Rajeev Kumar Varshney (born 13 July 1973) is an agricultural scientist, specializing in

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

molecular breeding Molecular breeding is the application of molecular biology tools, often in plant breedingVoosen P (2009Molecular Breeding Makes Crops Hardier and More Nutritious Markers, knockouts and other technical advances improve breeding without modifying gen ...

and

capacity building Capacity building (or capacity development, capacity strengthening) is the improvement in an individual's or organization's facility (or capability) "to produce, perform or deploy". The terms ''capacity building'' and ''capacity development'' ha ...

in developing countries. Varsheny is currently the Research Program Director- Genetic Gains that includes several units viz. Genomics & Trait Discovery, Forward Breeding, Pre-Breeding, Cell, Molecular Biology & Genetic Engineering, Seed Systems, Biotechnology- ESA, Sequencing and Informatics Services Unit, and Genebank (until 2020); and Director, Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology at the

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several r ...

(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

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

The University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilities ...

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

University of Hyderabad The University of Hyderabad (IAST: ''Hydarāvād visvavidyālayamu'') is a top ranking public central research university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Founded in 1974, this mostly residential campus has more than 5,000 students a ...

Chaudhary Charan Singh University Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCS University), formerly Meerut University, is a public state university located in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university was established in 1965. It was later renamed to its current name after Chaudh ...

and

Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University The Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) is a state agriculture university, which was separated from the central Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University in the year 2014 as a result of the bifurcation of Andh ...

. Varshney, a highly cited researcher for 7 consecutive years (2014-2020), is a highly prolific author and frequently invited speaker including TEDx speaker. Varshney has presented research and novel concepts related to food and nutrition security in several high-level fora such as: 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 The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

(2013); Brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

in (2012); Brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018);

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010);

's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017) etc. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many Indian/ International print and electronic media including TV channels and radio programs. He has been honored with elected and honorary fellowships from a dozen academies/ societies and awards from USA, Germany, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Philippines, UAE, including

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, Applied science, applied or Fundamenta ...

and

Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award The Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award was created in 1956 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1956 to recognize Indian researchers in the agricultural field. The award is named after Indian Independence activist Rafi Ahmed Kidwai. Awards ...

, the science and agricultural sciences awards from

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in 2015 and 2019, respectively.

Education and Professional career

Varshney received his bachelor's degree (B.Sc. Honours) in

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

and master's degree in

(

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

Plant Breeding Plant breeding is the science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics. It has been used to improve the quality of nutrition in products for humans and animals. The goals of plant breeding are to produce cro ...

and

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

) from the

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

, Aligarh in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He then joined the laboratory of Professor P K Gupta at

, Meerut and earned doctoral degree (

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

) in 2001 in Agriculture (Molecular Biology) based on work done on a Wheat Biotechnology Project sponsored by

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It ...

, Government of India. In addition, Varshney has undertaken several high-performance leadership and management courses from the leading business and management schools in Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines. After receiving his

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 Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

and

comparative genomics Comparative genomics is a field of biological research in which the genomic features of different organisms are compared. The genomic features may include the DNA sequence, genes, gene order, regulatory sequences, and other genomic structural lan ...

of cereals. He then accepted the assignment of Senior Scientist for Applied Genomics at

ICRISAT The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is an international organization which conducts agricultural research for rural development, headquartered in Patancheru (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) with several r ...

in late 2005. While working at

, he took up a half time appointment with Generation Challenge Programme, hosted at

CGIAR CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...

CIMMYT The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (known - even in English - by its Spanish acronym CIMMYT for ''Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo'') is a non-profit research-for-development organization that develops im ...

, 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

Government of India. Later in 2017, this center transformed into Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology. He was promoted to the position of Principal Scientist (Applied Genomics) at

in 2008. He had a dual appointment with

as Principal Scientist and GCP as SubProgramme Leader from 2007- 2013. He served as Research Program Director– Grain Legumes for a period of three years (2013-2016) and since 2016 is serving as Global Research Program Director– Genetic Gains, after restructuring of the Research Programs at

in 2015.

Fellowships

* Elected Fellow of

Indian Academy of Sciences The Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore was founded by Indian Physicist and Nobel Laureate C. V. Raman, and was registered as a society on 24 April 1934. Inaugurated on 31 July 1934, it began with 65 founding fellows. The first general meet ...

, Bangalore in 2019 * Elected Fellow of

American Society of Agronomy The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) is a scientific and professional society of agronomists and scientists of related disciplines, principally in the United States but with many non-U.S. members as well. About It was founded December 13, 190 ...

(ASA) in 2018 * Elected Fellow of

American Association for the Advancement of Sciences The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(AAAS) in 2016 * Elected Fellow of

The World Academy of Sciences The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) is a merit-based science academy established for developing countries, uniting 1,000 scientists in some 70 countries. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable devel ...

(TWAS) in 2016 * Elected Fellow of German National

Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

in 2016 * Elected Fellow of Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) in 2015. * Elected Fellow of

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi for Indian scientists in all branches of science and technology. In August 2019, Dr. Chandrima Shaha was appointed as the president of Indian National Science Academ ...

(INSA) in 2013. * Elected Fellow of

The National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...

, India (NASI) in 2015. * Elected Fellow of

National Academy of Agricultural Sciences The National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) is a Government of India funded agency, established in 1990, is a research platform in the fields of crop husbandry, animal husbandry, fisheries and agro-forestry. It acts as a research base for ...

, India (NAAS) in 2010. * Elected Fellow of AP Akademi of Sciences (APAS) and Telangana Academy of Sciences (TAS), India in 2014. * Elected Fellow of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2015. * Elected Fellow of Association of Biotechnology & Pharmacy (ABAP), India in 2015

Notable awards

Based on his research contribution, he has received several awards/ fellowships such as: * Scientific and Technological Co-operation Award by Government of Guangdong Province China, 2020 *

for Outstanding Research in Agricultural Science 2019 * Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research & Development 2019 * Professor Jayashankar (PJTSAU) Life Time Achievement Award 2019 * G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2018 *Prof. Lalji Singh Achievement Award by ADNAT/ CSIR- CCMB, 2019 * JC Bose Fellowship from

Science and Engineering Research Board Science and Engineering Research Board is a statutory body under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, established by an Act of the Parliament of India in 2009 ( SERB ACT,2008). The Board is chaired by the Secretary to t ...

, 2018 * Honorary Professorship of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZAAS) in 2018 * Certificate and Honor for Outstanding Science Contribution by Uttar Pradesh Government, 2018 * One of the “40 Most Influential Foreign Experts” by The Association for International Exchange of Talents in Shandong, China, 2018 * Faculty research Awards 2018: Outstanding Authors 2018 for 2018. * Doreen Margaret Mashler Award by

for 2016. * IPGI Award for leadership & contribution to peanut research by the International Peanut Genome Initiative for 2017. * Qilu Friendship Award by the People’s Republic of China for 2016. * Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize - Biological Sciences, the most coveted award from

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada''), abbreviated as CSIR, was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the l ...

(CSIR) on behalf of the Government of India in 2015. * Research Excellence India Citation Award 2015 by

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

* The Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative Award, 2013 * Young Crop Scientist Award by Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), 2013 * Young Scientist Award in Agriculture in 2010 by

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, India and

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

South Asia * INSA-Young Scientist Medal by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), 2008 * NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award by the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), 2007

Significant contribution to crop genetics and breeding

Varshney has made significant scientific contributions including the following: *Reference genome sequence assemblies for 13 plant species: namely pigeonpea, chickpea, diploid progenitors and cultivated groundnut, pearl millet, sesame, mungbean, adzuki bean, longan, Jatropha, Soybean and Celery *Integration of genomic innovations in breeding for development of improved varieties: Drought tolerance and Fusarium Wilt resistance in Chickpea in India and Ethiopia, High Oleic groundnut variety *Genomic resources for genetics and plant breeding: catalogues of genome variations, gene expression atlases, high density and low density genotyping platforms, >50 genetic maps, QTLs/molecular markers for >20 traits in legumes crops *Novel concepts and approaches: Genomics-assisted breeding, Genic micro-satellites, Translational Genomics for crop improvement, Super-Pangenome, 5Gs for crop genetic improvement and haplotype-based breeding *Decision support tools and pipelines for genomics research and breeding applications: ISMU, CicArVarDB, CicArMiSatDB *Improved seed delivery system: Contributed to seed system by providing strategic guidance and support to replace old varieties in farmers’ fields and strengthening seed system in developing countries in Africa and Asia

Service to the scientific community

Varshney has served/ serving Editorial Board of several journals like Plant Biotechnology Journal,

Theoretical and Applied Genetics ''Theoretical and Applied Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes articles in the fields of plant genetics, genomics, and biotechnology. It was established in 1929 as ''De ...

, Molecular Genetics & Genomics, Plant Breeding, The Plant Genome, Frontiers in Plant Science, Crop and Pasture Science, BMC Plant Biology,

BMC Genetics BioMed Central (BMC) is a United Kingdom-based, for-profit scientific open access publisher that produces over 250 scientific journals. All its journals are published online only. BioMed Central describes itself as the first and largest open a ...

, 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 Currents, Current or The Current may refer to: Science and technology * Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas ** Air current, a flow of air ** Ocean current, a current in the ocean *** Rip current, a kind of water current ** Current (stre ...

'', Molecular Breeding, Plant Breeding, Briefing in Functional Genomics, Frontiers in Plant Science, Plant Genetic Resources, etc. Varshney has served/serving Steering Committee/ Organizing Committee/ Programme Committee for several international conferences including

Conference on Application of Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10), Plant & Animal Genome Conference Asia. As a Chair, Varshney organized several conferences including ICLGG, five editions of NGGIBCI and InterDrought-V 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 o
Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement
organized by US and UK Governments in the

29–30 April 2013], (ii) brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at

i
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 Noble Laureate (Late) Dr

Norman Borlaug Norman Ernest Borlaug (; March 25, 1914September 12, 2009) was an American agronomist who led initiatives worldwide that contributed to the extensive increases in agricultural production termed the Green Revolution. Borlaug was awarded multiple ...

, Mr Bill Gates, Co-Chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mr

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

, the Prime Minister of India.

Research projects and grants

Varshney's research has been funded by research grants from several international funding agencies like

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

, Generation Challenge Programme, US

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

, Indo-German Science and Technology Centre and leading Indian funding organizations like

Indian Council of Agricultural Research The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is an autonomous body responsible for co-ordinating agricultural education and research in India. It reports to the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture. Th ...

, and

Department of Science and Technology (India) The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is a department within the Ministry of Science and Technology in India. It was established in May 1971 to promote new areas of science and technology and to play the role of a nodal department for ...

Research publications

Rajeev a prolific author and world renowned researcher have published more than 450 research papers/articles in high impact research journals. Some of these journals include

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

Nature Biotechnology ''Nature Biotechnology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. The chief editor heads an in-house team of editors. The focus of the journal is biotechnology including research results and the commercial busi ...

Nature Genetics ''Nature Genetics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1992. It covers research in genetics. The chief editor is Tiago Faial. The journal encompasses genetic and functional genomic studi ...

, PNAS-USA,

Genome Biology ''Genome Biology'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering research in genomics. It was established in 2000 and is published by BioMed Central. The chief editor is currently Andrew Cosgrove (BioMed Central, New York). Abstracti ...

Trends in Plant Science ''Trends in Plant Science'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Elsevier. Abstracting and indexing The journal is abstracted and indexed in: *Science Citation Index Expanded *Scopus *Chemical Abstracts * Embase *MEDLINE According ...

, Trends in Biotechnology, The Plant Journal,

DNA Research ''DNA Research'' is an international, peer reviewed journal of genomics and DNA research. The journal was established in 1994, and is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Kazusa DNA Research Institute. The journal is edited by ...

, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Molecular Plant, Functional & Integrative Genomics,

, etc. He is the youngest (47) agricultural/plant scientist and 4th Indian who have achieved an h-index of 100 as per Google Scholar. For more info visit hi
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 AmazonSelected list o
Varshney's books
Retrieved on 6 August 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varshney, Rajeev Kumar Indian geneticists 1973 births Living people Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences People from Moradabad district Scientists from Uttar Pradesh Indian scientific authors Aligarh Muslim University alumni Chaudhary Charan Singh University alumni Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy University of Western Australia faculty Recipients of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Biological Science Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences Associate Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences