Keynote Speakers
Francisco Barro
IES, CSIC, Spain
Professor, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (IAS-
CSIC), Spain
His scientific interests focus on biotechnology applied to cereal improvement, with a particular emphasis on human health and agricultural sustainability. He developed low gliadin wheat using RNAi and genome editing technologies that are fit for celiacs.
Hiroshi Ezura
Tsukuba University, Japan
Professor of Plant Molecular Breeding, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Ezura’s work focuses on using advanced tools like CRISPR/Cas9 and Target-AID to improve the nutritional and agricultural traits of horticultural crops. A key figure in the global commercialization of genome-edited crops. He is best known for leading the team that developed the world’s first CRISPR edited food to enter the commercial market: the “Sicilian Rouge High GABA” tomato
Juan Debernardi
UC Davis, USA
Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Plant Transformation Facility
UC Davis, CA, USA
His research is dedicated to overcoming major technological hurdles in crop genome editing, specifically focusing on increasing the speed and efficiency of plant regeneration. Debernardi’s most significant contribution is the development of a technology that uses developmental regulators to “boost” the plant’s ability to grow back from edited cells. He led the research that created a fusion protein (chimera) combining the growth-regulating factor 4 (GRF4) and its cofactor (GIF1). This discovery significantly improves the regeneration efficiency of wheat, rice, triticale, and citrus. It allows scientists to edit many “recalcitrant” varieties that were previously impossible to transform using standard methods.
Cathie Martin
John Innes Center, Norwich, UK
Renowned for using genetic tools to turn everyday vegetables into “functional foods” that prevent chronic disease. Her most significant recent work involves using CRISPR-Cas9 to block a specific enzyme (Sl7-DR2) in tomatoes. This causes the fruit to accumulate high levels of provitamin D3. I n late 2025, her team launched the ViTaL-D study, the UK’s first human trial involving gene-edited food
Götz Hensel
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
Head of the Centre for Plant Genome Engineering at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany.
His research focuses on developing and applying advanced biotechnological tools to improve crop performance and food security. He specializes in optimizing CRISPR/Cas9, Cas12a, and TALEN technologies for complex plant genomes. His lab focuses on vector development and improving tissue culture protocols to make gene editing more efficient. A significant portion of his research involves understanding the genetic basis of plant traits, particularly the architecture of spikes in cereals like barley and wheat, to increase yield. He uses genome editing to rapidly domesticate wild species or “orphan crops,” making them suitable for modern agriculture while retaining their natural resilience to climate change. In 2026, his team achieved the first successful targeted mutagenesis in grain amaranth using CRISPR/Cas9, a major step for enhancing this climate-resilient crop
Yiping Qi
University of Maryland, USA
Professor College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
University of Maryland, USA
Qi lab is working at the forefront of plant genome engineering and synthetic biology and is interested in developing and applying genome engineering tools in plants. First, he uses these new genetic tools to answer some basic questions in plant immunity and resilience under stressful environments. Second, he applies multiplex genome editing tools to accelerate crop breeding and de novo crop domestication to make high-yielding, more nutritious, and disease-resistant crops. Third, he emplois CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) for engineering metabolic pathways, rewiring plant immune responses, and developing synthetic switches in plants toward engineering better crops.
Sadiye Hayta
John Innes Center, Norwich, UK
Sadiye leads the
Wheat Transformation platform at the John Innes Centre, where she provides tailored plant transformation and gene-editing services to both internal and external researchers. Her primary research focus is the development of innovative transformation and genome-editing technologies tailored to wheat research needs.
Caixia Gao
CAS, China
Principal Investigator
Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Her research group focuses on developing precision genome editing technologies and establishing foundational methods on using genome editing to breed for new and sustainable crops. She has developed new crops that are more nutritious, disease resistant, and stress tolerant.
Zachary Lippman
CSH, USA
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), USA
HHMI Investigator best known for his pioneering use of CRISPR genome editing to transform agriculture. His work focuses on “tuning” plant genes to control traits like flower production, fruit size, and plant architecture to improve crop yields
Holger Puchta
Director of the Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter Institute for Plant Sciences at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Global pioneer in plant genome editing, is best known for being the first scientist to demonstrate in 1993 that site-specific nucleases could be used to induce controlled changes in plant genomes. His group has moved “beyond the gene” to manipulate the structure of chromosomes. They have successfully achieved heritable inversions, translocations, and chromosome fusions using CRISPR-Cas systems.