Rajnish Khanna (born 13 September 1966) is an

Indian-American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, who are also referred to as "Indians" or "Am ...

photobiologist and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

, with a focus on

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemistry, biochemical and physiology, physiological process by which an organism uses food and water to support its life. The intake of these substances provides organisms with nutrients (divided into Macronutrient, macro- ...

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

, and globally sustainable practices. Khanna is a research scientist at the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in Wa ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He is the founder of i-Cultiver, Inc. He also serves as a scientific advisor for author Deblina Bhattacharya The Chopra Foundation by

Deepak Chopra Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author, New Age, new age guru, and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthi ...

Biography

Khanna is founder and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of i-Cultiver, Inc. and Global Food Scholar, Inc, enabling technologies such as CLASlite, a software to convert

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

imagery into quantitative greenness maps for global scale

agroecology Agroecology is an academic discipline that studies ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. Bringing ecological principles to bear can suggest new management approaches in agroecosystems. The term can refer to a science, ...

projects. Khanna is creating the online local food marketing platform, TerreLocal to digitally map food supply with local demand. Khanna is working with The Chopra Foundation by Deepak Chopra on several projects, including

rewilding Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also d ...

and the future of food.Deepak Chopra™, Poonacha Machaiah, Rajnish Khanna (2021) A renewed planet starts with food. SFGate, LinkedIn, deepakchopra.medium.com

Education, career, and scientific work

Khanna attended

St. Xavier's School, Delhi St. Xavier’s Senior Secondary School is a private Catholic primary and secondary school located in Raj Niwas Marg in the Civil Lines area of North Delhi, in India. Founded by the Jesuits in 1960 as a residential school for boys only, the scho ...

(India) throughout his early education from kindergarten through high school. He completed his undergraduate studies (

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

) at

Hindu College Hindu College may refers to several colleges around the world, including: India * Dharmamurthi Rao Bhahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty's Hindu College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu * Gobardanga Hindu College, West Bengal *Hindu College, Delhi, founded in 1899 ...

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. He completed his

M.Sc. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

research in 1990, supervised by Jitendra Khurana with a focus on photobiology. Khanna moved to the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

to work with John C. Watson and isolated the Pisum sativum Protein Kinase 3 (PSPK3 gene) from green peas.Khanna, R., Santner, A.A. and Watson, J.C. (2006) Activity and photoregulated expression of PsPK3. Plant Sci. 170:347-355.Khanna, R., Lin, X. and Watson, J.C. (1999) Photoregulated expression of the PsPK3 and PsPK5 genes in pea seedlings. Plant Mol. Biol. 39:231-242. He continued his work with Watson to pursue a doctorate at IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) and received a Ph.D. in plant molecular biology from Purdue University in 1998. Khanna worked with Berl R. Oakley at Ohio State University on isolating gamma-tubulin from plants. For postdoctoral research, Khanna joined Peter H. Quail's lab at the Plant Gene Expression Center / USDA /

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. During his postdoctoral research, Khanna isolated PIF5 (Phytochrome Interacting Protein 5)Khanna, R., Shen, Y., Marion, C.M., Tsuchisaka, A., Theologis, A., Schaefer, E. and Quail, P.H. (2007) The basic helox-loop-helix transcription factor PIF5 acts on ethylene biosynthesis and phytochrome signaling by distinct mechanisms. Plant Cell 19:3915-3929. and identified the APB (Active-Phytochrome Binding) motif,Khanna, R., Huq, E., Kikis, E.A., Al-Sady, B., Lanzatella, C. and Quail, P.H. (2004) A novel molecular recognition motif necessary for targeting photoactivated phytochrome signaling to specific basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors. Plant Cell 16 (11):3033-3044. the specific region required for PIF proteins to interact with light-activated phytochrome B photoreceptor. Between 2006 and 2012, Khanna served as the Lead Advocate at Mendel Biotechnology, Hayward, CA to determine the mode of action of a single gene-based technology being developed for yield enhancement in multiple commercial crops. This work led to the discovery of the first intrinsic (plant origin) single-gene product with potential to increase crop yield in broad growing regions.Preuss, S.B., Meister, R., Xu, Q., Urwin, C., Tripodi, F. Screen, S., Anil, V.S., Zhu, S., Morrell, J., Liu, G., Ratcliffe, O.J., Reuber, T.L., Khanna, R., Goldman, B.S., Bell, E., Ziegler, T., McClerren, A.M., Ruff, T.G., and Petracek, M.E. (2012) Expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana BBX32 Gene in Soybean Increases Grain Yield. PLoS One. 7:e30717. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030717Holtan, H.E., Bandong, S., Marion, C.M., Adam, L., Tiwari, S.B., Shen, Y., Maloof, J.N., Maszle, D.R., Ohto, M-a., Preuss, S., Meister, R., Petracek, M.E., Repetti, P.P., Reuber, T.L., Ratcliffe, O.J., and Khanna, R. (2011) BBX32, an Arbidopsis B-box protein, functions in light signaling by suppressing HY5-regulated gene expression and interacting with STH2/BBX21. Plant Phys. 156:2109-2123. Khanna is the recipient of the Honorary Business & Entrepreneurship Speaker (2015), Las Positas College, Livermore CA, along with awards for Teaching Excellence and Outstanding Research from various institutions. Khanna gave a TEDx, Livermore talk in 2015, “Growing food to feed and nourish the planet”, and recently co-authored a paper on the discovery of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

-mediated global greening and its implications for climate change.Kutschera, U., Khanna, R. (2021
Experimental plant research and the discovery of carbon dioxide-mediated global greening: a tribute to Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845–1920)
J. Plant. Biochem. Biotechnol. 30, , 407– 420 ]

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khanna, Rajnish 1966 births Living people Plant physiologists 21st-century American biologists