Birth &
Educations: Born at Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal. BSc Ag (1991) and MSc Ag (1993) from BCKV, Kalyani, and PhD from ICAR-IARI (1999)
Positions hold: Post-doctoral
Research Associate (1999- 2000) at National Institute of Plant Biotechnology,
Pusa Campus, New Delhi; Post-doctoral Associate (2000- 2001) at Advanced Centre
for Plant Virology, Division of Plant Pathology, IARI, New Delhi; ). Scientist
at CSKHPKV, Palampur (2001-2006); Senior Scientist, (2006-2012); Principal
Scientist (since Dec, 2012) at. Div. of Plant Pathology, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi.
Awards/Honours: Joint Secretary (Jan
2019 to Dec 2022); Councillor (Delhi Zone) (Jan 2011 to Dec 2012); Editor & Senior Editor: Senior
Editor-Phytopath News (2019-21); Editor-Indian Phytopathology (2018-2019);
Editor-Indian Phytopathology (special issue) (2020); Associate Editor-Indian Phytopathology
(2004-2007; 2011-2012). Member,
The National Academy of Sciences India (2013); SARP Associate Award 2017, SARP, ICAR-NRCP,
Solapur, MS (2017); Prof. J.P. Verma Memorial Award (2016).;
Amulya Lahiri
Smriti Gold Medal, WBCHSE (1987); Prof M. K. Patel Memorial Young Scientist
Award (2008); Prof M J Narasimhan Academic Merit award (2001)
Fellow: Fellow Indian Phytopathological Society (2013)
Research Areas & Significant contributions: Dr. Mondal was the first to decipher the repertoire of Type 3
Secretion System (T3SS) effectors in two nationally important bacterial
pathogens, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and X. axonopodis pv. punicae (Xap)
causing blight of rice and pomegranate, respectively. Dr. Mondal’s detailed
functional studies unraveled that two T3SS effectors, namely XopF and XopR play
significant role in disease development in rice. His group further identified
cognate rice receptors that interacts with XopF and demonstrated that silencing
those targets could lead to disease resistance. His team determined the race
status of Xoo and contributed in the
development bacterial blight resistance rice varieties, Pusa 1592, Pusa 1728
and Pusa 1718 having xa13 and Xa21 genes. In Xap, Dr. Mondal’s group demonstrated that T3SS effectors like
XopC2, XopL and XopN play crucial role in modulating pomegranate PTI. He was
the first to conclusively prove relatedness of pv. punicae with Xanthomonas citri. Towards searching for novel disease management options, Dr.
Mondal investigated the antibacterial properties of nanocopper against Xap and
patented (Patent No. 294416-dt
2018/03/16, India) a nanocopper based formulation for the
management of bacterial blight of pomegranate. Besides, Dr. Mondal developed
and commercialized a PCR detection kit for pomegranate
bacterial blight for efficient detection which is necessary to produce quality
planting materials. He established the etiology of emerging bacterial diseases
like rice panicle blight (Burkholderia
glumae), tinda fruit rot (Pseudomonas
aeruginosa) and rice leaf blight (Pantoea
ananatis). Dr. Mondal visited Stanford University, USA as visiting scholar.
Besides, he visited China, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand for delivering
invited talks in International conferences.