Advisory Board and Editors Plant Science
Zothanpuia
Dr. Zothan Puia is an Assistant Professor in the department of Biotechnology, Mizoram University, Pachhunga University Campus. His current research interests focus on antimicrobial plants and microbial metabolites.
Diaa Abd El-Moneim
My academic journey began with an MSc in Plant Breeding and Genetics at Suez Canal University, where my research focused on evaluating drought tolerance and disease resistance in wheat, providing a solid foundation in abiotic stress tolerance. This early work fueled my commitment to understanding and addressing plant resilience under stress conditions. Thanks to an Erasmus Mundus scholarship, I pursued my PhD at Complutense University of Madrid, where I investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying aluminum stress tolerance in rye. Notably, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship funded by AECID just before defending my thesis—a pivotal achievement that underscored the relevance of my research. This fellowship enabled me to join the National Center of Biotechnology (CNB) in Madrid. I gained expertise in proteomics, gene expression analysis, and molecular tool development to improve plant abiotic stress resilience. These experiences greatly expanded my knowledge of gene regulation and stress physiology and led to high-impact publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Abd El Moneim’s research encompasses multiple domains, including the study of morphological , physiological, and molecular mechanisms that govern plant responses to stress factors such as salinity, drought , aluminum toxicity, heat, and pathogens. His work in identifying gene families and stress-responsive proteins is complemented by his efforts to apply DNA barcoding and chloroplast genomic assemblies for species identification and development of molecular markers, as well as contributing to taxonomical and evolutionary concepts and identifying transcriptional regulators critical for stress adaptation, with particular emphasis on crops like wheat and wild plants adapted to extreme environments. His methodologies include designing and analyzing field trials , protein analysis, nucleic acid extraction, fingerprinting , GWAS , and the characterization of chloroplast genomes. Dr. Abd El Moneim’s expertise in molecular breeding and genomics focuses on improving abiotic stress tolerance in staple crops, especially for agriculture in developing countries.
Tika Adhikari
Dr. Adhikari is a principal research scholar and plant pathologist at the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. His research interests include exploring population biology, genetic mapping, and plant-pathogen interactions, as well as developing molecular tools for pathogen detection. His work also focuses on improving management practices to enhance plant health and mitigate bacterial and fungal diseases in tomatoes and strawberries.
Mohd Adnan
Prof. Dr. Mohd Adnan is a Principal Investigator and Head of Academic Committee at Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Ha'il, Saudi Arabia. He did his PhD from University of Central Lancashire, UK; Master’s and Bachelor’s degree from Bangalore University, India; Post Graduate Diploma in Bioinformatics from SJAIT, India. He has more than 14 years of research, teaching and administrative experience. In his professional capacity, he has received various travel, observership and research grants as a Principal Investigator from various prestigious organizations.
He has successfully published 250+ publications in internationally recognized peer reviewed reputed journals, several book chapters for internationally renowned publishers and presented many papers and posters in various conferences/workshops globally. He has published widely in the field of phytomedicine, biofilms, drug discovery, natural products, nutraceuticals and functional foods with specialization in plant-based antibiofilm and anticancer agents, microbial biosurfactants, biofilms in food industry and medical settings, probiotics and cancer biology, novel biomolecules for/as health and antimicrobial agents.
He has reviewed 400+ manuscripts for 70+ internationally recognized peer-reviewed JCR journals and grant reviewer for many prestigious universities and organisations. In addition, he is a member of SFAM, UK and ESCMID, Switzerland and an Elected Member of Royal Society of Biology, UK. He also currently holds different editorial positions (Associate, Academic, Guest and Review Editor) in various esteemed journals and has edited 500+ manuscripts.
Faheem Ahmad
Dr. Faheem Ahmad is Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology and Nematology in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India. Author of over 40 peer-reviewed publications, his research interests include plant-nematode interaction, mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, nematode management and nematicidal bioagents.
Rubén Rellán Álvarez
I am an Assistant Professor at the National Laboratory of Genomics and Biodiversity in México since 2015. I did a postdoc in the Plant Biology Department of the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford and a PhD in the Aula Dei Experimental Station in Zaragoza, Spain.
Carmen Arena
Carmen Arena is Associate Professor in Ecology at the Department of Biology of the University of Naples Federico II. She conducts researches in the ecological disciplines, dealing with studies concerning photosynthesis and morpho-functional adaptation strategies of higher plants and macroalgae in response to mono and multiple stresses in natural and controlled environments, with applications in ecological, biotechnological and agronomic field.
The research activity holds three main issues:
1) Regulation of the photosynthetic process in higher plants and macroalgae in response to ecological factors in the context of environmental change.
2) Study of plant growth in an extra-terrestrial environment.
3) Plant-soil interactions in natural and anthropized ecosystems.
These researches include a) the eco-physiological response of crop species to light quality; (b) the morpho-functional strategies of plant in phytoremediation studies (c)) the relationship between soil pollution, edaphic communities and photosynthesis in higher plants used in biomonitoring studies.
C. Arena is author of 130 publications peer-reviewed ISI-WoS/Scopus, and participated to more than 150 National and International congresses and workshops, most of them as speaker and invited speaker.
Francisco Balao
Francisco Balao is associate lecture of Plant Biology at the University of Seville; Past post-doc Marie-Curie fellow in the Department of Plant Systematics at the University of Vienna.
Research interests are mainly focused on how plant genomes interact with its environment across ecological and evolutionary timescale. We try to elucidate the mechanistic bases of the biodiversity through studies of molecular phylogenetics and phylogenomics, phylogeography, cytogenetics, ecophysiology, transcriptomics and reproductive biology.
Paula Baptista
Paula Baptista is currently Auxiliary Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), coordinator of the topic "Sustainable Agriculture and Innovative Agro-food Chains" of the “Mountain Research Center” and the convenor of the International Organisation for Biological Control (IOBC), working group ‘Integrated protection of olive crops”. Her main interests are focused on plant-microbe-insect interactions, biological control, plant microbiome and microbial biocontrol agents.
Gianni Barcaccia
Since 2017, Dr. Gianni Barcaccia is a full Professor of Plant Genetics and Genomics at the School of Agriculture Science and Veterinary Medicine of the University of Padova (Italy) and Adjunct Professor of Plant Breeding at the University of Georgia, Athens (USA). Education: M.Sc. degree in Plant Genetics and Breeding in 1991 and Ph.D. title on Plant Reproductive Systems and Population Genetics in 1995 at the University of Perugia, Italy. Tenured Professor of Plant Genetics and Genomics at the University of Padova from 2001 to 2016.
Head of the Department of Agronomy Food Natural resources Animals and Environment (DAFNAE) at the University of Padova for the academic years 2019-2023 (www.dafnae.unipd.it). Vice-director and Coordinator of the Department Commissions for Scientific Research, Technology Transfer and Third Mission from 2014 to 2019.
Head of the Laboratory of Genomics for Plant Breeding, University of Padova. Research expertise on plant reproductive systems and barriers (male-sterility, self-incompatibility and apomixis), use of molecular markers for population genetics and genomics selection, and marker-assisted breeding. Principal investigator of BreedOmics, a laboratory service of genomics for breeding populations and for genetic identification of varieties and genetic authentication of their foodstuffs. Molecular techniques: DNA fingerprinting, SSR genotyping, SNP haplotyping, DNA barcoding, NGS sequencing (www.giannibarcaccia.com).
Davide Barreca
Davide Barreca is an Associate Professor of biochemistry at the University of Messina. He is specialized in enzyme modulation by natural compounds, inhibition of protein aggregation and activation of signal apoptotic cascade. Most of his research projects concentrate on separation and identification of unknown flavonoids, structural-activity elucidation, and biochemical analysis of their health promoting or cytotoxicity properties on cells culture. He is author of over 110 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 35 chapters in books, and 70 conference proceedings and reviewer of over 40 international scientific journals.
Dorothea Bartels
Executive Director (Head) of the Institute fof Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology of Plants (IMBIO) at the Universtiy of Bonn. Editor in Chief of Planta. Member of EMBO