An elected fellow of numerous national and international academies, Dr. Narendra Tuteja is currently Professor and head at Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, NOIDA, India, and visiting Scientist at International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India. He has made significant contributions to crop improvement under adverse conditions, reporting the first helicase from plant and human cells and demonstrating new roles of Ku autoantigen, nucleolin and eIF4A as DNA helicases. Furthermore, he discovered novel functions of helicases, G-proteins, CBL-CIPK and LecRLK in plant stress tolerance, and PLC and MAP-kinase as effectors for Gα and Gβ G-proteins. Narendra Tuteja also reported several high salinity stress tolerant genes from plants and fungi and developed salt/drought tolerant plants. Renu Tuteja received her BS in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology from the University of Lucknow, India. She also received her MS in Biochemistry from the University of Lucknow, India. She did her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Kanpur, India. She is presently National Officer and Group Leader for Parasite Biology at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), in New Delhi India. Dr. Nishat Passricha, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), has worked on Lectin receptor like Kinase: a boon for salt stress tolerance in rice during his Ph.D. He has attended more than 10 conferences in India and abroad and presented his research papers. He has more than 10 research papers in reputed journals with high impact factor. After completing his Ph. D. he is working as postdoctoral researcher at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. Post Doc Fellow International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi. RESEARCH PROJECTS: •Role of miRNA in Floral Transition, University of Delhi-North Campus, Delhi. •Effect of Auxin on Apical Dominance, Maitreyi College, University of Delhi, Delhi.

• 1. Combination of DNA markers and eQTL information for introgression of multiple salt tolerance traits in rice 2. The scope of transformation and genome editing for quantitative trait improvements in rice3. Tweaking MicroRNA mediated gene regulation for crop improvement4. Modern tools used in improving rice production5. Genome Editing in the context of Seed research: How these novel biotechnology tools can change the future face of agricultural crop development6. Molecular aspects of seed priming as means of progress in crop improvement7. Plant Histidine kinases: targets for crop improvement8. Recent developments on improving rice yield under drought using genomic technologies9. Advances in genomics and molecular breeding for legume improvement10. Advancement in plant disease control strategies11. How Crisp is CRISPR? CRISPR-Cas mediated crop improvement with special focus on nutritional traits12. Targeted genome editing using Crisp-Cas9: applications in fruit quality and stress resilience13. Systems biology of crop improvement: drought tolerance as a model to integrate molecular biology, physiology, and breeding14. The microbial symbionts: Potential for the crop improvement in changing environments15. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) management in engineered plants for abiotic stress tolerance16. Metabolomics assisted crop improvement17. Improving medicinal crops through phytochemical perspective18. Approaches for Conservation and Improvement of Himalayan Plant Genetic Resources19. Molecular Markers as tools in Date-palm Improvement20. Transgenic approach in crops improvement21. In-plant transformation: a smart way of crops improvement22. Fibre crop, Jute improvemnet by using genomics and genetic engineering23. Harnessing protein post-translational modifications for plant improvement