Hollister, California
March 19, 2009
 Dr. Remo Ludergnani, President and
CEO of the United
Genetics Seeds Company, is pleased to announce that Dr. V.
Muniyappa (photo), one of the world's leading virologists, has joined
the company.
Dr. Muniyappa will be based in
Bangalore, India and will be responsible for screening and
advancing United Genetics' breeding lines, with particular
emphasis on Solanaceae crops. He will establish a plant virology
and plant pathology laboratory at Bangalore and support United
Genetics' breeders in resistance breeding activities.
"We expect great things from Dr.
Muniyappa's work", said Dr. Ludergnani.
BRIEF BIODATA
Brief Biodata of Dr. V.
Muniyappa
Plant Virologist
Dr. V. Muniyappa obtained his PhD from the University of
Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore (UASB). He then worked as a
post doctoral fellow at Rutgers University, New Jersey and
later undertook a specialisation on monoclonal antibody
techniques at Royal Postgraduate Medical School, University
of London.
Before joining United Genetics Muniyappa was a Consultant
Virologist in the Department for International Development,
United Kingdom research project on sustainable management of
tomato leaf curl virus and Bemisia tabaci. Prior to this, he
was working as the Professor and Head of Plant Pathology at
UASB.
Muniyappa has more than 30 years of experience working on
different plant viruses, phytopalsmas and virus vectors
particularly whitefly transmitted geminiviruses affecting
agricultural and horticultural crops. He established
molecular and serological techniques for the detection and
diagnosis of viruses in plants and vectors. He recently
developed three tomato cultivars Nandi, Sankranthi and
Vybhav resistant to tomato leaf curl virus through a
farmers' participatory breeding programme in collaboration
with AVRDC-The World Vegetable Center, Taiwan and Natural
Resources Institute, United Kingdom. He also taught plant
virology courses to postgraduate students.
He has guided 19 PhD and 21 MSc students. He has published
over 150 research papers and abstracts in scientific
journals.
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