Genome Engineering for Crop Improvement

Bidyut Kumar Sarmah, Ph.D: Presently, he is an ICAR-National Professor (Norman Borlaug Chair) and the Director of the DBT-North East Centre for Agricultural Biotechnology in Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India. His major research contribution is the development of genetically modified chickpeas for resistance against two devastating insect pests (stored grain pests and pod borers) in collaboration with CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra. Professor Sarmah obtained his PhD from IARI, New Delhi and worked as postdoctoral researchers / visiting scientist in WSU, USA; CSIRO, Australia; FMI, Switzerland and AUA, Greece.  Basanta Kumar Borah, Ph.D.Presently, he is working as an Assistant Professor in Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India, and is primarily involved in teachings in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Agricultural Biotechnology. He also has been involved in research areas on molecular virology, medicinal and aromatic plants. He has been an active partner of Erasmus Mundus Action-2 programme of European Union, called BRAVE and Erasmus plus programme, called Adaptnet with Professor Sarmah. Previously, he worked as postdoctoral researcher in the University of Basel, Switzerland, from 2009 to 2011 with Prof. Thomas Hohn and Dr. Mikhail M Pooggin.   .

• Source-Sink relationships and its effect on plant productivity: manipulation of primary carbon and starch metabolism.- Transgenic Approaches to Develop Virus Resistance in Rice.- Virus free improved food in the era of bacterial immunity.- Host-induced gene silencing (HIGS): An emerging strategy for the control of fungal plant diseases.- Genetic Engineering for Biotic Stress Management in Rice.- Genome improvement for rust disease resistance in wheat.- Novel technologies for transgenic management for plant virus resistance.- Cisgenesis: Engineering plant genomes by harnessing compatible gene pools.- Improving biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in plants: A CRISPR-Cas approach.- RNA interference (RNAi) in Functional Genomics of Wheat.