Rajeev Kumar Varshney

Rajeev K Varshney FRS
Born	(1973-07-13) 13 July 1973 (age 51) Bahjoi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Citizenship	India
Alma mater	IPK-Gatersleben, Germany Chaudhary Charan Singh University Aligarh Muslim University
Known for	Whole genome sequencing, Molecular breeding, Integration of genomic innovations in crop improvement, Capacity building in developing countries
Scientific career
Fields	Agriculture, Genomics,
Institutions	Murdoch University ICRISAT The University of Western Australia
Doctoral advisors	P K Gupta and P C Sharma

Rajeev Kumar Varshney FRS (born 13 July 1973) is an Indian agricultural scientist, specializing in genomics, genetics, molecular breeding and capacity building in developing countries. Varshney is currently serving as director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute at Murdoch University, Australia since Feb 2022.^[1] Before joining Murdoch University, Australia he served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a global agriculture R&D institute, for more than 16 years in different scientific and research leadership roles including Research Program Director for three global research programs– Grain Legumes, Genetic Gains and Accelerated Crop Improvement Program. He has the onus of establishing and nurturing the Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB), a globally recognized center for genomics research at ICRISAT that made impacts on improving agriculture and development of human resources in several countries including India, China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, etc. Varshney holds Adjunct/Honorary/Visiting Professor positions at 10 academic institutions in Australia, China, Ghana, Hong Kong and India, including The University of Western Australia, University of Queensland, West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (University of Ghana), University of Hyderabad, Chaudhary Charan Singh University and Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University.

Varshney is a globally recognized leader for his work on genome sequencing, cataloguing and utilizing genetic diversity, genomics-assisted breeding, seed system and capacity building in developing countries. He has made centrally important contributions towards improving food and nutrition security in India and several countries in Africa and Asia by assembling genomes, developing genomic resources and integrating genomic technologies in crop improvement programs in many tropical crops, and delivering several superior crop varieties to some of the world’s poorest farmers. His research group at present at Murdoch University is working on improving wheat, legume and horticultural crops for a range of agronomic, and abiotic stress tolerance traits by developing and deploying novel genomics and pre-breeding approaches such as pangenomics, haplotype cataloguing and functional genomics approaches.

He is a highly prolific author and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher for 9 consecutive years in a row since 2014. He is the only agricultural/plant scientist in India, and the only translational plant biologist in Australia to achieve an h-index of >100 as per Google Scholar.^[2] He is an elected fellow/Academician to about 10 science and agriculture academies/ societies in India, Germany, USA, Africa, that is a rare feat for any scientist. His research work has been recognized with >30 prestigious awards from USA, Germany, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Philippines, UAE, and many countries in Africa including the most coveted science award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize,^[3] and the most prestigious agricultural science award, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award,^[4][5] from Government of India, International Crop Science Award from USA, Qilu Friendship Award, and Guangdong Friendship Award from China. Varshney has been named as the Top Scientist in Agronomy & Crop Science category in the list of 250 Top Scientists in Australia by The Australian newspaper’s Research Magazine in 2022, among the Top 100 scientists from Asia by The Asian Scientist magazine in 2022, among 25 global researchers in biotechnology by Nature Biotechnology in 2021, and one of 10 most influential Indian scientists by The Times of India, a leading Indian daily newspaper in 2019.

Varshney, a TEDx speaker^[6] is frequently invited in international conferences as Plenary/ Keynote/ Inspirational speaker or Session Chair. He has presented research and novel concepts related to food and nutrition security in several high-level fora such as: G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement,^[7] organized by US and UK Governments in the World Bank (2013); Brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in (2012);^[8] Brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018); FAO's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010);^[9] FAO's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017)^[10] etc. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many Indian/ International print and electronic media including TV channels and radio programs. Varshney’s research and interviews have been published in many reputed media houses including TV channels and radio programs e.g. The New York Times,^[11] The Economist,^[12] BBC,^[13] Forbes,^[14] SciDevNet,^[15] ISAAA, Food Technology, Cosmos^[16] Down to Earth,^[17] The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu Business Line, Financial Express, Mongabay,^[18] Australian Broadcasting Corp, Doordarshan, E-TV, AP24X7, FM Radio, etc.

Education and Professional career

Varshney received his bachelor's degree (B.Sc. Honours) in botany and master's degree in botany (genetics, plant breeding and molecular biology) from the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He then joined the laboratory of Professor P K Gupta at Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and earned doctoral degree (PhD) in 2001 in agriculture (molecular biology) based on work done on a Wheat Biotechnology Project sponsored by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. In addition, Varshney has undertaken several high-performance leadership and management courses from the leading business and management schools in Singapore,^[19] Malaysia and The Philippines.^[20]

After receiving his PhD degree, Varshney took up an assignment of Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (research scientist) in 2001 at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany. He worked there for five years in the area of structural and functional genomics of barley and comparative genomics of cereals. He then accepted the assignment of senior scientist for applied genomics at ICRISAT in late 2005. With an objective to accelerate genomics research in dryland crops, he as a founding director established Center of Excellence in Genomics in 2007, with support from Department of Biotechnology Government of India. Later in 2017, this center transformed into Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology.^[21] He was promoted to the position of principal scientist (applied genomics) at ICRISAT in 2007. He had a dual appointment with ICRISAT as principal scientist and GCP as subProgramme leader from 2007 to 2013. He served as research program director– grain legumes for a period of three years (2013–2016) and as global research program director– genetic gains and later for the Accelerated Crop Improvement Program, ICRISAT during 2016 to 2021. While working at ICRISAT, he contributed to transform so called orphan legume crops in genomic resources rich crops and made it possible to undertake genomics-assisted breeding in these tropical crops.

To take up new challenges in agriculture, Varshney joined Murdoch University in February 2022 as director, Western Australian State Agricultural Biotechnology Center; director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute.

Fellowships

• Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of London, 2023^[22]
• Elected Fellow of The African Academy of Sciences, 2022^[23]
• Elected Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore in 2019^[24]
• Elected Fellow of American Society of Agronomy (ASA) in 2018^[25]
• Elected Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) in 2016^[26]
• Elected Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2016^[27]
• Elected Fellow of German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2016^[28]
• Elected Fellow of Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) in 2015.^[29]
• Elected Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in 2013.^[30][31]
• Elected Fellow of The National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) in 2015.^[32]
• Elected Fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India (NAAS) in 2010.^[33]
• Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development in 2019^[34]
• Honorary Fellow of Arid Zone Research Association of India in 2019^[35]
• Elected Fellow of AP Akademi of Sciences (APAS) and Telangana Academy of Sciences (TAS), India in 2014.^[36]
• Elected Fellow of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding in 2015.
• Elected Fellow of Association of Biotechnology & Pharmacy (ABAP), India in 2015

Notable awards

Based on his research contribution, he has received several awards/ fellowships such as:

• Guangdong Friendship Award by People’s Government of Guangdong Province, China in 2023^[37]
• International Partnership and Technological Co-operation Award by People’s Government of Shandong Province China in 2022
• Scientific and Technological Co-operation Award by People’s Government of Guangdong Province China, 2020
• Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for Outstanding Research in Agricultural Science 2019^[38][39]
• Honorary Fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research & Development 2019
• Professor Jayashankar (PJTSAU) Life Time Achievement Award 2019^[40]
• G. D. Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2018^[41]
• Prof. Lalji Singh Achievement Award by ADNAT/ CSIR- CCMB, 2019
• JC Bose Fellowship from Science and Engineering Research Board, 2018^[42]
• Honorary Professorship of Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZAAS) in 2018^[43]
• Certificate and Honor for Outstanding Science Contribution by Uttar Pradesh Government,^[44] 2018
• One of the “40 Most Influential Foreign Experts” by The Association for International Exchange of Talents in Shandong, China, 2018
• Faculty research Awards 2018: Outstanding Authors 2018^[45] for 2018.
• Doreen Margaret Mashler Award by ICRISAT^[46] for 2016.
• IPGI Award for leadership & contribution to peanut research by the International Peanut Genome Initiative^[47] for 2017.
• Qilu Friendship Award by the People’s Republic of China^[48] for 2016.
• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize^[49] - Biological Sciences, the most coveted award from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of the Government of India in 2015.^[50]
• Research Excellence India Citation Award 2015 by Thomson Reuters^[51]
• The Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative Award, 2013^[52]
• Young Crop Scientist Award by Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), 2013^[53]
• Young Scientist Award in Agriculture in 2010 by National Academy of Sciences, India and Elsevier South Asia^[54]
• INSA-Young Scientist Medal by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), 2008
• NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award by the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), 2007

Significant contribution to crop genetics and breeding

Varshney has made significant scientific contributions including the following:

• Reference genome sequence assemblies for 13 plant species: namely pigeonpea,^[55] chickpea,^[56] diploid progenitors^[57][58] and cultivated groundnut,^[59][60] pearl millet,^[61] sesame,^[62] mungbean,^[63] adzuki bean,^[64] longan,^[65] Jatropha,^[66] Soybean^[67] and Celery^[68]
• Integration of genomic innovations in breeding for development of improved varieties: Drought tolerance and Fusarium Wilt resistance in Chickpea in India^[69] and Ethiopia,^[70] High Oleic groundnut variety^[71]
• Genomic resources for genetics and plant breeding: catalogues of genome variations,^[72][73] gene expression atlases,^[74][75] high density and low density genotyping platforms, >50 genetic maps, QTLs/molecular markers for >20 traits in legumes crops
• Novel concepts and approaches: Genomics-assisted breeding,^[76] Genic micro-satellites,^[77] Translational Genomics for crop improvement,^[78] Super-Pangenome,^[79] 5Gs for crop genetic improvement^[80] and haplotype-based breeding^[81]
• Decision support tools and pipelines for genomics research and breeding applications: ISMU,^[82] CicArVarDB,^[83] CicArMiSatDB^[84]
• Improved seed delivery system: Contributed to seed system by providing strategic guidance and support to replace old varieties in farmers’ fields and strengthening seed system in developing countries in Africa and Asia^[85]

Service to the scientific community

Varshney has served/ serving Editorial Board of several international journals such as Plant Biotechnology Journal, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Molecular Genetics & Genomics, Plant Breeding, The Plant Genome, Frontiers in Plant Science, Crop and Pasture Science, BMC Plant Biology, BMC Genetics, Molecular Breeding, Euphytica, Plant Genetic Resources, Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, etc. He has been a guest editor for Special Issue for several journals like Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Molecular Breeding, Plant Breeding, Briefing in Functional Genomics, Frontiers in Plant Science, Plant Genetic Resources, etc.

Varshney has served/serving steering committee/ organizing committee/ programme committee for several international conferences, including FAO Conference on Application of Biotechnologies in Developing Countries (ABDC-10),^[86] Plant & Animal Genome Conference Asia. As a chair, Varshney organized several conferences, including ICLGG,^[87] five editions of NGGIBCI^[88] and InterDrought-V.^[89] At present he is chair for 3rd International Wheat Congress (IWC),^[90] Chair for Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources (GPGR-V), and also co-chair for Plant & Animal Genome Conference (PAG), Australia.^[91]

Varshney has delivered invited presentations in several high-level meetings related to international agricultural research including: (i) Plenary Talk in 30th PAG USA (the world’s largest genomics conference) in Jan 2023, (ii) G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture on Open Data in Genomics and Modern Breeding for Crop Improvement, organized by US and UK Governments in the World Bank 29–30 April 2013], (iii) brainstorming session on Digital Revolution for Agriculture at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in July 2012, (iv) brainstorming session on DNA Fingerprinting for Impact Assessment, BMGF, USA (2018), (v) FAO's international conference on Agricultural Biotechnology in Developing Countries in Mexico (2010), (vi) FAO's Regional Conference on Agricultural Bio technologies in Sustainable Foods Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2017), (vii) Scientific Advisory Committee Meeting on Article 17 (Global Information System) of International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture of United Nations' FAO (2016), (viii) Quality of Research Workshop organized by CGIAR (2017), (ix) Science Forum of CGIAR in Wageningen, The Netherlands (2009). While serving international agriculture in developing countries, Varshney had privilege to meet several high profile and influential personalities from science, society and politics that includes Noble Laureate (Late) Dr Norman Borlaug,^[92] Mr Bill Gates, co-chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mr Narendra Modi,^[93] the prime minister of India.

Research projects and grants

Varshney's research has been funded by research grants from several international funding agencies like Grains Research & Development Corporation,^[94] Hort Innovation Australia^[95] Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Agency for International Development, Generation Challenge Programme, US National Science Foundation, Indo-German Science and Technology Centre and leading Indian funding organizations like Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Department of Biotechnology, and Department of Science and Technology (India).

Research publications

Rajeev a prolific author and world renowned researcher have published more than 450 research papers/articles in high impact research journals. Some of these journals include Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Genetics, PNAS-USA, Genome Biology, Trends in Plant Science, Current Opinion in Plant Biology, Trends in Biotechnology, The Plant Journal, DNA Research, Plant Biotechnology Journal, Molecular Plant, Functional & Integrative Genomics, Theoretical and Applied Genetics, Plant Breeding, etc. For more info visit his Google Scholar profile.

List of Books

Varshney has edited/ co-edited several books that makes significant contribution to agricultural science, plant genomics, molecular breeding etc. field and serves as good resource for Early Career Researchers. Select list of Varshney’s books are available at Amazon^[96]

References

1. Agricultural research leader joins Food Futures Institute
2. Google Scholar profile ["https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=Kdmxy8EAAAAJ&hl=en Google Scholar profile", "Youngest Indian (47) scientist to achieve an h-index of 100 as per Google Scholar "Interview with Prof Rajeev K Varshney" Retrieved on 23 January 2021"
3. "Profile of Rajeev Kumar Varshney at SSB website"
4. "List of Awardees for ICAR Awards-2019"
5. "ICAR recognizes ICRISAT scientist with prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award – ICRISAT". www.icrisat.org. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
6. Genomics for Food & Nutrition Security
7. Dr Rajeev Varshney Speaking at G-8 (Open Data for Agriculture)
8. Extract from a ‘genomicist’s’ diary: Excited in Seattle!
9. Biotechnology: Potential boon for smallholder farmers, if prioritized
10. FAO’s Regional Meeting on Agricultural Biotechnologies in Sustainable Food Systems and Nutrition in Asia-Pacific, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, story by ICRISAT
11. "A Tool Kit to Help Scientists Find the Ultimate Chickpea"
12. "Chickpeas, a neglected crop, may soon get a high-tech makeover"
13. Greenwood, Veronique. "Why seed banks aren't just for doomsday". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
14. "This Indian Scientist’s Secret To Better Lives: The Humble Chickpea"
15. "Genes that can climate-proof chickpea identified"
16. "Chickpea gene collection a boon for world agriculture"
17. "Authors Biography"
18. "Orphan no more: Genomic boost to chickpea yield, climate resilience"
19. "IMD Business School"
20. "Asian Institute of Management"
21. Center of Excellence in Genomics & Systems Biology (CEGSB)
22. "Rajeev Varshney". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
23. "AASciences Fellow Rajeev Varshney"
24. 2019 Indian_Academy_of_Sciences Fellows, List of Fellows and Honorary Fellow elected during 2018 (effective 2019) of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore Retrieved on 2 January 2019
25. 2018 ASA Fellows, " 2018 ASA Fellows " Retrieved on 4 October 2018
26. 2016 AAAS Fellows approved by the AAAS Council, " 2016 AAAS Fellows approved by the AAAS Council." Retrieved on 25 November 2016
27. TWAS adds 40 new Fellows, "The election of 40 new TWAS Fellows took place at the Academy's 27th General Meeting in Kigali." Retrieved on 19 November 2016
28. List of Members, "German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina" Retrieved on 9 September 2016
29. ICRISAT scientist receives topmost honor from Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), "ICRISAT press release" Retrieved on 2 December 2015.
30. Prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) fellowship conferred on Rajeev K Varshney, "ICRISAT newsletter happenings no. 1605" retrieved on 10 January 2014.
31. Agri scientist Rajeev Varshney conferred award, "zeenews online portal". Retrieved on 10 January 2014
32. Rajeev Varshney receiving fellowship from The National Science Academy, India, 2015 retrieved on 7 July 2020
33. ICRISAT scientists receives National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) India, award "ICRISAT Newsletter Happenings no. 1419" Retrieved on 18 June 2010
34. ISPRD Honorary Fellowship to Dr Rajeev K Varshney for contribution to pulses research, Retrieved on 23 September 2019
35. Honorary Fellow of Arid Zone Research Association of India in 2019 "13th International Conference on Development of Drylands organized"
36. TAS - LIST OF FELLOWS as on 20-02-2019 [1] Retrieved on 7 July 2020
37. "Rajeev Varshney winner of Guangdong Friendship Award"
38. List of Awardees for ICAR Awards 2019^{[permanent dead link‍]}, Retrieved on 19 July 2020
39. ICAR recognizes ICRISAT scientist with prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award, Retrieved on 19 July 2020
40. Rajeev K Varshney gets PJTSAU Life Time Achievement Award for exemplary scientific contributions and research leadership ". Retrieved on 23 Sep 2019.
41. Rajeev Varshney gets 28th GD Birla Award for Scientific Research ".Retrieved on 12 March 2019.
42. 2018 JC Bose Fellowship, from Science and Engineering Research Board, Retrieved on 4 May 2019
43. Dr Rajeev K Varshney, received Honorary Professorship of ZAAS, China ".Retrieved on 1 Nov 2018.
44. Felicitation of Dr Rajeev Varshney by Uttar Pradesh Government
45. Faculty research Awards 2018: Outstanding Authors, "News Career360 website". Retrieved on 14 Aug 2018.
46. Dr Rajeev K Varshney, received Doreen Margaret Mashler Award for 2016 for his leadership in increasing ICRISAT's international visibility in the area of genome science and molecular biology, "Dr Varshney’s facebook post". Retrieved on 23 April 2017.
47. Dr Rajeev K Varshney, recognized and felicitated for his leadership in the development and application of genomic tools and pipelines that facilitate sequence-based breeding methods for improvement of Arachis cultivars, ICRISAT Newsletter happenings no. 1739. Retrieved on 24 March 2017.
48. Qilu friendship award 2016 for his contribution to groundnut research, "ICRISAT media update". Retrieved on 14 October 2016.
49. Brief profile of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize awardee, "website of SSB prize award ". Retrieved on 8 September 2016.
50. 11 selected for Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award, "The Hindu". Retrieved on 27 September 2015.
51. Thomson Reuters Research Excellence - India Citation Awards 2015 awarded to Dr Rajeev Varshney, "ICRISAT Newsletter happenings no. 1695" retrieved on 1 October 2015.
52. ICRISAT 2013 Illumina Greater Good Initiative Award Winner [2], 2013 retrieved on 17 August 2020.
53. Young Crop Scientist Award conferred to Rajeev Varshney [3] retrieved on 17 August 2020.
54. One more feather in Rajeev Varshney's cap, NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Award for 2010, " ICRISAT newsletter happenings no. 1460" Retrieved on 1 April 2011.
55. Varshney, Rajeev K.; et al. (2012). "Draft genome sequence of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan), an orphan legume crop of resource-poor farmers". Nature Biotechnology. 30 (1): 83–89. doi:10.1038/nbt.2022. PMID 22057054. S2CID 95294.
56. Varshney, Rajeev K.; et al. (2013). "Draft genome sequence of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) provides a resource for trait improvement". Nature Biotechnology. 31 (3): 240–246. doi:10.1038/nbt.2491. PMID 23354103. S2CID 6649873.
57. Chen, Xiaoping; et al. (2016). "Draft genome of the peanut A-genome progenitor ( Arachis duranensis ) provides insights into geocarpy, oil biosynthesis, and allergens". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113 (24): 6785–6790. Bibcode:2016PNAS..113.6785C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1600899113. PMC 4914189. PMID 27247390. S2CID 5315328.
58. Bertioli, David John; et al. (2016). "The genome sequences of Arachis duranensis and Arachis ipaensis, the diploid ancestors of cultivated peanut". Nature Genetics. 48 (4): 438–446. doi:10.1038/ng.3517. hdl:2346/93664. PMID 26901068. S2CID 205351267.
59. Bertioli, David J.; et al. (2019). "The genome sequence of segmental allotetraploid peanut Arachis hypogaea". Nature Genetics. 51 (5): 877–884. doi:10.1038/s41588-019-0405-z. hdl:11336/108255. PMID 31043755. S2CID 256818938.
60. Zhuang, Weijian; et al. (2019). "The genome of cultivated peanut provides insight into legume karyotypes, polyploid evolution and crop domestication". Nature Genetics. 51 (5): 865–876. doi:10.1038/s41588-019-0402-2. PMC 7188672. PMID 31043757.
61. Varshney, Rajeev K.; et al. (2017). "Pearl millet genome sequence provides a resource to improve agronomic traits in arid environments". Nature Biotechnology. 35 (10): 969–976. doi:10.1038/nbt.3943. PMC 6871012. PMID 28922347.
62. Wang, Linhai; Yu, Sheng; Tong, Chaobo; Zhao, Yingzhong; Liu, Yan; Song, Chi; Zhang, Yanxin; Zhang, Xudong; Wang, Ying; Hua, Wei; Li, Donghua; Li, Dan; Li, Fang; Yu, Jingyin; Xu, Chunyan; Han, Xuelian; Huang, Shunmou; Tai, Shuaishuai; Wang, Junyi; Xu, Xun; Li, Yingrui; Liu, Shengyi; Varshney, Rajeev K.; Wang, Jun; Zhang, Xiurong (2014). "Genome sequencing of the high oil crop sesame provides insight into oil biosynthesis". Genome Biology. 15 (2): R39. doi:10.1186/gb-2014-15-2-r39. PMC 4053841. PMID 24576357.
63. Kang, Yang Jae; Kim, Sue K.; Kim, Moon Young; Lestari, Puji; Kim, Kil Hyun; Ha, Bo-Keun; Jun, Tae Hwan; Hwang, Won Joo; Lee, Taeyoung; Lee, Jayern; Shim, Sangrea; Yoon, Min Young; Jang, Young Eun; Han, Kwang Soo; Taeprayoon, Puntaree; Yoon, Na; Somta, Prakit; Tanya, Patcharin; Kim, Kwang Soo; Gwag, Jae-Gyun; Moon, Jung-Kyung; Lee, Yeong-Ho; Park, Beom-Seok; Bombarely, Aureliano; Doyle, Jeffrey J.; Jackson, Scott A.; Schafleitner, Roland; Srinives, Peerasak; Varshney, Rajeev K.; Lee, Suk-Ha (2014). "Genome sequence of mungbean and insights into evolution within Vigna species". Nature Communications. 5: 5443. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.5443K. doi:10.1038/ncomms6443. PMC 4241982. PMID 25384727.
64. Yang, Kai; Tian, Zhixi; Chen, Chunhai; Luo, Longhai; Zhao, Bo; Wang, Zhuo; Yu, Lili; Li, Yisong; Sun, Yudong; Li, Weiyu; Chen, Yan; Li, Yongqiang; Zhang, Yueyang; Ai, Danjiao; Zhao, Jinyang; Shang, Cheng; Ma, Yong; Wu, Bin; Wang, Mingli; Gao, Li; Sun, Dongjing; Zhang, Peng; Guo, Fangfang; Wang, Weiwei; Li, Yuan; Wang, Jinlong; Varshney, Rajeev K.; Wang, Jun; Ling, Hong-Qing; Wan, Ping (2015). "Genome sequencing of adzuki bean ( Vigna angularis ) provides insight into high starch and low fat accumulation and domestication". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (43): 13213–13218. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11213213Y. doi:10.1073/pnas.1420949112. PMC 4629392. PMID 26460024.
65. Lin, Yuling; Min, Jiumeng; Lai, Ruilian; Wu, Zhangyan; Chen, Yukun; Yu, Lili; Cheng, Chunzhen; Jin, Yuanchun; Tian, Qilin; Liu, Qingfeng; Liu, Weihua; Zhang, Chengguang; Lin, Lixia; Hu, Yan; Zhang, Dongmin; Thu, Minkyaw; Zhang, Zihao; Liu, Shengcai; Zhong, Chunshui; Fang, Xiaodong; Wang, Jian; Yang, Huanming; Varshney, Rajeev K.; Yin, Ye; Lai, Zhongxiong (2017). "Genome-wide sequencing of longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) provides insights into molecular basis of its polyphenol-rich characteristics". GigaScience. 6 (5): 1–14. doi:10.1093/gigascience/gix023. PMC 5467034. PMID 28368449.
66. Ha, J.; Shim, S.; Lee, T.; Kang, Y. J.; Hwang, W. J.; Jeong, H.; Laosatit, K.; Lee, J.; Kim, S. K.; Satyawan, D.; Lestari, P.; Yoon, M. Y.; Kim, M. Y.; Chitikineni, A.; Tanya, P.; Somta, P.; Srinives, P.; Varshney, R. K.; Lee, S. H. (2019). "Genome sequence of Jatropha curcas L., a non-edible biodiesel plant, provides a resource to improve seed-related traits". Plant Biotechnology Journal. 17 (2): 517–530. doi:10.1111/pbi.12995. PMC 6335072. PMID 30059608.
67. Valliyodan, Babu; Cannon, Steven B.; Bayer, Philipp E.; Shu, Shengqiang; Brown, Anne V.; Ren, Longhui; Jenkins, Jerry; Chung, Claire Y.-L.; Chan, Ting-Fung; Daum, Christopher G.; Plott, Christopher; Hastie, Alex; Baruch, Kobi; Barry, Kerrie W.; Huang, Wei; Patil, Gunvant; Varshney, Rajeev K.; Hu, Haifei; Batley, Jacqueline; Yuan, Yuxuan; Song, Qijian; Stupar, Robert M.; Goodstein, David M.; Stacey, Gary; Lam, Hon-Ming; Jackson, Scott A.; Schmutz, Jeremy; Grimwood, Jane; Edwards, David; Nguyen, Henry T. (2019). "Construction and comparison of three reference-quality genome assemblies for soybean". The Plant Journal. 100 (5): 1066–1082. doi:10.1111/tpj.14500. PMID 31433882. S2CID 201277535.
68. Song, Xiaoming; et al. (2021). "The celery genome sequence reveals sequential paleo-polyploidizations, karyotype evolution and resistance gene reduction in apiales". Plant Biotechnology Journal. 19 (4): 731–744. doi:10.1111/pbi.13499. PMC 8051603. PMID 33095976. S2CID 225059378.
69. "Development of two superior chickpea varieties by genomics assisted breeding". icar.org.in. 20 September 2019.
70. "First ever high-yielding chickpea variety developed using marker-assisted backcrossing (MABC) released in Ethiopia". www.icrisat.org.
71. "India's first 'high oleic' groundnut varieties ready to go commercial". www.icrisat.org.
72. Varshney, Rajeev K.; Saxena, Rachit K.; Upadhyaya, Hari D.; Khan, Aamir W.; Yu, Yue; Kim, Changhoon; Rathore, Abhishek; Kim, Dongseon; Kim, Jihun; An, Shaun; Kumar, Vinay; Anuradha, Ghanta; Yamini, Kalinati Narasimhan; Zhang, Wei; Muniswamy, Sonnappa; Kim, Jong-So; Penmetsa, R Varma; von Wettberg, Eric; Datta, Swapan K. (2017). "Whole-genome resequencing of 292 pigeonpea accessions identifies genomic regions associated with domestication and agronomic traits". Nature Genetics. 49 (7): 1082–1088. doi:10.1038/ng.3872. PMID 28530677. S2CID 205354455.
73. Varshney, Rajeev K.; et al. (2019). "Resequencing of 429 chickpea accessions from 45 countries provides insights into genome diversity, domestication and agronomic traits". Nature Genetics. 51 (5): 857–864. doi:10.1038/s41588-019-0401-3. PMID 31036963. S2CID 256821617.
74. Kudapa, Himabindu; Garg, Vanika; Chitikineni, Annapurna; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2018). "The RNA-Seq-based high resolution gene expression atlas of chickpea ( Cicer arietinum L.) reveals dynamic spatio-temporal changes associated with growth and development". Plant, Cell & Environment. 41 (9): 2209–2225. doi:10.1111/pce.13210. PMID 29637575. S2CID 4707741.
75. Sinha, Pallavi; Bajaj, Prasad; Pazhamala, Lekha T.; Nayak, Spurthi N.; Pandey, Manish K.; Chitikineni, Annapurna; Huai, Dongxin; Khan, Aamir W.; Desai, Aarthi; Jiang, Huifang; Zhuang, Weijian; Guo, Baozhu; Liao, Boshou; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2020). "Arachis hypogaea gene expression atlas for fastigiata subspecies of cultivated groundnut to accelerate functional and translational genomics applications". Plant Biotechnology Journal. 18 (11): 2187–2200. doi:10.1111/pbi.13374. PMC 7589347. PMID 32167667.
76. Varshney, R.; Graner, A.; Sorrells, M. (2005). "Genomics-assisted breeding for crop improvement". Trends in Plant Science. 10 (12): 621–630. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2005.10.004. PMID 16290213.
77. Varshney, Rajeev K.; Graner, Andreas; Sorrells, Mark E. (2005). "Genic microsatellite markers in plants: Features and applications". Trends in Biotechnology. 23 (1): 48–55. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2004.11.005. PMID 15629858. S2CID 19211146.
78. Varshney, Rajeev K.; Kudapa, Himabindu; Pazhamala, Lekha; Chitikineni, Annapurna; Thudi, Mahendar; Bohra, Abhishek; Gaur, Pooran M.; Janila, Pasupuleti; Fikre, Asnake; Kimurto, Paul; Ellis, Noel (2015). "Translational Genomics in Agriculture: Some Examples in Grain Legumes" (PDF). Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences. 34 (1–3): 169–194. Bibcode:2015CRvPS..34..169V. doi:10.1080/07352689.2014.897909. S2CID 30248548.
79. Khan, Aamir W.; Garg, Vanika; Roorkiwal, Manish; Golicz, Agnieszka A.; Edwards, David; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2020). "Super-Pangenome by Integrating the Wild Side of a Species for Accelerated Crop Improvement". Trends in Plant Science. 25 (2): 148–158. Bibcode:2020TPS....25..148K. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2019.10.012. PMC 6988109. PMID 31787539. S2CID 208537807.
80. Varshney, Rajeev K.; Sinha, Pallavi; Singh, Vikas K.; Kumar, Arvind; Zhang, Qifa; Bennetzen, Jeffrey L. (2020). "5Gs for crop genetic improvement". Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 56: 190–196. Bibcode:2020COPB...56..190V. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2019.12.004. PMC 7450269. PMID 32005553.
81. Sinha, Pallavi; Singh, Vikas K.; Saxena, Rachit K.; Khan, Aamir W.; Abbai, Ragavendran; Chitikineni, Annapurna; Desai, Aarthi; Molla, Johiruddin; Upadhyaya, Hari D.; Kumar, Arvind; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2020). "Superior haplotypes for haplotype-based breeding for drought tolerance in pigeonpea ( Cajanus cajan L.)". Plant Biotechnology Journal. 18 (12): 2482–2490. doi:10.1111/pbi.13422. PMC 7680530. PMID 32455481.
82. Azam, Sarwar; Rathore, Abhishek; Shah, Trushar M.; Telluri, Mohan; Amindala, Bhanuprakash; Ruperao, Pradeep; Katta, Mohan A. V. S. K.; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2014). "An Integrated SNP Mining and Utilization (ISMU) Pipeline for Next Generation Sequencing Data". PLOS ONE. 9 (7): e101754. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j1754A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0101754. PMC 4086967. PMID 25003610.
83. Doddamani, Dadakhalandar; Khan, Aamir W.; Katta, Mohan A. V. S. K.; Agarwal, Gaurav; Thudi, Mahendar; Ruperao, Pradeep; Edwards, David; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2015). "CicArVarDB: SNP and InDel database for advancing genetics research and breeding applications in chickpea". Database. 2015: bav078. doi:10.1093/database/bav078. PMC 4541373. PMID 26289427.
84. Doddamani, Dadakhalandar; Katta, Mohan Avsk; Khan, Aamir W.; Agarwal, Gaurav; Shah, Trushar M.; Varshney, Rajeev K. (2014). "CicArMiSatDB: The chickpea microsatellite database". BMC Bioinformatics. 15: 212. doi:10.1186/1471-2105-15-212. PMC 4230034. PMID 24952649. S2CID 255786445.
85. "12 Years of Tropical Legumes: 25 Million smallholder farmers now grow improved varieties". www.icrisat.org.
86. Member Steering Committee, FAO, Agricultural Biotechnologies in Developing Countries Conference, Mexico, 1–4 March 2010, " from the FAO website ". Retrieved on 1 August 2016.
87. VI International Congress on Legume Genetics and Genomics
88. Next Generation Genomics & Integrated Breeding for Crop Improvement
89. [4] conferences.
90. "Murdoch selected to host International Wheat Congress"
91. "Organizing Committee International Plant and Animal Genome Conference Australia"
92. Rajeev Varshney and Norman Borlaug at the Green Revolution Conference, Bologna, Italy, May 2003 Retrieved on 17 August 2020
93. PM Modi congratulated group of scientists conferred with various awards [5] Retrieved on 17 August 2020
94. "About".
95. [6]
96. Selected list of Varshney's books Retrieved on 6 August 2020

96. ^Elected Fellow of The Royal Society of London, 2023