CURRICULUM VITAE
AJAY KUMAR
Areas of Interest: Molecular Biology and Crop Biotechnology. In particular, Genetic/Physical
Mapping, QTL Analysis, Association Mapping, Molecular Marker Assisted Breeding, Radiation Hybrid
Mapping, Comparative Genomics, Reverse Genetics, Map Based Cloning.
Current position (June 2009-till date): Working as a post-doctoral research scientist at North
Dakota State University, Fargo, USA on following major projects.

My main research project is “construction of high-resolution physical maps of large plant
genomes”. This main objective of the project is to develop high –resolution radiation
hybrid (RH) maps of wheat D-genome chromosomes, which will ultimately help in
developing a complete physical map for the wheat D-genome chromosomes leading to
the sequencing of whole genome of wheat. This will ultimately provide easy access to the
genes of economical importance which will help in developing improved cultivars with
high yield and resistance to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses.

I am also working on several projects in collaboration with several members of the
International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium. These projects aim at the
development of high density RH map for several wheat chromosomes which will be used
for anchoring the BAC contigs on to a physical map, which is a prerequisite for the
sequencing. This project has the same impact as of my primary project.

I am also working on the fine mapping and the cloning of a major QTL for gluten
strength in durum wheat. I have identified this major QTL in a North Dakota durum
wheat cultivar tightly linked to DNA marker which can used for transferring high gluten
strength to other cultivars, using MAS.
Education:
2009
Ph D in Genetics and Plant Breeding
Specialization- Molecular Biology and Crop Biotechnology
Ch. Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut
2001
Topic- Analysis of Quantitative trait loci for some important traits in bread wheat.
M.Sc. in Agricultural Botany Specialization- Genetics and Plant Breeding
Ch. Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, India
1998
B.Sc. in Agriculture Ch. Charan Singh University (CCSU), Meerut, India
Research Experience:
June 2009-Till date
Working as a post-doctoral research scientist ina national science
foundation (NSF) funded project entitled “Transformative research on
the construction of high-resolution physical maps for large plant
genomes” at North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA.
June 2008- June 2009
Worked as a research fellow in a DBT sponsored project entitled “Use of
molecular marker technology approach in wheat quality breeding” at
Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut, INDIA.
June 2007-Oct 2007
Worked as a visiting scholar on topic (i) Development of diploid wheat
(Triticum monococcum) deletion lines for reverse genetics, and (ii) HighResolution radiation hybrid mapping in wheat in the Department of Plant
Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA in a NSF funded
project.
April 2006- June 2008
Worked as a research scholar on topic “Analysis of quantitative trait loci
(QTL) for some important traits in bread wheat” at Ch. Charan Singh
University, Meerut.
Oct 2003- March 2006
Worked as a research fellow in a DAE- BRNS sponsored project entitled
“Physical mapping of SSRs of chromosomes 1A, 2A & 3A in bread
wheat using overlapping deletions and radiation induced breakages” at
Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut, INDIA.
Nov 2002- Sep 2003
Worked as a research fellow in an ICAR-NATP sponsored project entitled
“Marker aided selection of some quality traits in bread wheat” at Ch.
Charan Singh University, Meerut, INDIA.
Aug 2001- Oct 2002
Worked as a research scholar on “Hybridization and mutation breeding
in pea” at Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut, INDIA.
Nov 2000- June 2001
Worked on M.Sc. thesis “Study on distribution and orientation of
interchange quadrivalent in pea (Pisum sativum)” at Ch. Charan Singh
University, Meerut, INDIA.
Teaching Experience:

Teaching experience in post graduate level courses like (i) Quantitative genetics, and (ii) Topics in
plant breeding, (iii) Statistical Methods, etc. at Ch. Charan Singh University, India.
Trainings and Courses Attended:

Three week workshop “Systems Biology 2011–From Biomass to Bioeconomy”, Organized by
Department of Primary Industries, Victorian AgriBiosciences Centre, La Trobe R&D Park, Bundoora
Victoria 3083 from 16 May - 3 June 2011

Two day workshop “Databases, Data Mining and Retrieval of Information ”, Organized by
Bioinformatics centre, Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut,
March 25-26, 2008.

Two day workshop “Primary Sequence Analysis”, Organized by Bioinformatics centre, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, September 12-13, 2003.
Honors / Awards:

Placed on the inventory of approved candidates for a Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Government
Laboratories

Selected for a five month program (June 2007-Oct 2007) to work as a visiting scholar in the
Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA in a NSF funded
project.

Awarded Senior Research Fellowship (2006) by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR), India.

Qualified national eligibility test (NET) for lectureship (2002), conducted by Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) and University Grants Commission (UGC), India.

Awarded Senior Research Fellowship (2001) by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Qualified national eligibility test (NET) for lectureship (2001), conducted by Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR), India.

Second topper in M.Sc. (Agricultural Botany).
Publications (in peer reviewed journals):

Kumar A, Bassi F, Michalack M, Al-Azzam O, Denton A, Huttner E, Kilian A, Paux E, Maan SS,
Balyan HS, Gupta PK, Kianian SF (2011) Crossing Over and DNA Repair Mechanism
Interaction as Demonstrated by a Dense Radiation Hybrid Map of Wheat Chromosome 3B.
(Submitted)

Kumar A, Tiwari VK, Simons K, Michalack M, Al-Azzam O, Bassi F, Iqbal MJ, Gavami, F,
Denton A, Luo MC, Gu Y, Lazo G, Leonard JM , Riera-Lizarazu O, Maan SS, Kianian SF (2011)
Development of advanced resources for wheat D-genome: Radiation hybrids for Aegilops
tauschii accession AL8/78. (Submitted)

Tiwari VK, Riera-Lizarazu O, Kumar A, Iqbal MJ, Gunn H, Lopez K, Denton A, Gu Y, Luo MC,
Lazo G, Kianian SF Leonard JM, (2011) A Quick and High Throughput Approach for
Construction of D Genome Radiation Hybrid Maps in Wheat Using Pollen Irradiation.
(Submitted)
Kumar A, Gavami F, Jain S, Elias EM, Maan SS, Kianian SF (2011) A major QTL for gluten
strength detected in Rugby × Maier double haploid population. (Submitted)


Kumar J, Jaiswal V, Kumar A, Kumar N, Mir RR, Kumar S, Dhariwal R, Tyagi S, Khandelwal M,
Prabhu KV, Prasad, R, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2011) Introgression of a major gene for high grain
protein content in some Indian bread wheat cultivars. Filed Crop Research (accepted)

Kumar J, Mir RR , Kumar N, Kumar A, Mohan A, Prabhu KV, Balyan HS, and Gupta PK (2010)
Marker-assisted selection for pre-harvest sprouting tolerance and leaf rust resistance in bread
wheat. Plant Breeding 129: 617-621
Gupta PK, Kumar J, Mir RR, Kumar A (2010). Marker-Assisted Selection as a Component of
Conventional Plant Breeding. Plant Breeding Reviews. Vol 33


Kumar A, Kumar J, Singh R, Garg T, Chhuneja P, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2009) QTL Analysis for
Grain Colour and Pre-harvest Sprouting in Bread Wheat. Plant Science 177:114–122

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Kulwal PL, Kumar N, Kumar A, Rouf Mir R, Mohan A, Kumar J (2007)
QTL analysis for some quantitative traits in bread wheat. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B 8:807-814

Kulwal PL, Kumar N, Kumar A, Gupta RK, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2005) Gene networks in
hexaploid wheat: interacting quantitative trait loci for grain protein content. Funct Integr
Genomics 5: 254–259

Balyan HS, Gupta PK, Rustgi S, Bandopadhyay R, Goyal A, Singh R, Kumar A, Kumar N, Sharma
S (2005) Development and use of SSRs of bread wheat for genetic and physical mapping and
transferability to the species of Triticum-Aegilops complex. Czech J Genet Plant Breed 41: 2005

Bandopadhyay R, Sharma S, Rustgi S, Singh R, Kumar A, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2004) DNA
polymorphism among 18 species of Triticum – Aegilops complex using wheat EST-SSRs. Plant
Science 166: 349-356
Other Publications:

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Kumar J, Mohan A, Goyal A, Kumar A, Mir RR, Kumar S, Kumar R,
Banerjee S, and Das M (2008) Development and use of molecular markers for wheat genomics
and breeding. Annual Wheat News Letter 54: 59-62

Balyan HS, Gupta PK, Kumar A, Kumar J, Singh R, Garg T and Chhuneja P (2008) QTL for grain
colour and yield traits in bread wheat and their correspondence in rice genome. In proceedings
of 11th International wheat genetics symposium (IWGS), August 24-29, 2008, Brisbane Australia,
pp1-3

Michalak M, Kumar A, Riera-Lizarazu O, Gu Y, Paux E, Choulet F, Feuillet C, Kumar S, Goyal A,
Tiwari V, Dogramaci M, Hegstad J, Peckrul A, Kalavacharla V, Hossain K, Balyan HS, Dhaliwal H
S, Gupta PK, Randhawa GS, Maan SS, and Kianian SF (2008) High-resolution radiation hybrid
mapping in wheat: an essential tool for the construction of the wheat physical maps. In
proceedings of 11th International wheat genetics symposium (IWGS), August 24-29, 2008, Brisbane
Australia, pp1-3

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Kumar J, Kulwal PK, Kumar N, Mir RR, Kumar A , Prabhu KV (2008) QTL
analysis and marker assisted selection for improvement in grain protein content and preharvest sprouting tolerance in bread wheat. In proceedings of 11th International wheat genetics
symposium (IWGS), August 24-29, 2008, Brisbane Australia, pp1-3

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Bandopadhyay R, Kumar J, Mohan A, Kumar N, Kulwal PL, Rustgi S, Singh
R, Goyal A, Kumar A, Kumar V, Girdharwal N, Rouf Mir R (2006) Development and use of
molecular markers for wheat genomics and breeding. Annual Wheat News Letter 52: 43-46

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Bandopadhyay R, Kumar N, Sharma S, Kulwal PL, Mohan A, Rustgi S, Singh
R, Goyal A, Kumar A (2005) Development and use of molecular markers for wheat genomics.
Annual Wheat News Letter 51: 51-55

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Bandopadhyay R, Kumar N, Sharma S, Kulwal PL, Rustgi S, Singh R, Goyal
A, Kumar A (2004) Development and use of molecular markers for wheat genomics. Annual
Wheat News Letter 50: 52-56

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Bandopadhyay R, Kumar N, Sharma S, Kulwal PL, Rustgi S, Singh R, Goyal
A, Kumar A, Prashant SN (2003) Development and use of molecular markers for QTL mapping
and genomics research in bread wheat. Annual Wheat News Letter 49: 42-46
Posters / Oral presentations:

Kumar A, Tiwari VK, Michalack M, Simons K, Bassi F, Iqbal MJ, Gavami, F, Luo MC, Gu Y,
Denton A, Lazo G, Leonard JM , Riera-Lizarazu O, Kianian SF (2011) Radiation Hybrid
Mapping: Towards A Complete Physical Map Of The Wheat Genome. Plant & Animal
Genomes XVI Conference January 15-19, 2011 Town & Country Convention Center San Diego, CA

Tiwari VK, Riera-Lizarazu O, Kumar A, Iqbal MJ, Gunn H, Lopez K, Denton A, Gu Y, Luo MC,
Lazo G, Kianian SF Leonard JM (2011) A Quick and High Throughput Approach for
Construction of D Genome Radiation Hybrid Maps in Wheat Using Pollen Irradiation. Plant &
Animal Genomes XVI Conference January 15-19, 2011 Town & Country Convention Center San
Diego, CA

Michalak M, Riera-Lizarazu O, Gu Y, Paux E, Feuillet C , Kalavacharla V , Hossain K, Kumar A ,
Kumar S, Goyal A, Tiwari V, Balyan HS , Gupta PK, Dhaliwal HS, Maan SS, Kianian SF (2008)
High-resolution radiation hybrid mapping in wheat: an essential tool for the construction of
the wheat physical maps. Plant & Animal Genomes XVI Conference January 12-16, 2008 Town &
Country Convention Center San Diego, CA

Gupta PK, Balyan HS, Kulwal PL, Kumar N, Kumar A, Mir RR, Mohan A, Kumar J (2007) QTL
analysis for some quantitative traits in bread wheat. In: 3rd International Conference on
Quantitative Genetics (ICQG), 2007 Aug., Hangzhou, China

Balyan HS, Gupta PK, Rustgi S, Bandopadhyay R, Goyal A, Singh R, Kumar A, Kumar N, Sharma
S (2005) Development and Use of SSRs of Bread Wheat for Genetic and Physical Mapping and
Transferability to the Species of Triticum-Aegilops Complex. In: Proc. 5th International Triticeae
Symposium, Prague, June 6–10, 2005

Kulwal P, Kumar N, Singh R, Kumar A, Balyan HS, Gupta PK (2005) QTLs with main effects,
epistatic effects and QTL x environment interactions for grain protein content and pre-harvest
sprouting tolerance in bread wheat. In: Plant & Animal Genomes XIII Conference January 15-19,
2005 Town & Country Convention Center San Diego, CA

Kumar A, Mehra V, Sharma PC (2001) Position and Orientation of Interchange quadrivalent at
Metaphase equator in some translocation heterozygotes of pea. International Symposium on 100
years of Post Mendelian Genetics and Plant Breeding- Reterospect and Prospects, IARI, New Delhi,
November 06-09, 2001
Bioinformatics Knowledge:
Data mining and use of bioinformatics tools like BLAST, ClustalW, Primer3, e-primer etc.
Knowledge and Expertise of Molecular Biology and Plant Breeding Techniques:
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), poly-acrylamide gel electrophoresis, agrose gel electrophoresis, silver
staining of poly-acrylamide gels for visualization of DNA bands, southern blotting, development of SSRs,
CAPs and SCAR markers, high throughput genotyping using various molecular marker systems like
amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), simple sequence repeats (SSRs), sequence tagged sites
(STS), cleaved amplified polymorphisms (CAPS), and SNP markers, development of NILs and mapping
populations, etc.
Experience in Using Genetic Mapping/ Data Analysis Software:
Expertise in using and running of various genetic mapping and QTL analyses softwares like Mapmaker,
QTL Cartographer, QTX, QTLNetwork, QTL IciMapping, Structure, NTSYS PC, SPSS, SPAR, etc.