Dr. Bhoopander Giri received his Ph.D in Mycorrhizal Research from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi, in 2001. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, USA and is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi. He is a recipient of a CSIR Research Associateship (2003), DST Young Scientist Fellowship (2005) and a Raman Post-Doctoral Fellowship. He has served as the General Secretary of the International Symbiosis Society (ISS), USA, and he is a life-member of several prestigious academic societies. He is also a reviewer for several international and national journals. Dr. Giri has published more than 38 papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals and books. His paper “Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in alleviation of salt stress,” published in Annals of Botany, Oxford Press, UK was listed among the top 10 citedpublications in 2009-2014 in the area of biological science and agriculture by the International Comparative Performance of India’s Research Base. Dr. Giri has also edited numerous books. Prof. Dr. Ajit Varma completed his PhD at Allahabad University at the age of 25 years, and is a former Professor at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. He is currently a Distinguished Scientist & Professor of Eminence at Amity Institute of Microbial Technology; Group Dy. Vice Chancellor, Ritnand Balved Education Foundation, and Vice Chairman of Amity Science, Technology & Innovation Foundation, Amity University, India. He has published more than 314 papers in respected journals and has been serving as an Editor-in-Chief of the Soil Biology Series, Springer Verlag Germany. Dr Varma is a Fellow of Alexander-von-Humboldt Society, Germany, elected Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Fellow of the Microbiology Society of India.
