Vineet Soni
Vineet Soni is a plant biotechnologist and conservatist, and the founder of ‘'Save Guggul Movement'’- a community-based conservation effort to conserve threatened plant species.[1] Soni is living proof that, with a little determination and some help from your friends, one person can make a difference.[2]
Soni has deep specialization in plant stress physiology and photosynthesis research. He carried out Doctorate from India (2005) and Post Doctorate from 'University of Geneva, Switzerland' (2007) . During doctorate research, he obtained various internationally-renowned research fellowships and visited many research laboratories in Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland. At the age of 27, Soni was invited by European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Germany) to demonstrate a bacterial transformation practical to the European science teachers.[3] Soni has published many research papers on plant photosynthesis and conservation biology. He is the member of three commissions of IUCN`s Species Survival Commision, World Commission for Protected Area and Commission on Education and Communication.
Awards and Recognitions
- Visiting Research Scientist at CEA, Paris (2011)
- Interviewed by UNESCO (France) in its journal -A World of Science (2010)
- Elected ‘Fellow of Botanical Society’ (2009)[4]
- Profiled as ‘Earth Mover’ by IUCN (2008)[5]
- Post Doctorate Research Fellowship by University of Geneva, Switzerland (2007)
- BioRad Travel Grant to visit EMBL, Germany (2005)
- Short visiting fellowship by University of Geneva, Switzerland (2004)
Selected Publications
- 1. Ulrich Heber, Vineet Soni and R. J. Strasser (2010) “Photoprotection of reaction centers: thermal dissipation of absorbed light energy vs. charge separation in lichens”. Physiologia Plantarum.[6]
- 2. Vineet Soni, P.L. Swarnkar, Vibha Tyagi and L.K.Pareek (2010) “Variation in E- and Z- guggulsterones of Commiphora wightii”. South African Journal of Botany, 76, (3): 421-424.[7]
- 3. Vineet Soni (2010)”Efficacy of in vitro tissue culture versus stem cuttings for propagation of Commiphora wightii in Rajasthan, India”. Conservation Evidence, 7: 91-93.[8]
- 4. Vineet Soni (2010)”Conservation of Commiphora wightii, an endangered medicinal shrub, through propagation and planting, and education awareness programs in the Aravali Hills of Rajasthan, India”, Conservation Evidence, 7: 27-31.[9]
- 5. Vineet Soni (2009) “Threatened wild medicinal plants: who cares?”. Current Science, 96, (7): 875.[10]
- 6. Vineet Soni and Reto J Strasser (2008) “Survival strategies can not be devised, they do exist already” Proceedings of 14th International Congress on Photosynthesis held at Glasgow, Scotland (Editors: J. F. Allen, E. Gantt, J.H. Golbeck and B. Osmond), Springer Netherlands; 1567-1572.[11]
- 7. Vineet Soni and P.L. Swarnkar (2006) “Conservation strategies for Commiphora wightii- an important medicinal plant species” Medicinal Plant Conservation: 12; 40-42.[12]
- 8. Vineet Soni (2006) “Biodiversity loss linked to poverty”. Current Science, 91, (2): 148.[13]
References
- ^ People for plants http://www.iucn.org/iyb/iucn_action_22/around_the_world/?4702/People-for-plants
- ^ Why Vineet Soni is bent on saving the guggul plant http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001884/188440e.pdf
- ^ www.embo.org/documents/tw05_booklet.pdf
- ^ indianbotsoc.org
- ^ IUCN Earth Movers http://www.iucn.org/knowledge/publications_doc/archive/2008_issue3/
- ^ www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21029105
- ^ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254629909003123
- ^ www.conservationevidence.com/download.php?id=2322
- ^ www.conservationevidence.com/download.php?id=2313
- ^ cs-test.ias.ac.in/cs/Downloads/article_43931.pdf
- ^ www.springerlink.com/index/q657w3q1218u3648.pdf
- ^ cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/mpc12.pdf
- ^ www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/jul252006/148.pdf