Crop Protection & Seed Health
Dr Rajan Sharma is a Principal Scientist and the Leader of the Crop Protection and Seed Health Cluster, Global Research Program on Accelerated Crop Improvement at ICRISAT Headquarters based in Hyderabad, India. His core competencies include monitoring the virulence spectrum of plant pathogens; development of PCR-compatible markers and their use in genetic diversity assessment and mapping of avirulence genes; elucidating molecular basis of host-pathogen interaction; identification and utilization of resistance sources for disease management; development of diagnostic protocols and salvaging techniques for infested/infected germplasm. He has guided over 10 MSc and PhD students, mentored many researchers and PDFs, and organized training/capacity building programs for NARS in Asia and Africa.
Dr Sharma liaises with the National Plant Protection Organization for the smooth exchange of germplasm and breeding material of ICRISAT mandate crops. He is the recipient of ICRISAT Science Award (2014 and 2019) for Outstanding Partnership and International Plant Protection Congress Award for Scientific Achievements (2019) presented by International Association for the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS). Dr Sharma served as Vice-President of Plant Protection Association of India during 2014-15 and is a member of several international and national societies, including the American Phytopathological Society. He has published more than 100 research papers and book chapters, and served as Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Plant Protection during 2016-18.
Dr Sharma has a PhD from HP Agricultural University, Palampur, India, and was awarded a Gold medal by Him-utkarsh Society, Una, H. P. India.
Expertise in: Host plant resistance, virulence characterization, phenotyping, fungal genomics, epidemiology, seed pathology, integrated disease management
Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=cTYTILcAAAAJ&hl=en
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rajan_Sharma7/publications