Foreign Language(s):Malay, Tamil, Indonesian
Qualifications & Appointments
PhD. (Cryobiology) University of Abertay Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK (2005)
M.Agric.Sc. (Seed Technology) University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia (1999)
B.Sc.(Hons.) in Botany, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1996)
Treasurer for the Society for the Low Temperature Biology (2012-2015)
EU COST ACTION 871 Cryopreservation of Crops in Europe. Member of UK Science Team (2006-2010)
Researching low temperature seed biology for different seed traits incorporating thermal fingerprinting to optimise seed storage conditions and developing cryopreservation protocols for endangered, threatened and recalcitrant species.
Conducting comparative studies of seed longevity and understanding the effects of storage environment, in particular temperature, on seed longevity. This involves investigating optimal long-term storage temperatures other than seed bank temperature. Developing cryopreservation protocols for non-orthodox seeds, including embryo rescue techniques. This includes investigating different cryoprotection and preservation techniques such as encapsulation-dehydration, vitrification and droplet-freezing on embryos, axes, shoot-tips and pollens. Recovery growth is optimised in vitro. I use Differential Scanning Calorimetry and a programmable freezer to maximise cryopreservation success.
Guest lecturer for several taught courses held at Millennium Seed Bank, Kew:
o University of Sussex: MSc. Seed Banking Unit
o University of Bedfordshire: MSc. Plant Biotechnology
o University of Birmingham: MSc. Plant Conservation
o Imperial Collage: Undergraduate Ex situ plant conservation
• Darwin Initiative Round 18, 2011. Stage I. Grant amount: £278K. Project: Integrated Conservation of Ancient Plants (ICAP).
• Mohamad Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund-$15K (2012-2013). Project: Integrated conservation of Encephalartos middelburgensis with South Africa National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
• Specialised training under COST Action 871 Travel Grant (2008) at Institute of Crop Science, Prague, Czech Republic. €1K.
• COST Action 871 Cryopreservation of European Crops (2006-10, with Hugh Pritchard; PI, Bart Panis, Univ Leuven, Belgium) £ 300 k.
• International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories (ISBER) Annual Meeting, Rotterdam, 2010.
• Thermal Methods Group Meeting Royal Society of Chemistry, 2009, London.
• Institute of Natural Resources Research Seminar, Massey University, New Zealand, 2008.
Other roles are the training and supervision of national and international visitors and students (over 25 people to date, ranging from volunteers to researchers at undergraduate, masters, PhD and post-doctoral level). Regular reviewer for 10 scientific journals (e.g. CryoLetters, Seed Science and Technology, International Journal of Plant Science, Plant Cell Reports, Science Asia, Horticultural Science and Biotechnology & African Journal of Biotechnology).
Main research interests: seed cryopreservation, seed thermal fingerprinting, in vitro germination, plant tissue culture, long-term storage of cycad, palm and orchid species, cryopreservation of endangered and threatened species.
- Cryo-conservation Centres of Excellence
- Embryo Cryopreservation of Threatened Ornamental Species
- Non-Invasive Techniques for Diagnosing Seed Viability
- Is Seed Sensitivity to Desiccation a Matter of Size?
- Survival of Legume Seeds
- Long-term Storage of Orthodox Seeds
- Thermal Fingerprinting and Chemical Composition of Asteraceae, Brassicaceae and Other Oily Seeds
Selected Recent Publications
Nadarajan, J., Wood, S., Marks, T.R., Seaton, P.T. & Pritchard, H.W. (2011) Nutritional requirements for in vitro seed germination of 12 terrestrial, lithophytic and epiphytic orchids. Journal of Tropical Forest Science 23: 204-212. (IF 0.5).
Nadarajan, J., Marzalina, M., Krishnapillay, B., Staines, HJ., Benson, EE. & Harding, K. (2008) Application of differential scanning calorimetry in developing cryopreservation strategies for Parkia speciosa, a tropical tree producing recalcitrant seeds. CryoLetters 29: 95-110. (IF 1.1; times cited 5).
Day, J.G., Harding, K., Nadarajan, J. & Benson, E.E. (2008) Cryopreservation: Conservation of bioresources at ultra-low temperatures. In: JM Walker and R Rapley (Eds) Molecular Biomethods Handbook (2nd Ed.), R. Humana Press. Inc. Clifton New Jersey. US. pp 915-945.
Hugh, W.P. & J, Nadarajan. (2007) Cryopreservation of Orthodox (Desiccation tolerant) seeds. In: Plant Cryopreservation A Practical Guide. Barbara M.R. (Ed). Springer New York. pp 485-501.
Johnston, J., Dussert, S., Gale, S., Nadarajan, J., Harding, K.& Benson, E. (2006) Optimisation of the azinobis-3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid radical scavenging assay for physiological studies of total antioxidant activity in woody plant germplasm. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 44: 193-201 (IF 2.4; times cited = 8).
Selected Earlier Publications
Muthusamy, J., Staines, H.J., Benson, E.E., Mansor, M. & Krishnapillay, B. (2005) Investigating the use of fractional replication and Taguchi techniques in cryopreservation: a case study using orthodox seeds of a tropical rainforest tree species. Biodiversity and Conservation 14: 3169-3185. (IF 2.1; times cited = 9).
Benson, E.E., Johnston, J., Muthusamy, J & Harding, K. (2005) Physical and Engineering Perspectives of In Vitro Plant Cryopreservation. In: Plant Tissue Culture Engineering. S. Dutta Gupta, Y. Ibaraki. (Eds.) Springer, Netherlands. pp 441-473.
Marzalina, M., Jayanthi, N. & Ang, K.C. (2003) Flowering prediction based on 20 years of phenological observations of Neobalaocarpus heimii (King) Ashton. In: Pasoh- Ecology of a Lowland Rain Forest in Southeast Asia. Okuda, T., Manokaran, N., Niiyama, K., Thomas, S.C. & Ashton, P.S. (Eds). Springer-Verlag, Tokyo. p.215-223.