Plant Genomics

Biography

Dr. R. Balaji is currently an Assistant Professor at the Center for Global Health Research, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Science (SIMATS). He holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Biotechnology. His Master& dissertation, conducted at the Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI-ICAR) in Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Island, focused on the molecular diversity analysis of Chilli germplasm from Indian landraces. Following his master& degree, he served as a Research Fellow and as the DNA Sequencing & Genomics Facility Incharge at the Genomics Laboratory, Department of Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology SRM IST (formerly known as SRM University). During this tenure, he actively contributed to a funded project on DNA barcoding of medicinal plants, where he played a key role in generating reference DNA barcodes for medicinal plants in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia of India and Traded Medicinal Plants of India. His contributions led to co-authorship in five publications in international journals related to the DNA barcoding project. He commenced his Ph.D. at SRM IST, focusing on Molecular authentication of single-drug herbal powders using DNA barcoding and Development of chloroplast genome resources of medicinal plants. He presented his doctoral research findings at scientific conferences organized by National and International Universities (Center for DNA barcoding of Life-CBOL, Sofia, Bulgaria, and Prude University). Notably, he received a Gold Medal and Silver Medal for Best Oral Presentation and contribution for outstanding research as a PhD Scholar at the research day symposium held at SRM IST. He was also honored with the Best Oral Presentation award at an international conference for his outstanding achievements in research work. The cumulative impact factor of his research publications is an impressive 46.4. He has a good number of published research articles in reputed international journals (Springer, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Nature, and MDPI), including high-impact journals. Additionally, he has published 1 book chapter and holds 1 Indian patent, with an impressive h-index of 10.

Education

  • Ph.D., Biotechnology (2019 - 2024) – SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India

  • M. Sc., Biotechnology (2009 - 2011) – NGM College (Autonomous), Affiliated by Bharathiyar University Pollachi, Tamilnadu, India

  • B.Sc., Biotechnology (2005 - 2008) - PGP College, Affiliated by Periyar University Namakkal, Tamilnadu, India.

Key research areas

  • Genomics, Herbal Medicine, Human Genetic Disorders, Clinical Genetics, DNA barcoding, Molecular Biology, Chloroplast Genomics, Herbal Authentication, Transcriptome Sequencing, Metagenomics, Phylogenomics

Recent Publications

  1. Raju Balaji, Madasamy Parani. Development of an allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR) method for identifying high-methyl eugenol-containing purple Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum L.) in market samples. Molecular Biology Reports, (2024) 51, pp. 439. Impact Factor: 2.8

  2. Mohammed Shaibi, Raju Balaji, Madasamy Parani. Molecular differentiation of the green and purple Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum L.) and its application in authentication of market samples. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, (2024) https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-024-00883-3 Impact Factor:1.9

  3. Arunmozhi Venkatesan, Raju Balaji, Tanuja, Madasamy Parani. Complete chloroplast genome of Ocimum basilicum var. purpurascens Bentham 1830 (Lamiaceae), Mitochondrial DNA Part B. (2024) 9:2, 252-256 Impact Factor: 1.8

  4. Kirankumar Santhanam, Raju Balaji, Tanuja, Madasamy Parani. The complete chloroplast genome of Ocimum basilicum L. var. basilicum (Lamiaceae) and its phylogenetic analysis. Mitochondrial DNA Part B. (2023) 8:11, 1169-1173 Impact Factor: 1.8

  5. Ray Sharmishtha, Tanuja, Raju Balaji, Madasamy Parani. The complete chloroplast genome of Phylanodiflora (Linnaeus) Greene (1899) from the Verbenaceae family and its phylogenetic analysis. Mitochondrial DNA Part B. (2023) 8:10, 1097-1101. Impact Factor: 1.8

  6. Vineesh Sukumaran, Raju Balaji, Tanuja, Madasamy Parani. The complete chloroplast genome of Ocimum americanum Linnaeus 1755 and phylogenetic analysis among the Lamiaceae family.Mitochondrial DNA Part B. (2023) 8:10, 1077-1081. Impact Factor: 1.8

  7. Prabhudas, S.K., Balaji, R., Natarajan, P. (2022). Brassica juncea L.: Chloroplast Genome. In: Kole,C., Mohapatra, T. (eds) The Brassica juncea Genome. Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer,Cham.

  8. Raju Balaji, Madasamy Parani. DNA Barcoding of the Market Samples of Single-Drug Herbal Powders Reveals Adulteration with Taxonomically Unrelated Plant Species. Diversity, MDPI, (2022)14, 495. Impact Factor: 3.09

  9. Purushothaman Natarajan, Ashok Kumar Murugesan, Ganesan Govindan, Ayyaru Gopalakrishnan, Ravichandiran Kumar, Purushothaman Duraisamy, Raju Balaji, Tanuja, Puhan Sushree Shyamli, Ajay K. Parida, Madasamy Parani. A reference-grade genome identifies salt-tolerance genes from the salt-secreting mangrove species Avicennia marina. Nature Communications Biology, (2021) 4(851): 1-10 Impact Factor: 6.3