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. Ashwani Pareek is Executive Director of NABI a prominent plant biologist and educator noted chiefly for his contribution in plant molecular biology and biotechnology. He is currently working as Professor of plant molecular biology and biotechnology at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.

He is a recipient of several honors including the Visitors award for Technology Development from the President of India for developing Stress Tolerant Rice of the Next Generation (STRONG) that has the potential to enhance the income of rice farmers. The award ceremony was held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on 2 May 2018. Recently on 26 February 2020, he has been awarded "Tata Innovation Award 2020" by Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India. He has interest in understanding the physiological and molecular adaptations in xero-halophytic plants and development of transgenic rice
plants with enhanced tolerance towards multiple abiotic stresses. Pareek received bachelor's degree in botany and master's degree in plant molecular biology from the University of Delhi. He then joined the laboratory of Professor Anil Grover at the same university in 1992 for doctoral research (PhD) work on ‘Molecular Characterization of stress proteins in Oryza sativa L. with emphasis on 90 kDa family’.

After receiving PhD degree, Pareek received the prestigious Post Doctoral Fellowship by The Rockefeller Foundation, New York and worked with Professor Ralph S.Quatrano at the University of North Carolina, USA during 1997-98. He then accepted the assignment of Research Scientist at Department of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus in late 1998. In May, 2001, Pareek was awarded BOYSCAST Fellowship to work with Professor Hans Bohnert at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, USA.

Ashwani has authored and published more than 150 research papers/articles in the research journals. Some of these journals include Nature, Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal, Plant, Cell & Environment etc. He has edited/ co-edited three books like ‘Abiotic Stress Adaptation in Plants: Physiological, Molecular and Genomic Foundation’, ‘Biotechnology in Medicine and Agriculture: Principles and Practices’ and ‘Pre-Field Screening Protocols for Heat Tolerant Mutants in Rice’.

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.

Dr. Prasenjit Saha is a plant biotechnology scientist specializing in plant molecular biology, genetic engineering, genomics, genome editing, and plant transformation. He holds a Ph.D. focused on plant cell and molecular biology and has built a research career spanning academia, biotechnology institutes, and industries.

Saha began his scientific career in India, conducting research at the Bose Institute in Kolkata on insect resistance in crops including rice, mustard, chickpea, and tobacco. His early work explored ways of engineering plants to resist insect pests and plant viruses, including studies of transgenic rice and vascular-specific promoters. His research interests have expanded from crop protection to plant transformation, genomics, gene expression, plant biochemistry, stress physiology, and genome engineering.

Over the course of his career, he has held research and scientific positions at institutions including the Noble Research Institute, University of California, Davis, University of Pennsylvania, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also worked at Meiogenix at Cornell University as a plant transformation and genome-engineering scientist and Planet 13 Holdings as Director of Plant Biotechnology, where his work continues to focus on applying advanced plant-biotechnology approaches for product development. Currently, as a Co-Founder, Chief Scientific Officer & Director of Science at Phoenix Ebra Inc., he is leading science and research on Plant Cell & Tissue Engineering using end-to-end AI integrated Automation & Robotics for Regenerative Agriculture & Food Security.

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. R. C. Bhattacharya is the Director and Principal Scientist at the ICAR–National Institute for Plant Biotechnology (NIPB), New Delhi. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, and completed his postdoctoral research at Washington State University, USA. His research focuses on plant molecular biology, plant genomics for stress tolerance, and genome editing for crop productivity enhancement.

A Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Dr. Bhattacharya has received several prestigious honors, including the ICAR Lal Bahadur Shastri Young Scientist Award and the DBT Overseas Associateship Award. He has published over 85 research papers, authored book chapters, and has made significant contributions to agricultural biotechnology research, education, and policy in India.

‣ 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. 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.

As the Asia Pacific Genome Editing Policy Lead , Valasubramanian leads the regional genome editing policy advocacy to enable the advancement of transformational breeding technologies that will accelerate genetic improvement, deliver discrete new traits, and create unique value for farmers and Corteva. He brings his strong 25+ yrs of technical & regulatory background in biotech and genome editing to this role, advocating for appropriate, science based regulatory paradigms for gene edited products. He also serves as the Corteva representative in the Crop Life Asia Industry Association for more than a decade.

Valasubramanian joined Corteva in Nov. 2006. In previous roles Valasubramanian held several leadership positions managing Biotech R&D, Trait Development and Characterization, Regulatory teams and programs for insecticides, crop protection, biotechnology, genome editing and seeds.

His areas of expertise include biotechnology, international collaboration, product stewardship, plant biology and pathology, program management, genomics, GMOs, genome editing, trait discovery and development, seed and crop protection regulations and advocacy, and regulatory policy development.

Valasubramanian holds a doctorate degree in plant biology from the University of Madras – India and held post-doctorate fellowships at the University of Missouri and Kansas State University. He also served as a visiting Scientist in CAMBIA, Australia during 1998, and as Principal Scientist – Biotechnology at Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company, India, during 1999-2006.

Senior research professional experienced in genetically modified and gene edited crop research. Currently involved in overall administration of gene-edited trait development & deployment, genomics, trait-linked marker development, variety/hybrid predictions, AI/ML based digital phenomics research.

He holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Chemistry (1997) and an M.Sc. in Biochemistry (1999) from Nagpur University, India. He completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences/Plant Science in 2006, through the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, and S.P. Pune University, India, where his thesis focused on developing genetically modified, marker-free, Vitamin-A-rich “Golden Rice.” From 2005 to 2009, he pursued postdoctoral research at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA, where he worked on developing disease- and drought-tolerant transgenic cotton.

He served as Principal Scientist at Advanta Seeds (UPL Ltd.), Hyderabad, from 2009 to 2015, contributing to the development of genetically modified crops. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Research Associate at the Central Institute of Cotton Research, Nagpur (2001–2003) and at Mahyco Pvt. Ltd., Jalna (2000–2001). His research contributions include 20 peer-reviewed research articles, 3 book chapters, and 2 co-edited books published by Springer Nature, with approximately 1,130 citations and an h-index of 14. He has also co-edited two notable publications on “CRISPR/Cas Genome Editing – Potential and Strategies for Crop Improvement” and “TILLING and Eco-TILLING for Crop Improvement.”

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. 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. (Mrs.) Gurinderjit Randhawa, Former Head, Division of Genomic Resources, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi. Panjabrao Deshmukh Outstanding Woman Scientist Awardee. Commonwealth Fellow, Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), Punjab Academy of Sciences (PAS) and Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources (FISPGR). Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, University of Dundee & Scottish Crop Research Institute, 1996, MPhil Punjab University, Chandigarh, 1983, and M.Sc. Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. 1981. Thirty-six yrs.& 5 months (36.5 yrs) rich experience of working with the Indian National Agricultural Research System in various scientific positions. As an expert member of various international & national committees, participated in 35 international meetings nurturing functional international Linkages in 17 countries viz., Australia, Belgium, Bhutan, Canada, France, Italy, Lebanon, Malaysia Republic of Korea, Philippines, Slovenia, Singapore, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom and Unites States invited by FAO, UNIDO, European Commission, Secretariat of Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), Montreal among others.

Certified Technical Assessor of National Accreditation Board of Testing and Calibration of Laboratories (NABL), Quality Council of India, as per ISO/IEC 17025: 2017. For on-site Monitoring and Evaluation of the technical competence of national public/private sector laboratories since 2012. Assessments of more than 30 National Laboratories and 2 of National Food Testing Laboratory, Bhutan.

Successfully implemented more than a dozen interdisciplinary and multi stakeholder projects including GEF World Bank, GEF-UNEP Project, two Inter-Governmental, Indo-Belgian and Indo- Slovenian Projects, National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP) and National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) on Agricultural Biotechnology.

Led the national research capacity building in GM diagnostics by establishing national Containment facility of CL-4 level and state of the art GM Diagnostic lab in 2000 followed by an accredited National Referral Laboratory and GM Diagnostics Facility. GM Detection Research Facility (GDRF). Designated as National Referral Laboratory to detect the presence or absence of Living Modified Organisms and Genetically Modified Organisms by Govt. of India (The Gazette of India: Extraordinary, 15th Nov, 2017). NABL accredited as per ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (in 2018) and transition to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (in 2019). Three granted Patents, 70 research publications in international journals. Successfully transferred technologies for widespread grass root applications through private sector.

Chairperson, Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms and Foods SP-04 of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) (Nov. 2025-June 2026); Member of Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms and Foods SP-04, FSSAI; (Jan 2020-June 2026), Member of Scientific Committee of FSSAI (Nov. 2025-June 2026); Member of Biotechnology for Food & Agriculture Sectional Committee, FAD 23 of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), New Delhi (2007- 2022), Expert member of Accreditation Committee NABL, Quality Council of India (2012-2016).

Dr. Gaurav Zinta is currently working as a Principal Scientist in the Biotechnology Division at the CSIR–Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, Himachal Pradesh. He also serves as an Assistant Professor at the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), where he teaches courses on plant genomics, epigenomics, and science ethics.

He obtained his M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, H.P. In 2010, he received an international fellowship to pursue his Ph.D. (2010–2014) at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. In 2015, he was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and worked at the Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, a CAS Center of Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences.

Dr. Zinta’s research interests span climate change biology, plant stress physiology, genome editing, epigenetics, and chemical genetics. His long-term research goal is to contribute to global nutrition and food security by developing climate-resilient and nutritionally rich crops. His laboratory focuses on crops cultivated in the high-altitude regions of the Himalaya (e.g., quinoa, amaranth, and potato) while also addressing fundamental research questions using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

To date, Dr. Zinta has published more than 45 peer-reviewed articles and 5 book chapters in leading scientific journals, including Nature Communications, PNAS, Global Change Biology, Journal of Experimental Botany, New Phytologist, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Biotechnology Advances, Trends in Plant Science, Plant, Cell & Environment, and Critical Reviews in Biotechnology. He has participated in numerous international training programs and conferences in Germany, Ireland, Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, and other countries.

He serves on the editorial boards of several journals, including Feature Editor for Molecular Plant; Associate Editor for Plant–Environment Interactions (UK), BMC Plant Biology (UK), and CABI Agriculture and Bioscience (UK); and Review Editor for Frontiers in Plant Science and Frontiers in Genetics (Switzerland).

Committed to science outreach, Dr. Zinta was selected as a Plantae Fellow (2019) by the American Society of Plant Biology and as an eLife Ambassador (2019) to promote science communication. He is actively engaged in Jigyasa, a flagship CSIR Program that connects scientists with school students to extend classroom learning through research-based exposure. In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Zinta was awarded the Young Scientist Award (2022) by the Himalayan Phytopathological Society, Himachal Pradesh.

Dr. Pankaj Bihani is a seasoned R&D and biotechnology leader with over 28 years of experience in the seed and agricultural biotechnology industry. He currently leads technology initiatives at Namdhari Seeds as Vice President of technology, with expertise spanning molecular biology, genomics, molecular breeding, genetic engineering, genome editing, plant diagnostics, regulatory affairs, and technology integration into crop improvement programmes. Before Namdhari Seeds, Dr. Pankaj worked with Mahyco Private Limited for 25 years as Group leader, leading multiple verticals in biotechnology research.

A Ph.D. in Biotechnology, Dr. Bihani has led multidisciplinary teams, established advanced research and diagnostic platforms, developed and commercialised innovative GMO detection products, and contributed to technology deployment, business development, and strategic partnerships. Dr. Bihani has co-authored various publications in peer reviewed journals like ‘Journal of Agricultural Sciences’, Advances in Plant Biotechnology’ and ‘Journal of plant biology’. He also has an international patent to his credit and has delivered technical presentations at leading academic and industry forums. His work reflects a strong blend of scientific depth, innovation, business acumen, and people leadership.

Dr. Mukesh Jain is currently serving as a Professor at the School of Computational & Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He has worked extensively in the areas of Plant Genomics, Biotechnology, and Computational Biology. He is one of the pioneers of next-generation genomics research in plant sciences in India. For his outstanding scientific contributions, Prof. Jain has been honored with several prestigious awards and Fellowships of the National Academies.

Dr. Jain’s current research interests include understanding epigenetic and chromatin-level regulation of abiotic stress responses and seed development in crop plants using integrated multi-omics, single-cell genomics, and systems biology approaches. His research aims to translate genomic discoveries into innovative strategies for developing climate-resilient and productive crops.

Dr. Ramu S. Vemanna is an Associate Professor at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), Faridabad, India, where he leads research at the interface of plant molecular biology, functional genomics, gene editing, translational regulation, and climate-resilient agriculture. He obtained his Ph.D. from Bangalore University in 2013 and subsequently carried out postdoctoral research at the Noble Research Institute, Oklahoma, USA. He was also a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow and a DST-SERB Ramanujan Fellow, and received the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Dr. Vemanna's research broadly focuses on understanding and engineering molecular mechanisms that determine plant growth, development, stress adaptation and crop productivity. His laboratory investigates protein translation, ribosome biogenesis, ribosome- associated regulatory proteins, mRNA fate and selective translation, with particular emphasis on how these processes regulate plant adaptation to drought and other environmental stresses. A major component of his research is the development of gene-editing and RNA-based technologies for sustainable crop improvement and plant protection. His work includes CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome engineering, transgene-free and nanoparticle-mediated delivery of CRISPR ribonucleoproteins, RNAi-based crop protection, and molecular approaches for improving resistance to bacterial diseases.

Dr. Vemanna has also contributed to the development and translation of agro- biotechnological technologies, including pro-transpirant formulations designed to enhance stomatal function, transpiration and crop productivity, as well as synthetic and natural molecules for broad-spectrum plant disease management. Several of these innovations have progressed to patent protection, including granted patents to increase crop productivity and RNP complexes for crop protection against bacterial diseases. His recent research directions further extend toward climate-smart agriculture and biological carbon capture, including bioengineering Rhodopseudomonas for sustainable CO₂ capture and improved soil fertility and crop productivity.

Overall, his research integrates plant molecular biology, functional genomics, genome editing, RNA biology, nanobiotechnology and translational regulation to develop mechanistic insights and technology platforms for stress-resilient, disease-resistant and productive crops, with an emphasis on translating fundamental discoveries into sustainable agricultural technologies.

Tanay Lohia is the Founder & CEO of Mandrake Bio, a Bengaluru-based company combining AI, biophysics and experimental science to design proteins for next-generation gene editing. 

Mandrake has won global protein-design competitions, built a large metagenomic database, and developed its own de novo hypercompact gene editors using AI for use in Agriculture.

Dr. Neeta Lohani is an Assistant Professor, at the Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, where she leads the Lohani Lab. Her research turns large genomic, transcriptomic, and phenotypic datasets into actionable gene targets for breeding and genome editing. As a Research Scientist with the USDA-ARS Plant Genetics Research Unit at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis (2023 to 2025), she built computational pipelines that integrate population genetics, gene co-expression networks, and functional validation across thousands of soybean accessions to prioritise candidate genes and alleles for economically and agronomically important traits. During her PhD., she trained in plant reproductive biology at the University of Melbourne, where her research on the molecular basis of heat stress susceptibility in canola reproduction received the Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in Doctoral Research 2021. 

Alongside her research, she is committed to communicating plant science to audiences beyond her own subfield. As an Assistant Features Editor for Plant
Physiology (2025 to 2027), the flagship journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, she has written more than a dozen News and Views commentaries that place new papers in context for the journal's readers, on topics from breakthroughs in soybean transformation and comparative filtering of GWAS candidates to deep learning models of plant regulatory sequence and subgenome expression bias in canola seed.

Dr. Arunagiri Subramanian is a molecular biologist and microbiologist with over 18 years of experience in molecular diagnostics, forensic genomics, and infectious disease research. 

He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) and currently serves as Deputy Manager, Research & Development, Molecular Biology at HiMedia Laboratories, Mumbai. 

He has led the development and validation of innovative molecular diagnostic and forensic DNA analysis solutions and has presented his work at several national and international scientific forums.