I received my Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (India), Master’s degree in Horticulture at Clemson University and Ph.D. in Genetics at Purdue University. I did my postdoctoral training in plant genomics at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University with Dr. Greg Martin. After my postdoctoral training, I joined Noble Research Institute as an Assistant Professor in 2002 and rose up to the rank of Full Professor. Later I served as the head of Plant, Microbe and Soil Section at the Noble Research Institute for three years before joining Oklahoma State University as a Professor in 2021. My research interests center on molecular plant-microbe interactions, abiotic stress tolerance, and plant genetic resource development. I have authored over 250 peer-reviewed manuscripts in international journals. I am an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). I am the recipient of Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award and Ruth Allen award from the American Phytopathological Society (APS). I serve on the editorial boards of peer reviewed journals, BMC Plant Biology, Bioenergy Research, PeerJ and Grassland Research.

Currently sr. scientific partnerships manager, managing Traitomic interface collaboration with academic and non profit organizations globally. I hold a scientific background as assistant professor in biotechnology and biochemistry in plants and microalgae. I also managed a research group for more than 6 years and supervised research projects from the early planning stages to project completion. Previously, consultant in research and innovation to support translation of research results into commercial opportunities and funding of large scientific consortia. I coordinate large grant proposals and projects in R&D and innovation. I implement different processes together with scientists and industrial partners. . My scientific experience is in biotechnological solutions (enzymatic protein engineering) to produce active compounds and pharmaceuticals to enhance human health and food especially in green hosts.

Kerrie Forrest leads the GrainDataGen™ team at Agriculture Victoria, applying high-throughput genotyping with cutting-edge technologies to support the pre-breeding research and breeding sectors in cereals, pulses and oilseeds. Kerrie has worked with industry for more than a decade, focusing on applying genetic and genomic methods for trait dissection in grains, developing industry-relevant genotyping assays, and developing bioinformatics solutions to characterise germplasm and identify trait-linked markers.

Mel is an Early Career Fellow at the CSIRO Future Protein Mission working to establish gene editing methods in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) for targeting of production and grain composition traits. Previously her research focused on understanding the mechanisms of cell wall synthesis in cereals in the context of plant development and human nutrition, in work conducted at the Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls. She has also worked with high throughput genotyping and sequencing of pasture grasses, as well as on the impacts of drought on the production of defensive cyanogenic glycosides in cassava (Manihot esculenta). In addition, she has contributed to developing and teaching of courses in biology, genetics and plant production systems for the Agriculture Degree at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Gerrano is a senior research scientist in the Agricultural Research Council of South Africa. He is an accomplished plant breeder and rated research scientist by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. He is an extraordinary professor of the University of North West in South Africa. Professor Gerrano supervised, trained and mentored several undergraduates, Masters and Doctoral scholars in Plant Breeding and Crop Science including post doctoral and visiting scientists in Africa. He is serving the scientific community as editorial board member and editor in prominent journals and reviewer of more than 100 journals by invitation. Professor Gerrano published more than 85 peer reviewed journal articles. He presented more than 90 scientific papers at national and international conferences. He leads several plant breeding and related projects at national and international levels as Principal and Co-Principal investigator.

Dr. Debjyoti Sen Gupta presently working as Senior Scientist, Plant Breeding at ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research in Kanpur, India. He was one of the ICAR International Fellow and received his Ph.D. at North Dakota State University (NDSU), Fargo, USA in 2015. He bred 10 varieties of urdbean and lentil and many are in breeding pipeline. He also has developed several registered donors in mungbean and urdbean for many important agronomic traits. He has authored more than 35 research articles, several review articles and many book chapters in the peer-reviewed journals and books from Wiley, Springer, CABI, Elsevier. He is also the co-editor of "Legumes in the Omic Era", in 2014 and “Breeding for Enhanced Nutrition and Bio-active Compounds in Food Legumes” in 2021 published by Springer. He is also Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development and many professional associations.

Professor RK Chahota, working in the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, CSKHPKV, Palampur. He graduated and post-graduated from CSK HPKV Palampur. He was awarded Norman E. Borlaug Fellowship in the year 2006 in which he visited University of California, Davis to carry out advance training in Biotechnology. In the year 2008-09 he was awarded the Department of Biotechnology, overseas Post Doctorate fellowship to work in University of Osaka, Japan for one year. Dr. Chahota presently working on legume genomics. His pioneer work is the the development of genomic resources in horsegram. In collaboration with Japanese Institute, Kazusa DNA Research Institute (KDRI) Dr. Chahota has revealed the whole genome sequencing in horsegram. In addition, he has handled more than 18 research projects worth Rs. 100 million funded by DST, DBT, UGC, BARC. Dr. Chahota has guided more than 15 students and published more than 100 research papers in journal international repute