Contact Info

Email: [email protected]
Phone: (256) 327-9703
Location: 601 Genome Way, Huntsville, AL 35806

Kankshita Swaminathan, PhD

Understanding the role of the rhizome in resource reallocation and perenniality

Kankshita Swaminathan, PhD, is a faculty investigator at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. She brings expertise in perennial grasses, phenotyping and applications of genomics for plant customization and modification to HudsonAlpha with particular interest in using genetics to understand the role of the rhizome in resource reallocation and perenniality in plants. Swaminathan came to HudsonAlpha in 2016 from the BP Energy Biosciences Institute at the University of Illinois in Urbana where she managed the day to day research of the feedstock genomics group in the largest privately funded effort for bioenergy feedstock developing. While there, she was responsible for overseeing development of genomic resources for the bioenergy grass Miscanthus.

Swaminathan earned her BSc in chemistry, botany and zoology from St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science in Bangalore, India, in 1994 and her MSc in life sciences from Pondicherry University in Ponducherry, India, in 1996. She received her PhD in biology from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, in 2005.

2005 PhD in Biology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH

1996 MSc in Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India

1994 BSc in Chemistry, Botany and Zoology, St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, Bangalore, India

2016 Faculty Investigator, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, Ala.

2008-2016 Research Specialist in Feedstock Genomics, University of Illinois

2005-2008 Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Illinois

Recent News

July 26, 2022
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology has a new building gracing its skyline– a 14,000-square-foot glass greenhouse to be exact.
December 1, 2021
Researchers from HudsonAlpha, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, and Alabama A&M were recently awarded a supplemental grant to continue their research efforts into understanding nitrogen uptake mechanisms in sorghum, while also incr...
November 11, 2021
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey recently awarded HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology $968,365 through the Alabama Research and Development Advancement Fund.
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