Genome Editing for Crop Improvement

Jameel M. Al-Khayri

Prof. Jameel M. Al-Khayri is a Professor of plant biotechnology affiliated with the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. He received a B.S. in Biology in 1984 from the University of Toledo, M.S. in Agronomy in 1988, and Ph.D. in Plant Science in 1991 from the University of Arkansas. He is a member of the International Society for Horticultural Science and Society for In Vitro Biology as well as National Correspondent of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. For the last three decades, he dedicated his research efforts to date palm biotechnology. He has authored over seventy research articles in referred international journals, thirty chapters, and edited several journal special issues. In addition, edited eighteen reference books on date palm biotechnology, genetic resources and advances in plant breeding strategies. He has been involved in organizing international scientific conferences and contributed numerous research presentations. In addition to teaching, student advising, and research, he held administrative responsibilities as the Assistant Director of the Date Palm Research Center, Head of Department of Plant Biotechnology, and Vice Dean for Development and Quality Assurance. Dr. Al-Khayri served as a Member of Majlis Ash Shura (Saudi Legislative Council) for the 2009-2012 term. Currently he is maintaining an active research program on date palm focusing in vitro culture, secondary metabolites production, genetic engineering and mutagenesis to enhance tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress.

Muhammad N. Sattar

Dr Muhammad N. Sattar is specialized in molecular biology and biotechnology with a focus on molecular plant virology. He has published over 40 research papers in peer-reviewed ISI-indexed international journals, 10 book chapters with Springer, Taylor & Francis and Nova publishers.

Sudhir K. Sopory

Professor Sudhir K. Sopory is currently SERB (GOI) Distinguished Fellow and Senior Emeritus Scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi where he also worked as Group Leader and Director.

Shri Mohan Jain

Prof. Shri Mohan Jain is a Consultant and Plant Biotechnologist, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; received M. Phil, 1973 and Ph.D., 1978, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He was a postdoctoral fellow in Israel, USA, and visiting scientist/Professor in Japan, Malaysia, Germany, and Italy. He was a Technical Officer, Plant Breeding and Genetics, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria, 1999-2005. He is a member of International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology; editorial Board member of Euphytica, In Vitro, Propagation of Ornamental Plants, Emirates J. Food and Agriculture, and a series on Forest Biotechnology. His publications are more than 160 in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings, and edited 55 books; invited speaker and acted as a chair person in several international conferences worldwide. He was with IAEA when it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. He also was a consultant to the European Union, the Government of Greneda, Iranian Private Company, and the Egyptian Government. Currently his research interests are somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, haploidy, somatic cell hybridization, somaclonal variation and mutagenesis mainly in medicinal plants, date palm, and banana genetic improvement, genetic diversity, erosion, conservation, and utilization in the context of climate change and food and nutritional security.