Education: B.Sc., PAU, Ludhiana (1996); M.Sc., PAU, Ludhiana (1998); Ph.D., PAU, Ludhiana (2002)

Positions held: Senior Biotechnologist, PAU Ludhiana (2020 onwards),

Field of Specialization: Plant biotechnology

Research Interests:

1. Tissue culture and Genetic transformation of crop plants.
2. Molecular biology

Research Projects:

1. Genetic transformation of sugarcane and molecular characterization of putative transgenic sugarcane plants having DREB1A gene.

Selected Research Publications :

1. Pavani G, Malhotra PK, and Verma SK (2023) Flowering in sugarcane?insights from the grasses. 3Biotech (2023) 13:154.
2. Kaura V, Malhotra PK, Mittal A, Sanghera GS, Kaur N, Bhardwaj RD, Cheema RS, Kaur G (2022). Physiological, biochemical, and gene expression responses of sugarcane under cold, drought and salt stresses. J. Plant Growth Regul. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-022-10850-8.
3. Malhotra PK, Sanghera GS, Kaur M, and Kapoor M (2022) Optimization of selective agents for in vitro regeneration of sugarcane transformants using nptii gene. Agric Res J 59 (4) : 631-638, DOI No. 10.5958/2395-146X.2022.00092.8
4. Dhall RK, Hegde SN, Malhotra PK (2022) Standardized protocol for in situ and in vitro maintenance of newly developed parthenocarpic gynoecious cucumber inbred. Braz Arch Biol Technol. 65, e22200792.
5. Singh J, Sharma S, Kaur A, Vikal Y, Cheema AK, Bains BK, Kaur N, Gill GK, Malhotra PK, Kumar A, Sharma P, Muthusamy V, Kaur A, Singh JC, Hossain F (2021) Marker-assisted pyramiding of lycopene-ε-cyclase, β-carotene hydroxylase1 and opaque2 genes for development of biofortified maize hybrids. Sci Rep 11, 12642. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92010-8 .

Awards/Honours/Distinctions: