Neil O. Anderson

United states

Neil Anderson, B.S., M.S., Ph.D., is the Department Head, a Full Professor and J. William Fulbright Scholar, directing the Herbaceous Ornamental Breeding Program for the University of Minnesota. His administrative duties include research, teaching, and extension arenas.

Nandula Raghuram

India

Enabling crop Improvement for Nitrogen Use Efficiency in rice: From phenotype to candidate genes/processes and the role of G-protein signalling

Frederic Lens

The Netherlands

Juan Sasturain

Germany

Juan Sasturain, born in 1963 in Granada, Spain, grew up in Germany, developing a passion for natural sciences. He earned a PhD in analytical chemistry from the Technical University of Clausthal and built a successful career at BASF, specializing in the safety of crop protection products. As an enthusiastic scientist, he is particularly interested in translating scientific knowledge into technical solutions to enhance product safety and environmental protection. Juan has shown leadership by chairing the “Safe Use Initiative” and the “Closed Transfer Working Group” at CropLife Europe. Outside of work, he enjoys outdoor activities with family and friends. His motto, "Turning science into practice to make the world safer," inspires others through his commitment to safety and environmental stewardship.

Aruna Kilaru

USA

Dr. Aruna Kilaru is a Distinguished Professor at East Tennessee State University and a leading expert in plant lipid metabolism and synthetic biology. As Faculty Fellow for Interdisciplinary Innovation, she leads initiatives to expand biotechnology education and research infrastructure. Her pioneering research on sustainable oil production and metabolic engineering has earned national recognition, including funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and BioMADE. Dr. Kilaru has also influenced science policy through her service at NSF and as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service. She currently serves as Chair of the Membership Committee and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).

Marta Berrocal-Lobo

Spain

Dra. Marta Berrocal-Lobo is an Associate Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry, and
Biotechnology at the School of Forest Engineering and Natural Resources, Technical University of
Madrid (UPM). She earned her PhD from the School of Agricultural, Food, and Biosystems
Engineering (ETSIAAB) at UPM and completed postdoctoral studies at the Plant Biology
Department of The Carnegie Institution for Science (Stanford University, USA) and the National
Centre for Biotechnology (CNB, CSIC, Spain).
With over 30 publications in high-impact JCR journals on Molecular Plant Pathology, Dra.
Berrocal-Lobo is recognized for her contributions to the field. She is an active editorial board
member for esteemed journals such as Bioprotocol (Stanford University Press), Frontiers in Plant
Science, New Phytologist, and Plant Cell Reports.

David Ian Givens

Uk

A UK Registered Nutritionist, until recently the Director of the Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health at the University of Reading UK and now Emeritus Professor of Nutrition. He is also a staff member of the human nutrition PhD programme in the University of Milan. His research has focused on the health consequences of consuming animal-derived foods with a focus on the functionality of dairy food matrix at key life stages. Current work includes the associations between plasma branched chain amino acids and type 2 diabetes risk and on vitamin D status and immune function in ethnic minority groups.