Biotechnological Applications in Buffalo Research

Dr. Manmohan Singh Chauhan
 is presently a Director and Vice-chancellor of the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, India. Previously, he was the Director of ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Goats (CIRG), Makhdum, India. His research group mainly focuses on reproductive techniques such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF) of embryos, ovum-pick up (OPU), embryonic stem cells, animal cloning, and transgenesis in livestock, buffalo, goats, cattle, and yaks. He has published around 150 peer-reviewed research articles and authored 5 books. Dr. Chauhan is a distinguished fellow of India’s National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and the National Academy of Dairy Sciences (NADS). He has received several research awards and recognition which includes Rafi Ahmed Kidwai and research team award from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Labhaswetar award from Indian Society for the Study of Reproduction & Fertility, certificate of appreciation fromHon’ble Minister of Agriculture, Govt. of India for achieving success in buffalo cloning in India.

Dr. Naresh L. Selokar
 is presently working as a scientist at the ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, India. Previously, he was a scientist at the ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB), Hisar, India. He has contributed significantly to establish a simplified, economical, and efficient buffalo cloning technique called handmade cloning, which is being used to produce cloned and transgenic/edited buffaloes in India. He has been instrumental in establishing a somatic cell biobank of elite buffaloes. In addition to buffalo cloning, he has worked on other assisted reproductive techniques such as in-vitro embryo production (IVF), embryonic, adult, and induced pluripotent stem cells, cryopreservation of somatic cells, oocytes and embryos, artificial insemination, and embryo transfer. His current research interests are focused on CRISPR-based genome editing in buffalo.

Dr. Selokar has authored more than 50 research articles in peer-reviewed journals.  He has received several awards, including the Associate fellowship-2020 (National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India), Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Awards-2019 (The National Academy of Sciences, India), Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award-2018 (Department of Biotechnology, India), Young Scientist Award-2015 (Science and Engineering Research Board, India), Jawaharlal Nehru award for outstanding doctoral thesis research in agricultural and allied sciences-2015 (Indian Council of Agricultural Research).