Breeding Zinc Crops for Better Human Health

Dr. M. Govindaraj is a Senior Scientist working at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Colombia. He is managing biofortification crop development research network and build research capacities for biofortification breeding and CGIAR nutrition mainstreaming, . Specialized in Plant Breeding and Genetics, secured 14 years’ experience in all aspects of crop improvement including genomic tools, breeding for end-use quality/nutrition traits, and rapid phenotyping methodologies.. Previously he led Asia sorghum breeding at ICRISAT, also led India and West Africa millet biofortification program. Developed and disseminated more than 1000 advanced high-iron/zinc breeding lines and hybrid parents including male-sterile lines (CMS) and restorers. Disseminated 15 biofortified millet cultivars in India and Africa. A fellow and active member in numerous scientific societies. Research excellence acknowledged by various individual and group honors, including the Rockefeller Foundation USA and the World Food Prize Foundation's 2022 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, and Outstanding Young Scientist in 2017 and MS Swaminathan Best Scientist Award in 2018. He is an author of about 100 peer reviewed publications.

Dr Velu Govindan is a wheat breeder at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico. He has been engaged in wheat improvement research for the past 15 years. During this period, he has pioneered partnership-based impact-oriented research, making significant contributions towards the development and release of more than 20 biofortified wheat varieties with enhanced zinc and iron concentration, competitive yields and other farmer preferred traits in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. He is passionately committed to advancing genetic gains in wheat yield potential, improved nutritional quality and yield stability across diverse environments by combining traditional breeding and cutting-edge genomic tools. He has published more than 75 peer-reviewed journal articles and 15 book chapters, and he is a member of Crop Science Society of America and Indian Society of Plant Breeders. Govindan has received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), as well as the Young Scientist Award from the Society for Plant Research (SPR), based in India.

Dr Natalia Palacios, is a maize quality specialist at CIMMYT in Mexico. She has been working on development of biofortified maize for the past 16 years, developing and/or validating high-through put phenotyping methods for micronutrients to make the breeding process more efficient. Her main area of work is the development of maize germplasm with high nutritional quality, evaluation of nutritional and processing quality of maize under different productions systems, characterization of maize for end-use quality. Her research also includes development of food processing methods to increase health, safety and nutrition benefits on consumers. She has more than 70 articles published in refereed journals, 7 book chapters, one book and more than 10 magazines and brochures of science. Dr Palacios received the Young Scientist Award from the CGIAR in 2008.