
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