Prof. Jyoti Vakhlu, the former director School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu, India, has 22 years of teaching and research experience. She has been teaching courses based on molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology, genomics and metagenomics to Master’s, M.Phil., and doctoral students in the University of Jammu that includes theory as well as practical courses. She has published about 50 research papers in reputed scientific journals. She has been able to generate extra mural research funding from national and international agencies such as DBT, DST, ICAR, UGC, NMPB, DAAD, Germany, ICGEB, Italy, India–Sri Lanka research foundation, and WTZ-OEAD, Austria. Prof Vakhlu’s group is involved in unravelling the cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent microbial diversity in extreme environment soil from north-western Himalayas, healing clay of Chamlyal and saffron, Crocus sativus L. by using molecular tools. Dr. Sheetal Ambardar, Assistant Professor at School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu, is a promising young researcher with an experience in genomics, transcriptomics, microbiomics, next generation sequencing (NGS) technology, and bioinformatics analysis. She has been working in this area for the m last 14 years. She is involved in teaching Microbiology, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics to postgraduate and Ph.D students of the School. Previously, she was working as a DST women scientist-A at National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru. She has pioneered the research on saffron microbe/microbiome interaction. A distinction holder throughout her academic carrier and gold medallist in her Masters in microbiology, Dr. Ambardar has qualified most of the national level fellowships in India for research, such as DST Women Scientist Award, DST,(2018), National Postdoctoral Fellowship (N-PDF), SERB, DST,(2016), UGC-MKU-NRCBS Visiting Fellowship (2011), INSPIRE-AORC Fellowships in Microbiology, DST, (2010), and NET CSIR-JRF (2007, 2009). She has also published her research work in more than 21 research papers in international journals including 5 book chapters and edited a book on Neem entitled “The Neem Genome”. Dr. Seyed Alireza Salami has about two decades of experience in bioscience, molecular genetics, and bioinformatics. He is currently CEO and the R&D manager of a start-up biotechnology company (OMICS) in Iran which led many projects on next generation sequencing and database technology, CRISPR-Cas editing technology, and recombinant proteins.Dr. Salami received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology and Molecular Genetics on "Genetics of Host-Pathogen Interactions". His interest in medicinal plants and pharmaceutical industry led him to start two mega projects on medicinal herbs mainly cannabis (CannOMICS) and saffron (CrocOMICS) since 2010 towards putting valuable natural metabolites in food andhealth baskets.He is collaborating with numerous university and research centers around the world which led to generate several research funding. He is a reviewer of several scientific journals and is the author and the co-author of more than 60 scientific papers in reputed scientific journals. He is the owner of MedCannaBase.org and SaffronOmics.com which aim to gather all cannabis and Crocus experts together as a Union. He is also a member of Organization of Saffron Exporting Countries (OSEC), head of Industrial and Medical Cannabis Research Institute (IMCRI), member of Iranian Society for Horticultural Science (irSHS), and Dean of Biotechnology and Genetic Resources branch of irSHS. Prof. Chittaranjan Kole is an internationally reputed scientist with an illustrious professional career spanning over thirty-eight years and original contributions in the fields of plant genomics and biotechnology leading to the publication of more than 150 research articles in globally leading journals. He has edited over 170 books for the leading publishers of the world including Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell and Taylor & Francis Group. His works and editing acumen have been appreciated by seven Nobel Laureates including Profs. Norman Borlaug, Arthur Kornberg, Werner Arber, Phillip Sharp, Günter Blobel, Lee Hartwell and Roger Kornberg. Previously he was a Visiting Professor in The Pennsylvania State University and Clemson University. He also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the BC Agricultural University in India. Currently, he is acting as the Chief Advisor of The Neotia University in India and Chairman of the Prof. Chittaranjan Kole Foundation for Science and Society. He is also the President of the International Climate-Resilient Crop Genomics Consortium (ICRCGC), International Phytomedomics and Nutriomics Consortium (IPNC) and Genome India International (GII).
