Sopory Sudhir Kumar

Sopory is currently Senior Emeritus Scientist at ICGEB.. Former vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Until 2011, he was the group leader of plant molecular biology and Director ( Interim) at ICGEB, New Delhi. He discovered the involvement of the glyoxalase system in plant cell stress response, by demonstrating that genetic engineering of the glyoxalase pathway leads to enhanced salinity tolerance; and that methylglyoxal levels in plants under stress are dependent on the enzyme glyoxalase I and glutathione. He also showed that methylglyoxal can act as stress signal in plants. He is a fellow of all science academies of India, and the winner of the Bhatnagar, Maheshwari and Saligram Sinha Awards of India. He was given the Padamshri, one of the highest civilian awards, by the President of India.