Usha Barwale Zehr, Ph.D.

Usha Barwale Zehr, Ph.D.
Joint Director of Research
Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company

In addition to her position as Joint Director of Research at Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds, Usha Barwale Zehr is Deputy Director of Biotechnology. She is also director of the Mahyco Research Foundation.

Zehr received her Ph.D in agronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987. She held positions as a researcher at the University of Illinois from 1983 to 1990. From 1991-1996 she was a geneticist at Purdue University, studying sorghum and millet.

Her research interests focus on the application of plant biotechnology for improving agricultural production. During her graduate and post-graduate studies, she worked in the area of tissue culture and transformation. Her group at the University of Illinois was the first to develop a system for soybean regeneration. As a result of her work at Purdue University, the first transgenic sorghum plant was produced. Her work in plant biotechnology is aimed toward implementing emerging technologies in the developing world.