Pioneer Member

Ravinder Jain – I met Prof Khurana in 1984 when I was an MSc student at the Dept of Botany in Delhi University. He was a PhD student then and was known just as JP or Khurana. He was also a demonstrator in our plant physiology lab. We were impressed with his knowledge of the subject matter. More so, he was a caring person and someone you could approach for not only subject matter questions but also for mentoring questions such as which special paper to take, which book to study, and where to apply for further studies. He seemed to have an anecdote for every question we asked. We immediately took to liking him. He was like a big brother to us.

After finishing my MSc, I wanted to do a PhD and study abroad. This was the year 1986 when there was no internet. Any information was not easy to find. Several of us came from middle class background and were the first ones to go to the university. Khurana was a godsend to many of us.

Instead of convincing us to join his lab, he encouraged us to apply abroad. He knew of several students who had gone abroad to study and suggested us to apply in those universities. He personally wrote letters for us to those students asking for their advice. Once we got admitted, he again asked for which lab/university to choose from. Remember there were no emails then. It took a month for the whole process to complete by mail.

I went on to do my PhD in Canada and then worked in research and patent law in Canada and the USA. I did not have a typical academic career, but Prof. Khurana played an important role in my professional and personal life, and I was able to build a good life in Canada.

His generosity motivated me to mentor students and new immigrants in Canada through an educational franchise and volunteering work. I hope others will be motivated by his acts of kindness and try to make this world a better place.

Yogesh Sharma & Manoj Sharma – It was a great stroke of luck that we came to first meet Dr. Jitendra Paul (JP) Khurana in 1983 in the Department of Botany of University of Delhi in India where we were masters (MSc) students. Dr. Khurana, who was a recent Ph.D. and a research fellow in the department, was assisting, along with other research fellows, Prof. Satish Maheshwari in teaching the practical component of the Plant Physiology course. While Dr. Khurana was a great teacher and a research scholar, his easy demeanor with a pleasant smile greatly endeared him to the students. That plant physiology class influenced both of us to enroll in a yearlong special Plant Cell and Molecular Biology class with Professor Maheshwari. That class allowed us to embed ourselves in Prof. Maheshwari’s research lab where Dr. Khurana along with other research fellows became our mentors. We clearly recall that Dr. Khurana was always very approachable and very generous with his time guiding us not only on our research projects but also in showing us future research opportunities for graduate work outside the Botany Department. He provided invaluable guidance and connected us with his friends in the prestigious National Institute of Immunology (NII) and Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. These connections helped us start our research careers in NII. After spending a year in NII, one of us (YS) got an opportunity to come to the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a PhD in Botany, While MS continued his PhD in immunology at NII. Dr. Khurana was instrumental in guiding YS to join the PhD program in UT Austin. We can say without any doubt whatsoever that without the generous guidance and mentorship provided by Dr. Khurana, our lives would not have led us to successful professional careers in the USA. By the time we finished our respective PhD programs and advanced in our research careers as post docs, (MS at UCSD and YS at the Ohio State University), Dr. Khurana had become a renowned scientist in his own right after discovering important Arabidopsis mutants (JK218 and JK224) that were altered in their blue light reception and phototropism. Discovery of these mutants was a seminal and groundbreaking discovery that eventually paved the path to isolation of the blue-light photoreceptor gene by Dr. Mannie Liscum in the lab of Dr. Winslow Briggs at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. While Dr. Khurana went on to become a major contributor to plant biology research in general, and specially in India by becoming a Professor and Head of the Department of Plant Molecular Biology at Delhi University, one of his most impactful legacies is his life-altering mentorship of numerous students like us. We hope to carry his legacy forward by being a positive force for change in other people’s lives.