**About the Editors**

#### **Agnieszka Hanaka**, Associate Professor

From 2020 Agnieszka Hanaka is working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS), Poland. In 1997 she was awarded the title Master of Sciences in Biology (specialty: biochemistry). For a few years, she focused on the determination of ion channels functioning in the liverwort tonoplast and the obtained results were discussed in her doctoral dissertation defended in 2007. From 2009 she worked as a doctor in the Department of Plant Physiology, UMCS. The aim of her research was to investigate physiological response of plants to excess metals, like copper and biotic factors (soil bacterial isolate, leaf eating insects) modified by the presence of a signaling molecules - methyl jasmonate. This research cycle ended with the preparation of the post-doctoral accomplishment. In 2019, she obtained the post-doctoral degree (habilitation) in biological sciences in biology. She is focused on influence of abiotic and biotic stress factors (with application of signaling molecules like salicylic acid, and microorganisms) on plant physiology and biochemistry, both primary and secondary metabolites.

#### **Jolanta Jaroszuk-Sciseł ´** , Associate Professor

From 2019 Jolanta Jaroszuk-Sciseł is working as an Associate Professor in the Department ´ of Industrial and Environmental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS), Poland. In 1988 she was awarded the title Master of Sciences in Biology (specialty: microbiology) and she started her first work as an Assistant in the Department of Environmental Microbiology at the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, UMCS. She focused on the rhizosphere microbiology and plant biological control methods and the obtained results were discussed in her doctoral dissertation defended in 1997. In 2013, she obtained the post-doctoral degree (habilitation) in biological sciences in biology and became the Head of the Department of Environmental Microbiology. She has developed a research workshop and implemented methods for elucidation of the mechanisms of plant biocontrol, bio-fertilization, and bioremediation of soils contaminated with heavy and petroleum metals using soil, rhizosphere, and endophytic microorganisms, quantitative and qualitative determination of cell wall-degrading enzymes and numerous microbiological metabolites. She is focused on the indirect mechanisms of biological plant protection induced by biotic and abiotic factors of plant resistance, and the mechanisms of direct inhibition of phytopathogen growth such as mycoparasitism, antibiotics, and competition.

#### **Małgorzata Majewska**, Assistant Professor

From 2018 Małgorzata Majewska is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Environmental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS), Poland. In 1996 she was awarded the title of Master of Sciences in Biology (specialty: microbiology) and she started her first work as a Trainee Assistant in the Department of Environmental Microbiology at the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences, UMCS. From 1997, as an Assistant, she focused on the immobilization and mobilization of cadmium in the soil environment and the impact of microbiological activity on these processes. The obtained results were discussed in her doctoral dissertation defended in 2003. From 2004 to 2016 she worked as a doctor in the Department of Environmental Microbiology, UMCS. The aim of her research was to identify the rate and efficiency of the mobilization of cadmium previously immobilized in the root biomass of two plant species (*Festuca ovina* and *Secale cereale*) and Cd immobilization by components of the soil. This research cycle ended with the preparation of the post-doctoral accomplishment. In 2018, she obtained the post-doctoral degree (habilitation) in biological sciences in biology. She is focused on metals bioavailability, bioremediation of the soil contaminated with heavy metals, microbial interactions in the rhizosphere, and plant growth promoting microorganisms in metal-induced stress.
