in the Department of Botany, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. Prior to this, Dr. Upadhyay was DST‐INSPIRE faculty at the National Agri‐Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, Punjab, India. He did his doctoral work at the CSIR‐National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, and received his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from UP Technical University, Lucknow, India. He has been working in the field of Plant Biotechnology for more than 14 years. His present research focuses in the area of functional genomics. He is involved in the bio‐prospecting and characterization of various insect toxic proteins from plant biodiversity, and defense and stress signaling genes in bread wheat. His research group at PU has characterized numerous important gene families and long noncoding RNAs related to the abiotic and biotic stress tolerance and signaling in bread wheat. He has also established the method for genome editing in bread wheat using CRISPR‐Cas system and developed a tool SSinder for CRISPR target site prediction. His research contribution led the publication of more than 60 research papers in leading journals of international repute. Further, there are more than five national and international patents, four books to his credit. In recognition of his substantial research record, he has been awarded NAAS Young scientist award (2017–2018) and NAAS‐Associate (2018) from the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India, INSA Medal for Young Scientist (2013) from the Indian National Science Academy, India, NASI‐Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2012) from the National Academy of Sciences, India, and Altech Young Scientist Award (2011). He has also been the recipient of the prestigious DST‐INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship (2012), and SERB‐Early Career Research Award, (2016) from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. Dr. Upadhyay also serves as a member of the editorial board and reviewer of several peer‐reviewed international journals.
List of Contributors
Jayanthi Abraham Microbial Biotechnology Lab, School of Bioscience and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
Maria F. Salazar Affonso Centro de Ciências da Vida, Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Cristobal N. Aguilar Bioprocesses and Bioproducts Research Group, Food Research Department, School of Chemistry, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Saltillo, Coahuila, México
Anjana Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali, Punjab, India
Débora Bublitz Anton Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Rwivoo Baruah Microbiology & Fermentation Technology Department, CSIR‐Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
SA Belorkar Department of Microbiology and Bioinformatics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee University, Bilaspur, Chattisgarh, India
Priyanka Bhat Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
José de Jesús Cázares‐Marinero Department of Research & Development, Polioles, S.A. de C.V, Mexico
Jasmita Chauhan Department of Microbiology, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India
Verônica Contini Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ciências Médicas (PPGCM), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Pritha Chakraborty Microbial Biotechnology Lab, School of Bioscience and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
Ankita Chatterjee Microbial Biotechnology Lab, School of Bioscience and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
Jorge Alberto Vieira Costa Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Rio Grande, RS, Brazil
Bruno Dahmer Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Michele Greque de Morais Laboratory of Microbiology and Biochemistry, College of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Rio Grande, RS, Brazil
Claucia F. Volken de Souza Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Sistemas Ambientais Sustentáveis, Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Rodrigo G. Ducati Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Márcia I. Goettert Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ciências Médicas (PPGCM), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Saswata Goswami Center of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing, Mohali, Punjab, India
Chung‐Yu Guan Department of Environmental Engineering, National Ilan University, Yilan City, Taiwan
Prabuddha Gupta Department of Microbiology, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India
Prakash M. Halami Microbiology & Fermentation Technology Department, CSIR‐Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, Karnataka, India
Ayerim Hernández‐Almanza School of Biological Science, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Torreón, Coahuila, México
M. Indira Department of Biotechnology, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology & Research, Vadlamudi, Andhra Pradesh, India
Gabrielle Guimarães Izaguirres Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Food Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), Rio Grande, RS, Brazil
Jyoti Singh Jadaun Department of Botany, Dayanand Girls Postgraduate College, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Daniel Kuhn Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Biotecnologia (PPGBiotec), Universidade do Vale do Taquari – Univates, Lajeado, RS, Brazil
Prashant Kumar Department of Civil Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Pradeep Kumar Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, India
S. Krupanidhi Department of Biotechnology, Vignan’s Foundation for Science, Technology & Research, Vadlamudi, Andhra Pradesh, India
Araceli Loredo‐Treviño Bioprocesses and Bioproducts Research Group, Food Research Department, School of Chemistry, Autonomous University of Coahuila, Saltillo, Coahuila, México
