Prof Ashwani Pareek visits the Vic Hub from NABI & CIAB

With his main focus of research towards understanding plant signalling-machinery under osmotic stresses ­– such as drought and salinity – today’s visit by Professor Ashwani Pareek to Vic Hub HQ at Dookie, saw information and understanding flowing both ways.

Prof Pareek, a multi-award-winning scientist and Executive Director at India’s National Agrifood Biotechnology Institute (NABI), learnt about what the Vic Hub does across Victoria, while we got a glimpse into his research. Prof Pareek is also the CEO at India’s Center for Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB), an Adjunct Professor at the Regional Centre for Biotechnology (RCB), and a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Three of his research areas he briefly mentioned were (i) developing high-yielding, stress-resilient crops; (ii) controlling food contamination both post-harvest and through the often-complicated value chain; and (iii) developments using a smartphone to check three common bacteria that can cause widespread spoiling in prepared foods in India.

As Hub HQ explained the regional-specific work of our five Nodes across the breadth of Victoria, we learnt there are some 15 agroclimatic zones in India.

Prof Pareek visited the Vic Hub as part of his trip to Australia, discussing pre-commercial R&D and knowledge translation for food and nutritional security, developed at NABI and CIAB.

Thanks to Greg Harper, Science & Technology Business Developer and Mentor, who specialises in agrifood and health technologies also steering NorVicFoods, and Surinder Singh Chauhan, Director International School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences who organised the visit; both from the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Science.

You can also read an article about Prof Pareek’s visit on the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Science website, where he talks about the similarities in India’s and Australia’s climates and crop patterns providing a potential opportunity for collaborations in agricultural research and biotechnology in developing greater food security.