Ramakrishna Akula is currently a scientist at Monsanto Breeding Station, Bangalore, India. Dr. Ramakrishna holds a master's degree from Sri Krishna Devaraya University, Anantapur, India. He started his research career in 2005 at the Department of Plant Cell Biotechnology, CFTRI, Mysuru, in the research group of Dr. G.A. Ravishankar. He is a Senior Research Fellow of CSIR, New Delhi. He obtained his Ph.D. in biochemistry from University of Mysore, Mysuru, in the area of development of high frequency somatic embryogenesis and regulation of secondary metabolites in Coffea canephora. He worked extensively on the role of serotonin, melatonin, and calcium-mediated signaling in plants. He has made significant contributions to metabolic engineering of secondary metabolites from plants and abiotic stress in plants. He has worked in the area of tissue culture, in vitro production, and regulation of plant secondary metabolites from food value plants that include natural pigment caffeine, steviosides, anthocyanins, and carotenoids. He is the author of three books, 12 peerreviewed publications, two reviews, and eight chapters in books. His books include Serotonin and Melatonin: Their Functional Role in Plants, Food, Phytomedicine, and Human Health, Metabolic Adaptations in Plants During Abiotic Stress (CRC Press, 2016) and Neurotransmitters in Plants: Perspectives and Applications (CRC Press, 2018). He is a member of the Society for Biotechnologists (India). He is a fellow of the Society for Applied Biotechnology, India (2012), and has received the Global Vegetable Research Excellence Award (2017), three global technology recognition awards, a Rapid Recognition Award, Test Master, Asia Veg R&D quarterly recognitions, and special recognition from the Monsanto company. He attended the Fifth International Symposium on Plant Neurobiology held in 2009 in Florence, Italy. He also attended the Technical Community of Monsanto (TCM) held in 2016, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dr. Sarvajeet Singh Gill is currently working as assistant professor at the Centre for Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India. In 2001, Dr. Gill completed an MSc in botany from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, INDAI, with a Gold Medal. Soon after, Dr. Gill started his research career (M.Phil. and PhD, 2001・ 2008) in plant stress physiology and molecular biology at AMU. Dr. Gill has made significant contributions towards abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants. Dr. Gill's research includes abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants, reactive oxygen species signaling and antioxidant machinery, gene expression, helicases, crop improvement, transgenics, nitrogen and sulfur metabolism, and plant fungal symbiotic interactions. Together with Dr. Narendra Tuteja at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, he worked on plant helicases for abiotic stress tolerance. He further explored the mechanism of stress tolerance by PDH45 in tobacco and rice (Plant Mol Biol 82(1・2):1・22, 2013, and PLoS One 9(5): e98287, 2014). Dr. Gill discovered a novel function of plant MCM6 in salinity stress tolerance that will help to improve crop production at sub-optimal conditions (Plant Mol Biol 76(2011):19・34, 2014). Herbicide and salinity stress tolerance (PDH45 + EPSPS) in plants has also been explored by Dr. Gill (Front. Plant Sci. 8:364, 2017). He helped to develop salinity-tolerant tobacco and rice plants, without affecting the overall yield. This research uncovers new pathways to plant abiotic stress tolerance and indicates the potential for improving crop production at sub-optimal conditions. A recipient of the INDIA Research Excellence & Citation Award 2017 from Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science), Sarvajeet Gill has edited several books with Springer, Wiley, Elsevier, CABI, and others, and has a number of research papers, review articles, and book chapters to his name.
