Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources: Strategies, Progress and Prospect

Saikat Gantait is an assistant professor at Crop Research Unit (Genetics and Plant Breeding), Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, India. Following the completion of his PhD in biotechnology from BCKV, he gained advanced research experience on in vitro germplasm conservation at Universiti Putra Malaysia during his post-doctoral work. His 18-year research work so far includes plant tissue culture, induced mutagenesis and polyploidization, encapsulation/synthetic seed and cryopreservation of plant germplasms. To date, Dr. Gantait has published more than 170 articles/chapters/books in peer-reviewed journals and books.

Paweł Chmielarz is a professor in natural sciences, working at the Institute of Dendrology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland. His research focuses on seed biology, plant in vitro culture, cryopreservation, germplasm ex situ conservation, and epigenetics. He served as an expert on cryopreservation in the Scientific Board of the Kostrzyca Forest Gene Bank. He examines seeds and seedlings of forest tree species in changing climates. Working on the plant in vitro culture, he cloned 800-year-old monumental oaks. To date, Prof. Chmielarz has published more than 90 articles/chapters in peer-reviewed journals and books.