Brief Profile
Tony Grace PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Genomic Science, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, Kerala, India, 671320
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA 66506.
Ph.D. Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA
Ph.D, IARI, New Delhi, INDIA
Diploma in Computer Applications
Diploma in Computer Programming
EDUCATION
Dr. Tony Grace completed his PhD in Genetics from Kansas State University, Manhattan, USA and has another PhD from IARI New Delhi and two diplomas in Computer Applications. He worked as Post-Doctoral Research Associate and Project Manager of the Bioinformatics Centre at Kansas State University, USA for many years before joining the Central University of Kerala.
PUBLICATIONS
He has more than 40 International and National publications in high impact journals like Nature Scientific Reports [IF-5.0 ],Current Biology [Impact Factor-11], Molecular Ecology [IF-7.5], Microbial Ecology, [IF-4.7] Gig Science [IF- 9.3], Molecular Ecology Notes/Resources [IF-8.6] , Biomedicines [IF-4.7] among others. He is on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Nematology, UK, and is a scientific reviewer for many international journals.
TEACHING
Tony Grace has won several accolades for his teaching. He was twice selected among top 10% teachers, the highest rating for teachers at Kansas State University, USA with over 22000 students and 1500 Faculty members. [Overall effectiveness as a teacher index of 4.9/5.0 and 4.7/5.0] .Evolutionary Biology, Population Genetics and Bioinformatics, the courses he offers at the Central University of Kerala have had the highest enrolled classes with more than 150 MSc students in a batch.
GRANTS/ RESEARCH AWARDS
As PI and Co-PI, Dr Tony Grace has obtained 10 research grants from funding agencies including 6 from USA [US Department of Agriculture, US National Science Foundation USA, American Philosophical Society and Kansas Academy of Sciences], and 4 Grants from India [DST, DBT and KSCSTE] totaling more than Rs 2 crores
RESEARCH GUIDANCE
PhD : 8 Completed, 3 in progress
MPhil : 7 completed
MSc : 56 completed
MD/ DNB : 3 students
High School : 4 Students
AWARDS
15 International and National Awards/Honors.
1. Best PhD Student Award, Kansas State University (Outstanding Graduate Research Performance Award) [ 2006]
2. Presidents Prize for Best research presentation (twice), USA 2004, [2005]
3. 6th rank nationally in JRF examination India [1998]
4. Lillian and Alex Feir Graduate Student Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, Toxicology and Molecular Biology for US $ 1000. (National level Award Competition, [2006]
5. Don C Warren Genetic Fund Award [Outstanding contributions in Genetics] US $1000 [2003 and 2004 twice]
MENTORING/STUDENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Having experience studying and working abroad in USA, Dr Tony mentors and provides opportunities to students who wish to pursue higher studies abroad. More than 12 students have so far secured PhD positions in USA, Europe and Israel through the Higher education groups that he is coordinating at Central University of Kerala. Many of his Lab Alumni areworking abroad in prestigious Universities and Institutes like National Institute of Health, [NIH] Maryland, Columbia University New York, MaxPlank Germany and University of Texas Medical Center in Houston. Two of his students have won the Prestigious Marie Curie fellowship for PhD through International Competition. Many of his Msc and PhD students have won National awards for best research Presentations in the past years. Dr Tony also mentors school and college students and a high school student under his guidance Ashrai Kumar was selected for the International Iris Fair twice and was the only student from Kerala selected for this prestigious science meeting of innovative young researchers.
Publications [Selected]
1. Kannoth, S., Ali, N., Prasanth, G.K.......Tony Grace (2023) Transcriptome analysis of Corvus splendens reveals a repertoire of antimicrobial peptides. Nature Sci. Rep. 13, 18728 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45875-w [IF 5.0]
2. Achuthkumar, A.; Uchamballi, S.; Arvind, K.; Vasu, D.A.; Varghese, S.; Ravindran, R.; Grace, T. (2023) Transcriptome Profiling of Rhipicephalus annulatus Reveals Differential Gene Expression of Metabolic Detoxifying Enzymes in Response to Acaricide Treatment. Biomedicines. 11,1369 .https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines1105 1369 [IF 4.9]
3. Hembrom, P.S., Barik, S., Deepthi, M. et al. Influence of gut microbiome on health and development of penaeid shrimps. Aquatic Sci 86, 4 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/ s00027-023-01018-x [IF 3.7]
4. Deepthi, M., Arvind, K., Saxena, R. Tony Grace.(2023). Exploring variation in the fecal microbial communities of Kasaragod Dwarf and Holstein crossbred cattle. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 116, 53–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-022-01791-z [IF 2.8]
5. Rajeev, Aparna & Sahu, Nishi & Arvind, Kumar & Deori, Maushumi & Grace, Tony & Dev, Suma & Yadav, Vijay & Ghosh, Ilora. (2021). Exploring Prevalence of Potential Pathogens and Fecal Indicators in Geographically Distinct River Systems through Comparative Metagenomics. Environmental Pollution. 282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117003. [IF 9.9]
6. D B Dhakan, A Maji, A K Sharma, R Saxena, J Pulikkan, T Grace, A Gomez, J Scaria, K R Amato, V K Sharma(2019) The unique composition of Indian gut microbiome, gene catalogue, and associated fecal metabolome deciphered using multi-omics approaches, GigaScience, 8(3), March 2019, giz004, https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giz004 [IF:- 9.238]
7. Joby Pulikkan, Abhijit Maji, Darshan Bharat Dhakan, Rituja Saxena, Binoop Mohan, Tony Grace*, Vineet K. Sharma* (2018). Gut microbial dysbiosis in Indian children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), Microbial Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1176-2 pp1-13. [IF:- 4.7]
8. Chaoyang Zhao, Hang Chen, Tony Grace, Jiaxin Quet al., (2015). A massive expansion of effector genes underlies gall-formation in the wheat pest Mayetiola destructor Hessian fly Genome Consortium. Current Biology 25(5) 613–620 [IF:- 10.9]
9. Kumar Arvind, Ginny Antony, M.K. Rajesh, A. Josephrajkumar, Tony Grace (2023). Reference genes for expression studies in different developmental stages of Oryctes rhinoceros, the coconut rhinoceros beetle,Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology,26,(2) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2023.102066 [IF 1.6]
10. Dineshkumar K．, Tony Grace, Ginny Antony, (2023) Long-read genome sequence data of pomegranate bacterial blight pathogen Xanthomonascitripv. punicae119,Data in Brief,(46),108849,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108849. [IF-1.2]
11. Zachary T. Lounsberry, Juliana B. Almeida, Tony Grace, Richard B. Lanctot, Joe Liebezeit, Brett K. Sandercock, Khara, M. Strum, Steve Zack, and Samantha M. Wisely, (2014) Range-wide conservation genetics of buff-breasted sandpipers . AUK 130 (3) 429-439 [IF-2.8]
12. Grace, T, Joern, A, Wisely,S., Brown, S.J., (2010). Divergent Host plant adaptation drives the evolution of reproductive isolation in the grasshopper Hesperotettix viridis in the absence of reinforcement. Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 100 (4) 866-878 [IF-2.3]
13. Apple, J., Grace, T., Joern, A., Amand, P and Wisely, S (2010): Comparative genome scan detects host-related divergent selection in the grasshopper Hesperotettix viridis Molecular Ecology 19 (18) 4012-4028 [IF:- 6.62]
14. Grace, T., Kambhampati, S. and Subramanyam, B. (2005). Characterization of Polymorphic microsatellite markers in the Indianmeal moth Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Molecular Ecology Resources 5, 321–324. [IF-8.7]
15. Chakrabarti, S., Kambhampati, S., Grace, T. and Zurek, L. (2004). Characterization of microsatellite loci in the housefly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) Molecular Ecology Resources 4, 728-730. [IF-8.7]
Book Chapters
1. Barik, S., Mukherjee, A., Job Kolady, A., Karunakar, B., & Grace, T. (2023). Gut Microbial Metabolite Trimethylamine-N-Oxide and Its Role in Cardiovascular Diseases. IntechOpen. BOOK TITLE: Novel Pathogenesis and Treatments for Cardiovascular Disease ISBN: 978-1-80356-116-5. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.107976
2. U. Shamjana and T. Grace, ‘Review of Insecticide Resistance and Its Underlying Mechanisms in Tribolium castaneum’, Insecticides - Impact and Benefits of Its Use for Humanity. IntechOpen, Nov. 16, 2022. doi: 10.5772/intechopen.100050.
3. Pulikkan J, Mazumder A, Grace T. (2019) Role of the Gut microbiome in autism spectrum disorders. Adv Exp Med Biol. Springer Nature 2019 ;1118:253–269. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-05542-4_13
4. S.V. Ramesh, Ginny Antony, Tony Grace and M.K. Rajesh (2017) Transgenics-Cocoa. In book: Biotechnology of Plantation Crops Astral Publishers Editors: P. Chowdappa, Anitha Karun, M.K. Rajesh, S.V. Ramesh 581-587
5. Grace, T and Antony, G. (2007). RNAi, a novel approach to the management of Insect and Nematode borne diseases. In. Management of Insect and Nematode borne diseases. Ed. Mukherjee, S.K and Saxena, G. Haworth Press New York. 258-283 (Book Chapter).