My aim is to understand how bacteria interact and evolve in complex communities and use this knowledge to engineer complex plant microbiomes. We examine how Bacilli interact during biofilm development with other microorganisms, including both soil-derived bacteria and fungi, and colonize their natural niche, the plant rhizosphere. My PhD (Szeged, Hungary) and post doc training (Groningen, The Netherlands) concentrated on bacterial physiology and genetics. My group explores biofilm, sociomicrobiology, experimental evolution, and the interactions within plant microbiomes (Jena, Germany; Kongens Lyngby, Denmark; and now Leiden, The Netherlands).

Alessio Mengoni’s research interests deal with the study of the interactions between plants and microorganisms, related to plant growth-promoting bacteria and plant microbiome for applications in agricultural and environmental biotechnology.

He coordinates the Laboratory of Microbial Genetics at the Department of Biology of the University of Florence, Italy, and has been visiting professor at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, Gdansk, Poland and at the Sun-Yat Sen University, Guangzhou, China. Further info www.dblage.unifi.it

Aleš Lapanje is head of the Colloid Biology group at JSI and has successfully coordinated several national, international and industrial research projects. He has extensive knowledge of microbial community dynamics by using advanced molecular biology tools and colloid physics. His interest is to combine physical methods with microbiology to advance the research in the intermicrobial interactions as well as to develop new applied approaches that can be used in agriculture, remediation of polluted environments and medicine. During his research he has been developing methods that enable studying colloid-bacteria interactions, electrostatic interactions of bacterial cells and their entrapment in different matrices.

Amitava Rakshit, an IIT-Kharagpur alumnus is presently Associate Professor at the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University(IAS, BHU). His research areas include: Nutrient use efficiency, Simulations modeling, organic farming, Integrated Nutrient Management and biopriming. His consulting capabilities are: Composting Techniques, Soil Health Management, Input quality Control.He has visited Scandinavia, Europe, Africa, UAE and Bangladesh pertaining to his research work and presentation. He was awarded with TWAS Nxt Fellow (Italy), BiovisionNxt Fellow (France), Darwin Now Bursary(British Council,UK),Young achiever award and Best Teacher’s Award at UG and PG level by BHU-ICAR ,state level by Uttar Pradesh Academy of Agricultural Sciences and at national level by All India Agricultural Students Association in 2009, 2012,2018 and 2019 respectively. He is serving as review college member of British Ecological Society, London since 2011, member of Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition of FAO, Rome and Commission on Ecosystem Management of IUCN. He has published 105 research papers, 49 book chapters, 28 popular articles, three manuals and authored twenty-nine books from Springer, Elsevier and CRC Press.

Full professor in horticultural sciences at University of Milan. Research topics are related to senescence of ornamentals, fruits, vegetables, and plant nutrition. In particular, main research activities are focused on biochemical and molecular processes related to quality losses of the most important horticultural crops. In the field of plant nutrition, the research activities are focused on crop responses to biostimulants.

Professor Cayo Ramos, PhD in Biology from Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), developed his postdoctoral career at The Carlsberg Laboratories (Copenhagen, Denmark), The Spanish National Research Council (Granada) and the Technical University of Denmark. The Cayo’s lab (Universidad de Málaga, Spain) currently focuses on exploring the molecular mechanisms governing the interaction of bacterial phytopathogens with woody hosts, using as model systems diverse strains of the Pseudomonas syringae complex. His projects are also related to biological control of fungal pathogens in the rhizosphere of avocado plants.