Sustainable Utilization and Conservation of Plant Genetic Diversity

Professor Jameel M. Al-Khayri is affiliated with the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. He received B.S. Biology in 1984 from the University of Toledo, M.S. in Agronomy in 1988, and Ph.D. in Plant Science in 1991 from the University of Arkansas. He is the National Correspondent of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. Al-Khayri has authored 110 research articles, 60 chapters and edited several journal special issues. In addition, he edited 25 reference books on plant biotechnology, genetic resources, breeding, genomics and nanotechnology. In addition to teaching, advising and research, he held administrative responsibilities as the Assistant Director of Date Palm Research Center, Head of Department of Plant Biotechnology and Vice Dean for Development and Quality Assurance. Al-Khayri served as a Member of Majlis Ash Shura (Saudi Legislative Council) for the 2009-2012 term. He is interested in agricultural innovations and sustainability.

Professor S. Mohan Jain (Adjunct) is a Consultant and Plant Biotechnologist, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Received M. Phil, 1973 and Ph.D., 1978, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He served as a Technical Officer, Plant Breeding, and Genetics, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, 1999-2005 when the agency was awarded Nobel Peace Prize, 2005. He is on the Editorial Board of Euphytica, In Vitro, Propagation of Ornamental Plants; a reviewer in Plant cell and organ culture, Plant cell reports, and Plants, His publications are more than 175 peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and edited 70 books; invited speaker and acted as a Chairperson in several international conferences worldwide. He is a former consultant to the IAEA, the European Union, The Government of Grenada, the IranianPrivate Company, and the Egyptian Government.

Professor Suprasanna Penna , Ph.D. in Genetics, is formerly, Head of Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, and currently a professor & Director at the Amity Institute of Nuclear Biotechnology, Amity University of Maharashtra, Mumbai. He made significant contributions to plant science covering plant biotechnology, mutation breeding, stress tolerance and radiation depolymerized oligo-chitosan which has been successfully used in enhancing plant productivity in crop plants and vegetables. He has conducted research on plant abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants and salinity-adaptive mechanisms in halophytes.  He is on the editorial board of several international journals and, published over 350 publications and has edited books on plant mutation breeding, salinity tolerance, genome editing and plant-metal interactions. He is the Guest Editor of special issues in Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Physiologia Plantarum (Wiley), Current Plant Biology (Elsevier) and, Physiology & Molecular Biology of Plants (Springer).