2025 Tata Transformation Prize Food Security Winner: Padubidri V. Shivaprasad, PhD, National Centre for Biological Sciences (IMAGE)
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2025 Tata Transformation Prize Food Security Winner: Padubidri V. Shivaprasad, PhD, National Centre for Biological Sciences
Padubidri V. Shivaprasad, PhD, addresses one of India’s greatest challenges: feeding a population projected to reach 1.5 billion by 2050 amid shrinking farmland and worsening climate stress. His groundbreaking work uses epigenetic engineering and small RNA–based modifications in rice, India’s primary staple crop, to enhance stress tolerance and nutritional quality. By precisely altering the expression of key genes, Prof. Shivaprasad’s approach surpasses the limits of conventional plant breeding, which can be slow and unpredictable. His engineered rice varieties promise to reduce fertilizer and pesticide dependence, lower production costs, and improve nutrition for millions. Beyond India, this innovation offers a sustainable blueprint for staple crops worldwide in the face of global climate change.
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The New York Academy of Sciences
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