JOINT COLLABORATION & INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

(02/26)

A vibrant Indo‑German partnership has been funded by the SPARC program in 2025 to 2026: Professor Sanjib Kumar Panda (Chair of Plant Biochemistry, Central University of Rajasthan, CURaj) and Professor Petra Bauer (Institute of Botany, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, HHU) are leading a two‑year project to accelerate research on stress‑resilient, nutrient‑rich legume crops. Focusing on mungbean tolerance to acidic soils, a condition causing iron and aluminium toxicity, and common in North‑East India, the team is uncovering genes and mechanisms that control iron homeostasis and iron toxicity responses — knowledge that will drive development of hardy, high‑yielding mungbean varieties for acidic soil‑stressed regions.

The collaboration has already seen intensive exchange:

• Prof. Bauer visited CURaj twice for manuscript preparation and conference planning,
• German PhD researcher Mary Ngigi joined project discussions in India and supported a genome editing project
• and Indian PhD candidates Asha Kumari and Mayur Patel conducted physiological and transcriptomic experiments at HHU.

A highlight of these efforts, has been the CURaj-hosted international SPARC conference on 25–26 February 2026: “Advancing Plant Biotechnology for Stress Resilience and Nutritional Food Security — Chances for Legume and Orphan Crops,” bringing together experts in plant physiology, genomics, biotechnology and breeding to explore innovative solutions for food security, malnutrition and sustainable agriculture.

This partnership exemplifies the international teamwork to translate cutting‑edge science into real agricultural impact. SPARC (Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration) is an initiative of India’s Ministry of Education to strengthen research ties between Indian higher-education institutions and top global universities.