Dr. Muthamilarasan earned his post-graduate degree in Biotechnology from Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, and got PhD in plant biotechnology from the National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi. During his PhD tenure, Dr. Muthu worked on developing genetic and genomic resources in foxtail millet and demonstrated their usefulness in large-scale genotyping applications, including germplasm characterization, genetic/physical map construction, marker-trait association, genetic diversity analysis and comparative mapping of panicoid species. At the University of Hyderabad, research team is studying several pre-harvest and post-harvest traits in foxtail millet, and his students are extensively involved in field and lab work. In addition, Dr. Muthamilarasan’s team is also studying the role of stress-responsive genes to answer why and how millets can survive harsh climatic conditions. The research team uses next-generation sequencing approaches to decode the genes at transcriptomic and genomic levels to answer scientific questions.

In recognition of his scientific contributions, he has been awarded several national and international awards, such as DBT-Innovative Young Biotechnologist Fellowship (2023), INSA Young Scientist Medal (2018), NASI Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award (2018), USIEF-Fulbright Alumni Award (2019), Indo-Australian Career Boosting Gold Fellowship (2017), Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship (2015), etc. In 2024, he is elected as INSA Young Associate. He is also a Member of the prestigious Indian National Young Academy of Sciences, India. He also serves as Associate Editor of Journal of Plant Physiology, Heliyon (Cell Press), Academic Editor of Plos One, Review Editor of Frontiers in Plant Sciences and Frontiers in Genetics.

As an early-career researcher, Muthamilarasan has secured extra-mural funding to the tune of 250 lakhs from different funding agencies. With all the work on millet genomics done in India, Muthamilarasan has published several research articles, reviews, and popular articles in journals of international repute. The total citation of his publications is 4700+, the h-index is 37, and the i10-index is 60.

In addition to doing science, Dr. Muthu routinely travels to the rural areas of Tamil Nadu to deliver popular lectures in the area of career development to school and college students. His book on ‘Fellowship and funding opportunities for school students’ is popular among educationalists and policymakers.