Najla Mezghani is an assistant Professor in the National Gene Bank of Tunisia since 2008. She has her expertise in plant biotechnology, conservation sciences and genetics. She is particularly responsible of the Vegetable, condiment and ornamental genetic resources conservation and evaluation. Najla’s research focuses mainly on genetic diversity of carrot and wild relatives. She has published more than 20 papers in peer reviewed journals and she is serving as a reviewer for several reputed journal.

Dr. Phil Simon is a USDA, ARS Research Geneticist and Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His research in vegetable genetics and breeding has focused on carrot improvement, targeting improved flavor and nutritional quality, nematode, disease and abiotic stress resistance. He led the development of widely used carrot germplasm with high carotene content, sweet, mild flavor, purple color, and root-knot nematode resistance. To complement his breeding effort, along with students and collaborators, he has developed breeding tools, including the sequencing of the carrot genome, and he has collected carrot, Allium, and other vegetable germplasm in 10 collecting expeditions. He has undertaken related plant breeding research including the first production of true seed in garlic, and the development of cucumber and melon germplasm with orange color and elevated carotene content. He has supervised the training of 35 graduate students, is a Fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science, recipient of the ASHS Vegetable Breeding Award, and of an Honorary Doctorate from the Agricultural University of Krakow, Poland. He is a past chair of the Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee.