Virus Diseases of Ornamental Plants: Characterization, Identification, Diagnosis and Management

Prof. S. K. Raj did his Ph.D. degree in Botany (Plant Virology) from CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI), Lucknow (registered at Kanpur University, Kanpur) in 1990 on the topic ＂Characterization of a virus causing ring spot disease in Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) and its management＂. He started hid carrier as Scientist B at Molecular Virology Laboratory, CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow, India in 1986 and continued as Chief Scientist /Sr. Deputy Director/ Prof. AcSIR till his superannuation on 31st July 2015. He have been a visiting scientist at Institute of Genetics and Crop Research, Gatersleban, Germany in 1991 (INSA-DFG fellowship) with Prof. R. M. Leiser; and at Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee, U. K. in 1997 (INSA-Royal Society fellowship) and 2000 (DBT fellowship) with Prof. Micheal Taliansky to carry out research on molecular biology of plant viruses with special reference to develop viral resistance in plants through pathogen derived resistance strategies utilizing viral genes. He had been the Principal investigator of many project funded by Department of Biotechnology (Govt. of India), U.P. Council of Science and Technology (UP-CST) and Department of Science and Technology (Govt. of India). Out of his research work, he has published more than 211 research papers in national and international journals and guided twelve Ph.D. students. He has been honored by Vigyan Ratan Award 2010-2011 from Uttar Pradesh Science and Technology (UPCS&T), Lucknow; U. P. Government, India for his scientific contributions in the area of Plant Virology and Biotechnology. He has been conferred Plant Pathology Leadership Award 2012, honored and elected as the Fellow of Indian Virological Society by the Indian Virological Society, New Delhi, India in 2013. At present he has been actively engaged in science by contributing his services to National Research Institutes, Scientific organizations and Universities in India. Prof. (Dr.) Rajarshi Kumar Gaur earned PhD in 2005, now Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. His Ph.D was on molecular characterization of sugarcane viruses, viz., mosaic, streak mosaic and yellow luteovirus. He received MASHAV fellowship of Israel government for his post-doctoral studies and joined The Volcani Centre, Israel and BenGurion University, Negev, Israel. In 2007 he received the Visiting Scientist Fellowship from Swedish Institute Fellowship, Sweden to work in the Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. Received Post-Doc. Fellowship from ICGEB, Italy in 2008. He has made significant contributions on sugarcane viruses and published 130 national/international papers, authored 17 edited books and presented near about 50 papers in the national and international conferences. He has visited several laboratories of USA, Canada, New Zealand, UK, Thailand, Sweden, Italy. Currently, he is handling many national & international grants and international collaborative projects on plant viruses and disease management.

After graduation with a BSc in agronomy in 1987 from Hebei Agricultural University in China, I was employed at the Cotton Institute, Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences in China and worked on breeding new cotton cultivars resistant to pathogens. In 1997, I came to Poland as a visiting scientist financed by the Ministry of Education of China and I received MSc in horticulture in 1998 at Department of Plant Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Horticulture, Warsaw Agricultural University - SGGW. I received Habilitation in 2019 in agricultural sciences with subject on PVY interaction with potato and tobacco. I have worked on 2 international and 7 national projects, published 33 research articles, 5 book chapters, 20 conference papers/abstracts, and gave 42 oral presentations on national/international conferences, invited lectures and seminars. I was awarded on my PhD study and scientific achievements by SGGW-Poland in 2001, 2002 and 2007, Minister of Education of China in 2004, Polish Academy of Sciences in 2007, IHAR-PIB in 2016 and 2018. I have made scientific visits to SASA UK, ECU USA, and was the Polish representative of the PVYwide organization.