Neglected and Underutilized Crops

Dr. Muzafar Ahmad Macha is currently serving as an assistant professor and a Ramalingaswami Fellow at the Watson-Crick Centre for Molecular Medicine, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) in India. He earned his master's degree in biochemistry from Jamia Hamdard in New Delhi, India. In 2005, he embarked on his doctoral program, focusing on head and neck cancers (HNCs), at the Department of Biochemistry at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, India. In 2011, he joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in the USA as a postdoctoral fellow. During his tenure, he established an independent HNC Research Group and conducted research on the identification of deregulated signaling pathways and novel therapeutic targets. Following his promotion to Assistant Professor in the BMB at UNMC, he developed numerous in vitro cell lines, genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of HNSCC, and unique therapeutic modalities. Dr. Macha has published his work in many peer-reviewed journals. He has also received numerous awards, including the Young Investigator Award, the scholarship award, Scholar-in-Training award, Best performance Stipend Award for the years 2012 and 2013, the Gita Mittal award/Gold medal for the best basic cancer research in Ph.D. from AIIMS, New Delhi, and a Gold medal for his master's degree from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. More recently, he has been honored with two prestigious fellowships: the Ramalingaswami Fellowship and the Ramanujan Fellowship from the Government of India.

Dr. Sajad Majeed Zargar is currently an Assistant Professor at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-Kashmir) in India and a visiting Professor at the University of Padova in Italy. He was previously a Visiting Professor at the Nara Institute of Science & Technology, Japan. He has worked as an Assistant Professor at SKUAST-Jammu and Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, Rajouri (BGSB) in India. He has also worked as a scientist at Advanta India Limited, Hyderabad, India, and TERI (The Energy & Resources Institute), New Delhi, India. Dr. Zargar is the recipient of a CREST overseas fellowship from DBT, India; a Goho grant from the Government of Japan; and an Erasmus Fellowship from the European Union. He has received several awards for his work and research. He is also a member and representative of INPPO (International Plant Proteomics Organization). He chaired a session at the 3rd INPPO World Congress held at the University of Padova, Italy in 2018. His editorial activities and scientific memberships include publishing research and review articles in international journals and serving as a reviewer for reputed journals. He is the Incharge Scientist of Genomics and Proteomics Labs at the Division of Plant Biotechnology, SKUAST-Kashmir, India.

Dr. Ajaz Bhat works as a research scientist at Sidra Medicine in Qatar. He completed his Ph.D. at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, focusing on vaccine immunology. After obtaining his Ph.D., he moved to Vanderbilt University Medical School (VUMS) in Nashville, TN, USA, for a postdoctoral fellowship. During his eleven years of post-PhD training, he gained extensive experience in the pathobiological importance of tight junction proteins (Claudins) in colorectal cancer and the role of bile acid induced APE1/Ref1 in the pathogenesis of esophageal cancer. His research focuses on drug discovery, signaling networks in cancer, cancer metabolism, cancer genomics, obesity, and diabetes. He has published his research in journals of high repute. He has also attended numerous international meetings, conferences, and symposia to present his research results and has received awards from the Immunology Society and the American Association of Cancer Research. Additionally, he was recognized as an outstanding researcher by Sidra Medicine. He is an active member of several Immunology and Cancer societies and serves on the editorial boards and review committees of numerous peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Shahab Uddin currently holds the position of Senior Academic Scientist and leads the Molecular Pathophysiology Core Lab at the Translational Research Institute, Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. With over 20 years of experience in translational research, he has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers. Dr. Uddin has been involved as a principal Investigator (PI) and Co-Investigator (CO-I) in numerous translational research projects funded by organizations such as King Abdulaziz Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, King Faisal Hospital and Research Center, and the Qatar National Research Fund. He has also managed grants from the American Cancer Society and the Wellcome Research Foundation. Additionally, he serves as a reviewer and editorial board member for several international journals.