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.

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’.