Biography:

Specializing in metabolomics, natural products chemistry and biochemistry, Mohamed A. Farag completed his PhD at Texas Tech University, USA, in 2004. In 2005, after spending time as a postdoctoral fellow at The Samuel Noble Foundation, USA; and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, USA, he became an Assistant Professor (2006) at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt. Dr. Farag is Professor at the Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University. Dr. Farag�s research work focuses primarily on applying innovative biochemical technologies (metabolomics) coupled with genetics to help answer complex biological questions. During 2009/2010, Dr. Farag held the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt fellowship at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany. In this project, spectroscopy techniques 1D-NMR and 2D-NMR, and MS were employed to investigate the secondary metabolites of common medicinal plants in the context of their genetic diversity and growing habitat to set a framework for its authentication and quality control analysis. In the field of clinical metabolomics (metabonomics), and more specifically lung cancer biomarker discovery, Dr. Farag has developed an isotopomer metabolomics approach for resolving the complex lung cancer cell metabolomics. Dr. Farag has received numerous awards, including Abdul Hameed Shoman Award (2015), Cairo University Research Award (2009), Egypt�s State Excellence Award in Basic Sciences (2008), and the Mass Spectroscopy Performance Award, TTU, USA (2004). In addition to Dr. Farag full time appointment at Cairo University, Egypt, he has been participating in teaching plant metabolomics (2009�to date) for Master�s students at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, as part of the Erasmus Mundus Programme. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohamed_Farag6

Abstract:

Presentation Title: Plant Growth promoting Soil Bacterial Volatiles: A Novel Formula for Sustainable Agriculture Abstract: The race for producing more crop yield by adopting intensive agronomic practices and applying more fertilizers is an ongoing challenge. Owing to current public concerns regarding agrochemicals costs and health hazards, there is an increasing interest in developing other potential strategies of increasing crop yields. In that regard, improving the understanding of cooperative activities among plants and soil bacteria (rhizobacteria) for their better exploitation is imperative. Certain soil microorganisms can affect plant growth often referred to as a Plant-Growth-Promotory Rhizobacteria (PGPR) via an enhanced growth promotion effect, enhancing plant immunity against pathogen and suppression of phytopathogens. This paper presents the potential of sustainable agriculture in our region by using Plant-Growth-Promotory Rhizobacteria (PGPR). Specific examples will be presented to illustrate how interestingly can volatile analyses in PGPR lead to valuable information relative to PGPR growth promotion effect in plants analysis that could ultimately lead to their better field exploitation. An overview of in vitro methods for evaluating plant responses to PGPR volatile compounds developed in Dr. Farag laboratory will be presented. We also describe a procedure for metabolome-based volatiles profiling approach in PGPR for the identification of bioactive agents that could be directly applied as biocontrol agents in the field.