Dr. Jitendra K. Thakur graduated with Physics and Chemistry from Christian degree college, Lucknow. He did his Masters in Biotechnology from Goa University, Goa, and joined University of Delhi South Campus for M.Phil (Plant Molecular biology) and Ph.D. During Ph.D, he discovered and characterized auxin-induced genes in rice and demonstrated their feed-back regulation by auxins. He also demonstrated the nuclear localization of OsiEZ1 (a polycomb group protein in rice) and its importance in growth and development of rice seedlings. During his postdoctoral training in Dr. Anders Naar lab at MGH Cancer Center/Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA, he characterized nuclear receptor like transcription factors in yeast and other fungi. Before this nuclear receptors were believed to be confined to metazoans only. Furthermore, he showed that one nuclear receptor like protein, Pdr1p in Candida glabrata, and its interaction with the Mediator subunit Gal11p, can be targeted for co-therapeutic purpose. Currently, he is working as a Scientist in National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi, where his lab is working on different biochemical and functional aspects of Plant Mediator complex and epigenetic regulation of gene expression in plants. Recently, group of Dr. Thakur characterized the family of KIX domain proteins in plants and showed their probable importance in rice seed development. Dr. Thakur has presented his work at several national and international conferences. His work has been published in reputed peer-reviewed international journals including Nature, JBC, and Genes & Development. For his scientific contributions, he has been bestowed with several national and international awards and fellowships including INSA Young Scientist Award, DBT's Innovative Young Biologist Award, Keystone Fellowship, IUPTC&B Fellowship, and Fellowship for Medical Discovery (FMD).
