Endophyte Biology: Recent Findings from the Kashmir Himalayas

Author Biography

Zahoor Ahmed Wani, PhD, is working as Assistant Professor in Department of Botany at Government Degree College Kishtwar, Jammu & Kashmir, India. His research specialization is in plant microbe interactions with special focus on understanding the basic intricacies of plant-endophyte associations and the ways to modulate them for desired purposes. His work has been published in peer-reviewed quality journals, like Nature-Scientific Reports, Fungal Biology, RSC Advances. He has a book and a book chapter to his credit as well. Dr. Wani is also associated with many NGOs as advisor/technical expert and working on various issues related to education, environment, and social transformation in rural areas of J&K state. Dr. Wani qualified National Eligibility Test securing 47th rank and was awarded Junior Research Fellowship by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, to pursue his research career and was awarded PhD Degree in 2017 by Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), India. Masroor Qadri, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida, USA. Prior to that, she joined the University of Brasilia, Brazil, as a Postdoctoral Research Associate Dr. Qadri has published her research work in reputed journals and has a book chapter to her credit as well. She was awarded her doctorate by Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi, India. Her research work was on bioprospecting endophytic fungi for bioactive metabolites and characterizing biosynthetic pathway genes and their epigenetic modulation for increased metabolite production in microbes. Palak Arora, PhD, completed a BTech (Biotechnology) from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University( (SMVDU), Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, India. in 2013. She secured first position in BTech and was awarded a gold medal for the same by the university. Dr. Arora received an INSPIRE Fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, to pursue her research career and was awarded a PhD degree in 2019 by the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), India. Dr. Arora worked on culturable endophytes of Glycyrrhiza glabra and studied their bioactive potential and functional characterization. Dr. Arora also worked on endohyphal bacterial associations as well. She has published her research work in leading journals and has a book chapter to her credit as well. She has received many awards, including an INSPIRE award, 2nd place for a microbial repository award, etc., during her short research career. Khalid Rehman Hakeem, PhD is Professor at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After completing his doctorate (botany; specialization in plant eco-physiology and molecular biology) from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India. At the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia, he was a Postdoctorate Fellow and Fellow Researcher (Associate Professor) for several years. Dr. Hakeem has more than 10 years of teaching and research experience in plant eco-physiology, biotechnology and molecular biology, medicinal plant research, plant-microbe-soil interactions, as well as in environmental studies. He is the recipient of several fellowships at both national and international levels. He has served as a visiting scientist at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. Currently, he is involved with a number of international research projects with different government organizations. To date, Dr. Hakeem has authored and edited more than 60 books with international publishers. He also has to his credit more than 115 research publications in peer-reviewed international journals and 55 book chapters in edited volumes with international publishers. At present, Dr. Hakeem serves as an editorial board member and reviewer for several high-impact international scientific journals. He is included in the advisory board of Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK. He is also a fellow of the Plantae group of the American Society of Plant Biologists, member of the World Academy of Sciences, member of the International Society for Development and Sustainability, Japan, and member of the Asian Federation of Biotechnology, Korea.