Bio
Dr. Dilantha Fernando is a professor, plant pathologist, and Dean in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba. He is an internationally renowned researcher of host–pathogen interactions (i.e., canola–blackleg, canola–Verticillium, canola–Sclerotinia, wheat–fusarium head blight) specializing in the epidemiology and spread of pathogens on canola and cereals (9186 citations; H-Index of 51; i-10-Index of 147; 203 publications), and his core research area is the establishment of sustainable agricultural systems through disease management. Dr. Fernando studies host–pathogen interactions at the field and molecular levels using traditional and advanced (omics) methods, and has been associated with the naming of R-genes in canola, as well as the introduction of a new disease management strategy in Canada. He has trained 15 PhD students and 17 Master’s students, who have graduated and found employment in academia, industry, and government research institutions. Dr. Fernando is a frequent keynote and plenary speaker at conferences and grower meetings and sits on several national and international boards. In 2024, he was named a Fellow of the Canadian Phytopathological Society (CPS). In 2023, Dr. Fernando received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Agricultural and Environmental Sustainability, and in 2022, he was named a Fellow of the Asian PGPR Society. In 2021, he received the Merit Award for Excellence in Research and Service from the University of Manitoba, and in 2020, the 2020 CPS Outstanding Research Award. In 2019, he was named a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (APS), USA, and in 2019, he received the highest award for excellence in research on plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Dr. Fernando is the founding editor-in-chief of "Plants" (MDPI) and sits on several other editorial boards around the world.

Bio
Ivan Aleksieienko is currently a postdoctoral researcher within the European PHENET project at the Biotechnology and Bioscience Institute of Aix-Marseille University, where he earned his PhD in Ecology in 2025 as part of the RESTORE project. In his doctoral work, he investigated the impact of climate change on microbial diversity in Mediterranean forest ecosystems and developed nature-based solutions for forest restoration. In his current postdoctoral research within the PHENET project, Ivan is developing and applying machine learning techniques to identify drought legacy effects on forest microbiomes and to predict future climate impacts on microbial community structure and function. This work aims to integrate advanced computational approaches with microbial ecology to enhance predictive capacity for ecosystem responses under global change scenarios.

Bio
Dr. Kedong Da is the Director of the Plant Transformation Laboratory at North Carolina State University and has over 30 years of experience in plant tissue culture, regeneration, genetic transformation, genome editing, and molecular biology across Asia, Europe, and North America. His research focuses on competent cell induction for efficient plant regeneration, gene transformation and editing, and advanced plant tissue culture systems, including somatic embryogenesis. Dr. Da has successfully optimized plant transformation platforms for a wide range of species, including apple, strawberry, orchid, rose, sweet potatoes, watermelon, cucumber, and the bioenergy grasses Tripidium and Miscanthus. His information and details of his research can be found at https://cals.ncsu.edu/horticultural-science/people/kda and https://go.ncsu.edu/ptl

Bio
Dr. Zabotina obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Russia. She has held postdoctoral positions at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands, at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in Italy, and at the University of California, Riverside, USA. In 2008, she accepted the position of Assistant Professor at Iowa State University and was later promoted to full professor. Throughout her career, Dr. Zabotina has been involved in research on various aspects of plant cell wall polysaccharides, including structural characterization, biosynthesis and degradation, and cell wall-mediated stress responses. Currently, her lab focuses on the functional and structural organization of enzymes that synthesize xyloglucan and on cell wall modifications and signaling pathways induced by these modifications during biotic stress responses.

Bio
Dr. Marc Libault is a Professor in the Division of Plant Science and Technology at the University of Missouri-Columbia (USA). He received his Ph.D. degree in 2004 from the University of Paris-Saclay in Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology. In 2005, he joined the University of Missouri-Columbia as a postdoctoral associate to study the symbiotic interaction between soybean roots and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In 2011, as a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Libault developed a systems biology approach for root hair cells, the first cells infected by Rhizobia in legume plants. In 2018, he joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and pioneered the field of plant single-nucleus technologies to analyze differential use of genomic information across plant cells. As a faculty member at the University of Missouri-Columbia, he is expanding the use of plant single-nucleus biology to study the symbiosis between legumes and nitrogen-fixing bacteria.