Professor Gresshoff is Professor of Botany at UQ. He is also Director of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Integrative Legume Research. He received his PhD in Genetics from ANU (Canberra) in 1974 and DSc in Molecular Genetics (also ANU) in 1988. In his 40 year career in plant science he has developed deep interests in plant development and its genetic control. He has focused his interests on legume plants, and especially the process of root nodulation which is a prerequisite for symbiotic nitrogen fixation. He has published over 300 research papers, edited 10 books, and is co-inventor listed on 12 patents. He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is member of numerous international editorial boards as well as expert advisor to the IAEA, the European Union, Qantas, and other biotechnology interests. He is a dedicated teacher and researcher and feels that the understanding of biological processes is essential for industrial development of an idea.

plant Genomics, Agriculture, plant science

John Salmeron is the Director of PlantSciences at Precision BioSciences, Inc. in Durham NC, USA, and has worked in the field of plant biotechnology for over 20 years. Prior to joining Precision, he held positions in business development and led the agricultural R&D team at Intrexon Corporation, a leader in synthetic biology. John was a research portfolio manager at Syngenta Biotechnology Inc., and held leadership roles directing teams in trait development and genomics. He is the founder of eiiConsulting, an early-stage biotechnology consulting firm, has an A.B. degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Ph.D. from Duke University.

Plant sciences, Genome editing

Distinguished Professor Dr. Digvir Jayas was educated at the G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar, India; the University of Manitoba, and the University of Saskatchewan. Before assuming the position of Vice-President (Research and International), he held the position of Vice-President (Research) for two years and Associate Vice-President (Research) for eight years. Prior to his appointment as Associate Vice-President (Research), he was Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Department Head of Biosystems Engineering, and Interim Director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and a Registered Professional Agrologist. Dr. Jayas held a Canada Research Chair in Stored-Grain Ecosystems for seven years. He conducts research related to drying, handling and storing grains and oilseeds and digital image processing for grading and processing operations in the Agri-Food industry. He has authored or co-authored over 800 technical articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings and books dealing with issues of storing, drying, handling and quality monitoring of grains. He has collaborated with researchers in several countries but has had significant impact on development of efficient grain storage, handling and drying systems in Canada, China, India, Ukraine and USA.Dr. Jayas has received awards from several organizations in recognition of his research and professional contributions. He is the recipient of the 2008 Dr. John M. Bowman Memorial Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation Award, as well as the 2008 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Brockhouse Canada Prize. In 2009, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has received professional awards from Agriculture Institute of Canada, Applied Zoologists Research Association (India), American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Canadian Society for Bioengineering, Engineers Canada, Engineering Institute of Canada, Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers, Manitoba Institute of Agrologists, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (India), National Academy of Sciences (India) and Sigma Xi.Dr. Jayas serves on the boards of many organizations including: NSERC, ArcticNet, Composite Innovation Centre, Engineers Canada, ISIS Resource Centre, Genome Prairie, International Centre for Infectious Diseases (ICID), MabNet, Research Manitoba, Cancer Care Manitoba Projects Grants and Awards Committee, TRIUMF, and TRTech. He is also chair of the board of directors of RESOLVE, a prairie research network on family violence, and of the advisory board of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, a research centre dedicated to the discussion, discovery, and development of functional foods. He has served as President of Agriculture Institute of Canada, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Canadian Society for Bioengineering, and Manitoba Institute of Agrologists. Currently he is serving as President of Engineers Canada, the national organization of the 12 provincial and territorial associations that regulate the practice of engineering in Canada and license the country's 280,000 professional engineers.

Plant Science, Genetics, Molecular Biology

Did her P.hD

Plant Genetics,Bioinformatics

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. In summary, the overall goals of his research are to conduct basic studies to enhance our understanding of biological processes in plants, to apply newly developing genomics and biotechnologies to facilitate genetic improvement of crop plants, and finally to improve the production system for a better utilization of agricultural and natural resources.

Plant Genetics, Molecular biology and Microbiology

R. Dolferus has completed his PhD at Free University of Brussels and is currently a Team Leader at CSIRO Agriculture in Canberra, Australia. His main research interest is the molecular physiology and genetics of abiotic stress tolerance in cereals (wheat).

Abiotic stress, physiology

Dr. Huaan Yang is a plant pathologist by training with B.Sc. in1982 and M.Sc. in1985. He complted PhD from University of Western Australia in1992. He became a molecular geneticist following his development of a DNA fingerprinting technology called “MFLP” in 2001. His lab has been the only lab for large-scale application molecular markers on MAS in plant breeding on legume grain crops in Australia since 2004. Since 2011, his lab has been fully switch into NGS and genome sequencing based approaches for pre-breeding in lupin.

Plant Pathology

Dr Meixue Zhou has been involved in plant research for more than 30 years which includes more than 10 years of experience in China. His major research areas include physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. He is serving as a review panel member for ARC of Australia and the Natural Science Foundation of China. He is the co-director of Australia China Research Centre of Plant Stress Biology. In last 10 years more than 100 papers were published in various peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of editorial board of several journals.

Dr Meixue Zhou has been involved in plant research for more than 30 years which includes more than 10 years of experience in China. His major research areas include physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. He is serving as a review panel member for ARC of Australia and the Natural Science Foundation of China. He is the co-director of Australia China Research Centre of Plant Stress Biology. In last 10 years more than 100 papers were published in various peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of editorial board of several journals.

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

Kulvinder S. Gill has completed his PhD at the age of 28 years from Kansas State University followed by postdoctoral studies at the same university for about 3 years. He is the professor and director of the Feed the Future Innovation lab: Climate Resilient Wheat. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals. His research program focuses on understanding and utilizing chromosome pairing control in polyploids, developing alternate dwarfing gene systems for wheat, and on using modern tools and technologies for crop improvement

Plant Biotechnology

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.

Plant Molecular Biology

Dr. Liao completed his PhD in 1994 from Aachen University of Technology, Germany and postdoctoral studies in 1996 from this university. He is the director of Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory of Triticeae Crops, Huazhong Agricultural University. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of International and National Journals.

Molecular Biotechnology

Andrzej Wasiak is working as a Assoc Prof in Bialystok University of Technology located in Poland.International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study and interests reflect in wide range of publications in various national and international journals

Experimental studies and mathematical modelling of transitions occurring in technological processes: like energy demand, material’s structure formation, etc.

Dr. Ajay Parida is a Plant molecular biologist with Ph.D. degree from University of Delhi in 1992. He has made outstanding contribution in the area of Coastal Ecosystem management using modern biotechnological tools. Dr. Parida has over 100 research papers in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Parida is Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Agriculture Sciences and National Academy of Sciences of India. He is recipient of many awards such as Prof. Umakant Sinha Memorial Award, B. M. Birla Prize and National Biosciences Award. He was also awarded Padmashri (a civilian award) by Govt. of India for his scientific contribution.

Plant Genomics, Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics

Dr Wu is currently working as a professor of the University of Science and Technology of China. The main research directions are wheat and energy plants to create a mutant form of cloning and molecular breeding , and utilization of industrial research and development of energy plants . In academic journals such as "Nature", "Plant Physiology", "Genes and Development" and other publications published more than 40 papers , she presided over the CAS STS project , the CAS Knowledge Innovation Project directional project , the forestry sector projects, the National Natural Science fund projects. Apply for more than 30 domestic and international patents , four new appraisal results, participate in the completion of achievements in industry 3 . Relying on the State Forestry Administration Team Energy Research Center Lin , academician workstation , CAS Key Laboratory of other platforms , there are several well-known scholars to make the team a visiting professor

cloning and molecular breeding

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 Shashi Kumar is a Team Leader, ICGEB, New Delhi, India. Graduated in Genetics from the University of Delhi, 1998. Postdoctoral research at University of Virginia, University of Central Florida, University of California Berkeley. Scientist at Yulex Inc., USA and USDA, Albany, CA. USA. Participated in establishing the “Centre for Advanced Bio-Energy Research” supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. His current focuses are on metabolic engineering for drug biosynthesis, metabolic engineering of rubber plant for hypoallergenic latex, DNA barcoding, development of sustainable algal biofuel technology and genetic engineering of marine algae for higher lipid and biomass.

Genetics

Mahendar Thudi obtained his PhD in Plant Sciences from University of Hyderabad, India. Seminal contribution of Mahendar Thudi includes genome sequences of chickpea, molecular breeding products in chickpea, genetic resources like TILLING populations (in chickpea and pearl millet) and genomic resources like SSR markers, genetic maps (in chickpea and pearl millet) and high-throughput DNA fingerprinting, genome diversity analysis, marker-trait associations and chickpea physical map. His research articles (>40) are published in high-impact factor journals including, Nature Biotechnology (1), Scientific Reports (1), PLoS ONE (3), Theoretical and Applied Genetics (1), etc. that are widely read and cited.

Plant Biotechnology

He completed my Masters in Genetics and Plant breeding from University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka, India and later pursued his Doctoral degree in the department of Plant biotechnology. Worked extensively on genomics & transcriptomics plant improvement for his doctoral studies. Later joined University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur as Assistant Professor of Biotechnology in the year 2011.He was nominated as head of the newly opened department of Molecular biology and Agricultural biotechnology in University of agricultural sciences, Raichur on 2014 and continuing till now. He is guiding three postdoctoral student and advisory member for five doctoral student. Published more than 25 research papers and abstracts.

Plant Genetics and Plant Breeding