Biodiversity and Genetic Improvement of Herbs and Spices

Professor Jameel M. Al-Khayri is specialized in plant biotechnology and currently affiliated with the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. He received B.S. in 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 a member the International Society for Horticultural Science and Society for In Vitro Biology as well as the National Correspondent of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. He has authored over 140 research articles in referred international journals, 80 chapters, and edited several special issues of international journals. In addition, he edited 30 reference books on plant biotechnology, genetic resources, breeding, genomics and nanotechnology. He has been involved in organizing international scientific conferences and contributed numerous research presentations. In addition to teaching, students 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. Dr. Al-Khayri served as a Member of Majlis Ash Shura (Saudi Legislative Council) for the 2009-2012 term. Currently he is maintaining an active research program on date palm focusing in vitro culture, secondary metabolites production, genetic engineering and mutagenesis to enhance tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress.

Professor Shri 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 was a postdoctoral fellow in Israel, USA, and visiting scientist/Professor in Japan, Malaysia, Germany, and Italy. He was a Technical Officer, Plant Breeding and Genetics, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, 1999-2005. He is a member of International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology; editorial Board member of Euphytica, In Vitro, Propagation of Ornamental Plants, Emirates J. Food and Agriculture, and a series on Forest Biotechnology. His publications are more than 225 in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and edited 72 books; invited speaker and acted as a Chairperson in several international conferences worldwide. He is a former consultant to IAEA, the European Union, The Government of Grenada, Iranian Private Company and the Egyptian Government. Currently his research interests are somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, haploidy, somatic cell hybridization, somaclonal variation and mutagenesis mainly in medicinal plants, date palm, and banana genetic improvement, genetic diversity, erosion, conservation, and utilization in the context of climate change and food and nutritional security..

Professor Suprasanna Penna, Ph.D. in Genetics, is a Professor & the Director, Amity Center for Nuclear Biotechnology and Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University of Maharashtra, Bhatan Mumbai 410206. He was formerly, the Head of Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, and professor at the Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai. He made significant contributions to plant science covering plant biotechnology, mutation breeding, stress tolerance and novel biopolymer. His work on technology development for radiation depolymerized oligo-chitosan has been successfully used in enhancing plant productivity in crop plants. He has also contributed to molecular understanding of 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 400 publications and has edited several books on salinity tolerance, genome editing and plant-metal interactions, Non-coding RNA, Sustainable plant genetic diversity, Digital agriculture. He has Guest Edited special issues in Physiologia Plantarum, Current Plant Biology, Frontiers Plant Science and Physiology & Molecular Biology of Plants.