Brief profile of the staff

 Dr. G. A. I. EBENEZER

Joined the Madras Christian College and the Department of Botany as a student to receive collegiate education in the year 1980 and duly completed B.Sc. and M.Sc. Degrees during 1985. Subsequently completed M.Phil. Degree in Plant Growth and Development, "Developmental and physiological studies on the spikelet of rice (Oryza sativa  L. cv. IR-50)"; Joined as a faculty member in 1990. Worked for Ph.D. degree on "Histochemical and developmental studies on germinating rice grains" and successfully completed and received the doctoral degree in the year 1999 from the University of Madras. Area of specialization is Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology. He has been teaching Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Plant Tissue Culture as well as Biotechnology for both Graduate and Post-Graduate students. Presented a paper at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) on invitation in the year 2000. Guided 38 M. Sc. and as many as 13 M. Phil. Research Projects. Published 9 research papers in reputed journals and presented 26 research papers in various National and International conferences and Symposia. Received grants from Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCS&T) to guide student projects at PG level and UGC grants to conduct a Certificate Course on "Medicinal Plant Tissue Culture".  Maintaining the best Tissue Culture Laboratory in the Department of Botany; Gained expertise in Microscopy, Histochemistry, Photography and Instrumentation; Has been appointed Curator of the college since June 2007; Served as the Staff Advisor to the College Union Society; Presently guiding 3 Ph.D. and 3 M.Phil. research scholars; Currently interested in Medicinal Plants Cell Culture and Isolation of Active Principle for mass production. Served as a member of various administrative committees in the college.

Dr. E. JOYCE SUDANDARA PRIYA

Graduated from Women's Christian College, Chennai in 1990 and subsequently completed M. Sc. degree in Botany from the Madras Christian College (Autonomous) the year 1992; joined for M. Phil. research in Molecular Biology and Genetics in the same Department in 1993; Worked on the cytotoxic effect of chemical pesticides on onion root meristems and mice foetus in comparison to the effect of neem pesticide for the doctoral degree in the field of Cytogenetics at the Department of Botany, Pachaiyappa's College and obtained Ph. D. degree from the University of Madras in 2000;  Served as a lecturer in  the Women's Christian College, Chennai for two years (1999 - 2001); joined Madras Christian College (Autonomous) during August 2002 and, since then teaching Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Genetics for the under graduate and post graduate students. Published and presented papers in journals and international seminars respectively; Guided M. Phil and post graduate students for projects.

Dr. S. RAVI SHANKAR

S. Ravi Shankar, a complete product of Madras Christian College (Autonomous) took his B. Sc. and M. Sc. Degrees from the Department of Botany, MCC during 1992-1997. Immediately after his completion of P.G. Degree, he joined for his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. P. Dayanandan on ‘Histochemical Studies on Developing Caryopsis and Germinating Seed of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench'; his research work was highly commended and was awarded a Ph.D. Degree in Botany by the University of Madras in the year 2003. He joined the Department as a teaching faculty in 2003.  Since then he has been teaching  Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Bioinformatics and Computer Training for Graduate students. He teaches Plant Physiology & Biochemistry and Pteridophytes for Post-Graduate students. Area of specialization is Plant Histochemistry and his areas of research interests are Cereal Histochemistry, Pharmacognosy, Developmental Botany and Mircoscopy. He has presented papers in seminars and actively participated in workshops and conferences. He regularly guides student projects at M. Sc. level. His general areas of interest are Photography, Gardening and Field Expeditions.

Mrs. JEYA RATHI JABEZ

Graduated in 1998 from Kamaraj College, Tuticorin, affiliated to  the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli and subsequently completed M. Sc. degree  in 2000 at the Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College, Sivakasi, affiliated to the  Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai; Obtained M. Phil. degree in Environmental Science in the year 2002 from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai; during this year cleared UGC (NET); Area of specialization is  Bioremediation and Environmental Biotechnology; served as a lecturer in V. V. V. College for Women, Virudhunagar for an year and joined the  Madras Christian College (Autonomous) in the year 2003;  Has been teaching Environmental Studies, Industrial Microbiology, for past 5 years for the  B. Sc. major  and Ancillary Botany for the B. Sc. vi students; Teaching and guiding M. Sc. students in research projects in Environmental Science; published and presented paper "On the Growth and Biochemical characteristics of Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Medikus" at the National Conference on "Recent Trends in Biotechnology" (NCRTB), University of Kerala and  has received the "Young Scientist Award" for the paper presentation. 

P. SELVA SINGH RICHARD

Selva Singh Richard joined the Department of Botany, Madras Christian College (Autonomous) and completed his B. Sc. and M. Sc. degrees in Botany from this Department during 1998 to 2003. He joined for M. Phil. research in Palynology and duly submitted a thesis on ‘Histochemical Studies of Major Food Reserves in Pollen-A Preliminary Report' and obtained M. Phil. Degree in 2005; Joined as a faculty member in the Department in the year 2004 and has been teaching Allied Botany - I, Horticulture and Seed Technology, Plant-animal interaction for Graduate students and Research methodology, Instrumentation and Use of Computers for M. Sc. Students. Area of specialization is Palynology with special reference to Pollen Biotechnology; Guided M. Sc. student research projects, since 2006; Attended a workshop   organized at the French Institute, Pondicherry in 2007 and presented a paper. Currently interested in Pollen Systematics with special reference to Pollen Biochemistry.