Haritha Bollinedi
New Delhi, Delhi| Grant Category: | Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowships (Research) |
| Project Title: | Constructing a single-cell transcriptome atlas of developing rice spikelets to unravel barriers of endosperm nutrient translocation |
| Field of Study: | Agricultural Sciences |
| Home Institution: | ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, Delhi |
| Host Institution: | University of Washington , Seattle, WA |
| Grant Start Month: | November 2025 |
| Duration of Grant: | Nine months |
Brief Bio:
Dr. Haritha Bollinedi earned her master’s degree from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, and completed her PhD at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi. She currently serves as a Senior Scientist in the Division of Genetics at ICAR-IARI.
Dr. Bollinedi has made significant strides in rice grain quality and biofortification, focusing on enhancing the nutritional profile of rice, particularly of beta-carotene, zinc, protein, and phytic acid levels. Her research contributions include molecular characterization of transgenic Golden Rice lines, mapping of genes and QTLs associated with grain mineral nutrients and anti-nutritional factors, and the identification of a novel non-functional allele of the LOX3 gene to reduce bran rancidity. Additionally, she has characterized a large set of rice germplasm accessions for various grain quality traits and identified unique genetic stocks for high endosperm Zn, low phytic acid, low glycemic index, high bran stability, and so on. Furthermore, she has contributed to the development of fifteen rice varieties.
Dr. Haritha’s achievements have been recognized through prestigious awards such as the INSA and NASI Young Scientist Awards and the NAAS Associateship. She also plays an active role as the Convenor of the Young Scientist Forum, NAAS-YUVA, under the aegis of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. To date, she has published over 60 research articles in esteemed peer-reviewed journals.
During her Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Haritha is working on deciphering the barriers of endosperm nutrient translocation in rice grain using single-cell genomics techniques.