Selvaraju Kanagarajan

Our work encompasses plant biology, genetics, precision breeding, biochemistry, and nanotechnology. We have made significant contributions to CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, particularly in enhancing the nutritional quality of oilseed rape and field cress. Our research encompasses the production of human hemoglobin in plants for blood substitutes, the development of hemoglobin-based functional foods to combat iron deficiency, the creation of plant-based milk clotting proteins, and the development of vaccines for avian influenza. Our efforts in plant molecular farming and improving crop resilience and productivity underpin our commitment to sustainable agriculture and global food security. 

We are conducting basic and translational research through several innovative projects.

1. Transgene (DNA)-Free Genome Editing in Oilseed Rape: Focused on reducing glucosinolates and phytic acid to improve the nutritional profiles of seed cake/meal for animal feed and human consumption, as well as enhance disease resistance.

2. Genome Editing in Pea: Focused on reducing antinutritional factors to improve nutritional and sensory quality.

3. Seed Oil Quality Enhancement in Field Cress: Utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 to transform field cress into a sustainable crop with enhanced seed oil quality

4. Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Production in Plants: Developing plant-based pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, including human and plant hemoglobins, heme iron, vaccine antigens and milk clotting enzymes

5. Plant Resilience and Productivity Research: Leading research to enhance plant resilience and productivity, particularly in legumes, using mutation breeding, metabolomics, and phytonanobiotechnology. 

I teach plant biotechnology and molecular biology courses at the Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD levels.

Doctor of Philosophy, Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India. 2005.

Master of Science, Agriculture (Horticulture), Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University, India. 1999.

Bachelor of Science, Forestry, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University, India. 1997. 

Researcher, Örebro University, Sweden - August 14, 2023 - Present.
Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden - July 15, 2017 - Present.
Postdoctoral Fellow - Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden - July 15, 2015 - July 14, 2017.
Assistant Professor - Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India - August 4, 2014 - July 1, 2015.
Postdoctoral Fellow - Örebro University, Sweden - May 2013 - May 2015.
Postdoctoral Fellow - Linnaeus University, Sweden - May 2009 - April 2013.
Postdoctoral Fellow - University of New Brunswick, Canada - May 2008 - April 2009.
Postdoctoral Fellow - Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan - March 2007 - April 2008. 

Postdoctoral Fellow
2023-2026 Co-supervisor Vikky Rajulapati, Örebro University, Sweden
Doctoral Students
2022- Co-Supervisor, Florentine Ballhaus, SLU, Sweden
2020-2025 Co-Supervisor, Oliver Moss, SLU, Sweden 
2019-2024 Co-Supervisor, Misteru Tesfaye Woldeyohannes, SLU, Sweden
2018-2022 Co-Supervisor, Sjur Sandgrind, SLU, Sweden
2016-2020 Co-Supervisor, Magnus Carlsson, SLU, Sweden
Master Students
2024-2025 Co-Supervisor, Debora Gyllenör, SLU, Sweden
2023-2024 Joint Main Supervisor Anandhavalli Manikandan, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India
2023 Main Supervisor (30 ECTS) Anusha Harshani Bogahawatta, SLU, Sweden
2016 Main Supervisor (30 ECTS) Axel Ögell Benediktsson, SLU, Sweden 

Ongoing:
Swedish Seed and Oilseed Growers Association (Sveriges Frö- och Oljeväxtodlare)
Crops for Future (C4F)
Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS)
Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and Crop Production Science (LTV) 
Ingeborg Sorensson's Foundation
Martha and Dagny Larsson's Foundation
SLU Grogrund-Centre for Breeding of Food Crops
The Knowledge Foundation (KK)
The Royal Physiographic Society of Lund

Past:
Magnus Bergvall's Foundation
Crafoord Foundation 
Einar & Inga Nilsson Foundation
Erik Philip-Sörensen's Foundation
Maria Collins Foundation

Moss, O., Li, X., Wang, E.S., Kanagarajan, S., Guan, R., Ivarson, E. and Zhu, L.-H. (2025) Knockout of BnaX.SGT.a caused significant sinapine reduction in transgene-free rapeseed mutants generated by protoplast-based CRISPR RNP editing. Front. Plant Sci. 15, 1526941.
Vargheese, R.L., Saravanan, S., Hepziba, S.J., Kumari, S.M.P., Pushpam, A.K., Kanagarajan, S. and Pillai, M.A. (2024) Marker-assisted introgression to improve the oleic acid content in the TMV 7 groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) variety suitable for the oil industry. BMC Plant Biol. 24, 733.
Tesfaye, M., Wang, E.S., Feyissa, T., Herrfurth, C., Haileselassie, T., Kanagarajan, S., Feussner, I. and Zhu, L.-H. (2024) Enhancing erucic acid and wax ester production in Brassica carinata through metabolic engineering for industrial applications. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 25, 6322.
Tesfaye, M., Feyissa, T., Hailesilassie, T., Mengistu, B., Kanagarajan, S. and Zhu, L.-H. (2024) Identification of high erucic acid Brassica carinata genotypes through multi-trait stability index. Agriculture 14, 1100.
Shameena, S., Lekshmi, P.R.G., Gopinath, P.P., Gidagiri, P. and Kanagarajan, S. (2024) Dynamic transformations in fruit color, bioactive compounds, and textural characteristics of purple-fleshed dragon fruit (Hylocereus costaricensis) across fruit developmental stages under humid tropical climate. Horticulturae 10, 1280.
Mumithrakamatchi, A.K., Alagarswamy, S., Anitha, K., Djanaguiraman, M., Kalarani, M.K., Swarnapriya, R., Marimuthu, S., Vellaikumar, S. and Kanagarajan, S. (2024) Melatonin imparts tolerance to combined drought and high-temperature stresses in tomato through osmotic adjustment and ABA accumulation. Front. Plant Sci. 15, 1382914.
Manikandan, A., Muthusamy, S., Wang, E.S., Ivarson, E., Manickam, S., Sivakami, R., Narayanan, M.B., Zhu, L.-H., Rajasekaran, R. and Kanagarajan, S. (2024) Breeding and biotechnology approaches to enhance the nutritional quality of rapeseed byproducts for sustainable alternative protein sources-a critical review. Front. Plant Sci. 15, 1468675.
Kaur, K., Chandel, M., Sagar, P., Sahu, B.K., Ladhi, R., Rajamanickam, P., Aich, P., Khatri, M., Kanagarajan, S., Singhal, N.K., Singh, M. and Shanmugam, V.K. (2024) Bells and whistles on fertilizers: Molecular hands to hang nanoporous foliar fertilizer reservoirs. ACS Omega 9, 25870-25878.
Kataria, S., Chandel, M., Kumar, P., Palanisami, M., Moun, N., Kanagarajan, S. and Shanmugam, V. (2024) Irrigation-friendly sensor to manage drought in crops through carbon-based signature volatile sensing. Sensors and Actuators B-Chemical 403, 134975.
Balasubramaniam, M., Aiyanathan, K.E., Rajagopalan, V.R., Subbarayalu, M., Kanagarajan, S. and Muthurajan, R. (2024) Unveiling mungbean yellow mosaic virus: molecular insights and infectivity validation in mung bean (Vigna radiata) via infectious clones. Front. Plant Sci. 15, 1401526.
Appukuttan Karakkatukunnel, A., Geetha Lekshmi, P.R. and Kanagarajan, S. (2024) Comprehensive biochemical profiling of coconut haustorium for innovative food industry applications. CyTA-Journal of Food 22, 2441333.
Sandgrind, S., Li, X., Ivarson, E., Wang, E.S., Guan, R., Kanagarajan, S. and Zhu, L.-H. (2023) Improved fatty acid composition of field cress (Lepidium campestre) by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing. Front. Plant Sci. 14, 1076704.
Manickam, S., Rajagopalan, V.R., Kambale, R., Rajasekaran, R., Kanagarajan, S. and Muthurajan, R. (2023) Plant Metabolomics: Current Initiatives and Future Prospects. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 45, 8894-8906.
Kalimuthu, R., Meenachi Sellan, K., Antony, D., Rajaprakasam, S., Chokkalingam, V., Chidambaram, P. and Kanagarajan, S. (2023) Nanopriming action of microwave-assisted biofunctionalized ZnO nanoparticles to enhance the growth under moisture stress in Vigna radiata. ACS Omega 8, 28143-28155.
Kaur, K., Sahu, B.K., Swami, K., Chandel, M., Gupta, A., Zhu, L.-H., Youngblood, J.P., Kanagarajan, S. and Shanmugam, V. (2022) Phone camera nano-biosensor using mighty sensitive transparent reusable upconversion paper. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 14, 27507-27514.
Li, X., Sandgrind, S., Moss, O., Guan, R., Ivarson, E., Wang, E.S., Kanagarajan, S. and Zhu, L.-H. (2021) Efficient protoplast regeneration protocol and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated editing of glucosinolate transporter (GTR) genes in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). Front. Plant Sci. 12, 680859.
Kanagarajan, S., Carlsson, M.L.R., Chakane, S., Kettisen, K., Smeds, E., Kumar, R., Ortenlöf, N., Gram, M., Åkerström, B., Bülow, L. and Zhu, L.-H. (2021) Production of functional human fetal hemoglobin in Nicotiana benthamiana for development of hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers. Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 184, 955-966.
Sharma, S., Muddassir, M., Muthusamy, S., Vaishnav, P.K., Singh, M., Sharma, D., Kanagarajan, S. and Shanmugam, V. (2020) A non-classical route of efficient plant uptake verified with fluorescent nanoparticles and root adhesion forces investigated using AFM. Sci. Rep. 10, 19233.
Muthusamy, S., Vetukuri, R.R., Lundgren, A., Ganji, S., Zhu, L.-H., Brodelius, P.E. and Kanagarajan, S. (2020) Transient expression and purification of β-caryophyllene synthase in Nicotiana benthamiana to produce β-caryophyllene in vitro. PeerJ 8, e8904.
Carlsson, M.L.R., Kanagarajan, S., Bülow, L. and Zhu, L.-H. (2020) Plant based production of myoglobin - a novel source of the muscle heme-protein. Sci. Rep. 10, 920.
Díaz-Ramos, L.A., O'Hara, A., Kanagarajan, S., Farkas, D., Strid, Å. and Jenkins, G.I. (2018) Difference in the action spectra for UVR8 monomerisation and HY5 transcript accumulation in Arabidopsis. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 17, 1108-1117.
Ivarson, E., Leiva-Eriksson, N., Ahlman, A., Kanagarajan, S., Bülow, L. and Zhu, L.-H. (2017) Effects of overexpression of WRI1 and hemoglobin genes on the seed oil content of Lepidium campestre. Front. Plant Sci. 7, 2032.
Han, J.L., Wang, H.Z., Kanagarajan, S., Hao, M.S., Lundgren, A. and Brodelius, P.E. (2016) Promoting artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annua plants by substrate channeling. Mol. Plant 9, 946-948.
Wang, H., Kanagarajan, S., Han, J., Hao, M., Yang, Y., Lundgren, A. and Brodelius, P.E. (2014) Studies on the expression of linalool synthase using a promoter-beta-glucuronidase fusion in transgenic Artemisia annua. Journal of Plant Physiology 171, 85-96.
Kanagarajan, S., Muthusamy, S., Gliszczynska, A., Lundgren, A. and Brodelius, P.E. (2012) Functional expression and characterization of sesquiterpene synthases from Artemisia annua L. using transient expression system in Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant Cell Rep. 31, 1309-1319.

Are you a Bachelor's or Master's student looking for a thesis project or summer internship? You're welcome to contact me directly! We offer flexible, hands-on opportunities for students who are eager to gain research experience.