Bachelor of Science: Ravenshaw Collage, Cuttack (1982)

Master of Science: Utkal University, Odisha (1984)

Ph.D.: Delhi University (1992)

Post-Doctoral Research: University Collage of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK;

University of Naples, Italy;

International Rice Research Institute, Philippines

Awards 

• PADMA SHRI (2014) by Govt. of India in the category of Science and Engineering
• M.G.K. Menon Lecture Award, Natl. Academy of Sceinces
• Samanta Chandrasekahar Award, Govt. of Odisha
• RUCHI BHARAT JYOTI SAMMAN, by Ruchi Foundation, Odisha (2014)
• RECOGNITION AWARD in Crop Improvement, National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (2014)
• PROF. T. S. SADASIVAM MEMORIAL AWARD, Madras Science Foundation, Chennai
• TATA INNOVATION FELLOWSHIP, Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India
• NASI-RELIANCE AWARD for Application Oriented Research in Biological Sciences (2009), by the National Academy of Sciences India.
• NATIONAL BIOSCIENCES AWARD FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT, 2006, by the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India

• UMAKANTA SINHA MEMORIAL AWARD (1999-2000) by the Indian Science Congress Association in the area of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

• B. M. BIRLA SCIENCE PRIZE FOR BIOLOGY, B. M. Birla Science Foundation, Hyderabad

Recognitions

• ELECTED FELLOW, National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad (2006)
• ELECTED FELLOW, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi (2007)
• MEMBER, International Advisory Board, Transforum, Netherlands (2008-2010)
• MEMBER, International Advisory Board, Biosafety International Network and Advisory Service (BINAS), UNIDO, Geneva (2006-Continuing)
• PRESIDENT, Agriculture and Forestry Session, Indian Science Congress Association 2012
• Selected for 3^rd CGIAR SENIOR LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME, as a NARS Participant, July 2007
• OVERSEAS ASSOCIATESHIP of the Department of Biotechnology to work at International Rice Research Institute, Philippines
• MEMBER, TSC (Agriculture), Biotechnology and Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), GOI

Research Expertise and Experience:

Dr. Parida’s research has focused on developing climate resilient crop varieties with abiotic stress tolerance. He have made significant contribution in identifying stress tolerant genes specifically for salt and drought stress using Mangroves (for salinity stress) and Prosopis juliflora (for dehydration stress). Significant progress has been made in the area of gene identification, characterization, understanding regulation and transformation to crop plants for developing stress tolerant genotypes. Dr. Parida have used molecular markers for understanding morphological and genetic diversity and species relationship in mangroves, wild relatives of cultivated cereals, legumes, millets and other species. He has implemented a number of developmental projects that aimed at evolving models for sustainable development in fragile coastal and dry land region through identification low water requiring genotypes, effective management of water resources and sound agriculture practice.

Dr. Ajay Parida has made notable research contributions in the field of agriculture, plant molecular biology and biotechnology. His pioneering contributions in identifying stress tolerant genes specifically for salt and drought stress. His research has contributed to the basic understanding of the genetic architecture and species relationship in mangroves, cereals, legumes and other cultivated crop species. He has supervised 25 students for their Ph.D. degree, published more than 100 peer reviewed publications and travelled to more than 30 countries. Parida is involved in application of science and technology for rural development and is actively involved in working with grassroots organizations and local communities in identifying the issues affecting food and livelihood security and providing solutions based on participatory approaches. Ajay Parida is Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS) and National Academy of Sciences of India (NASI). He is a recipient of several awards and recognition including Padma Shri in 2014 for his outstanding contribution in the field of Science and Engineering. Prior to this, he has served as Executive Director of M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai.

IN Peer Reviewed Journals – Selected publications

1. Parida A and Raina SN (1988) Nature and genetic differentiation in Vicia narbonenis species complex. Genome 30: 289
2. Parida A, Ahmad SD and Narayan RKJ (1989) Relation between mitotic cycle, genome size and hetero and euchromatin content in Vicia and Lathyrus. Heredity 63: 284
3. Parida A, Raina SN and Narayan RKJ (1990) Quantitative DNA variation in Vigna Genetica 82: 125-133
4. Raja V, Koul KK, Raina SN and Parida A (1992) Ploidy dependent genetic stability of in virto regenerant of Phlox drummondii. Pl. Cell Reports 12: 12-19
5. Rani V, Parida A and Raina SN (1995) RAPD markers for genetic analysis of micropropagated plants of Populus deltoides. Pl. Cell Reports 14: 459-463
6. Raina SN, Parida A, Koul K, Khoshoo TN (1995) Associated chromosomal changes in polyploids. Genome 37: 560-564
7. Mathan, M. Parani, A. Parida, S. Nair (1996) Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis of root-nodulating bacterial strains from Arachis hypogaea with physiological characteristics of both fast and slow growers. Letters in Applied Microbiology 23 (2), 89–92
8. Lakshmi M, Rajalakhsmi S, Parani M, Anuratha CS, Parida A (1997) Molecular Phylogeny of Mangroves I. Use of molecular markers in assessing the intra-specific genetic variability in the mangrove species, Acanthus ilicifolius (Acanthaceae). Theor Appl Genet 94: 1121-1127
9. Parani M, Lakshmi M, Elango S, Nivedita R, Anuratha CS, Parida A (1997a) Molecular Phylogeny of Mangroves II. Intra- and inter-specific variation in Avicennia revealed by RAPD and RFLP markers. Genome 40: 487-495
10. Parani M, Rao CS, Mathan N, Anuratha CS, Narayanan KK, Parida A (1997b) Molecular Phylogeny of Mangroves III. Parentage analysis of a Rhizophora hybrid using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) markers. Aquatic Botany 58: 165-172
11. Parani, M. Lakshmi, P. Senthilkumar, Nivedita Ram, and Parida A (1998) Molecular Phylogeny of Mangroves V: Analysis of Genome Relationship in Mangrove Species using RAPD and RFLP Markers. Appl. Genet. 97: 617-625
12. Loganathan, R. Sunita, A. Parida, S. Nair (1999) Isolation and characterization of two genetically distant groups of Acetobacter diazotrophicus from a new host plant Eleusine coracana L. Journal of Applied Microbiology 87 (1): 167–172
13. Parani M, Lakshmi M, Ziegenhagen B, Fladung M, Senthilkumar P, Parida A (2000) Molecular Phylogeny of Mangroves VII. PCR-RFLP of trnS-psbC and rbcL gene regions in 24 mangrove and mangrove associate species. Appl. Genet. 100(3-4). 454-460
14. Lakshmi M, Parani M, Nivedita Ram and Parida A. (2000) Molecular Phylogeny of Mangroves VI. Intra-specific Genetic Variation in Mangrove Species Excoecaria agallocha (Euphorbiaceae) Genome 43 (1) 110-115
15. Lakshmi, P. Senthilkumar, M. Parani, M. N. Jitesh and A. Parida (2000) PCR-RFLP analysis of chloroplast gene regions in Cajanus and allied genera. Euphytica 116 (3): 243-250
16. Parani M, Rajesh K, Lakshmi M, Parducci L, Szmidt A E and Parida A (2001) Species identification in seven small millet species using polymerase chain reaction – restriction fragment length polymorphism of trnS-psbC gene region. Genome 44 (3): 495-499
17. R. Prashanth, M. Parani, B. Mohanty and A. Parida (2002) Genetic diversity in some cultivated varieties and landraces of Oryza sativa L from India as revealed by AFLP markers. Genome 45: 451-459
18. Lakshmi, M. Parani and Ajay Parida (2002) Molecular marker assisted intra-specific variation and species relationships in the Indian mangrove tribe Rhizophoreae. Aquatic Botany 74: 201-217
19. A. Mehta, K. Sivaprakash, M. Parani, G. Venkatraman and Ajay Parida (2005) Generation and analysis of ESTs from the salt tolerant mangrove species Avicennia marina Theor. Appl. Genet. 110: 416-424
20. Jithesh, M.N, Prashanth, S.R, Sivaprakash, K .R and Ajay Parida (2006) Monitoring expression profiles of antioxidant genes to salinity, iron, oxidative, light and hyperosmotic stresses in the highly salt tolerant grey mangrove, Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. by mRNA analysis. Cell Reports 25(8):865-76
21. R. Sivaprakash, S. Krishnan, Swapan K.Datta and Ajay Parida (2006) Tissue specific histochemical localization of iron and immunoblot analysis  of ferritin gene expression in transgenic indica rice Pusa Basmati (Oryza sativa L.). J. Genetics 85:157-161
22. Suja George, Gayatri Venkataraman and Ajay Parida (2006) Identification of stress induced genes from drought tolerant plant Prosopis juliflora (Swartz) DC. through analysis of expressed sequence tags. Genome 50 (5): 470-478
23. Prashanth, S.R and Ajay Parida (2006) Over expression of Cytosolic Copper/Zinc superoxide dismutase from a mangrove plant Avicennia marina in Indica Rice confers abiotic stress tolerance. Transgenic Research 17: 281-291
24. N. Jithesh, S.R. Prashanth, K .R. Sivaprakash and Ajay Parida (2006) Antioxidative response mechanisms in halophytes-role in stress defense. J. Genetics 85: 237-254
25. Vinod M .S., Prashanth Raghavan, Suja George, and Ajay Parida (2007) Identification of a sex specific SCAR marker in dioecious Pandanus fascicularis (Pandanaceae). Genome 50: 834-839
26. Kumaresan Kavitha, Gayatri Venkataraman, Ajay Parida (2008). An oxidative and salinity stress induced peroxisomal ascorbate peroxidase from Avicennia marina: Molecular and Functional Characterization. Plant Physiology and BIochemistry 46: 794-804
27. Usha B, Gayatri Venkataraman and Ajay Parida (2008). Heavy metal and abiotic stress inducible metallothionein isoforms from juliflora (SW) D.C. show differences in binding to cadmium and zinc in vitro. Mol Genet Genomics. Jan;281(1):99-108
28. Ganesan G., H.M. Shankararamasubramanian, Jithesh M. Narayanan, K.R. Sivaprakash, Ajay Parida (2008). Transcript level characterization of a cDNA encoding stress regulated NAC transcription factor in mangrove plant, Avicennia marina. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 46: 928-934
29. Suja George and A. Parida (2008) Isolation and characterization of photosystem 2 PsbR gene and its promoter from drought-tolerant plant Prosopis juliflora. Photosynthetica 46 (4): 525-530
30. Valarmathi R; Hariharan G N, Gayatri, V. and Ajay Parida. Characterization and monitoring expression profiles by mRNA analyses of non- reducing polyketide synthase gene from lichen Dirinaria applanata. Phytochemistry 70: 721-729
31. Suja George, B. Usha and Ajay Parida (2009) Isolation and Characterisation of an Atypical LEA protein coding cDNA and its promotor from drought tolerant plant Prosopis juliflora. Biochem and Biotechnology 157: 244-253
32. Preeti A Mehta, Keerthi C Rebala, Gayatri Venkataraman, Ajay Parida (2009) A diurnally regulated dehydrin from Avicennia marina that shows nucleo-cytoplasmic localization and is phosphorylated by Casein kinase II in vitro. Plant Physiol Biochem 47 (8): 701-709.
33. Kumaresan Kavitha, Balasundaram Usha, Suja George, Gayatri Venkataraman, and Ajay Parida (2010) Molecular Characterization of a Salt Inducible Monodehydroascorbate Reductase from the Halophyte Avicennia marina J Plant Sci. 171(5): 457–465.
34. Suja George, G. Venkataraman, Ajay Parida (2010) A chloroplast-localized and auxin-induced glutathione S-transferase from phreatophyte Prosopis juliflora confer drought tolerance on tobacco. J Plant Physiol. 167 (4): 311-318.
35. Kumaresan Kavitha, Suja George, Gayatri Venkataraman, Ajay Parida (2010) A salt-inducible chloroplastic monodehydroascorbate reductase from halophyte Avicennia marina confers salt stress tolerance on transgenic plants. Biochimie. 92 (10): 1321-1329
36. M S Vinod, H M Sankararamasubramanian, R Priyanka, G Ganesan, Ajay Parida (2010) Gene expression analysis of volatile-rich male flowers of dioecious Pandanus fascicularis using expressed sequence tags. J Plant Physiol. 167 (11): 914-919.
37. Suja George and Ajay Parida (2010) Characterization of an Oxidative Stress Inducible Nonspecific Lipid Transfer Protein Coding cDNA and its Promoter from Drought Tolerant Plant Prosopis juliflora Plant Molecular Biology Reporter 28:32-40.
38. Kesari V, Madurai Sathyanarayana V, Parida A, Rangan L. 2010. Molecular marker-based characterization in candidate plus trees of Pongamia pinnata, a potential biodiesel legume. AoB PLANTS 2010: plq017, doi:10.1093/aobpla/plq017
39. Suja George and Ajay Parida (2011) Over-expression of a Rab family GTPase from phreatophyte Prosopis juliflora confers tolerance to salt stress on transgenic tobacco Mol Biol Rep 38: 1669-1674.
40. Usha, B., Nisha. S. Keeran, K. Kavitha, M. Harikrishnan and Ajay Parida. 2011 “molecular analysis of a cDNA encoding type III metallothionein and its possible role in heavy metal accumulation in the mangrove associate, Porteresia carctata (Roxb.) Tateoka”. Biologia Plantarum 55 (1): 119-24.
41. V Sadhasivam, SR Prashanth, KR Sivaprakash, A Venkat, A Parida (2011) Cloning and Characterization of two Stress Inducible genes from the Mangrove species Avicennia Marina vierch. Forsk. General and Applied Plant Physiology 36: 212-221.
42. Ganesan, H.M. Sankararamasubramanian, M. Harikrishnan, G. Ashwin, Ajay Parida (2012) A MYB transcription factor from the grey mangrove is induced by stress and confers NaCl tolerance in tobacco. Journal of Experimental Botany 63 (12): 4549-4561.
43. Das, V. Kesari, V. Madurai Satyanarayana, A. Parida, S. Mitra and L. Rangan (2013) “Genetic diversity in ecotypes of the scarce wild medicinal crop Zingiber moran revealed by ISSR and AFLP marker analysis and chromosome number assessment”. Plant Biosystems 2013; doi.org/10.1080/11263504.2013.795197.
44. Divya Chandran, M. Sankararamasubramanian, M. Ashok Kumar and Ajay Parida. 2014. “Differential expression analysis of transcripts related to oil metabolism in maturing seeds of Jatropha curcas L.” Physiol Mol Biol Plants, 20(2): 181-190.
45. Usha Balasundaram, Gayatri Venkataraman, Suja George and Ajay Parida. (2014) “Metallothioneins from a Hyperaccumulating Plant Prosopisjuliflora Show Difference in Heavy Metal Accumulation in Transgenic Tobacco. International Journal of Agriculture, Environment & Biotechnology, 2014, 7(2): 245-250.
46. Supriyo Basak, Aadi Moolam Ramesh,  Vigya Kesari,  Ajay Parida,  Sudip Mitra and Latha Rangan (2014) Genetic diversity and relationship of Hedychium from Northeast India as dissected using PCA analysis and hierarchical clustering. Meta Gene 2 (2014) 459–468.
47. Praseetha Kizhakkedath, Vidya Jegadeeson, Gayatri Venkataraman, Ajay Parida (2015) “A vacuolar antiporter is differentially regulated in leaves and roots of the halophytic wild rice Porteresia coarctata (Roxb.) Tateoka” Mol Biol Rep, (2015) 42: 1091-1105
48. Usha, D. Bordoloi, Ajay Parida (2015) “Diverse expression of sucrose transporter gene family in Zea mays” Journal of Genetics, Vol. 94: 151-154.
49. Rajalakshmi Chidambaram, Gayatri Venkataraman, Ajay Parida (2015) “Analysis of transcriptional regulation and tissue-specific expression of Avicennia marina Plasma Membrane Protein 3suggests it contributes to Na⁺ transport and homoeostasis in  marina” Plant Science, DOI:10.1016/j.plantsci.2015.03.013
50. Ajay Parida and Suja George (2015) “Sustaining and enhancing crop productivity in an era of climate change” Current Science 109 (3) 462-473.
51. Nisha S Keeran, G Ganesan, Ajay Parida (2016) A novel heavy metal ATPase peptide from Prosopis juliflora is involved in metal uptake in yeast and tobacco. Transgenic Research DOI: 1007/s11248-016-0002-1
52. Basak S, Kesari V, Ramesh AM, Rangan L, Parida A, Mitra S. (2017) Assessment of genetic variation among nineteen turmeric cultivars of Northeast India: nuclear DNA content and molecular marker approach. Acta Physiol Plant 39:45-55.
53. K Kumari, V Jegadeeson, S Soman, G Venkataraman, A Parida (2017) T-homoeolog specific plasma membrane protein 3 [Nt(t)PMP3-2] in polyploid Nicotiana tabacum shows conserved alternative splicing, derived from extant Nicotiana tomentosiformis Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 119: 338-345
54. S George, D Manoharan, J Li, M Britton, A Parida (2017) Drought and salt stress in Macrotyloma uniflorum leads to common and specific transcriptomic responses and reveals importance of raffinose family oligosaccharides in stress tolerance. Gene Reports. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genrep.2017.10.006
55. S George, D Manoharan, J Li, M Britton, A Parida (2017) Transcriptomic responses to drought and salt stress in desert tree Prosopis juliflora. Plant Gene. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.plgene. 2017. 09.004
56. SS Krishnamurthi, S George, S Meenakshisundram, A Parida (2017) Proteomic analysis of long term salt responsive proteins in the halophyte Suaeda maritima. Plant Omics 10: 197-204

Chapters in Books

1. Parida A, Anuratha CS, Lakshmi M, Parani M, Kurien J (1995) Application of molecular markers in assess­ing genetic diversity in Indian magroves. In: Use of Induced Mutations and Molecular Techniques in Crop Improvement. FAO/ IAEA, Vienna, Austria, pp 595-600
2. Parani M, Lakshmi M, Rajalakshmi S, Anuratha CS, Parida A (1996) Genetic polymorphism in Indian mangrove species revealed through molecular markers. In: Ravishankar GA, Venkataraman LV (eds) Recent Advances in Biotechnogical Applications of Plant Tissue and Cell Culture. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd New Delhi and Calcutta, India, pp 421-428
3. Lakshmi M, Parani M, and Ajay Parida. (2001) Genetic diversity in species of Indian mangrove family Rhizophoraceae  (In Uma Shanker R, Ganeshaiah K.N and Bawa K.S (eds). Forest Genetic Resources: Status, Threats and Conservation Strategies Oxford IBH publications, New Delhi pp 31-47
4. S. R. Prashant and Ajay Parida (2005) The role of biotechnology in the conservation, sustainable use and genetic enhancement of bioresources in fragile ecosystems. In:  Role of Biotechnology for Characterisation and Conservation of Crop, Forestry, Animal and Fishery Genetic Resources, FAO, Rome pp. 67-70.
5. S. R. Prashanth, M. N. Jitesh, K. R. Sivaprakash and Ajay Parida (2006) Role of antioxidant enzymes in salinity tolerance studies. In: Proc. Second Indian national Plant Breeding Congress, Coimbatore.
6. S. R. Prashanth and Ajay Parida (2006) Genetic relationship and phylogeny in Family Rhizophoracea, In: Sharma A. K. and Sharma A. (eds) Phylogeny of Flowering Plants, Oxford-IBH publishers, New Delhi
7. George, Suja and Ajay Parida. 2011 “Gene mining from phreatophyte Prosopis juliflora for generation of transgenic rice tolerant to abiotic stresses” In: Rang, A et al. (eds.) Proc. Int. Conf. Preparing agriculture for climate change: Crop Improvement. Ludhiana, 38: 239.
8. George, Suja., Ajay Parida, and M.S. Swaminathan. 2012 “Wheat and rice crops: Omics approaches for abiotic stress tolerance”. In. Tuteja Narendra, Sarvajeet Singh Gill, Tiburcio Antonic F, Renu Tuteja (eds), Crop resistance to abiotic stress, Wiley VCH Weinheim. Pp 695-711.
9. Parida, Ajay., Suja George and K. Kavitha. 2012 “Molecular breeding for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance using halophytes”. In. Tuteja Narendra, Sarvajeet Singh Gill, Tiburcio Antonic F, Renu Tuteja (eds), Crop resistance to abiotic stress, Wiley VCH Weinheim. Pp 421-430.
10. Parida, A. 2011. “Crop Improvements in the time of Abiotic Stress”. In: Genomics and crop Improvement Relevance and Reservations. (eds) K. Muralidharan and E.A. Siddiq, ANGARU, Hyderabad. Pp. 314-329.
11. Satyan, R. S., Ajay Parida and Babu Varghese. 2012. “Anti-bacterial and crystallographic studies of Jatrophone, the macrocyclic diterpenoid from the roots of Jatropha gossypifolia L.” In Aakash Goyal and Priti Maheshwari (eds). Frontiers on Recent Developments in Plant Science. Oak Park, Illinois: Bentham Science Publishers. pp.86-98.
12. Hopper R.S.S. and Parida A (2012) Natural Resources management and Enhancing livelihood resilience through bio-industrial water shed approach in an era of climate change. In: Technical Papers – 4^th National Ground Water Congress, Govt. of India, pp. 179-191.
13. Parida, A and Suja George. 2013. “Improving rice productivity under abiotic stress conditions”. In: K. Muralidharan and E. A. Siddiq (eds). International Dialogue on Perception and Prospects of Designer Rice. pp 220-27.