Biographical note

Dr. Ajay Kumar is currently working as an assistant professor at Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Noida, India. Dr. Kumar recently completed his tenure as a visiting scientist from Agriculture Research Organization, Volcani Center, Israel. He has published more than 175 research, review articles, and book chapters in international and national journals. He serves as an associate editor for Frontiers in Microbiology and as guest editor for various journals such as Plants, Microorganisms, and Sustainability. Dr. Kumar has also edited more than 32 books with the leading publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, and Wiley. Dr. Kumar’s research experience is in the field of plant–microbe interactions, postharvest management, cyanobacterial biology, and so on. Dr. James White is Professor of Plant Biology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. Dr. White obtained the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Botany and Plant Pathology/Mycology from Auburn University, Alabama, and the Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Texas, Austin in 1987. Dr. White specializes in symbiosis research, particularly endophytic microbes. He is the author of more than 400 articles, and author and editor of reference books on the biology, taxonomy, and phylogeny of microbial endophytes, including Biotechnology of Acremonium Endophytes of Grasses (1994), Microbial Endophytes (2000), The Clavicipitalean Fungi (2004), The Fungal Community: Its Organization and Role in the Ecosystem (2005; 2016), Defensive Mutualism in Microbial Symbiosis (2009) and Seed Endophytes: Biology and Biotechnology (2019). He and students in his lab are exploring diversity of endophytic and biostimulant microbes and the various impacts that they have on host plants. Prof. Joginder Singh is a Professor at the Department of Botany, Nagaland University, Lumami, Nagaland, India. Previously, he worked as a Professor in the School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University and also as a Young Scientist at Microbial Biotechnology and Biofertilizer Laboratory, Department of Botany, Jai Narain Vyas University on a research project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. He is an active member of various scientific societies and organizations, including the Association of Microbiologists of India, the Indian Society of Salinity Research Scientists, the Indian Society for Radiation Biology, and the European Federation of Biotechnology. He has published extensively with Elsevier and Springer both in journals and books. He serves as a reviewer for many prestigious journals, including Current Research in Engineering, Science and Technology; Journal of Cleaner Production; Science of the Total Environment; Environmental Monitoring and Assessment; Pedosphere; Soil and Sediment Contamination; Symbiosis; International Journal of Phytoremediation; Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety; Annals of Agricultural Sciences; and Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.