|
|
Biography |
|
|
Mittur N Jagadish or Jag as he wished to be called hails from Mittur, a village 110 kms north east of Bangalore in the district of Kolar, Karnataka, India. Following his birth and initial childhood formative years in a humble background of village life in Mittur and subsequent living in Bangalore & Delhi (India) for schooling and university studies till Masters, he has spent 4 years in Dublin (Ireland) for a PhD degree, 4 and half years in Piscataway, NJ, / Ithaca, NY (USA) for post-doctoral studies, 1 year in Bielefeld (Germany) as a Research Associate, and 11 years in Melbourne (Australia) working as a scientist in various roles (Senior to Principal Research Scientist). He has held several scholarships including the ones from The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, London, UK and Johanna-Busch Postdoctoral fellowship, NY, USA. He has authored three patents, 31 research publications in peer-reviewed journals, 6 in Proceedings / Books as well as a few articles in the popular press category. Returning to Bangalore, he brought back several learnings and rich experience of working and interaction across various teams and cultures in 4 countries across 3 continents outside of Asia.With a cosmopolitan mind set, his return to Bangalore in 1996 coincided with switching to a career in Industry. After initially working at VMS Research Foundation and Astra Zeneca, and a brief stint at NCBS (National Center for Biological Sciences), Bangalore, he joined Monsanto Research Center (MRC) in January 1999 as a founding member and leader of the Genome Knowledge Enhancement Program with primary focus on agricultural biotechnology. He then worked as the director of Monsanto Research Center (MRC) from 1 January 2004 till 31 August 2009 and in this role provided overall leadership to various teams (safety, security, science, finance, operations, HR, biotechnology and community outreach) at the center while facilitating effective networking for his staff with various colleagues in the US and other countries. Following his work at Monsanto, he worked as a biotechnologist consultant to a few firms and educational institutions involved in advancing Biotechnology. He then (March 2010) joined Avesthagen Limited, a Life Sciences Company as a member of the senior management with focus on Bio-Agriculture and Safety amongst other activities. Since October 2011, he has returned to his role as a consultant to academia, industry and farmers as well as to further pursue his EMBA course at IBS/ICFAI University. Since November 2011, in collaboration with scientists in CIMAP (Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants – Luckmow/Bangalore), he is coordinating with the farmers in a few villages of Mulabagal Taluk, Kolar District, to introduce Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAPs) and enable field to market product development. He is an active member of his village life including implementation of measures to improve the welfare of farmers, high-school students, adults and animals; Continuously involved in Biotechnology and Community outreach; Student Career Counseling, Human interaction and Resources; Other interest include Sports; Photography, Safety Awareness amongst children and parents at schools (covered by print media and radio); Animal Welfare and On-Line Tutoring.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Abstract |
|
|
|
|
Genes and Interactions with Farmers |
|
|
|
|
|
Scientists and technocrats must reach out at the grass roots level to interact with farmers and students, particularly in the rural side to share knowledge on new technological advances. Farmers need help in their attempts to meet the enormous challenge and pressure to feed 9 billion plus people and billions of animals who are going to be living in our planet in 2050. Rural community welfare and provision of basic resources required for their living and field work is of paramount importance. India has benefited enormously from Bt Cotton technology. When approved, India will certainly gain from other biotech crops that have been carefully developed and assessed for consumption and environmental safety. The society needs to become familiar with new life sciences to help faster adoption. Our role in this process is crucial. |
|
|
|
|