Plant Cell and Tissue Differentiation and Secondary Metabolites: Fundamentals and Applications

About

Professor Dr. Kishan G. Ramawat is a former professor and head of the Botany Department M.L. Sukhadia University Udaipur India with long-standing research experience. He received his Ph.D. in plant biotechnology in 1978 from the University of Jodhpur India and afterwards joined the university as a faculty member. In 1991 he moved to M.L. Sukhadia University in Udaipur as associate professor and became professor in 2001. Prof. Ramawat served as head of the Department of Botany (2001-2004 2010-2012) was in charge of the Department of Biotechnology (2003-2004) was a member of the task force on medicinal and aromatic plants in the Department of Biotechnology Government of India New Delhi (2002-2005) and coordinated UGC-DRS and DST-FIST programs (2002-2012). Prof. Ramawat had completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Tours France from 1983 to 1985 and later returned to Tours as visiting professor (1991). He also visited the University of Bordeaux 2 France several times as visiting professor (1995 1999 2003 2006 2010) and in 2005 he visited Poland for an academic exchange program (2005). Through these visits in France Prof. Ramawat and Prof. Merillon established a strong connection which has resulted in productive collaborations and several book and reference work publications. Prof. Ramawat has published more than 170 well-cited peer-reviewed papers and articles and has edited several books and reference works on topics such as the biotechnology of medicinal plants secondary metabolites bioactive molecules herbal drugs and many other topics. His research was funded by several funding agencies. In his research group Prof. Ramawat has supervised doctoral thesis of 25 students. He is an active member of several academic bodies associations and editorial boards of journals.Professor Dr. Halina M. Ekiert since 2015 is the head of chair and Department of Pharmaceutical Botany Pharmaceutical Faculty Medical College Jagiellonian University Krakow (Poland). Her scientific career was associated first with the Pharmaceutical Faculty at the Medical Academy in Krakow (Poland) and after reorganization (since 1993) with the Pharmaceutical Faculty at the Medical College at Jagiellonian University. In the years 1999-2014 she was acting head of chair and Department of Pharmaceutical Botany. Her areas of scientific interest are associated mainly with pharmaceutical sciences with strong background in plant biotechnology phytochemistry analysis of natural products and biological activity of plant secondary metabolites. Her biotechnological interests include medicinal and/or cosmetic plant in vitro cultures endogenic production of bioactive plant secondary metabolites and biotransformations of exogenic substrates in in vitro cultures. Coumarins phenolic acids flavonoids schisandra lignans phenylpropanoid glycosides iridoids catechins and arbutin are the special objects of her interest. Throughout her career Prof. Ekiert received a few postdoctoral internships at German Universities (Bonn - 1998 Wurzburg - 1998 Marburg am Lahn - 2000 two trainings). The trainings in Bonn and in Marburg were supported by DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service. Her scientific achievements include approximately more than 120 published articles with total number of citation of approximately 1040 and H-index of 20 (according to Web of Science) few book chapters (published by Springer Science Publisher and Studium Press) and the role of co-editor and/or editor at Springer and also guest editor in the MDPI journal - Molecules.Prof. Ekiert cooperated with Wurzburg University and currently she cooperates with Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany) and with the University of Messina (Sicily Italy). She is an academic teacher with extensive and broad experience in pharmaceutical botany plant biotechnology and phytochemistry. She has guided Ph.D. students and candidates for habilitation in the field of plant biotechnology. Dr. Shaily Goyal is currently affiliated with West Texas A&M University Canyon Texas USA. She is actively working on pm2.5 and other aeroallergens. She had her Ph.D. in plant biotechnology. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2008 from Mohanlal Sukhadia University (India) she worked as research associate in the Laboratory of Biomolecular Technology Department of Botany M.L. Sukhadia University and also as a teaching assistant of biology botany and biotechnology-related courses. Dr. Goyal has been collaborating with Prof. Ramawat since 2005 and has published several book chapters and research articles in peer-reviewed journals. She also co-authored two textbooks for graduate and postgraduate students.