Research Focus

Plants are rooted in a fixed spot; hence they cannot escape episodes of environmental stress. To cope with stressful conditions a plethora of plant adaptive responses are triggered.

Our lab [Integrative Plant AdaptOmics Lab (iPAL) — demystifying how plants endure climatic stress?] implements an integrative multi-omics approach to capture plant adaptive responses. We are broadly interested in exploring the intricacies of plant-environment interactions at various scales spanning from genes-to-plants-to-ecosystems (PlantAdaptOme).

The specific research interests of the lab lie to advance mechanistic understanding of plant responses to global climate change factors such as rising atmospheric CO₂, temperature, drought, and nutrient stress. For this, we use crops of the Himalayan region and also study Arabidopsis to unravel molecular mechanisms underpinning stress adaptation. 

As an end goal, obtained research findings would be funneled into strategies to develop climate-resilient and resource-efficient plants by utilizing ecological, chemical, genetic engineering, and/or genome editing technologies.

The current research themes of Integrative Plant AdaptOmics Lab (iPAL) are:-

• Ancient Crops for Future Climate (ACCLIMATE)
• High Temperature and Potato Tuberization (Hot-Pot)
• Transgenerational Heat Adaptation (TransHeat)

Achievements / Awards

Fellowships/Awards 

• Young Scientist Award 2022 (Himalayan Phytopathological Society, India).
• NSFC-International Young Scientists Fund from Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), (2020-2021).
• ORISE-Postdoctoral Fellowship from USDA-ARS at Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA (2019-2021, not availed).
• CAS-Postdoctoral Fellowship from Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China (2015-2020).
• GRC & GRS Travel Funding to attend Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Italy (2017, not availed).
• Young Scientist Award nomination at 3rd International Plant Physiology Conference (IPPC), India (2015).
• FWO-Ph.D. Fellowship from Flanders Science Foundation (FWO), Belgium (2010-2014).
• Senior Research Fellowship from Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India (2008-2010).
• Certificate of Merit from H.P. Board of School Education Dharamshala, H.P., India (1999). 

Key Training Courses 

• “EMBL Advanced Course on Whole Transcriptome Data Analysis” at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany, (23rd-25th June 2015).
• “Statistical Analysis of Omics Data” at Wageningen University, Netherlands (13th-17th Dec. 2010).
• “Analysis of Public Microarray Data using Genevestigator” at VIB Ghent, Belgium (6th-9th Nov. 2012).
• “Basic Principles of Statistics” at University of Antwerp, Belgium, (June-July 2012).

 Editorial Roles 

• Feature Editor, Molecular Plant (Cell Press)
• Associate Editor, Plant-Environment and Interactions (Wiley)
• Associate Editor, BMC Plant Biology (BMC-Springer Nature)
• Associate Editor, CABI Agriculture and Bioscience (BMC-Springer Nature)
• Associate Editor, Plant Physiology Reports, formerly known as Indian Journal of Plant Physiology (Springer)
• Review Editor, Frontiers in Plant Science
• Review Editor, Frontiers in Genetics 

Science Outreach

• Plantae Fellow 2019 (American Society of Plant Biology)
• eLife Ambassador 2019 

Major Publications

Scientometrics 

• Total Papers: 43 (Research: 31, Review: 12)
• First / ^#Co-first articles: 9
• *Corresponding author articles: 10
• Book Chapters: 4 (first author: 1; corresponding author: 3)
• Total Impact Factor (IF): 258.80; Average IF: 7.27
• Google Scholar Citations: 2188; H index: 22
• High-impact papers published in journals viz. Trends in Plant Science (IF 22.01), Nature Communications (IF 17.69), Biotechnology Advances (IF 17.60), Journal of Hazardous Materials (IF 14.22), Global Change Biology (IF 13.20), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (IF 12.78), New Phytologist (IF 10.32), Environmental Pollution (IF 9.99), Plant Cell and Environment (IF 7.95), Journal of Experimental Botany (IF 7.30), Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (IF 7.13), Frontiers in Plant Science (IF 6.63), iScience (IF 6.11), Environmental and Experimental Botany (IF 6.03), Physiologia Plantarum (IF 5.08), etc.
• Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/3dhedsff
•  

 Research Articles 

• AbdElgawad H^#, ZintaG^#, Hornbacher J, Papenbrock J, Markakis MN, Asard H, Beemster GTS. Elevated CO₂ mitigates the impact of drought stress by upregulating glucosinolate metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell and Environment. (Accepted) (IF 7.95)
• Dutta M, Raturi V, Gahlaut V, Kumar A, Sharma P, Verma V, Gupta VK, Sood S, Zinta G*. The interplay of DNA methyltransferases and demethylases with tuberization genes in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) genotypes under high temperature. Frontiers in Plant Science. 2022;13. (IF 6.93)
• Wang J, Chen B, Ali S, Zhang T, Wang Y, Zhang H, Wang L, Zhang Y, Xie L, Jiang T, Yin J...Zinta G....Zhang Q. Epigenetic modification associated with climate regulates betulin biosynthesis in birch. Journal of Forestry Research. 2021 Dec 4:1-5. (IF 2.36)
• He L, Zhao C, Zhang Q, Zinta G, Wang D, Lozano-Durán R, Zhu J-K (2021) A pathway conversion enables a double-lock mechanism to maintain DNA methylation and genome stability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS-USA) DOI:10.1073/pnas.2107320118. (IF 12.78)
• AbdElgawad H^#, Schoenaers S^#, Zinta G^#*, Hassan YM, Abdel-Mawgoud M, Alkhalifah DHM, Hozzein WN, Asard H and Abuelsoud W (2021) Soil arsenic toxicity differentially impacts C3 (barley) and C4 (maize) crops under future climate atmospheric CO₂. Journal of Hazardous Materials 414:125331. (IF 14.22)
• AbdElgawad H^#, Zinta G^#*, Abuelsoud W^#, Hassan YM, Alkhalifah DHM, Hozzein WN, Zrieq R, Beemster GT and Schoenaers S (2021) An actinomycete strain of Nocardiopsis lucentensis reduces arsenic toxicity in barley and maize. Journal of Hazardous Materials 417:126055. (IF 14.22)
• Kiran A, Sharma P, Awasthi R, Nayyar H, Seth R, Chandel SS, Siddique KH, Zinta G and Sharma KD (2021) Disruption of carbohydrate and proline metabolism in anthers under low temperature causes pollen sterility in chickpea. Environmental and Experimental Botany 188:104500. (IF 6.03)
• Verma V, Zinta G and Kanwar K (2021) Optimization of efficient direct organogenesis protocol for Punica granatum L. cv. Kandhari Kabuli from mature leaf explants. In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Plant 57:48-59. (IF 2.35)
• AbdElgawad H, Abuelsoud W, Madany MM, Selim S, Zinta G, Mousa AS and Hozzein WN (2020) Actinomycetes enrich soil rhizosphere and improve seed quality as well as productivity of legumes by boosting nitrogen availability and metabolism. Biomolecules 10:1675. (IF 6.06)
• AbdElgawad H^#, Zinta G^#, Hamed BA, Selim S, Beemster G, Hozzein WN, Wadaan MA, Asard H and Abuelsoud W (2020) Maize roots and shoots show distinct profiles of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense under heavy metal toxicity. Environmental Pollution 258:113705. (IF 9.99)
• Bhaskarla V^#, Zinta G^#, Ford R, Jain M, Varshney RK and Mantri N (2020) Comparative root transcriptomics provide insights into drought adaptation strategies in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). International Journal of Molecular Sciences 21:1781. (IF 6.21)
• Madany MM, Zinta G, Abuelsoud W, Hozzein WN, Selim S, Asard H and Abd Elgawad H (2020) Hormonal seed-priming improves tomato resistance against broomrape infection. Journal of Plant Physiology 250:153184. (IF 3.69)
• Yang X, Liu Y, Zhang H, Wang J, Zinta G, Xie S, Zhu W and Nie W-F (2020) Genome-wide identification of circular RNAs in response to low-temperature stress in tomato leaves. Frontiers in Genetics 11:1336. (IF 4.77)
• Zinta G*, AbdElgawad H, Peshev D, Weedon JT, Van den Ende W, Nijs I, Janssens IA, Beemster GT and Asard H (2018) Dynamics of metabolic responses to periods of combined heat and drought in Arabidopsis thaliana under ambient and elevated atmospheric CO₂. Journal of Experimental Botany 69:2159-2170. (IF 7.30)
• He L, Wu W, Zinta G, Yang L, Wang D, Liu R, Zhang H, Zheng Z, Huang H, Zhang Q and Zhu J-K (2018) A naturally occurring epiallele associates with leaf senescence and local climate adaptation in Arabidopsis accessions. Nature Communications 9:1-11. (IF 17.69)
• Hamed SM, Zinta G, Klöck G, Asard H, Selim S and AbdElgawad H (2017) Zinc-induced differential oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus acuminatus. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 140:256-263. (IF 7.13)
• AbdElgawad H^#, Zinta G^#, Hegab MM, Pandey R, Asard H and Abuelsoud W (2016) High salinity induces different oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in maize seedlings organs. Frontiers in Plant Science 7:276. (IF 6.63)
• Hamad I, AbdElgawad H, Al Jaouni S, Zinta G, Asard H, Hassan S, Hegab M, Hagagy N and Selim S (2015) Metabolic analysis of various date palm fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Saudi Arabia to assess their nutritional quality. Molecules 20:13620-13641. (IF 4.93)
• Sinha AK, AbdElgawad H, Zinta G, Dasan AF, Rasoloniriana R, Asard H, Blust R and De Boeck G (2015) Nutritional status as the key modulator of antioxidant responses induced by high environmental ammonia and salinity stress in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). PloS One 10:e0135091. (IF 3.75)
• Sinha AK, Zinta G, AbdElgawad H, Asard H, Blust R and De Boeck G (2015) High environmental ammonia elicits differential oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in five different organs of a model estuarine teleost (Dicentrarchus labrax). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology 174:21-31. (IF 4.52)
• Pandey R, Dubey KK, Ahmad A, Nilofar R, Verma R, Jain V, Zinta G and Kumar V (2015) Elevated CO₂ improves growth and phosphorus utilization efficiency in cereal species under sub-optimal phosphorus supply. Journal of Plant Nutrition 38:1196-1217. (IF 2.28)
• AbdElgawad H, De Vos D, Zinta G, Domagalska MA, Beemster GT and Asard H (2015) Grassland species differentially regulate proline concentrations under future climate conditions: an integrated biochemical and modelling approach. New Phytologist 208:354-369. (IF 10.32)
• AbdElgawad H, Peshev D, Zinta G, Van den Ende W, Janssens IA and Asard H (2014) Climate extreme effects on the chemical composition of temperate grassland species under ambient and elevated CO₂: a comparison of fructan and non-fructan accumulators. PLoS One 9:e92044. (IF 3.75)
• Zinta G, AbdElgawad H, Domagalska MA, Vergauwen L, Knapen D, Nijs I, Janssens IA, Beemster GT and Asard H (2014) Physiological, biochemical, and genome‐wide transcriptional analysis reveals that elevated CO₂ mitigates the impact of combined heatwave and drought stress in Arabidopsis thaliana at multiple organizational levels. Global Change Biology 20:3670-3685. (IF 13.21)
• Sinha AK, AbdElgawad H, Giblen T, Zinta G, De Rop M, Asard H, Blust R and De Boeck G (2014) Anti-oxidative defences are modulated differentially in three freshwater teleosts in response to ammonia-induced oxidative stress. PLoS One 9:e95319. (IF 3.75)
• El-Soud WA, Hegab MM, AbdElgawad H, Zinta G and Asard H (2013) Ability of ellagic acid to alleviate osmotic stress on chickpea seedlings. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 71:173-183. (IF 5.44)
• Hegab M, Abdelgawad H, Abdelhamed M, Hammouda O, Pandey R, Kumar V and Zinta G (2013) Effects of tricin isolated from jungle rice (Echinochloa colona L.) on amylase activity and oxidative stress in wild oat (Avena fatua L.). Allelopathy Journal 31:345. (IF 0.92)
• Sharma A, Zinta G, Rana S and Shirko P (2010) Molecular identification of sex in Hippophae rhamnoides L. using isozyme and RAPD markers. Forestry Studies in China 12:62-66. (IF NA)
• Suhasini H, Bhardwaj S, Rattan R, Kanwar K and Zinta G (2010) Inference on coat protein evolution of Lily Symptomless Carlavirus in India and abroad based on motifs study and phylogenetic analysis. Journal of Proteomics Bioinformatics 3:204-211. (IF NA)
• Shirkot P, Bhuria M and Zinta G (2009) Identification of gender in dioecious Hippophae salicifolia using isozyme as sex markers. Indian Journal of Forestry 32:231-237. (IF NA)
• Patial H, Shirkot P, Bhalla R and Zinta G (2007) Assessment of genetic variability in Carnation (Dianthus Caryophyllus Linn.) using isozymes as molecular markers. Journal of Ornamental Horticulture 10:78-84. (IF NA) 

• Book Chapters/Protocols  

• Dutta M, Singh RK, Zinta G*. Genomic Approaches to Improve Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Apple (Malus× domestica). In Genomic Designing for Abiotic Stress Resistant Fruit Crops 2022 (pp. 1-17). Springer, Cham.
• Kundu P, Goel K, Zinta G* (2022) Nutritional imbalance in plants under rising atmospheric CO₂, in Plant Nutrition and Food Security in the Era of Climate Change pp 513-536, Academic Press.
• Miki D^#, Zinta G^#, Zhang W, Peng F, Feng Z and Zhu J-K (2021) CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing toolbox for Arabidopsis thaliana, in Arabidopsis Protocols pp 121-146, Springer.
• Khan A and Zinta G* (2016) Drought stress and chromatin: an epigenetic perspective, in Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2 pp 571-586, Springer. 

• Review Articles  

• Mali S, Dutta M, Zinta G*. Genome editing advancements in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.): operational challenges and solutions. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 2022 Dec 16:1-3. (IF 1.53)
• Satyakam, Zinta G, Singh RK, Kumar R. Cold adaptation strategies in plants—An emerging role of epigenetics and antifreeze proteins to engineer cold resilient plants. Frontiers in Genetics. 2022;13. (IF 4.77)
• Jaiswal V, Kakkar M, Kumari P, Zinta G*, Gahlaut V, Kumar S. Multifaceted roles of GRAS transcription factors in growth and stress responses in plants. iScience. 2022 Aug 28:105026. (IF 6.11)
• Gautam T, Dutta M, Jaiswal V, Zinta G, Gahlaut V and Kumar S (2022) Emerging roles of SWEET sugar transporters in plant development and abiotic stress responses. Cells. (IF 7.67)
• Chourasia NK, More S, Kumar A, Kumar D, Singh B, Bhardwaj V, Kumar A, Das SK, Singh RK, Zinta G*, Tiwari RK, Lal MK. (2022) Salinity tolerance mechanisms in underground vegetable crops – A review. Planta. (IF 4.54)
• Lal MK, Tiwari RK, Gahlaut V, Mangal V, Kumar A, Singh MP, Paul V, Kumar S, Singh B, Zinta G*. Physiological and molecular insights on wheat responses to heat stress. Plant Cell Reports. 2021 Sep 20:1-8. (IF 4.96)
• Tiwari RK, Lal MK, Kumar R, Chourasia KN, Naga KC, Kumar D, Das SK and Zinta G* (2021) Mechanistic insights on melatonin‐mediated drought stress mitigation in plants. Physiologia Plantarum 172:1212-1226. (IF 5.08)
• Gahlaut V, Zinta G, Jaiswal V and Kumar S (2020) Quantitative epigenetics: a new avenue for crop improvement. Epigenomes 4:25. (IF NA)
• Srivastava AK, Lu Y, Zinta G, Lang Z and Zhu J-K (2018) UTR-dependent control of gene expression in plants. Trends in Plant Science 23:248-259. (IF 22.01)
• Zinta G*, Khan A, AbdElgawad H, Verma V and Srivastava AK (2016) Unveiling the redox control of plant reproductive development during abiotic stress. Frontiers in Plant Science 7:700. (IF 6.63)
• AbdElgawad H, Zinta G^#, Beemster GT, Janssens IA and Asard H (2016) Future climate CO₂ levels mitigate stress impact on plants: increased defense or decreased challenge? Frontiers in Plant Science 7:556. (IF 6.63)
• Pandey R, Zinta G, AbdElgawad H, Ahmad A, Jain V and Janssens IA (2015) Physiological and molecular alterations in plants exposed to high [CO₂] under phosphorus stress. Biotechnology Advances 33:303-316. (IF 17.60)  

Patents

N.A.

Research Group

Looking forward to building a scientific team of highly motivated and innovative researchers. If you have your own independent Ph.D./PostDoc fellowship or want to explore such options — you are welcome to get in touch with me via email.

Research Group Members: (Dr. Gaurav Zinta,  Komal Goel, Pravesh Kundu, Madhushree Dutta, Vidhi Raturi, Roshankumar Jadhav, Ravi Kumar, Surbhi Mali, Shiwali Thakur, Sanjeet Kumar, and Narender Kumar)

1) Komal Goel is a Ph.D. research scholar. She has qualified CSIR-NET-JRF 2019 with an All India Rank (AIR) of 83. She did her schooling at St. John’s School, Faridabad, Haryana. She did B.Sc. Botany from the University of Delhi, and M.Sc. in Botany from Dolphin Institute of Biomedical & Natural Sciences, Dehradun. Her dissertation work was on "Phytochemical and antioxidant activities of citrus fruit juices." Also, she worked as a trainee for three months in the project entitled "Propagation and management of bamboo" under the Green Skill Development Program of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, GOI. 

The key area of her research interest includes climate change biology, plant stress physiology and plant reproductive biology. In her Ph.D., she is exploring the thermosensitivity of C3 and C4 pseudocereals of Amaranthaceae by implementing microscopic, transcriptomics and molecular biology tools. 

Her hobbies include trekking, reading, cooking, dancing, and exploring unexplored areas.  

2) Pravesh Kundu is a Ph.D. research scholar.  She has qualified CSIR-UGC-NET-JRF in 2019 with an All India Rank (AIR) of 94, and qualified other national exams (GATE and CUCET) as well. She did her schooling at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Kaithal, Haryana. She did her B.Sc. and B.Ed. at Kurukshetra University, Haryana. She did her M.Sc. Botany from Punjabi University, Patiala. Her dissertation work was on "Taxonomic study on hyphomycetes of Chunni Kalan (Punjab)." 

The key areas of her research interest include plant stress physiology and plant molecular biology. In her Ph.D., she is conducting nutritional genomics studies in pseudocereals of Amaranthaceae and will use approaches from metabolomics, transcriptomics and molecular biology. 

Her hobbies are reading, cooking and trekking. 

3) Madhushree Dutta is a Ph.D. research scholar and holds a UGC-JRF fellowship and qualified other national exams (GATE and CUCET) as well. 

She earned M.Sc. Botany (Hons.) from the University of Calcutta with a specialization in plant physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology.  Her M.Sc. dissertation was on “Regulation of carbohydrate metabolism by arsenic in two rice cultivars and their possible alteration by phosphate.” After M.Sc., she worked as a Project JRF for two years on a UGC-sponsored project, “Utilization of brassica seed meal as a bioherbicide for weed management in wheat.” So far, she has published one research article and a review article. 

Madhushree received the Honorable Dr. Parimal Kumar Roy Memorial Award and Dr. Ramendra Krishna Sarkar Memorial Award for her academic records.  

The key areas of research interest include plant stress physiology, genomics, and climate change biology. In her Ph.D., she is dissecting molecular mechanisms underlying high temperature responses in potato with emphasis on tuberization process.   

During her leisure hours, she devotes time to educate the upcoming aspirants preparing for various life science exams by incorporating smart strategies into the education system and making learning more exciting and fun. She also loves to write and currently working on a memoir.  

4) Vidhi Raturi is a Ph.D. research scholar and has qualified Joint CSIR-UGC NET JRF 2019 with an All-India Rank (AIR) of 83 and GATE-XL in 2020. 

She did her schooling at Saraswati Vidya Mandir Inter College, Avas-Vikas, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. She did her M.Sc. in Botany from Pt. LMS Govt. PG College, Rishikesh (affiliated to HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal), Uttarakhand. Her dissertation work was on “Jatropha curcas: A Future Sustainable Fuel”. Also, she has done a 7-week course on "Understanding Plant I- What a Plant Knows" & a 4-week course on "Understanding Plants II- Fundamentals of Plant Biology", delivered by Prof. Daniel Chamovitz of Tel Aviv University, Israel. 

Vidhi has received the Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) component under INSPIRE SCHEME of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) for 5 years during her graduation and post-graduation for her excellent academic records. 

The key areas of her research interest include plant signaling & behavior, sensory plant biology, molecular plant stress biology and climate change biology. 

In her Ph.D., she is elucidating high-temperature sensing and signaling network in Arabidopsis thaliana. Also, she will dissect the adaptive mechanisms underlying recurrent heat stress exposure (heat stress memory). 

In her spare time, she enjoys doing photography, watching cricket, reading books, and traveling. Apart from this, she likes to listen to folk music from different regions of India and explore various cultures and traditions of India.

5) Roshankumar Jadhav is a Project Associate in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P.

Roshan has qualified ICAR-NET 2019 in Agriculture Biotechnology. Also, Roshan qualified DBT-JNU-CEEEB (Jawaharlal Nehru University Combined Entrance Examination for Biotechnology) with India Rank-15 and ICAR-AIEEA (All India Entrance Examination for Admission) with All India Rank-66 in Plant Biotechnology subject.

Roshan completed his M.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from G.B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. His dissertation work entitled “Molecular cloning, expression and characterization of methionine-rich prolamin seed storage protein gene (FimP2) of finger millet (Eleusine coracana)” Patent File No. 201811033469. He did his B.Sc. honors from Vilasrao Deshmukh College of Agriculture Biotechnology, Latur under Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Agricultural University (VNMAU), Parbhani, Maharashtra.

After M.Sc., he worked on the characterization of rice sucrose transporter as a JRF and SRF at ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research (IIRR), Hyderabad in the “Aerobic Rice Project”. In September 2020, he joined as a Project Associate-II at DBT-National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), and worked on the project focusing on large-scale phenotyping of rice landraces for photosynthesis and related traits.

His major research interests are molecular biology, plant physiology, and plant stress physiology. He is also interested in protein engineering and bioinformatics. Currently, he is working on engineering efficient photosynthetic machinery in plants. 

He likes to travel, play cricket, listen to music, and surf the internet in his leisure time.

6) Ravi Kumar is pursuing a Ph.D. with Dr. Vishal Acharya in Functional Genomics and Complex Systems Lab at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P. Also, he is working as a Project Associate in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta and contributing to the next-generation sequencing data analysis.

Ravi did his M.Sc. in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics from the Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala, with a specialization in Computational Systems Biology. His M.Sc. dissertation was “Modelling cell cycle regulation and synchronize oscillation in NF-kB signaling”. Ravi did his graduation from Govt. College Palampur (affiliated with Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla).

Previously, he worked as a Project Associate in the project entitled “Development of high-throughput genotyping platform for next-generation plant breeding in tea” at CSIR-IHBT. He also worked as a Project fellow for two years on a CSIR-sponsored project, “Genomics and Informatics Solution for Integrating Biology (GENESIS)” at CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB). So far, he has published three research articles in SCI journals and two book chapters.

The key areas of his research interest include plant stress signaling, network biology, next-generation sequencing, and big data analysis. For his Ph.D., he is developing machine and deep learning algorithms and their application in plant-pathogen interactions.

His hobbies include trekking, playing cricket, and reading.

7) Surbhi Mali is a Ph.D. research scholar in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P.

Surbhi qualified DBT-BET 2021 (Category-I) and ICAR-SRF 2021 with AIR-88 in Plant Biotechnology.

She did her schooling at Ascent International Senior Secondary School, Udaipur, Rajasthan. She did her B.Sc. in Agriculture (Honours) from Rajasthan College of Agriculture, MPUAT, Rajasthan and M.Sc. in Agricultural Biotechnology from CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, H.P. Her dissertation work was on “Identification and characterization of sugar transport genes in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)”.

Surbhi was a recipient of the Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) component under INSPIRE SCHEME of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and University Rank Merit Scholarship (for top rankers) for four years (2015-2019) during her graduation.
She also qualified DBT-JNU-CEEB in 2019 with AIR-27.

The key areas of her research interest include sugar signalling & metabolism, source-sink dynamics, epigenetic regulation and plant molecular biology.

In her Ph.D., she is dissecting the regulation of source-sink relations under environmental fluctuations in potato (Solanum tuberosum).

During her spare time, she likes to teach GAT-B aspirants. She also loves dancing, painting, crafting and travelling.

8) Shiwali Thakur is a Project Associate in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P.

Shiwali did her schooling at D.A.V Public School Gohju, Kangra, H.P. She did her M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana. She was an ICAR nominee. Her M.Sc. dissertation work was on “Allele mining on phosphorus starvation tolerance (PSTOL1) in wild species of rice", which led to a publication in Frontiers in Plant Science.

The key areas of her research interest include plant stress biology, plant molecular biology and climate change biology.

While working as a project associate at CSIR-IHBT, she is exploring phosphate starvation stress responses in C4 pseudocereal grain amaranths (Amaranth spp.).

She enjoys reading novels, cooking different cuisines and playing badminton. She also likes to listen to the music of different genres like qawwali, rock, jazz, etc., and explore various cultures and traditions.

9) Sanjeet Kumar (Lab Technician)

10) Narender Kumar (Lab Assistant) 

ALUMNI

1) Aryaman Dewan: Aryaman was a trainee in the lab from 22nd to 26th March 2021. He was a 12th class student from Step by Step School, Noida.

Now he is pursuing graduation in Biology with a specialization in Genetics from Purdue University Main Campus-West Lafayette, USA

2) Paras Sharma: Paras was a Research Trainee in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P. from August 2021 to June 2022.

Paras did B.Sc. Horticulture from VCSG Uttarakhand University of Horticultural and Forestry, Bharsar, Pauri Uttarakhand. During the final year of his bachelor’s, he worked as a research intern for three months at ICAR-Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. He worked on the molecular characterization of a potato heat-tolerant somatic hybrid variety by performing SSR analysis, tissue culture, and aeroponics. His major research interests are plant breeding, molecular breeding, plant physiology, plant stress physiology. He is also interested in bioinformatics. He worked on engineering photosynthetic and tuberization-specific genes.

Now he is pursuing M.Sc. in Plant Science offered by University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA), France, in conjunction with Università Degli Studi di Milano (UNIMI) Italy.

3) Ayush Kumar: Ayush was a trainee in the lab from Jan 2022 to June 2022. In the lab, he did his six months dissertation entitled “Molecular cloning and characterization of seed shattering genes in pseudocereals”.

Ayush did his schooling at Manav Rachna International School, Faridabad, Haryana, and currently pursuing B.Tech in Biotechnology (2018-2022) from Jaipur National University, Jaipur, Rajasthan.
He won the best poster presentation in the National Seminar on “Adolescent health with emphasis on diagnosis and treatment of diseases” held at S.S. Jain Subodh College of Global Excellence, Jaipur, Rajasthan. He also stood 2nd in an impromptu competition held at Jaipur National University and has won several certificates in sports, skits, street play, etc.

Currently, he is preparing for M.Tech. exams.