Dr. Tarun Belwal, working at the College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, China, is exploring food science, plant nutraceutical potential, and human health, including the effect of food bioprocess techniques on its quality and other functional attributes. He is currently engaged in the development and promotion of safer and greener postharvest food bioprocess techniques, in vitro cell culture techniques, nano-technologies, extraction and separation techniques. Dr. Belwal received his Ph.D. (Plant Biotechnology) from Kumaun University in collaboration with G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development, India. Prior to moving to ZJU, he has worked on the utilization of natural products as nutraceutical agents and examined its functional activities, development of in vitro cell culture and production of secondary metabolites and advanced extraction protocols, for which he has awarded by the prestigious ‘Governor award forBest Research’ by the Government of India, consequently for two years. He edited one book, published 50+ international research peer-reviewed articles and 7 book chapters. His total IF is more than 270, with citations more than 600. He is actively engaged as reviewer for several prestigious journals, named few as Food Chemistry, Industrial Crops & Products, Food Reviews International, Food Research International, Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, Pharmacological Research, Bioresource Technology, Preparative Biochemistry and Biotechnology, South African Journal of Botany, Microbial Pathogenesis, and Journal of Biomolecular Structure & Dynamics. He has won several awards and also secure China Postdoctoral Science Foundation research grant as Project Investigator. He is an active member of European Society of Sonochemistry. He has a 10 years of research experience in nutraceutical research. His researchinterest lies in the design and development of various bioprocess techniques (including cell culture techniques) for the efficient utilization of natural resources. Further his research interests include nanotechnology, analytical systems, ultrasonic sonochemistry, design and development of scale-up bioprocess, and nutraceuticals for health use.Dr. Milen I. Georgiev holds a PhD in Biotechnology from the Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). He has 18 years of experience in natural products field and has published in excess of 150 papers, which attracted 2500+ citations. He has delivered 50+ invited lectures in 20 different countries (incl. USA, Germany, The Netherlands, China, ROC Taiwan, Thailand, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Poland).Milen holds several grants from the NSF of Bulgaria and framework programs of the European Union (incl. H2020 – PlantaSYST project, well-funded with 30 million Euro). At present he coordinates the SUSMAPWaste project @ USAMV Bucharest (Romania), funded with 2 million euro. In 2011 and 2015 he was awarded by the Bulgarian Government with Pythagoras award for outstanding scientist, besides “Marin Drinov” award (2009) and highly cited paper award (2018) of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Dr. Georgiev serves as an Associate Editor of Phytomedicine and Food and Chemical Toxicology (both published by Elsevier), and on the Editorial boards of Biotechnology Letters (Springer Nature), Chinese Medicine (Springer Nature) and Molecules (MDPI), also prepared 10 Guest Editorials for major journals on biotechnology and natural products fields. Serving as a chairman he established the International Conference on Natural Products Utilization: from Plants to Pharmacy Shelf (ICNPU), which had four issues so far. The latest ICNPU edition attracted attention of 330+ participants from 50 different countries (www.icnpu.com/2019). His current research focuses on the biosynthesis of fine molecules and the development of biotechnological tools for their sustainable mass production along with the application of emerging platforms for comprehensive metabolite profiling (i.e. NMR-based metabolomics) and biochemometrics (chemometrics in tandem with antineoplastic, anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory assays).Dr. Jameel M. Al-Khayri is Professor of plant biotechnology at the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Obtained 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, U.S.A. Dedicated research efforts to date palm biotechnology for the last three decades. Published over 60 research articles and reviews in international journals in addition to 30 book chapters. Editor of several special issues of international journals on date palm, biotechnology, and sustainable agriculture under abiotic and biotic stress. Editor of 15 Springer reference books including ‘Date Palm Biotechnology’, ‘Date Palm Genetic Resources and Utilization’ (2 volumes), ‘Date Palm Biotechnology Protocols’ (2 volumes), ‘Advances in Plant Breeding Strategies’ (9 volumes). Appointed as a member of the Editorial Board and Reviewers Panel in several international journals. Participated in the organizing and scientific committees of international scientific conferences and contributed over fifty research presentations. In addition to teaching, graduate students advising and conducting funded research projects, he held administrative posts as the Assistant Director of Date Palm Research Center, Head of Department of Plant Biotechnology, and Vice Dean for Development and Quality Assurance. An active member of the International Society for Horticultural Science and Society for In Vitro Biology and serving as the National Correspondent of the International Association of Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. Served as a Member of Majlis Ash-Shura (Saudi Arabia Legislative Council) Fifth Session. Currently, he is maintaining an active research program on date palm focusing on genetic transformation, secondary metabolites and in vitro mutagenesis to enhance tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress. He is interested in the role of biotechnology in enhancing food security and the impact of global climate change on agriculture.
