Dr Bhupendra Koul is an Assistant Professor at the School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University (LPU), Punjab, India. He was awarded a CSIR Senior Research Fellowship in 2013. During his PhD at the Plant Transgenics Lab, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute (CSIR-NBRI) in Lucknow, he worked on the optimization, introduction and expression of modified full-length and truncated versions of Bt-cry1Ab and 1Ac genes in the tomato to develop non-chimeric and stable transgenic lines resistant to two lepidopteran insects (Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura) and evaluated the performance of both the versions of cry1Ab and 1Ac genes regarding the stability and efficacy of insecticidal toxins in transgenic plants. He has evaluated the performance and role of different cis-motifs of artificial synthetic promoters for overexpression of genes in the tomato and performed comparative in silico analyses of various cry1A genes for toxicity to target insects. He has six years of research experience and four years of teaching experience, and received the 2016 Teacher Appreciation Award for Biotechnology & Biosciences at the LPU. He designed the full-length synthetic cry1Ac gene (NCBI submission accession No.: KP195020.1; GI:768678299) and has published 14 research papers in national and international journals including BMC Genomics, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Springer Plus; authored three book chapters for Springer Nature; and holds one patent (No. 3177DEL2010).   Pooja Taak is currently pursuing her PhD at Lovely Professional University (LPU), Punjab, India under the guidance of Dr. Bhupendra Koul, and is an Assistant Professor at the LPU’s School of Bioengineering and Biosciences. She completed her specialization in Crop Genetics and Plant Breeding during her Master’s studies in Botany at Punjabi University Patiala; and her project training at the Biotechnology Division of the CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, India under the supervision of Dr. Kunal Singh. Presently, she is working on effective weed management strategies to enhance the yield of Stevia rebaudiana. She has also published her research findings in national and international journals.