Dr. Ajay Kumar Pandey is a Scientist-F at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), Mohali, Punjab, India. He is a plant molecular biologist with extensive expertise in functional genomics, plant nutrient homeostasis, genome editing, and crop biofortification. His research focuses on improving iron bioavailability in wheat grains through the functional characterization of genes involved in phytic acid biosynthesis, phosphate transport, iron transport, and micronutrient remobilization. 

Dr. Pandey has made significant contributions to understanding iron-deficiency responses, phosphate allocation, inositol pyrophosphate signaling, and transporter-mediated nutrient homeostasis in wheat. His laboratory employs CRISPR-based genome editing, RNA interference, transcriptomics, gene expression profiling, and physiological approaches to develop nutritionally improved wheat germplasm. His work also explores the molecular interplay between iron and phosphate transporters during grain development. He completed his Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala. 

He subsequently held postdoctoral positions at Academia Sinica, Taiwan; the University of Alabama, Huntsville, USA; and Iowa State University/USDA-ARS, USA, where he worked on plant–microbe interactions, fungal stress biology, and soybean resistance to Asian soybean rust. Dr. Pandey has led and coordinated several externally funded projects supported by the Department of Biotechnology and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. 

He has published extensively in leading journals, including Journal of Experimental Botany, BMC Biology, Frontiers in Plant Science, Scientific Reports, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, and Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions. He has also mentored doctoral students and trainees and actively contributes to institutional research governance, biosafety, and academic activities at NABI. 

‣ Dr. Kutubuddin Molla is a Senior Scientist in Agricultural Biotechnology at the ICAR–Central Rice Research Institute (ICAR-CRRI), Cuttack, India. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta and completed postdoctoral research at Pennsylvania State University as a Fulbright Fellow. 

‣ Dr. Molla's research focuses on precise genome editing for crop improvement, leveraging CRISPR-Cas systems, base editing, and prime editing technologies. 

‣ His laboratory has pioneered the development of compact TnpB-based genome-editing platforms for plants. His team also developed Plant OpenCRISPR1 (POC1), the world's first AI-designed nuclease-mediated genome-editing system for plants. 

‣ His contributions to genome engineering and rice improvement have been recognized through several prestigious honors, including the INSA Medal for Young Scientist. 

‣ He was recently elected as an INSA Associate Fellow and was selected as a Next Generation Leader by Stanford University to contribute to shaping future guidelines for responsible biotechnology at the Spirit of Asilomar Summit.

Dr. Leena Tripathi is the Director of Eastern Africa Hub, Director of Genetic Innovation and Biotechnology Program Lead at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), a member of One CGIAR. With more than 26 years of experience plant biotechnology, her focus lies in enhancing staple crops like banana/plantain, cassava, and yam to resist diseases and pests, crucial for global food security. 

She champions a "Science to Practice" approach, ensuring her research translates into practical solutions worldwide. Dr. Tripathi’s scientific achievements have earned her international recognition, including election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).

Dr. Tripathi and her team have established a robust genetic transformation platform at IITA- Kenya to develop transgenic and gene-edited products and transfer these technologies to national agricultural research systems in sub-Saharan Africa. She collaborates globally with advanced labs in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia, as well as with national partners in Africa and various regional partners. 

Beyond her role at IITA, Dr. Tripathi contributes to academia as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, and plays advisory roles as a member of the external advisory panel of Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development, UK, and advisory board member of Cornell Alliance for Science (AfS). She serves on the editorial boards of several journals such as Plant Biotechnology Journal, Communication Biology, and Frontiers in Genome Editing.

Dr. Tripathi holds a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology and an M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. She worked at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA before joining IITA. Her multidisciplinary efforts underscore her dedication to advancing agricultural biotechnology, which is crucial for addressing global food security challenges.

Dr. Raman Babu is the Global Research Program Director for Accelerated Crop Improvement (ACI) at ICRISAT. With over two decades of experience across ICAR (India), NIAS (Japan) CIMMYT (Mexico), and Corteva Agriscience (APAC), he brings a unique blend of public-sector purpose and industry-scale execution to crop improvement.

Dr. Babu has been at the forefront of integrating modern breeding technologies, including genomics, doubled haploids, predictive breeding, and data-driven decision systems into product-oriented pipelines. His work has contributed to the development of nutritionally enhanced and climate-resilient crop varieties across diverse geographies.

At ICRISAT, he leads efforts to transform crop improvement from fragmented excellence to an integrated impact engine, leveraging next-generation platforms such as Doubled Haploids, AI-enabled prediction, gene editing, and precision phenotyping to accelerate genetic gain in dryland crops.

He is deeply committed to translating science into scalable impact, ensuring that innovations reach farmers and contribute to improved livelihoods, resilience, and nutritional security.

Dr. Soham Ray is a Senior Scientist (Agricultural Biotechnology) in the Division of Plant Physiology at ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. His research focuses on plant stress biology and genome editing for the development of climate-resilient crop varieties. His recent work has centred on advancing CRISPR/Cas9 technology, including the development of an enhanced sgRNA scaffold for improving genome editing efficiency. 

He has also developed computational tools for multiplex genome editing, including CRISP-PTG-Assembler Ver. 1.0 and MultiEdit PTG Designer 1.0, to streamline the design and assembly of polycistronic tRNA-gRNA (PTG) constructs. His broader research interests also include gene introgression from wild relatives of crop plants and understanding plant responses to individual and combined environmental stresses.

His contributions have been recognized with the Prof. M. Udayakumar Memorial Young Scientist Award (2023) conferred by the Indian Society for Plant Physiology and the Young Scientist Award (2024) conferred by the Academy of Agricultural Science, Kalyani.

I studied Biology at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Germany, from 2003 to 2009. I completed my diploma thesis in the laboratory of Prof. Thomas Lahaye, where I investigated transcription activator-like effector (TALE) homologs from Ralstonia solanacearum. I then pursued my PhD in the laboratory of Prof. Ulla Bonas at MLU (2010–2015), focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying sequence-specific TALE–DNA interactions.

In 2015, I joined the laboratory of Prof. Alain Tissier at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) as a postdoctoral researcher, where I worked on synthetic biology and next-generation genome editing technologies, particularly CRISPR–Cas systems. 

Since December 2021, I have been a Staff Scientist at the IPB, and since April 2026, I have led an independent research group developing innovative genome editing technologies and strategies to manipulate endogenous DNA double-strand break repair pathways for precision genome engineering.

Prof Kutubuddin A Molla, Scientist from ICAR-NRRI Odisha, India. Dr. Molla's areas of specialization are CRISPR/Cas tools development, Precise Genome Editing, Base Editing, Genetic Engineering, Transgenesis, Host-pathogen interaction.
His previous positions were: He was Fullbright Visiting Scholar, Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Pennsylvania State University, USA (2017-2019). He was the Scientist, Division of Genomic Resources, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. He has many publications and book chapters to his credit and is the recipient of many awards and recognitions.

Senior Scientist of Plant Biochemistry at ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Dr. Mangrauthia earned his bachelor\'s degree in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry from C.S.A. University of Agriculture & Technology Kanpur (2001); his master (2004) and doctorate degrees (2008) in Biochemistry from the Indian Agriculture Research Institute New Delhi. He did Postdoc from Purdue University, USA, and also was a visiting scientist at Heinrich Heine University Germany (2019) and at Louisiana State University USA (2020).

He is known for his creative and path-breaking research in the area of hot-pathogen interaction, pathogen genomics, epigenetics, and molecular mechanisms of environmental stresses. His laboratory at Indian Institute of Rice Research developed diagnostic tools for identification of RTBV and RTSV viruses, genome sequencing and genes characterization of RTBV and RTSV, molecular and physiological basis of host-virus interaction, development of virus and fungal resistant plants using RNAi.

His laboratory has also contributed to understand the fundamentals of molecular mechanisms of environmental stresses (high temperature tolerance, low P tolerance) and development and release of tolerant genetic stocks and heat tolerant rice varieties. Currently, Dr Mangrauthia is leading a research program on deployment of genome editing to create improved alleles in popular, elite, and mega rice cultivars of India. He has published 80 research papers, 18 review papers, 20 book chapters and authored 4 books. Dr. Satendra has won several grants of DST, DBT, and ICAR to carry out the research in frontier areas of plant biology. He is reviewer of many high impact journals and editor of Frontiers in Plant Science, BMC Plant Biology, Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, and Journal of Rice Research.

Dr Sudhakar Reddy Palakolanu works in the Cell, Molecular Biology & Trait Engineering Cluster (CMBTE) of the Research Program for Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT headquarters in Hyderabad,India. With over a decade of experience in molecular biology and gene research, Reddy specializes in discovering and characterizing genes associated with complex traits using advanced biotechnological techniques. Dr. Reddy\'s academic background includes a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi. Dr Reddy\'s expertise encompasses various aspects of plant molecular biology, functional genomics, and gene editing. Dr Reddy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s primary focus involves establishing innovative technologies for dissecting and implementing traits in dryland crops. This entails using cutting-edge biotechnological tools to validate candidate genes identified through trait dissection in biological systems. His contributions have garnered recognition in the form of national awards, including the Young Scientist and Inspire Faculty awards from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Additionally, Dr Reddy received a prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), allowing him to conduct research in Germany. His prolific research output comprises over 50 research articles, eight book chapters, two books, and two patents. Dr Reddy also serves as a reviewer for esteemed international journals such as Trends in Plant Science, Frontiers in Plant Science and BMC Plant Biology.

Dr. Soham Ray is a Senior Scientist (Agricultural Biotechnology) in the Division of Plant Physiology at ICAR–Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. His research focuses on plant stress biology and genome editing for the development of climate-resilient crop varieties. His recent work has centred on advancing CRISPR/Cas9 technology, including the development of an enhanced sgRNA scaffold for improving genome editing efficiency. 

He has also developed computational tools for multiplex genome editing, including CRISP-PTG-Assembler Ver. 1.0 and MultiEdit PTG Designer 1.0, to streamline the design and assembly of polycistronic tRNA-gRNA (PTG) constructs. His broader research interests also include gene introgression from wild relatives of crop plants and understanding plant responses to individual and combined environmental stresses.

His contributions have been recognized with the Prof. M. Udayakumar Memorial Young Scientist Award (2023) conferred by the Indian Society for Plant Physiology and the Young Scientist Award (2024) conferred by the Academy of Agricultural Science, Kalyani.

Dr Yogesh Taparia is currently the co founder of PhytoBioworks Pvt Ltd which is involved in crop improvement research. His expertise in cloning and transformation has been honed during his stint with the Genetic Discovery division at Corteva. He has extensive experience in transformation of commercial crops and model plant systems.

I studied Biology at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Germany, from 2003 to 2009. I completed my diploma thesis in the laboratory of Prof. Thomas Lahaye, where I investigated transcription activator-like effector (TALE) homologs from Ralstonia solanacearum. I then pursued my PhD in the laboratory of Prof. Ulla Bonas at MLU (2010–2015), focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying sequence-specific TALE–DNA interactions.

In 2015, I joined the laboratory of Prof. Alain Tissier at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB) as a postdoctoral researcher, where I worked on synthetic biology and next-generation genome editing technologies, particularly CRISPR–Cas systems. 

Since December 2021, I have been a Staff Scientist at the IPB, and since April 2026, I have led an independent research group developing innovative genome editing technologies and strategies to manipulate endogenous DNA double-strand break repair pathways for precision genome engineering.

Professor KC Bansal is a former Director of the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. He also spearheaded the National Transgenic Crop Network across various ICAR research institutions.
His research interests include functional genomics and transgenic development for abiotic stress tolerance in plants; developed the first series of transgenic crops with improved tolerance to drought and salt stress. His work on functional characterization of LEA, MYB, sHSP and osmotin gene is well known. The first ABA receptor gene OsPYL10 from an Indian drought tolerant rice landrace was cloned by his lab.
He took an unprecedented initiative to evaluate the entire wheat germplasm (~ 22000 accessions) conserved at the Indian National Genebank, and identified trait-specific reference sets.
Prof. Bansal served as Vice-Chair (Asia), Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, FAO, United Nations (2013-15). He is recipient of the Indian Science Congress award conferred on him by the Prime Minister of India, and the Haryana Vigyan Ratna (Highest State Science award).
Prof. Bansal is elected Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the National Academy of Science, India. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Plant Biotechnology Journal.

Dr. C Viswanathan, Principal Scientist & Head, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, heading Division of Plant Physiology currently. His international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study.  His research interests reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals.He has been awarded by  ICAR Jawaharlal Nehru Award, DST BOYSCAST Fellowship Award,ISPP J.J. Chinoy Gold Medal.