Day V : September 25, 2026

Session 6: Gene Editing for Crop Improvement 
10:00 – 13:00 (Cairo, Egypt time | GMT+3)

Moderators: Dr. Diaa Daghma, Prof. Dr. Ahmed Sallam

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 🎤Keynote Lectures

10:00 – 10:40 : CRISPR-based Genome Editing for Climate-smart Agriculture, Prof. Kailash Bansal,

                           National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), India

10:40 – 11:20:  Functional Validation of the MYB4-12 Homolog to Modulate PAL2-Mediated

                           Phenylpropanoid Flux Toward Capsaicin Biosynthesis in Capsicum annuum L.

                           Dr. rer. nat. Diaaeldin Daghma, Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Germany

11:20 – 12:00: New Breeding Tools to Enhance Crop Quality and Sustainability, 

                          Dr. Domenica Nigro, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy.

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12:00 – 12:20 : ☕ Break​

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12:20 – 13:00: Precision Plant Editing: From Barley to Amaranth with CRISPR in Hand,

                          Prof. Dr. Götz Hensel, Centre for Plant Genome Engineering (CPGE), Heinrich-Heine-Universität

                          Düsseldorf, Germany.                   

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🧬 Oral & Poster Presentations

13:20 – 13:35: Novel Mitochondrial Genome Editing Reveals Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Tobacco and Seedless                               Fruit Traits in Tomato,

                         Ms. Caitlin C. Kestell, North Carolina State University, USA. Poster Presentation

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