Pramod Sivan

I am a plant biologist having special interest in understanding the structure and chemistry of plant cell wall for sustainable development goals through its potential application in transition from linear to circular economy. The architecture of cell wall polymers represents the complex structural organization of the most abundant biopolymers on earth. My research focused on understanding the structural complexity of plant cell wall using different approaches such as cell wall chemistry modification by microbial transgene expression, regulating the expression of specific genes involved in biosynthesis of matrix polymers (lignin and xylan) and phytohormonal regulation of cell wall, studying the natural cell wall variants like tension wood fibres and by analysing degradation pattern of wall polymers during wood decay by white rot fungi.  The ongoing research is also focused to unravel the molecular organization of cell wall polymers in model plants (Arabidopsis and Hybrid Aspen) and also to develop green chemistry strategies for the fractionation of cell wall polymers for various applications. Our recent innovation project  (funded by FORMAS and DBT) aims to enhance the growth and resilience of rice by modifying cell wall biochemistry and to simultaneously optimizing the lignocellulose biomass properties to develop novel value products from rice waste, hence supporting the circularity of rice cultivation. The key components of the project include (i) cell wall-based phenotyping to select and develop superior rice varieties, (ii) cell wall biotechnological engineering for better stress tolerance and reduced recalcitrance, and (iii) integral valorization of the derived agricultural waste in a cascade biorefinery to obtain biobased materials and bioenergy.