Biofungicides: Eco-Safety and Future Trends

Kamel A. Abd-Elsalam, Ph.D. is currently a Research Professor at the Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt. Dr. Kamel’s research interests include developing, improving and installing plant biosecurity diagnostic tools, understanding and exploiting fungal pathogen genomes and developing eco-friendly hybrid nanomaterials for controlling toxicogenic fungi, plant diseases and agroecosystems applications. He has published 20 books related to nano-biotechnology applications in agriculture and plant protection that were published by the world’s major publishing houses (Springer, Tylor Frances and Elsevier). Since 2019, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Elsevier book series, Nanobiotechnology for Plant Protection, he also serves as the Series Editor of the Elsevier book series Applications of Genome Modified Plants and Microbes in Food and Agriculture. He has also participated as an active member of the Elsevier Advisory Panel, giving feedback and suggestions for improvement of Elsevier’s products and services since 2020. Kamel Abd-Elsalam has published more than 160 scientific research in international and regional specialized scientific journals with a high impact factor, and has an h-index of 36, i-10 index of 95, with 5142+ citations. He has also served as a Guest Editor for the Journal of Fungi, Plants and Microorganisms, and as a Review, Editor for Frontiers in Genomic Assay Technology and refereed for several reputed journals. In 2014, he was awarded the Federation of Arab Scientific Study Councils Prize for excellent scientific research in biotechnology (fungal genomics) (first ranking). In addition, according to Stanford University’s worldwide database rating in 2021, he was listed among the top 2% of the world’s most influential scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier. Dr. Kamel earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Plant Pathology from Christian Alberchts University of Kiel (Germany) and Suez Canal University (Egypt), and in 2008, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the same institution. Dr. Kamel was a visiting associate professor at Mae Fah Luang University in Thailand, the Institute of Microbiology at TUM in Germany, the Laboratory of Phytopathology at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and the Plant Protection Department at Sassari University in Italy and Moscow University in Russia. He was ranked in Top 2% most influential scientist in the world in nanobiotechnology for the year 2020 by Stanford University. Mousa A. Alghuthaymi is currently a professor, he obtained a Ph.D. in Microbiology from King Saud University in 2013. Dr. Mousa’s research interests include the development, improvement and establishment of plant biosecurity diagnostic tools, the understanding and exploitation of fungal pathogen genomes, and the development of eco-friendly hybrid nanomaterials for the control of toxicogenic fungi, plant diseases and agroecosystems applications. The head of the Biology Department at the College of Science and Human Studies in Shaqra University, Saudi Arabia, and a member of the University’s Scientific Council since March 2022, and previously worked as the Head of the Chemistry Department between 2016–2018. He has published 14 chapters in 12 books and published about 40 research papers in refereed scientific journals. Salah M. Abdel-Momen I received my Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from Texas A&M University through a US-AID grant and completed a postdoctoral program at the University of Maryland’s Department of Molecular Genetics. I returned to Egypt to work as a researcher at the Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, where I helped establish a laboratory for molecular plant pathology with colleagues, which assisted our senior and junior colleagues in manipulating molecular tools and techniques in plant disease diagnosis and plant microbe interaction. As I continued to work at the Agricultural Research Center, I was responsible for a variety of tasks, including conducting plant disease research and overseeing multiple master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations until I was elevated to the level of professor. As a trainee or trainer, I took part in many programs at the American University in Cairo and Chicago State University in the fields of advanced management, report writing, technology evaluation and transfer, and intellectual property rights. This is in addition to other extension and on-farm training programs on various crops in most Egyptian governorates. Such activities provided me with expertise and a broad view of agricultural challenges in Egypt, allowing me to become the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research and president of the Egyptian Society of Plant Pathology. This experience also aided my appointment to several administrative positions, including Deputy Director of the Plant Pathology Research Institute for Training and Extension, Vice President of the Agricultural Research Center, President of the Agricultural Research Center, and the Egypt’s minister of agriculture and lands reclamation from 2012 to 2013. Serving in these positions exposed and enabled me to get a broad understanding of agricultural problems and output, as well as to participate in plans for developing and sustaining agriculture.

NOVEL SOURCES. RNAi-Based Biofungicides. Antifungal Efficacy of Algae. A Natural Approach to Fungal Control: Peptides and Proteins as Antifungal Agents. Antimicrobial Secondary Metabolites as Antifungal Agents. Bio-Nanoparticles as a Source of Nanofungicides to Combat Phytopathogens. Potential Prospects of Trichoderma Metabolites as Biopesticides in Managing Plant Health and Diseases. MECHANISMS. Exploring Mechanisms of Disease Suppression using Endophytic Fungi as Biocontrol Agents. Biofungicides: Antifungal Biomaterials and Mechanisms. How to Survey and Select Promising Biofungicides? Bioremediation of Fungicide-contaminated Environment.