Dr. Mohd Sayeed Akhtar (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at Gandhi Faiz-e-Aam College, Shahjahanpur, UP, India. He received his PhD degree from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India in 2008, prior to conducting post-doctoral research at the Botanical Institute, University of Basel (BIB), Switzerland (2008–2010), and at Chonbuk National University (CBNU), Republic of Korea in 2011. He was an Assistant Professor at Jimma University, Ethiopia (2011-2014), and a fellow researcher at the Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), (2014-2015). Dr. Akhtar has more than 15 years of research and 10 years of teaching experience in soil microbiology, applied microbiology, environmental microbiology, molecular biology, plant pathology and plant nanobiotechnology. He has authored or co-authored more than one hundred articles in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters, and has edited 10 books with international publishers. Further, he serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for several high-impact international journals. His current research is focused on rhizospheric plant-microbe interactions and molecular biotechnology, bioremediation, biomineralization, nano-fertilizers and nanobiotechnology. Dr. Mallappa Kumara Swamy (PhD) is a Professor and Head of the Department of Biotechnology at East West College of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. He completed his postdoctoral research at the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Before that, he had worked as an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Biotechnology, Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences, Bangalore University, Bengaluru, India. He received his PhD (Biotechnology) from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, India in 2013. He has more than 15 years of teaching and research experience in the fields of plant biotechnology, secondarymetabolite production, phytochemistry and bioactive studies. Dr. Swamy has authored 80 research publications in peer-reviewed journals and 16 book chapters. Recently, he has edited four books published by Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd., Singapore. He also serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for several high-impact international journals. His current research is focused on cell and tissue culture technology for bioactive compound production, and on nanotechnology for medical applications. Dr. Uma Rani Sinniah (PhD) is a Professor at the Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). She has more than 35 years of teaching and research experience in the fields of plant biology, seed technology, cryobiology, germplasm conservation, and plant secondary metabolites, and has successfully completed several projects supported by various national and international funding bodies. She has published more than 95 research articles in peer-reviewed journals, and eight book chapters. Her current research is focused on seed science and technology, cryopreservation, plant cell and tissue culture, and secondary metabolite production.
