Assoc. Prof. Poonpipope Kasemsap

Kasetsart University, Thailand
Poonpipope Kasemsap has a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in plant physiology. He is Associate Professor of Crop Eco Physiology, and director of Horticulture Innovation Lab Regional Center for Asia. He is the chair of the International Biology Olympiad (2008-2020) and international advisory board, Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Horticulture (2010-2019). His research and teaching focuses on plant eco-physiology such as gas exchange and water potential in plants and effects of climate changes and air pollutants on crop physiology and production. He previously served as the Vice President for International Relations and Vice President for Kamphaeng Saen Campus of the Kasetsart University in 2012–2016. He was also the Director of the International Studies Center of the Kasetsart University in Bangkok.

Dr. Martin Trtilek,

Executive Director, Photon Systems Instruments, Czech Republic

Martin finished his degree in 1992 at VUT, Brno. He is owner and CEO of PSI (Photon Systems Instruments), which is the world leader in development and manufacturing of instrumentation for imaging and monitoring of biological signals in plants and algae. PSI was the first company to offer a chlorophyll fluorescence imaging system, and remain at the forefront of technology for monitoring growth and physiological activity in samples that range from individual cells to large crop and tree species. In 2016, won the EY Technical Businessman of the Year, He is also Member of the board for commercialization, Institute of Microbiology of the CAS, v. v. i. He is running a lot of research actives especially in a development of methodology and instrumentations in Algae and Plant science, as a Leader of Biotechnology group, Czech Academia of Science (2011-13), Leader of PSI research group.

Dr. William Paul Quick,

Leader of the C4 research project based at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI),

The Philippines William Paul Quick holds a personal chair in Plant Physiology at the University of Sheffield and has published over 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals; Paul's group at Sheffield made two very exciting discoveries that have both led to publications in Nature. The first is the discovery of a new type of photosynthesis in C3 plants and the possible missing link in the explanation for the evolution of C4 plants. The second is the discovery that CO2 is a systemic signaling molecule in plants responsible for controlling plant development. In 2009, on secondment from Sheffield, Paul took up the leadership of the C4 Rice Project, a multi-discipline consortium from around the world funded by the BMGF to engineer C4 photosynthesis into rice. He is responsible for the day to day operation of C4 related research activities at IRRI and also for managing and coordinating the global C4 rice program. His recent research interests include screening and phenotyping genetic diversity in rice for enhanced yield and abiotic stress tolerance under current and future climate scenarios.

Prof. Julie E Gray,
Professor of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Sheffield, UK

Julie Gray has a Ph.D. in Plant Science and is Professor of Plant Cell Signaling at the University of Sheffield. Her research is focused on the use of stomata to understand how plants adapt to environmental change and has identified components of signaling pathways leading to changes in stomatal development in response to light intensity, rising atmospheric CO2 levels and water availability. Research into the control of stomatal development has uncovered roles for the EPF peptide signals in controlling stomatal frequency; a finding that underpins this project. In addition, her research has provided insights into the signaling pathways which regulate stomatal aperture, and the evolution of stomata. Recently, she has demonstrated that plants with reduced stomatal density have enhanced water use efficiency and drought tolerance, and begun to translate findings from Arabidopsis into cereals to explore new routes towards improving crop water use.

Prof. Tiegang Lu,

Professor and Deputy Director-General, Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, P.R. China

Tiegang Lu holds a Ph.D. degree in plant physiology and is currently Professor and Deputy Director-General of the Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Lu is the principal investigator of a multi- institutional innovation team of functional genomics investigating the control of plant light use efficiency in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is a member of the China Rice Functional Genomics Consortium. His current work is focused on functional genomics for enhancing plant light use efficiency using various mutant populations including rice T-DNA insertional mutants, Setaria italica and corn EMS mutants.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Apichart Vanavichit,

Director, Rice Gene Discovery and Rice Science Center, Kasetsart University, Thailand

Apichart Vanavichit has a M.Sc. in plant breeding and a Ph.D. in crop science. He was the lead Thai scientist in the team that sequenced the rice genome (IRGSP) with 9 other nations, and furthermore he established the Rice Gene Discovery and Rice Science Center to facilitate rice molecular breeding in Thailand. His centers have led in the discovery of genes for 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (aromatic gene), Sub1C (flash flooding tolerance), waxy, and terpene synthase (brown planthopper resistance). Significant outcomes from his centers have improved Thai Jasmine Rice which withstands flash flooding, drought, heat, salinity, diseases and insects problems. He has pioneered a new research frontier in rice; by using fast neutron bombardment to induce genetic variation leading to the discovery of novel gene functions. He is also a leader in the molecular breeding of environmentally friendly rice. His high nutrition rice which has enriched grain iron levels, a high level of antioxidants and a low glycemic index has become a new national product.