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{{Short description|Indian plant biologist (born 1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1956|5|15}}
| birth_place = Waira Firozpur, [[Bulandshahr district]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| residence = [[Delhi]], India
| nationality = [[Indian nationality|Indian]]
| fields = {{ublist | Plant [[genomics]] }}
| workplaces = {{ublist | [[University of Delhi#South campus|University of Delhi South Campus]] | National Institute of Plant Genome Research }}
| alma_mater = {{ublist | [[Government Intermediate College]], [[Meerut]] | [[D.A.V.Post Graduate College Dehradun]] | Institute of Advanced Studies, Meerut | [[Delhi University]] | [[Düsseldorf University]] | [[Munich University]] }}
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = Studies on crop improvement
| awards = {{ublist| 1999 [[National Bioscience Award for Career Development|N-BIOS Prize]] | 2006 [[National Academy of Sciences, India|NASI]] [[Reliance Industries|Reliance]] Platinum Jubilee Award | 2006 [[Indian Botanical Society|IBS]] Birbal Sahni Medal | 2008 [[Indian Science Congress Association|ISCA]] B. P. Pal Memorial Award | 2011 [[Om Prakash Bhasin Award]] }}
}}
'''Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi''' (born 15 May 1956) is an Indian plant biologist and the former director of National Institute of Plant Genome Research. Known for his studies on [[Genomics|plant genomics]] and biotechnology, Tyagi is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies namely [[Indian Academy of Sciences]], [[Indian National Science Academy]] and [[National Academy of Sciences, India]] as well as [[The World Academy of Sciences]] and the [[National Academy of Agricultural Sciences]]. The [[Department of Biotechnology]] of the Government of India awarded him the [[National Bioscience Award for Career Development]], one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to biosciences in 1999.<ref name="Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development">{{Cite web |url=http://dbtindia.nic.in/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/list_of_bioscience_awardees.pdf |title=Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development |date=2016 |publisher=Department of Biotechnology |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref>

== Biography ==
[[File:Delhiuni.jpg|thumb|left|University of Delhi]]
Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi was born on 15 May 1956 at Waira Ferozepur in [[Bulandshahr district]] of the Indian state of [[Uttar Pradesh]] and completed his high school at Public Intermediate College, [[Siyana]] in 1970<ref name="NAAS fellows">{{Cite web |url=http://naasindia.org/detail.php?id=577 |title=NAAS fellows |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref> and Intermediate at [[Government Intermediate College]], [[Meerut]] in 1972. And, after earning his BSc in 1974 from Meerut college, he continued his studies at [[D.A.V.Post Graduate College Dehradun]] to obtain MSc in 1976.<ref name="Faculty Profile">{{Cite web |url=http://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/Faculty%20Profiles/2017/PMB/Aug2017_PMB_Akhilesh.pdf |title=Faculty Profile |date=2017-11-21 |website=University of Delhi |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> Subsequently, he completed MPhil in 1977 at Institute of Advanced Studies, Meerut and proceeded to [[Delhi University]] for his doctoral studies to secure a PhD in 1983 for his thesis on ''[[haploid cell]] culture and genetics''. He started his career as a scientist at the Department of Plant Molecular Biology of the University of Delhi at their [[University of Delhi#South campus|South Campus]] and after working there for a year (1983–84), he moved to Germany for his post-doctoral work on ''photosynthesis-related chloroplastic and nuclear genes'' at two universities there; at [[Düsseldorf University]] during 1984–85 and at [[Munich University]] from 1985 to 1986.<ref name="Indian fellow">{{Cite web |url=http://insaindia.res.in/detail/N99-1265 |title=Indian fellow |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=Indian National Science Academy |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref>

Returning to India, Tyagi re-joined the University of Delhi at their [[University of Delhi#South campus|South Campus]] in 1988 as a member of faculty of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology and became a professor in 1994.<ref name="Faculty Members - Department of Plant Molecular Biology">{{Cite web |url=http://www.du.ac.in/du/index.php?page=plant-molecular-biology |title=Faculty Members - Department of Plant Molecular Biology |date=2017-11-21 |website=University of Delhi |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> He was appointed as the head of the department in 1992 and after serving in that position for three years, he became the chair of the Board of Research Studies, Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences from 1995 to 2003. During 1998–2001, he also had the additional responsibility as the head of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology. In 2005, he became the director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Plant Genomics of Delhi University and after serving ICGP till 2009, he moved to National Institute of Plant Genome Research, an autonomous research institution of the [[Department of Biotechnology]] as its director, and held position till 2016. Presently, he is serving at University of Delhi as Professor of Plant Molecular Biology.<ref name="Director profile">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nipgr.res.in/english/about_us/director.html |title=Director profile |date=2017-11-21 |website=National Institute of Plant Genome Research |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Golden Rice.jpg|thumb|235px|[[Golden Rice]], a [[Genetically modified food|genetically modified]] variety of rice]]
One of the major contributions of Tyagi has been his efforts towards crop improvement in India using molecular physiology, [[genomics]], and [[transgenics]]<ref name="Indian fellow" /> and his work is reported to have assisted in widening our understanding of ''neo- and sub-functionalization of regulatory gene families in plants during evolution''.<ref name="Tyagi on DPMB">{{Cite web |url=http://dpmb.ac.in/index.php?page=AKT |title=Tyagi on DPMB |date=2017-11-21 |website=Department of Plant Molecular Biology |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> He has been among the group of scientists of Delhi University who worked on genome-wide sequencing of rice, tomato and chickpea.<ref name="Prof.Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi on Samviti">{{Cite web |url=http://kumarsaurabh.co.in/profile/115 |title=Prof.Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi on Samviti |date=2017-11-21 |website=Samviti |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> He has worked on genes and regulatory elements of rice cultivation, investigated the [[transcriptome]] profile of crops<ref name="TWAS fellow">{{Cite web |url=https://twas.org/member/tyagi-akhilesh-kumar |title=TWAS fellow |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=The World Academy of Sciences |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref> and was successful in discovering a new stress-associated protein gene family in plants.<ref name="Tyagi on SERB">{{Cite web |title=Tyagi on SERB |date=2017-11-21 |website=Science and Engineering Research Board |access-date=2017-11-21| url=http://www.serb.gov.in/pdfs/research/Prof_Akhilesh_Kumar_Tyagi.pdf}}</ref> His studies have been documented by way of more than 250 articles.<ref name="Browse by Fellow">{{Cite web |url=http://repository.ias.ac.in/view/fellows/Tyagi=3AAkhilesh_Kumar=3A=3A.html |title=Browse by Fellow |date=2017-11-21 |publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> He has mentored over 120 post-doctoral, doctoral, master or other research scholars in his career<ref name="Tyagi on DPMB" /> and has delivered more than 300 invited lectures in national and international seminars and conferences.<ref name="Indian fellow" /> Besides, he sits in the editorial boards of journals such as [[Transgenic Research]],<ref name="Editorial Board - Transgenic Research">{{Cite web |url=https://www.springer.com/life+sciences/animal+sciences/journal/11248/PSE?detailsPage=editorialBoard |title=Editorial Board - Transgenic Research |date=2017-11-21 |website=Springer |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> ''Rice'',<ref name="Editorial Board - Rice">{{Cite web |url=https://www.springer.com/life+sciences/plant+sciences/journal/12284?detailsPage=editorialBoard |title=Editorial Board - Rice |date=2017-11-21 |website=Springer |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> and ''Molecular Genetics and Genomics'',<ref name="Editorial Board - Molecular Genetics and Genomics">{{Cite web |url=https://www.springer.com/life+sciences/cell+biology/journal/438?detailsPage=editorialBoard |title=Editorial Board - Molecular Genetics and Genomics |date=2017-11-21 |website=Springer |access-date=2017-11-21}}</ref> and is a former editorial board member of ''International Journal of Plant Genomics'' and ''Journal for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology''.<ref name="Director profile" />

Tyagi, a former president as well as a former general secretary of the [[National Academy of Sciences, India]],<ref name="Past Presidents - NASI">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasi.org.in/council.htm |title=Past Presidents - NASI |date=2017-11-22 |website=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> has been involved with several government or semi-government projects related to crop development such as two Indian initiatives on Rice Genome Sequencing and Tomato Genome Sequencing, Network Project on Rice Functional Genomics and Next Generation Challenge Program in Chickpea Genomics.<ref name="Indian fellow" /> He was the coordinator for the establishment of the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology at South Campus and chaired two task forces namely Task Force on Human Resource Development of the [[Department of Science and Technology (India)|Department of Biotechnology]] (2003–06) and the Program Advisory Committee for Pant Sciences of the [[Department of Biotechnology|Department of Science and Technology]] (2007–15).<ref name="Faculty Profile" /> He is the president of the Indian Society for Plant Physiology<ref name="Executive Council ISPP">{{Cite web |url=http://ispponline.org/index.php/pages/61 |title=Executive Council ISPP |date=2017-11-22 |website=Indian Society for Plant Physiology |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> and has served as the vice-president of the Society for Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology (1995–2005) and the Indian National Science Academy (2010–11).<ref name="Recent Past Vice-presidents">{{Cite web |url=http://insaindia.res.in/recent_past_office_bearers.php |title=Recent Past Vice-presidents |date=2017-11-22 |website=Indian National Science Academy |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> He is also a former executive director of National Agri-food Biotechnology Institute (2013–16).<ref name="Faculty Profile" />

== Awards and honors ==
The National Academy of Sciences, India elected him as a fellow in 1998<ref name="NASI fellows">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasi.org.in/fellows.asp?RsFilter=T |title=NASI fellows |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref>
<ref name="NASI Year Book 2015">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasi.org.in/Year%20Book%202015.pdf |title=NASI Year Book 2015 |date=2017-11-22 |publisher=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> and the [[Department of Biotechnology]] of the Government of India awarded him the [[National Bioscience Award for Career Development]], one of the highest Indian science awards in 1999.<ref name="Awardees of National Bioscience Awards for Career Development" /> The same year, he received the elected fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy.<ref name="INSA Year Book 2016">{{Cite web |url=http://www.insaindia.res.in/pdf/YearBook_2016.pdf |title=INSA Year Book 2016 |date=2017-11-22 |publisher=Indian National Science Academy |access-date=2017-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104001952/http://www.insaindia.res.in/pdf/YearBook_2016.pdf |archive-date=4 November 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The National academy of Agricultural Sciences elected him as their fellow and he became an elected member of the Plant-Tissue Culture Association of India in 2001.<ref name="Faculty Profile" /> In 2004, he received the elected fellowship of the Indian Academy of Sciences.<ref name="Fellow profile">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/describe/fellow/Tyagi,_Prof._Akhilesh_Kumar |title=Fellow profile |date=2017-11-20 |publisher=Indian Academy of Sciences |access-date=2017-11-20}}</ref>

The year 2006 brought two awards to Tyagi; the Birbal Sahni Medal of the [[Indian Botanical Society]]<ref name="Birbal Sahni Medal">{{Cite web |url=http://www.indianbotsoc.org/aa.php |title=Birbal Sahni Medal |date=2017-11-22 |website=Indian Botanical Society |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> and the NASI – Reliance Platinum Jubilee Award.<ref name="NASI – Reliance Platinum Jubilee Award">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasi.org.in/ripja.htm |title=NASI – Reliance Platinum Jubilee Award |date=2017-11-22 |website=National Academy of Sciences, India |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> The [[Department of Science and Technology (India)|Department of Science and Technology]] selected him for the J. C. Bose National Fellowship in 2007, the tenure of the fellowship running until 2022.<ref name="Faculty Profile" /> He was chosen for the B. P. Pal Memorial Award of the [[Indian Science Congress Association]] in 2008 and for the elected fellowship of [[The World Academy of Sciences]] in 2009.<ref name="TWAS fellow" /> He received the Om Prakash Bhasin Award in 2011<ref name="Agriculture">{{Cite web |url=http://www.opbfawards.com/agriculture.html |title=Agriculture |date=2014 |publisher=Om Prakash Bhasin Foundation |access-date=2017-11-22}}</ref> and GM Modi award for Science and Technology in 2017. He was also a part of the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project (IRGSP) team which won the 2003 World Technology Award for Biotechnology (Corporate Division) in 2003 and the International Year of Rice Research Accomplishment Award in 2004.<ref name="NAAS fellows" /> The award orations delivered by him include SPIC Science Foundation Lecture of [[Tamil Nadu Agricultural University]] (1998), Sinha Memorial Lecture of the Indian Botanical Society (2002), Y. Subbarow Memorial Lecture of [[Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University]] (2005), B. P. Pal Memorial Lecture (2005) and Shri Ranjan Memorial Lecture 2012) of the National Academy of Sciences, India, Platinum Jubilee Lecture (2006), S. K. Mukherjee Commemoration Lecture (2012) and Prof. Archana Sharma Memorial Award (2014) of the Indian Science Congress Association, B. N. Chopra Lecture of the Indian National Science Academy (2007), F. C. Steward Memorial Lecture of the Plant Tissue Culture Association (2010), S. K. Sinha Memorial Lecture of the Indian Society For Plant Physiology (2013), T. N. Khoshoo Memorial Lecture of The Orchid Society of India (2015), A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Lecture of [[Jiwaji University]] (2016) and S. N. Patnaik Memorial Lecture of [[Utkal University]] (2016).<ref name="Faculty Profile" /><ref name="Indian fellow" />

== Selected bibliography ==
* {{Cite journal |author=Arnab Mukhopadhyay |author2=Shubha Vij |author3=Akhilesh K. Tyagi |title=Overexpression of a zinc-finger protein gene from rice confers tolerance to cold, dehydration, and salt stress in transgenic tobacco |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=2003 |volume=101 |issue=16 |pages=6309–6314 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0401572101|pmid=15079051 |pmc=395965 |doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite journal |author=Mukesh Jain |author2=Aashima Nijhawan |author3=Akhilesh K. Tyagi |author4=Jitendra P. Khurana |title=Validation of housekeeping genes as internal control for studying gene expression in rice by quantitative real-time PCR |journal=Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications |date=2006 |volume=345 |issue=2 |pages= 646–651 |doi=10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.04.140|pmid=16690022 }}
* {{Cite journal |author=Mukesh Jain |author2=Aashima Nijhawan |author3=Rita Arora |author4=Pinky Agarwal |author5=Swatismita Ray |author6=Pooja Sharma |author7=Sanjay Kapoor |author8=Akhilesh K. Tyagi |author9=Jitendra P. Khurana |title=F-Box Proteins in Rice. Genome-Wide Analysis, Classification, Temporal and Spatial Gene Expression during Panicle and Seed Development, and Regulation by Light and Abiotic Stress |journal=Plant Physiology |date=2007 |volume=143 |issue=4 |pages=1467–1483 |doi=10.1104/pp.106.091900|pmid=17293439 |pmc=1851844 }}

== See also ==
{{Div col}}
* [[Chloroplast DNA]]
* [[Transcriptomics technologies]]
* [[Serial analysis of gene expression]]
* [[Gene expression]]
* [[Functional genomics]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note|2}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |url=http://www.genomeindia.org/rice/structural/akt3.htm |title=Statement of the Coordinator for India |author=Akhilesh Tyagi |date=2017-11-22 |website=Genome India |access-date=2017-11-22}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://rstv.nic.in/eureka-with-akhilesh-kumar-tyagi.html |title=Eureka with Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi |author=13 October 2014 |website=Rajya Sabha TV |access-date=2017-11-22}}
* {{Cite web |url=http://scm.niscair.res.in/videos/279/dr.-akhilesh-kumar-tyagi,-director,-nipgr |title=In conversation with Dr. Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi, Director, NIPGR in Eureka |date=12 December 2014 |website=NISCAIR |access-date=2017-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034158/http://scm.niscair.res.in/videos/279/dr.-akhilesh-kumar-tyagi,-director,-nipgr |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=dead }}

{{N-BIOS Laureates 1999–2009}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyagi, Akhilesh Kumar}}
[[Category:N-BIOS Prize recipients]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian biologists]]
[[Category:Indian scientific authors]]
[[Category:1976 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:University of Delhi alumni]]
[[Category:University of Delhi faculty]]
[[Category:Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf alumni]]
[[Category:Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Fellows of The National Academy of Sciences, India]]
[[Category:Fellows of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences]]
[[Category:TWAS fellows]]
[[Category:People from Bulandshahr district]]

Akhilesh Kumar Tyagi - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 08:12, 15 August 2023