Prof Karam Singh: investigating plant stress

Prof Karam Singh uses model plant systems to analyse how plants respond to stress to help identify ways to improve stress tolerance in plants.

• 24 June 2011 | Updated 24 November 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Prof Karam Singh holds a joint (50:50) appointment between CSIRO and University of Western Australia (UWA). 

He is Program Leader of the Mediterranean Crops and Pastures Group of CSIRO Plant Industry, and Winthrop Professor of Molecular Plant Pathology and Crop Genomics in The UWA Institute of Agriculture.

Prof Singh’s research interests are:

• a long-standing interest in the regulation of plant gene expression, with a major focus in recent years on the transcriptional control of plant stress/defence gene expression
• the use of model plant systems (Arabidopsis and Medicago truncatula) to analyse plant responses to stress; where he focuses on stress responses in roots and the isolation of genes that are important for defence against sap-sucking insects and fungal pathogens
• crop genomics with a focus on lupins, the major grain legume grown in Australia.

Background

Prof Singh was born in Calcutta, India, and initially joined CSIRO Plant Industry as a Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow before taking up an Assistant/Associate Professorship at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA, in 1991.

Prof Singh returned to CSIRO Plant Industry in 1999 to establish a plant biotechnology group in Western Australia.

Academic qualifications

Prof Singh holds the following qualifications in molecular biology:

• Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours from Edinburgh University, United Kingdom, 1981
• Doctor of Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, 1986.

Achievements

Prof Singh is an inaugural recipient of the Newton Turner Career Award (2008) and has served on a number of boards.

See a list of scientific papers published by Prof Singh on the next page.