International Conference on Plant Physiology & Pathology June 09-10, 2016 Dallas, Texas, USA

Kiran Mysore is a Professor at the Plant Biology Division at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. He also holds Adjunct Professorship at Oklahoma State University. He received his Bachelor’s at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (India), Master’s at Clemson University and Ph. D. at Purdue University in 1999. He did his postdoctoral training at Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University. His research interests center on molecular plant-microbe interactions. He has published over 100 papers on this and related topics in international journals.

Plant Genomics

Arie Altman received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Faculty of Agriculture and is Professor of Horticulture and Plant Biotechnology (Ret.), Founding Director of Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture. He was President of the International Association of Plant Biotechnology, former Director of the Otto Warburg Center of Biotechnology in Agriculture, member of Israel National Committee for Biotechnology and Committee for Transgenic Plants. His research interests include molecular control of plant response to drought and salinity, agricultural biotechnology, forest tree biotechnology and plant tissue culture. He published over 180 research publications and served as Editor of 5 biotechnology books. He is (past and present) Editor and Editorial Board member of Plant Physiology, Annual Review of Plant Biotechnology and Applied Genetics, In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant, Plant Cell Reports, and others. Prof Altman was Invited Professor and Scientist at: Amsterdam Free University, INRA Versailles and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris and Orsay, Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, N.J., USA, Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Botany Dept., University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, and others.

Molecular regulation of plant response to drought and salinity, Forestry biotechnology , Plant tissue culture and propagation

She is a Professor and principle investigator at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. She received a Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Plant cell biology. She is a recipient of many awards and grants for her valuable contributions and discoveries in major area of research. Her research interests lie in plant cell biology, transgenic crop and plant biology. She is the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member of many peer reviewed journals and her area of expertise credits her with many publications in national and international journals. She is committed to highest standards of excellence.

Plant Cell biology Plant Biotechnology

Michael Orzolekis is Professor Emeritus of Vegetable Crops department of Pennsylvania State University, US. He was the Program Leader of Integrated Crop Management Systems for Vegetables and Berries.

Environmental modification - Use of High Tunnels, plastic mulches, row covers and drip irrigation on the growth and yield of vegetable/horticultural crops. Culture and Management - Effects of cultural techniques and management systems on growth, development and yield of vegetable crops. Specialty crop and germplasm evaluation related to production, marketing and utilization.

Desh Pal S. Verma is a full professor at the Ohio State University, USA. He obtained his B.Sc. degree in biology and chemistry, and M.Sc. degree in botany from Agra University, India, and his Ph.D. degree in plant physiology and biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, Italy. His pioneering research work includes the identification and characterization of nudulins and phragmoplastin, and genes responsible for proline and callose biosynthesis in plants. He has served on the editorial boards for several international journals, edited eleven scholarly books, and published over 160 original research papers.

Statistical Genetics, Human Microbiome, Statistical Analysis, Computational Statistics, Applied Statistics, and Molecular Genetics

Dr. Sachin Rustgi, born in 1980, is currently affiliated as Assistant Research Professor, and member of the Molecular Plant Sciences Graduation Program with the Washington State University at Pullman. He holds a master’s degree in Botany from the M.J.P. Rohilkhand University at Bareilly and a Ph.D. degree in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the C.C.S. University at Meerut. Immediately after graduation in 2006 he joined WSU and ever since working there in different capacities. His research is a balance between applied and basic with an emphasis on the targeted improvement of small grain cereals. His major research interests include, but are not limited to the development of i) dietary therapies for the ‘gluten syndrome’ by engineering nutritionally enhanced wheat genotypes with reduced amount of immunogenic gluten proteins and glycemically rich amylopectin; ii) genetically resistant wheat and barley genotypes to major rhizopathogens of the U.S. Pacific Northwest by biomimetic engineering of wheat lines to produce an antifungal antibiotic pyrrolnitrin, or a chitin degrading enzyme endochitinase; and iii) herbicide (imidazolinone) tolerant, industrially compatible and nutritionally enhanced barley cultivars by breeding for herbicide tolerance, reduced proanthocyanidin content and increased grain lysine content, respectively. For the basic research perspective, he is interested in deciphering: (a) genes and signaling pathways contributing to yield stability under stress environments; (b) molecular mechanism underlying the diploid-like pairing behaviors of polyploidy wheat; and (c) molecular and cytogenetic events that shaped wheat genome following allopolyploidization. Dr. Rustgi has published 53 research articles in well-recognized national and international journals with the impact factors ranging from 0.486 to 9.809. The timely publication of the research and review articles in the thrust areas of plant sciences resulted in a total of 1638 citations of his work and an h-index as well as i10-index of 15 and 16, respectively. Moreover, he presented posters in 39 national/international conferences, and authored two books entitle “In silico development and use of SSR and SNP markers in bread wheat: Gene derived markers and genome fractionation a glimpse in the wheat genome” and “Natural dietary therapies for the gluten syndrome”.

My research is a balance between applied and basic sciences with a focus on targeted improvement of cereals using tools of structural and functional genomics. The major research activities include development of natural dietary therapies for the ‘gluten syndrome’ by engineering wheat genotypes with reduced gluten content and expressing gluten-detoxifying enzymes, biomimetic engineering of wheat lines to produce an antifungal antibiotic pyrrolnitrin, systemic expression of an antimycotic enzyme endochitinase, and development of herbicide (imidazolinone) tolerant barley cultivars.

Dr. Nirmal Joshee is an Associate Professor of Plant Science in the College of Agriculture, Family Sciences and Technology at the Fort Valley State University (FVSU, Fort Valley, GA). Currently, he is serving as the Coordinator, Graduate Program in Biotechnology. Dr Joshee earned his Ph.D. in the year 1987 from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India on the reproductive biology of glycoalkaloid yielding solanums. He has conducted post-doctoral research work in Japan (Biotechnology Institute, Akita) on ‘Molecular Biology of Water Stress Induced Genes in Rice’ and the USA (University of Nebraska Medical Ctr., Omaha, NE) on ‘Human Gene Therapy’ before joining Fort Valley State University in 2001. Dr. Joshee is one of the founding members of American Council of Medicinally Active Plants, a society of professionals dedicated to the medicinal plant research. Dr. Joshee has been actively involved in research for the past twenty five years in the field of plant tissue culture and conservation, validation of medicinal plants used in traditional medical systems, molecular biology of stress induced genes in plants, gene transfer strategies for plant transformation, and sustainable use of fast growing tree Paulownia for Bioenergy. Graduate students conduct their thesis research on antitumor medicinal plant Scutellaria and lignocellulosic bioenergy crop Paulownia in my lab.

Ongoing Research Grants: 1. 2013-2016. Capacity building USDA NIFA. Title: Developing a sustainable bioenergy system: Paulownia production for fuel, chemicals, and materials. P.I.: Nirmal Joshee 2. 2011-2014. Capacity building USDA NIFA. Title: Germplasm conservation, Anti-adipocytic and anticancer activity and metabolic engineering in the genus Scutellaria. P.I.: Nirmal Joshee As Co- Investigator: 3. ($143,000) J. H. Lee, T. H. Terrill, N. Joshee. 2013. Strengthening instrumental analytical techniques of undergraduate and graduate students in food and agricultural sciences. USDA/NIFA-1890 CBG.

Meira Ziv is a Professor in the Robert H Smith Institute of Plant Science and Genetics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). Her research interests are in the physiology and morphogenesis of plant organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis in large scale liquid cultures; shoot-malformation, hyperhydricity and the role of oxidative stress in the control of plant development in bioreactor cultures for efficient acclimatization and survival ex vitro; bulb and corm development in geophytes cultured in liquid cultures in relation to carbohydrate metabolism.

Plant morphology and physiology in tissue culture plants. Biotechnology aspects of various plants propagated in large scale pre-sterilized disposable bioreactors and their in vitro acclimatization. Physiological aspects of bud and root regeneration, control of hyper-hydricity and malformation in plants regenerated liquid cultures. Enhanced hardening in vitro, using growth retardants and silicon Developmental physiology of corms, tubers and bulbs storage organs produced in vitro.

Dr. Rubin is the Rachel and Jacob Liss Emeritus Professor of Agronomy and Weed Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. His areas of research include biochemical pathways, herbicide resistance, and weed management. Dr. Rubin is very active in service to international academic and research institutions and is a member of several International Weed Society organizations including the Israel, European, Japan, and American societies. His research has led to being awarded three patents for herbicide activity and formulations development.

Physiological and biochemical mechanisms of herbicide action in crops and weeds. Herbicide resistance in weeds, mechanisms and environmental implications. Safe use of herbicide- resistant transgenic crops. Fate and behavior of herbicides in agro-ecosystem. Environmentally safe and new herbicide formulations. Weed biology and ecology. Weed management and control in major crops.

Dr. Ilan Sela is a Co-Founder of Beeologics, LLC and serves as its Chief Scientist. Dr. Sela has over 15 years of experience in Fiber Optics. He contributes more than five decades of accumulated knowledge in virology, plant and insect pathology and RNAi technologies to specifically address the long-term well being of the bees. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Optichrom, which he Co-Founded. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of PetroMetrix, a manufacturer of analyzers for the petro-chemical industry, which was founded by him in 1992. From 1989 to 1992, he worked as a Researcher with the Los Alamos National Laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico, working in the Electronic Research Group on novel materials for IR detectors and Optical Switching. He is world renowned for his innovative work in virology and is credited with identifying, sequencing and naming the Israel Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) in 2002. As a Professor Emeritus of Virology and Molecular Biology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he sits on the Faculty of Agriculture at the Robert H. Smith Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics (Virus Laboratory), and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Molecular Biology, Virology and Genetic Engineering. His current research is focused on bee viruses including Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the expression and silencing vectors for plants, and the integration of viral sequences into host genomes. Over the course of his career, he has authored more than 100 papers that have appeared in reviewed scientific journals. He has also supervised 106 graduate students theses. He is the author of over 30 publications in the field of Applied Spectroscopy. Dr. Sela earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Virology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A universal platform (IL-60) for expression and silencing in plants. The use of the IL60 platform for protecting plants from viruses, bacteria (including phytoplasmas) and fungi. Innate immunity in plants. RNA silencing of plant and viral gene expression. Integration of viral RNA sequences into host genomes. Bee viruses. Exchange of genetic information between Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) and the bee genome and its relation to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). RNA silencing in bees as a tool to control IAPV (and CCD), and bee parasites (Varroa, Nosema).

Milan S. Stanković is the assistant professor of Biology and Ecology department.Currently he is the editorial Board Member of “Research in Plant Sciences” and “Advanced Crop Science” Journal.

Biology Plant science

Tianzhen Zhang, Professor of Genetics and Crop Breeding in Nanjing Agricultural University. He has completed his PhD at the age of 29 years from Nanjing Agricultural University and postdoctoral studies from Ruhr University at Bochum in Germany under the Marie-Curie Fellowship for Post-Doctoral Research. He is the directors of Cotton Hybrid R & D Engineering Center (the Ministry of Education) and Cotton Research Institute in NAU. He has published more than 150 papers in cotton genetics, genomics and molecular breeding in peer-reviewing reputed journals and co-authored 8 books, and has been serving as the Co-chair from 2011-2013 and Chair of Int Cotton Genome Initiate from 2013-2015, Int. Organizing Committee member for ICGI Research conference and editorial board member of PLoS ONE.

Genetics, Plant Genomics

ACADEMIC AWARDS 1983 BSc Lanzhou University,China 1986 Msc The Postgradute School, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 1989 PhD University of East Anglia, UK ASSOCIATIONS AND FELLOWSHIPS 1987 University Studentship, University of East Anglia, UK 1987 Overseas Research Student Awards, University of East Anglia, UK 1995 K.C. Wang Fellowship, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, China EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 1990 Postdoc Fellow, John Innes Center and University of Oxford (with Prof. E. S. Coen, FRS 　　 and Prof. H. G. Dickinson), UK 1995 Research Scientist, The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Center, UK 1997 Principle Investigator, Institute of Developmental Biology, The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences, China 1999 Assistant Director, Institute of Developmental Biology, The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences,China 2000 Professor, Faculty of Life Sciences, The Postgraduate School, The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences, China 2001 Principle Investigator, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Chinese 　　 Academy of Sciences, China 2001 Associate Director, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Chinese 　　 Academy of Sciences, China 2002 Adjunct Professor, College of Life Sciences, Beijing University, China 2004-2014 Director,Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology,The Chinese Academy of 　　 Sciences,China

Molecular control of self-incompatibility in Antirrhinum Molecular studies on pollination and fertilization in rice Identification of genes controlling cotton fiber formation

WenJun Zhang is the professor in Sun Yat-sen University and International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. He is the president of International Society of Computational Ecology and International Society of Network Biology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of international journals, Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ISSN 2220-8860), Computational Ecology and Software (ISSN 2220-721X), Network Biology (ISSN 2220-8879), Arthropods (ISSN 2224-4255), and Environmental Skeptics and Critics (ISSN 2224-4263). He achieved his Ph.D. degree in epidemiology and modeling in Northwest A&M University. He has served as a postdoctoral fellow in epizootic modeling of vegetable insects in Sun Yat-sen University. He visited University of Arizona in 1996. He was a project scientist and postdoctoral fellow in mathematical ecology, working on ecological algorithms and computer programming, in International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) between 1997 and 2000. He has served as a senior research scientist, working on simulation model of insect-NPV-crop system in Wageningen University in 2002. Editor-in-Chief Proceedings of the International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (ISSN 2220-8860) Computational Ecology and Software (ISSN 2220-721X) Network Biology (ISSN 2220-8879) Arthropods (ISSN 2224-4255) Environmental Skeptics and Critics (ISSN 2224-4263)

Network Biology; Biomathematics; Computational Science; Modelling; Ecology; Environmental Sciences; Agricultural Sciences.

ACADEMIC AWAREDS 1984 BSc Lanzhou University, China 1987 MSc Lanzhou University, China 1994 PhD Wageningen University, The Netherlands ASSOCIATIONS AND FELLOWSHIPS 1990 PhD Fellowship, European--China PhD Program 1994 Research Fellow, Wageningen University 1996 Research Fellow, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA 1996 Research Fellow, The Institute of Molecular Agrobiology,Singapore Employment History 1987 Teaching Assistant, Department of Biology, Lanzhou University,China 2000 Senior Scientist, The Institute of Molecular Agrobiology,Singapore 2002 Senior Scientist, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory,Singapore

Plant development generally Cell polarity and cell fate during gametogenesis Functional genomics Biotechnology