Research interests

• Molecular mapping of cereal & dicots genomes (wheat, barley, canola, lupins/pulses) with a focus on improving quality and yield to improve human health.
• Molecular biology of acid soils tolerance and other plant-root-soil interactions 
• Cataloguing and characterisation of germplasm to identify useful genes for crop improvement

Background

Dr Raman oversees plant molecular biology research at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute of the NSW Department of Primary Industries. He is continuing his over 20 years of research career in plant biotechnology to harness the considerable benefits available to the breeders - especially the breeders of New South Wales - from molecular biology.

He joined NSW Agriculture* in 1996 and has undertaken and managed research projects in wheat, barley, canola and lupins.  He has been working closely with various national and international research agencies on genome mapping, identification of genotype-phenotype associations, comparative mapping, validation of molecular markers, analysis of genetic diversity and the development of technologies amenable for high throughput marker screening.

He has been actively involved in the development/validation of markers for at least 8 major genes and mapped more than 50 Quantitative trait loci associated with quality, disease resistance, phenological and other physiological traits in wheat and barley. Some of the markers identified by Dr Raman are being implemented internationally in basic and applied research. He has published over 100 research articles including 50 scientific research papers in the refereed journals.

*NSW Department of Primary Industries was formed on July 1, 2004 through an amalgamation of NSW Agriculture, NSW Fisheries, State Forests of NSW and the NSW Department of Mineral Resources.

Qualifications

• 1984 Bachelor of Science (Agriculture), Khalsa College, AMRITSAR-143 001, Punjab, India
• 1986 Master of Science (Agriculture), Guru  Nanak Dev University, AMRITSAR- 143001, India
• 1990 Doctorate of Philosophy (Pomology), Punjab Agricultural University,  LUDHIANA- 141 004, India

Current projects

• Implementation and validation of molecular markers in the Enterprise Grains Australia wheat breeding program 
• Molecular mapping of flowering genes in Brassica napus L.
• Exploiting Septoria tritici blotch resistance in wheat  
• Genetic diversity of putative spelt genotypes
• Molecular mapping of loci involved in resistance to root pathogen Pleiochaeta setosa in albus lupin
• Cataloguing and characterisation of molecular diversity in spelt wheats

Recent Publications

Wang J, Raman H, Zhou M, Ryan PR, Delhaize E, Hebb DM, Coombes N, and Mendham N (2007) High-resolution mapping of the Alp locus and identification of a candidate gene HvMATE controlling aluminium tolerance in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Theoretical and Applied Genetics 115:265–276

Wenzl P, Raman, H, Wang J, Zhou M, Huttner E and Killian A (2007) A DArT platform for quantitative bulked segregant analysis. BMC Genomics (http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcgenomics), 8:196

Raman H, Raman R, Wood R and Martin P (2006) Repetitive indel markers within the ALMT1 gene conditioning aluminium tolerance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L). Molecular Breeding 18:171-183 (DOI 10.1007/s11032-006-9025-2).

Stodart BJ, Raman H, Coombes N and Mackay AM (2006) Evaluating landraces of bread wheat Triticum aestivum L for tolerance to aluminium under low pH conditions. Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 54:759–766 (DOI 10.1007/s10722-006-9150-0).

Raman H, Zhang K, Cakir M, Appels R,. Garvin DF,Maron Lyza G., Kochian LV., Moroni JS, Raman R, Imtiaz M, Drake-Brockman F, Waters I, Martin P, Sasaki T,Yamamoto Y, Matsumoto H, Hebb DM., Delhaize E, and Ryan PR.  (2005) Molecular characterization and mapping of ALMT1, the aluminium-tolerance gene of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genome 48:781-791

Raman R, Raman H, Johnstone K., Lisle C, Smith A,  Martin P and  Allen H (2005) Genetic and in silico comparative mapping of the polyphenol oxidase gene in bread wheat. Functional Integrative Genomics 5: 185-200 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10142-005-0144-3)

Garvin DF, Raman H, and Smith KP (2003) Barley. In Katz (ed.) Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. pp. 166-171

Read B, Raman H, McMichael G, Chalmers K, Ablett G, Platz GJ, Raman R, Genger R, Boyd R, Park RF, Wallwork H, Prangnell R, Brown AHD, Henry RJ, Chengdao L. (2003) Mapping and QTL analysis of the barley population Sloop/Halcyon. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 1145-1153.

Raman H, Platz GJ, Chalmers K, Raman R, Read BJ, Barr AR and Moody D (2003).  Mapping of genomic regions associated with net form of net blotch resistance in barley. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 1359-1367.

Raman H, Moroni JS, Sato K, Read BJ and BJ Scott (2002) Identification of AFLP and microsatellite markers tightly linked with an aluminium tolerance gene in barley. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 105, 458-464.

Professional associations and activities

• Honorary Senior Lecturer of the EH Graham Centre, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga

Fields of Research

• 070305 Crop and Pasture Improvement (Selection and Breeding)
• 060407 Genome Structure and Regulation 

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

Keyword/phrase list of research interests

• Agriculture
• Plant breeding and genetics
• molecular biology
• genome structure