| Position |
National Coordinator, ICAR-NAHEP
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| Affiliation |
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
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| Location |
Delhi
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| Current Role |
Scientist/Teacher
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| Area of Research |
Plant Genetic Resources, Germplasm Conservation, Plant Tissue Culture, Cryopreservation, Horticulture, Agricultural Education
|
| UG |
Botany, 1986, University of Delhi/Miranda House
|
| PG |
Botany, 1988, University of Delhi/Department of Botany
|
| PhD |
Botany, 1994, University of Delhi/Department of Botany
|
| Awards |
(i) Punjabrao Deshmukh Outstanding Woman Scientist Award 2011’(ICAR);
(ii) BOYSCAST Fellowship (2001) (DST, Government of India);
(iii) Fellow, Indian Society of Plant Genetic Resources (ISPGR), New Delhi (2008);
(iv) Fellow, Association for Improvement of Banana and Plantain (AIPUB), Tiruchirapalli, 2008.
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| Significant Contribution |
Dr Anuradha Agrawal is skilled and dedicated plant tissue culture and cryopreservation expert, with a passion for advancing the field of plant genetic resources management, especially through use of biotechnology. She has spent her career cultivating a greener future through the meticulous conservation and use of horticultural, medicinal and threatened plant species.
Her research on micropropagation and in vitro conservation has led to the development and application of numerous protocols for multiplying conserving genetic resources of fruit crops (bananas and plantains, mangosteen), spices (ginger, turmeric, vanilla, pepper and cardamom), medicinal/endangered plants (Bacopa, Cratevea, Dioscorea), and aquatic (water chestnut) species. Her focus was around two key themes: cost-effective conservation of vegetatively propagated crops and advancing cryopreservation technologies.
She pioneered the work on cryopreservation of banana (Musa species) genetic resources in India and spearheaded the establishment of its cryocollection (>100 varieties), ensuring long-term survival of both cultivated bananas and their wild relatives. Looking beyond borders, Dr. Agrawal facilitated the introduction of over 200 "exotic" Musa accessions harboring desirable traits, which were meticulously conserved and have breathed fresh genetic diversity into banana breeding, paving the way for hardier, more resilient varieties.
Further, she developed or refined cryopreservation protocols for varied crops and species of Allium, Bacopa, Cicer, Cratevea, Dahlia, Dioscorea, Garcinia, Momordica, Prunus etc. Pollen cryopreservation in legume, vegetable and oilseed crops was standardized for its application in wide hybridization and staggered breeding. Basic studies on genome analysis through flow cytometry and transcriptome analysis of cryopreserved material on Musa spp. have been also been undertaken.
|
| Bio |
Dr Anuradha Agrawal is presently National Coordinator, National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.
She obtained her Masters (1988) and Doctoral degrees (1994) in Botany from University of Delhi, Delhi, India, PG Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Law from Indian Law Institute (Deemed University), New Delhi (2001), and Post-Doc from Katholieke University of Leuven (KUL) (2001), Belgium.
As National Coordinator since 2022, she is responsible for coordination of World Bank supported NAHEP sub-projects running at 14 Agricultural Universities (AUs), 3 Deemed to be Universities (DUs) and 3 ICAR institutes.
Prior to her current position, Dr Agrawal was Principal Scientist & Officer-in-Charge, Tissue Culture and Cryopreservation Unit (TCCU), ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, India, where she worked from Feb. 1994-April 2022. She ably managed the ‘In Vitro Genebank’ and ‘Cryogenebank’ of ICAR-NBPGR as its Officer-in-Charge (2017-22) which has >14,200 accessions of “difficult-to-conserve” species (>800) conserved as tissues cultures or cryopreserved in the form of seeds, meristems, embryos, embryonic axes etc.
She has executed as PI/Co-PI, 18 national and international research projects, including multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary ones, related to in vitro conservation and cryopreservation of crops, database development, germplasm conservation, breeding and exchange etc.
As Faculty Member, Division of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR), Post-Graduate School, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, (2002-23), she has taught courses on ‘Economic Botany’, Advanced Economic Botany’, ‘Biotechnology in Plant Genetic Resource Management’, ‘Germplasm Management using In Vitro Conservation and Cryopreservation Techniques’. She has guided/co-supervised 13 MSc and 7 PhD students from IARI and other Universities.
She has been Organizer/Co-Organizer/Resource Person in 25 international and national training programs and seminars/symposia.
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| Primary Role |
Science Administration
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| Leadership |
1. National Coordinator, ICAR-NAHEP, 2022 to date
2. Officer-in-Charge, Tissue Culture and Cryopreservation Unit (TCCU), ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi, India, (Feb. 1994-April 2022)
3. Faculty and Research Guide, IARI, New Delhi (2002-23)
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| Twitter |
@anuagrawal_icar
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| Contact |
anuagrawal7@gmail.com
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