroplasts and cyanobacteria. The antioxidants of chloroplasts are essential for detoxifying the reactive forms of oxygen that form as a byproduct of photosynthesis. The specific protective roles of superoxide dismutases are the subject of current research. Dr. Herbert earned his Ph.D. with a study of the stress physiology of red algae at the University of Washington, Department of Botany. Following postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Plant Biology, Dr. Herbert accepted a faculty position at the University of Idaho, where he was assistant and associate professor of Botany. After eight years at Idaho, Dr. Herbert went to the University of Wyoming, where he is now an associate professor in the Department of Botany.

Research interest of Stephen K. Herbert include Principles of Biology, General Biology, Plant Physiology, Biology of Plants and Fungi.

Doctor of Philosophy in Genetics, Purdue University, 1999 Master of Science in Horticulture, Clemson University, 1994 Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India, 1991

Identifying and characterizing plant genes in nonhost disease resistance Omics approach to understand the disease resistance and susceptibility to cotton root rot fungus (Phymatotrichopsis onmivora) Optimizing or improving virus-induced gene silencing in crops such as sorghum and cassava Identifying and characterizing plant genes involved in Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation Translational research to confer biotic and abiotic stress (drought) tolerance in crop plants. Tnt1 insertion mutagenesis in Medicago truncatula and Brachypodium distachyon

Grace Chen has obtained her PhD from University of Wisconsin at Madison and her Postdoctoral studies from University of California, Plant Gene Expression Center. She has published more than 44 papers in reputed journals and she is globally recognized as an expert on oilseed biotechnology.

Plant Gene Expression Center