Ashwani Pareek (born 27 September 1969 in Delhi and native of Sambhar Lake, Rajasthan, India) is Executive Director of NABI[1] a prominent plant biologist[2][3] and educator noted chiefly for his contribution in plant molecular biology and biotechnology. He is currently working as Professor of plant molecular biology and biotechnology at the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi,[4] and adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.[5] He is a recipient of several honors including the Visitors award for Technology Development from the President of India for developing Stress Tolerant Rice of the Next Generation (STRONG)[6][3] that has the potential to enhance the income of rice farmers. The award ceremony was held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on 2 May 2018. Recently on 26 February 2020, he has been awarded "Tata Innovation Award 2020" by Department of Biotechnology, Govt of India.[7][8] He has interest in understanding the physiological and molecular adaptations in xero-halophytic plants and development of transgenic rice plants with enhanced tolerance towards multiple abiotic stresses.

Ashwani Pareek
NationalityIndian
Alma materUniversity of Delhi, India, University of Cambridge, UK, University of California,USA, University of Illinois, USA
Known forResearch in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Scientific career
Institutions

Education and professional career

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Pareek received bachelor's degree (1987-1990) in botany and master's degree (1990-1992) in plant molecular biology from the University of Delhi. He then joined the laboratory of Professor Anil Grover at the same university in 1992 for doctoral research (PhD) work on ‘Molecular Characterization of stress proteins in Oryza sativa L. with emphasis on 90 kDa family’.

After receiving PhD degree, Pareek received the prestigious Post Doctoral Fellowship by The Rockefeller Foundation, New York and worked with Professor Ralph S.Quatrano at the University of North Carolina, USA during 1997–98. He then accepted the assignment of research scientist at Department of Genetics, University of Delhi South Campus in late 1998. In May, 2001, Pareek was awarded BOYSCAST Fellowship to work with Professor Hans Bohnert at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, US. Thereafter in 2005, he was awarded the INSA-Royal visiting scientist fellowship to work at University of Cambridge, UK. Pareek joined Jawaharlal Nehru University in 2003 and presently serving there as a professor of plant molecular biology. In 2012, he was conferred the DBT-Overseas visiting fellowship(CREST) to work at The University of California, Davis, US.[9] In 2017, he was appointed as adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.[5]

Awards and honors

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Research publications and books

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Ashwani has authored and published more than 150 research papers/articles in the research journals.[21] Some of these journals include Nature, Journal of Experimental Botany, Plant Physiology, The Plant Journal, Plant, Cell & Environment etc. He has edited/ co-edited three books like ‘Abiotic Stress Adaptation in Plants: Physiological, Molecular and Genomic Foundation’,[22] ‘Biotechnology in Medicine and Agriculture: Principles and Practices’.[23] and ‘Pre-Field Screening Protocols for Heat Tolerant Mutants in Rice’.[24]

Patents and technology transfer

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Pareek has many patents in the field of plant genetic engineering. Some of them are :

Country Application No. Status Patent No. and Date of Grant Title of Invention Refs
India (IN) 1896/DEL/2008 Pending 299477 //31 July 2018 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64, and Clones Produced Thereby [25]
Europe (EP) EP 09806540.2 Granted EP 2350284 //14 Mar. 2018 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64 [26]
Spain (ES) EP 09806540.2 Validated ES/EP 2350284 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64 [27]
USA (US) US 13/058,741 Granted US 9,234,189 //12 Jan. 2016 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64 [28]
Brazil (BR) PI 0912473-0 Pending US 9,234,189 //12 Jan. 2016 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64 [29]
China (CN) CN200980131254.4 Granted ZL200980131254.4 // 22 Jun. 2016 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64, and Clones Produced Thereby [30]
India (IN) 1682/DEL/2008 Granted 304964 // 26 December 2018 Method for Enhancing Regeneration Frequency of Brassica species and Medium therefor [31]
PCT PCT/IN20 11/000140 Published A Method to enhance Multiple Abiotic Stress Tolerance of Crop Plants by over-expression of Cystathionine-β-synthase domain containing gene and Cystathionine-β-synthase domain containing gene therefor [32]
PCT PCT/IN2009/000402 Published Method for Enhancing Regeneration Frequency of Brassica species and Medium therefor [33]
Philippines (PH) PH 1-2011-500293 Granted PH 1-2011-500293 // 11 Feb. 2016 Hybrid-type Histidine Kinase Gene Isolated from Indica Rice IR64, and Clones Produced Thereby [34]
Vietnam (VN) VN 1-2011-00649 Granted P1-0019555 //28 June 2018 A method for cloning a hybrid-type histidine kinase gene and an expression vector comprising the hybrid-type histidine kinase gene [35]

References

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  1. ^ Scientistsnabi.res.in Archived 9 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Scholar profile of Prof Ashwani Pareek on Samviti.com https://www.samviti.com/profile/ashwani-pareek-NzM4
  3. ^ a b c Visitors Award 2018 for the Best Technology https://jnu.ac.in/sites/default/files/Pareek_Award%20.pdf
  4. ^ Home page, Ashwani Pareek https://jnu.ac.in/content/ashwanip
  5. ^ a b , Ashwani Pareek, Adjunct Professor, UWA https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/ashwani-pareek
  6. ^ a b Visitor’s award for research and technology development https://presidentofindia.nic.in/press-release-detail.htm?1324
  7. ^ TATA Innovation fellowship 2019-20 http://dbtindia.gov.in/sites/default/files/Selected%20Tata%20Innovation%20Fellows%202019-20.pdf
  8. ^ Ashwani Pareek, receives Tata Innovation Award 2020 by DBT, GoI https://jnu.ac.in/content/jnu-achievements
  9. ^ Prestigious awards and fellowships to Ashwani Pareek http://naasindia.org/detail.php?id=331
  10. ^ Tata Innovation Award (2020) https://jnu.ac.in/content/jnu-achievements
  11. ^ Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Awardees (2016)http://www.nasi.org.in/NASI-Reliance%20Industries%20Platinum%20Jubilee%20Awardees%20(2016).htm
  12. ^ ":: Stress Physiology and Molecular Biology Laboratory ::".
  13. ^ "Plant Physiology Reports".
  14. ^ NAAS fellow- Ashwani Preeek http://naasindia.org/detail.php?id=331
  15. ^ NASA fellow- Ashwani Preeek http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=P Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ DBT-CREST Award- http://dbtindia.gov.in/schemes-programmes/international-cooperation/dbt-crest-award
  17. ^ DBT-CREST Awardee-Ashwani Preeek https://jnu.ac.in/content/ashwanip
  18. ^ "SELECTBIO - AgriGenomics India Speaker Biography".
  19. ^ Ashwani Pareek, S.K., ed. (2010). Abiotic Stress Adaptation in Plants. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-3112-9. ISBN 978-90-481-3111-2.
  20. ^ Rockefeller Foundation Award-1997 https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-1997-2.pdf
  21. ^ Ashwani Pareek- Google SCholar https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=l8ux08UAAAAJ&hl=en
  22. ^ Abiotic Stress Adaptation in Plants https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789048131112
  23. ^ Biotechnology in Medicine and Agriculture https://www.ikbooks.com/books/book/life-sciences/biotechnology/biotechnology-medicine-agriculture/9789381141403/
  24. ^ Pre-Field Screening Protocols for Heat-Tolerant Mutants in Rice https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319773377
  25. ^ Patent (India)-https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2010018598
  26. ^ Patent (Europe)-https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2350284B1/en
  27. ^ Patent (Spain)-https://patents.google.com/patent/ES2668998T3/en
  28. ^ Patent (USA)-https://patents.google.com/patent/US9234189B2/en
  29. ^ Patent (Brazil)-https://patents.google.com/patent/BRPI0912473A2/en
  30. ^ Patent (China)-https://patents.google.com/patent/CN102131930B/en
  31. ^ Patent (India)-https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2010007628A1/und
  32. ^ Patent (PCT)-https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2011111060A1/en
  33. ^ Patent (PCT)-https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2010007628
  34. ^ Patent (Philippines)-http://onlineservices.ipophil.gov.ph/patgazette/IPASJournal/V19N29_PCT_2ndList.pdf
  35. ^ Patent (Vietnam)-http://ipvietnam.gov.vn/documents/20182/643096/19555.pdf/ff6e7f04-8fdf-4e30-84b3-282d676aa449