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.
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 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.
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
Professor of Biology at University of Massachusetts Amhrest starting in 1992. Previously a faculty member at the University of Missouri Columbia. Member of the Editorial Boards of Planta, Plants, and PLOS ONE. Recipient of the Jeanette Siron Pelton Award from the Botanical Society of America.
Dr. Giorgia Batelli is a Plant Genetics Researcher at the National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources. She received her Degree in Plant Biotechnology (2003) and PhD in Plant Biology and Chemistry (2007) at the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy. She studies physiological and cellular mechanisms employed by plants (Arabidopsis, Solanaceae) to respond to salt and drought stress with a focus on ABA-mediated signalling, using a variety of molecular and genetic tools.
Professor in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Western Australia. I hold an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. Research interests include plant-pathogen interactions, crop genetics and genomics, genome sequencing, Brassicas, structural variation, diversity genomics, methylation
Isabel Bäurle is an Assistant Professor at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Her current interests range from transcriptional memory in response to environmental stress to transposon and RNA silencing. Having previously worked on plant stem cells and flowering time, she has a background in plant developmental genetics, molecular biology and epigenetics.
Professor of Biology at the University of Antwerp. Member of the Flemish Science Foundation review board. Editor of the journals Journal of Plant Research, Frontiers in Plant Science and PLOS ONE
Professor of Developmental Biology in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
Associate professor in Faculty of Science at Ontario Tech University. Co-founder Metasys Genomics Corp. Interests include: biologically based materials derived from plant and bacterial sources; plant and animal development; inter-kingdom signalling and cell communication.
Dr. Rishi Burlakoti is a Research Scientist- Plant Pathology at Agassiz Research and Development Center, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC). His research programs focuses on diseases of high value horticultural crops including berry crops, field and greenhouse vegetables crops of British Columbia. Dr. Burlakoti is also an Adjunct Professor in Faculty of Land and Food System, University of British Columbia (UBC) and in Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph. Dr. Burlakoti is serving in editorial boards of ‘Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology’, ‘Canadian Journal of Plant Science’, and ‘Plants’. Dr. Burlakoti is a member of Canadian Phytopathological Society (CPS) and International Society for Horticultural Sciences. He is also a life member of Society of Agricultural Scientist Nepal and Nepalese Society of Horticultural Science, Nepalese Professional of Americas.
Dr. Burlakoti earned PhD in Plant Pathology from North Dakota State University, USA. Before Joining AAFC, Dr. Burlakoti worked as a Plant Pathologist in World Vegetable Center and led the Mycology and Bacteriology units at Center’s headquarters in Taiwan. He also worked as a Research Lead an Agricultural Consulting Company, Weather Innovations Consulting LP, in Canada. Dr. Burlakoti lead several applied research projects on diversified crops including vegetables, field crops and fruits to improve disease/pest management capacity and to increase crop productivity.