Legumes Genetics and Genomics

Dr. Aamir Raina  is currently working as an assistant professor at Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, India. His research work focuses on selection for novel mutations induced by radiations in pulses, elucidation of physiological and molecular mechanisms in response to radiations, and looking for suitable germplasm donors for breeding purposes. Working on the mutagenesis of plants, Dr. Raina has found a significant role of radiations in the regulation of plant growth and development and has suggested that radiations could play an important role in improving the yield and yield-attributing traits of pulses. Dr. Raina has published more than 15 journal articles and 20 book chapters. 

Dr. Amit Kumar Singh  is currently working as a senior scientist at ICAR - National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India. He has over 18 years of experience working in the field of plant genomics. His main research focuses on the development of novel genomic resources and trait mapping in cereal and under-utilized crops by applying advanced genomics tools such as transcriptomics and genome-wide association mapping. He has developed a novel promoter-based marker technique, CBDP, which is widely used by researchers worldwide in plant genome analysis. Dr. Singh has published over 60 research publications in various international journals. He is a recipient of the prestigious Endeavour Award from the government of Australia and fellowships from many professional societies.

Dr. Samiullah Khan is currently working as a professor at the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, India. Dr. Khan obtained his PhD in 1990 from Aligarh Muslim University, specializing in plant breeding and crop genetics. He has more than 24 years of teaching experience in embryology of angiosperms, and genetics and plant breeding. He has edited several books and published more than 100 research papers in journals of national and international repute. 

Dr. Aditya Pratap is currently working as a Project Coordinator at ICAR - Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, India. His research focus is on developing commercially viable cultivars with >30% exploitable heterosis in pegeonpea, deployment of MABC approach for Fusarium wilt, SMB resistance in pigeonpea, and YMP resistance in mungbean and urdbean. He also works on development and release of biofortified and specialty varieties in kharif pulses.

Dr. Manish Pandey serves as the principal scientist of genomics, pre-breeding and bioinformatics at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Hyderabad, India. With a solid academic background, including a masters degree in genetics and plant breeding and a PhD in plant genetics, he is widely recognized for his expertise in groundnut and pigeonpea genetics, genomics, and pre-breeding. He has established a strong trait discovery pipeline to better understand and deploy the traits that lead to the development of superior crop cultivars. Dr. Pandey’s research is primarily focused on the integration of genomics, quantitative genetics, and wide-hybridization techniques to optimize crop production.