Recent Advancements in Gene Expression and Enabling Technologies in Crop Plants

Maize Protein Expression.- Plant Trait Gene Expression Cassette Design.- Strategies to Maximize Recombinant Protein Expression in Maize Kernels.- Breeding and Biotech Approaches Towards Improving Yield in Soybean.- Herbicide Tolerance.- Towards Using Biotechnology to Modify Soybean Seeds as Protein Bioreactors.- Strategies to Increase Heterologous Protein Expression in Rice Grains.- Wheat Biotechnology: Current Stattus and Future Prospects.- Sorghum Transformation: Achievements, Challenges, and Perspectives.- Biotechnology for Insect Pest Management in Vegetable Crops.- Enhancement of Sugar Yield by Introducing a Metabolic Sink in Sugarcane.- Zinc Finger Nuclease-Mediated Gene Targeting in Plants.- Enineered Minichromosome Technology in Plants.- In Planta Transient Expression Systems for Monocotyledonous Species.- Recent Advances in In Planta Transient Expression and Silencing Systems for Soybean using Viral Vectors.                                                                                               

Kasi Azhakanandam

Kasi Azhakanandam earned his Bachelor, Master and M. Phil. Degrees in Biology from the University of Madras, India and a Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Nottingham, UK. He worked as a Guest Lecturer at Madras Christian College for a short period before joining Mahyco, India, as a Deputy Chief Scientist/Principal Investigator, where he established a crop transformation laboratory. He lead a team which established transformation in commercial Indica rice, Indian cotton varieties and six different vegetable crops, including Bt eggplant; these are waiting for approval for commercial cultivation in India. He also successfully produced marker-free rice and vegetable crops. Following his postdoctoral work related to vaccine production for cervical cancer at North Carolina State University, Dr. Azhakanandam joined Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., at Research Triangle Park, NC as a Staff Scientist III. He has worked on a range of projects to improve crops through genetic engineering, and currently leads a technical team for developing new traits for corn.

Aron Silverstone

Aron Silverstone gained a Bachelor's Degree in Biology from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of California, Davis. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Duke University's Department of Botany, studying gibberellin biosynthesis and response. Following his postdoctoral work, Dr. Silverstone joined Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., at Research Triangle Park, NC as a Staff Scientist I. He has worked on several projects to improve crops through genetic engineering, and is currently the global project manager for soybean traits.

Henry Daniell

Henry Daniell, received his education in India, and is currently a Professor and Director of Translational Research at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of