Dr. Suresh Kumar Dubey is a professor in the Molecular Ecology Laboratory, Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, India. His interests include structure and function of the microbial community involved in controlling methane emission, screening, utilization of microbes for their potential role in bioremediation, and studies on the prevalence of some pathogenic microbes in clinical and food samples and their response to drugs. He has won multiple awards for his work, including Biotech Research Society of India Young Scientist Medal 2004, DST- BOYSCAST Govt. of India fellowship 2006, INSA visiting fellowship 2012 and 2017, and JSPS Invitation fellowship 2012, among others.

Dr. Satish Kumar Verma is an assistant professor in the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. He received his Ph.D. in botany (plant microbes) from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. Dr. Verma also served as assistant professor in the Department of Botany, Visva-Bharti, Santiniketan, India, for about 3 years. Dr. Verma has also visited the Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, for a year. He has published 22 research papers in scientific journals of repute, including Microbial Ecology, Symbiosis, Annals of Microbiology, Applied Microbiology, Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Microbiology, Plant and Soil, and Current Science. He has also published six book chapters and edited a book on seed endophytes. His areas of research interest include the functions of plant microbiomes, diversity and ecology, and the roles of microbes in modulation of plant development and protection of hosts from biotic and abiotic stresses.