Rajeev Kumar Varshney

Rajeev Kumar Varshney (born 13 July 1973) is an agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. He is engaged in discovering, developing and delivering innovative R&D solutions to tackle wicked problems facing global agriculture. Varsheny is currently the Research Program Director- Genetic Gains that includes several units viz. Pre-Breeding, Cell, Molecular Biology & Genetic Engineering, Genomics & Trait Discovery, Forward Breeding, Seed Systems and Biotechnology- ESA, and Sequencing and Informatics Unit; and Director, Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agricultural research institute. He holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia,[1] University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (University of Ghana), University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

Rajeev Kumar Varshney
Born (1973-07-13) 13 July 1973
Bahjoi, Uttar Pradesh, India
CitizenshipIndia
Alma materIPK-Gatersleben, Germany
Chaudhary Charan Singh University
Aligarh Muslim University
Known forWhole genome sequencing, Molecular breeding
Scientific career
FieldsAgriculture
InstitutionsICRISAT
The University of Western Australia
Doctoral advisorsP K Gupta and P C Sharma

Varshney, in his research career spanning for >20 years, has made significant contributions to improving food security in Asia and Africa by creating genomic resources of major “orphan” tropical crops. He has developed and deployed DNA marker technologies for the identification of useful genetic variation in the tropical crops. Varshney, together with his collaborators and partners, has used these resources and technologies to identify genetic loci/candidate genes for drought and pest tolerances in key staple crops for sub-Saharan Africa and India. He has initiated and led major international programs that are creating and delivering superior crop varieties to some of the world’s poorest farmers.

By serving several organizations in science leadership/ management role for the past 13 years, Varshney has supervised large international teams representing a range of diversity in ethnicity, nationality and gender. In these roles, Varshney provided expertise in R&D management, product development, innovative ideas and promoted inclusive culture and inter-disciplinary and collaborative research ecosystem to team members for high-performance to develop and realize their potential as teams and individuals. His leadership efforts and research contributions have led mainstreaming of genomics in crop breeding programs at many institutes in several countries.


Education and Professional career

Varshney received his bachelor's degree (B.Sc. Honours) in Botany and master's degree in Botany (Genetics, Plant Breeding and Molecular Biology) from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He then joined the laboratory of Professor P K Gupta at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and earned doctoral degree (PhD) in 2001 in Agriculture (Molecular Biology) based on work done on a Wheat Biotechnology Project sponsored by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In addition, varshney have undertaken several high performance leadership and management courses from the leading business and management schools in Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines.

After receiving PhD degree, Varshney took up an assignment of Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Research Scientist) in 2001 at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany. He worked there for five years in the area of structural and functional genomics of barley and comparative genomics of cereals. He then accepted the assignment of Senior Scientist for Applied Genomics at ICRISAT in late 2005. While working at ICRISAT, he took up a half time appointment with Generation Challenge Programme, hosted at CGIAR CIMMYT, as SubProgramme Leader for SubProgramme 2- Genomics towards Gene Discovery in 2007. With an objective to accelerate genomics research in dryland crops, he as a Founding Director established Center of Excellence in Genomics in 2007, with support from Department of Biotechnology Government of India. Later in 2017, this center transformed into Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology [2]. He was promoted to the position of Principal Scientist (Applied Genomics) at ICRISAT in 2008. He had a dual appointment with ICRISAT as Principal Scientist and GCP as SubProgramme Leader from 2007- 2013.

Fellowships

Notable awards

Based on his research contribution, he has received several awards/ fellowships such as:

  • Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Outstanding Research in Agricultural Science 2019[16][17]
  • Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research & Development 2019[18]
  • Professor Jayashankar (PJTSAU) Life Time Achievement Award 2019[19]
  • G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2018[20]
  • Honorary Professorship of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZAAS) in 2018[21]
  • Faculty research Awards 2018: Outstanding Authors 2018[22] for 2018.
  • Doreen Margaret Mashler Award by ICRISAT[23] for 2016.
  • IPGI Award for leadership & contribution to peanut research by the International Peanut Genome Initiative[24] for 2017.
  • Qilu Friendship Award by the People’s Republic of China[25] for 2016.
  • Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize[26] - Biological Sciences, the most coveted award from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of the Government of India in 2015.[27]
  • Research Excellence India Citation Award 2015 by Thomson Reuters[28]
  • Young Scientist Award in Agriculture in 2010 by National Academy of Sciences, India and Elsevier South Asia[29]

Significant contribution to crop genetics and breeding

Varshney has made significant scientific contributions including following:

  • Reference genome sequence assemblies of 10 crops: namely pigeonpea [30], chickpea [31], diploid progenitors and cultivated groundnut [32] [33] [34] [35], pearl millet [36], sesame [37], mungbean [38], adzuki bean [39], longan [40], Jatropha [41] and Soybean [42]
  • Integration of genomic resources for development of improved varieties: Drought tolerance and Fusarium Wilt resistance in Chickpea in India [43] and Ethiopia [44], High Oleic groundnut variety [45]
  • Genomic resources for genetics and plant breeding: >50 genetic maps, gene expression atlases, molecular markers associated with >20 traits, high density and low density genotyping platforms in legumes crops
  • Novel concepts and approaches: Genomics-assisted breeding [46], Genic micro-satellites [47], Translational Genomics for crop improvement, Super-Pangenome [48], 5Gs for crop genetic improvement [49] and haplotype-based breeding [50]
  • Decision support tools and pipelines for genomics research and breeding applications: ISMU [51], CicArVarDB [52], CicArMiSatDB [53]
  • Improved seed delivery system: Varshney has worked with breeders and seed system specialist to replace 20-30 years old varieties in farmers’ fields. As a PI for Tropical Legumes III project Varshney provided strategic guidance and oversight on development and access to high yielding varieties to farmers [54]

Service to the scientific community

Varshney has served/ serving Editorial Board of several journals like Plant Biotechnology Journal, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Molecular Genetics & Genomics, Plant Breeding, The Plant Genome, Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Crop and Pasture Science, BMC Plant Biology, BMC Genetics, Molecular Breeding, Euphytica, Plant Genetic Resources, Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, etc. He has been a Guest Editor for Special Issue for several journals like Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Molecular Breeding, Plant Breeding, Briefing in Functional Genomics, Frontiers in Plant Sciences, Plant Genetic Resources, etc.

Varshney has served/serving Steering Committee/ Organizing Committee/ Programme Committee for several international conferences including FAO Conference on Application of Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10),[55] Plant & Animal Genome Conference Asia. As a Chair, Varshney organized several conferences including ICLGG [56], five editions of NGGIBCI [57] and InterDrought [58]

Varshney has delivered invited presentations in several high-level meetings related to international agricultural research including: (i) G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement, organized by US and UK Governments in the World Bank 29–30 April 2013, (ii) brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in July 2012, (iii) brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018), (iv) FAO's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010), (v) FAO's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017), (vi) Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting on Article 17 (Global Information System) of International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture of United Nations' FAO (2016), (vii) Quality of Research Workshop organized by CGIAR (2017), (viii) Science Forum of CGIAR in Wageningen, The Netherlands (2009). While serving international agriculture in developing countries, Varshney had privilege to meet several high profile and influential personalities from science, society and politics that includes (Late) Dr Norman Borlaug, Noble Laureate, Mr Bill Gates, Co-Chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mr Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India.

Research projects and grants

Varshney's research has been funded by research grants from several international funding agencies like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Generation Challenge Programme, US National Science Foundation, Indo-German Science and Technology Centre and leading Indian funding organizations like Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Biotechnology, and Department of Science and Technology (India).

Research publications

Rajeev a prolific and world renowned researcher have published more than 450 research papers/articles in high impact research journals. Some of these journals include Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, PNAS-USA, Genome Biology, Trends in Plant Science, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Trends in Biotechnology, The Plant Journal, DNA Research, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Molecular Plant, Functional & Integrative Genomics, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Plant Breeding, etc. For more info visit his Google Scholar profile.

List of Books

Varshney has edited/ co-edited several books that makes significant contribution to agricultural science, plant genomics, molecular breeding etc. field and serves as good resource for Early Career Researchers. Select list of Varshney’s books are available at Amazon [59]

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References
  1. "Professor Rajeev Varshney". University of Western Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB)
  3. 2019 Indian_Academy_of_Sciences Fellows, List of Fellows and Honorary Fellow elected during 2018 (effective 2019) of Indian_Academy_of_Sciences, Bangalore Retrieved on 2 January 2019
  4. 2018 JC Bose Fellowship, from Science_and_Engineering_Research_Board, Retrieved on 4 May 2019
  5. 2018 ASA Fellows, " 2018 ASA Fellows " Retrieved on 4 October 2018
  6. 2016 AAAS Fellows approved by the AAAS Council, " 2016 AAAS Fellows approved by the AAAS Council." Retrieved on 25 November 2016
  7. TWAS adds 40 new Fellows, "The election of 40 new TWAS Fellows took place at the Academy's 27th General Meeting in Kigali." Retrieved on 19 November 2016
  8. List of Members, "German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina" Retrieved on 9 September 2016
  9. ICRISAT scientist receives topmost honor from Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), "ICRISAT press release" Retrieved on 2 December 2015.
  10. Prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) fellowship conferred on Rajeev K Varshney, "ICRISAT newsletter happenings no. 1605" retrieved on 10 January 2014.
  11. Agri scientist Rajeev Varshney conferred award, "zeenews online portal". Retrieved on 10 January 2014
  12. Rajeev Varshney receiving fellowship from The National Science Academy, India, 2015 retrieved on 7 July 2020
  13. ICRISAT scientists receives National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) India, award "ICRISAT Newsletter Happenings no. 1419" Retrieved on 18 June 2010
  14. TAS - LIST OF FELLOWS as on 20-02-2019 Retrieved on 7 July 2020
  15. ISGPB Elected Fellows Retrieved on 7 July 2020
  16. List of Awardees for ICAR Awards 2019, Retrieved on 19 July 2020
  17. ICAR recognizes ICRISAT scientist with prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, Retrieved on 19 July 2020
  18. ISPRD Honorary Fellowship to Dr Rajeev K Varshney for contribution to pulses research, Retrieved on 23 September 2019
  19. Rajeev K Varshney gets PJTSAU Life Time Achievement Award for exemplary scientific contributions and research leadership ". Retrieved on 23 Sep 2019.
  20. Rajeev Varshney gets 28th GD Birla Award for Scientific Research ".Retrieved on 12 March 2019.
  21. Dr Rajeev K Varshney, received Honorary Professorship of ZAAS, China ".Retrieved on 1 Nov 2018.
  22. Faculty research Awards 2018: Outstanding Authors, "News Career360 website". Retrieved on 14 Aug 2018.
  23. Dr Rajeev K Varshney, received Doreen Margaret Mashler Award for 2016 for his leadership in increasing ICRISAT's international visibility in the area of genome science and molecular biology, "Dr Varshney’s facebook post". Retrieved on 23 April 2017.
  24. Dr Rajeev K Varshney, recognized and felicitated for his leadership in the development and application of genomic tools and pipelines that facilitate sequence-based breeding methods for improvement of Arachis cultivars, Newsletter happenings no. 1739”. Retrieved on 24 March 2017.
  25. Qilu friendship award 2016 for his contribution to groundnut research, "ICRISAT media update". Retrieved on 14 October 2016.
  26. Brief profile of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize awardee, "website of SSB prize award ". Retrieved on 8 September 2016.
  27. 11 selected for Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award, "The Hindu". Retrieved on 27 September 2015.
  28. Thomson Reuters Research Excellence - India Citation Awards 2015 awarded to Dr Rajeev Varshney, "ICRISAT Newsletter happenings no. 1695" retrieved on 1 October 2015.
  29. One more feather in Rajeev Varshney's cap, NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Award for 2010, " ICRISAT newsletter happenings no. 1460" Retrieved on 1 April 2011.
  30. Draft genome sequence of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), an orphan legume crop of resource-poor farmers
  31. Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) provides a resource for trait improvement
  32. Draft genome of the peanut A-genome progenitor (Arachis duranensis) provides insights into geocarpy, oil biosynthesis, and allergens
  33. The genome sequences of Arachis duranensis and Arachis ipaensis, the diploid ancestors of cultivated peanut
  34. The genome sequence of segmental allotetraploid peanut Arachis hypogaea
  35. The genome of cultivated peanut provides insight into legume karyotypes, polyploid evolution and crop domestication
  36. Pearl millet genome sequence provides a resource to improve agronomic traits in arid environments pearl millet
  37. Genome sequencing of the high oil crop sesame provides insight into oil biosynthesis
  38. Genome sequence of mungbean and insights into evolution within Vigna species
  39. Genome sequencing of adzuki bean (Vigna angularis) provides insight into high starch and low fat accumulation and domestication
  40. Genome-wide sequencing of longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) provides insights into molecular basis of its polyphenol-rich characteristics
  41. Genome sequence of Jatropha curcas L., a non-edible biodiesel plant, provides a resource to improve seed-related traits
  42. Construction and comparison of three reference‐quality genome assemblies for soybean
  43. Pusa Chickpea 10216 variety
  44. First ever high-yielding chickpea variety developed using marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) released in Ethiopia
  45. India’s first ‘high oleic’ groundnut varieties ready to go commercial
  46. Genomics-assisted breeding for crop improvement
  47. Genic microsatellite markers in plants: features and applications
  48. Super-Pangenome by Integrating the Wild Side of a Species for Accelerated Crop Improvement
  49. 5Gs for crop genetic improvement
  50. haplotype-based breeding haplotype-based breeding
  51. ISMU Integrated SNP mining and utilization (ISMU) pipeline
  52. CicArVarDB CicArVarDB database
  53. CicArMiSatDB database
  54. [https://www.icrisat.org/12-years-of-research-on-tropical-legumes/ 12 Years of Tropical Legumes: 25 Million smallholder farmers now grow improved varieties) access to high yielding varieties to farmers.
  55. Member Steering Committee, FAO, Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries Conference, Mexico, 1-4 March 2010, " from the FAO website ". Retrieved on 1 August 2016.
  56. VI International Congress on Legume Genetics and Genomics
  57. Next Generation Genomics & Integrated Breeding for Crop Improvement
  58. InterDrought-V conferences.
  59. Selected list of Varshney's books Retrieved on 6 August 2020
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