Education: Ph.D. Genetics, PAU, Ludhiana (1992)

Positions held: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Plant Breeding/Biotechnology Centre, PAU, Ludhiana (May 1992-Sept. 1996); Assistant Scientist (Young Scientist award), Department of Soils, PAU, Ludhiana (Oct. 1996-April 1999); Assistant Cytogeneticist/Geneticist, Dept. of Genetics and Biotechnology, PAU, Ludhiana (May 1999-Sept. 2005); Geneticist/Molecular Geneticist, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, (Oct. 2005- Sept. 2011); Senior Molecular Geneticist, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, PAU, Ludhiana (Oct. 2011-till date); Director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, PAU, Ludhiana (September 19, 2016 – till date)

Field of Specialization : Wheat Germplasm enhancement through wide hybridization and molecular marker technology

Research Interests: Genomics, Molecular marker technology, Molecular Cytogenetics

Google Scholar:https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?hl=en&user=ecnEzB8AAAAJ

Research Projects:

International Projects:

1. Cambridge India Network for translational Research in Nitrogen-2 (CINTRIN) (BBSRC-DBT)

National Projects:

1. DBT Postgraduate Teaching Program: M.Sc. Biotechnology at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana”
2. High throughput Genotyping Services, RF-19
3. Strengthening of Post Graduate Teaching and Research facilities in the department.
4. Elucidating the Genetic Architecture of tillering in wheat through CRISPR/CAS based editing of Ideal Plant Architechture gene (IPA1) and Teosinte Branched 1 (TB1).
5. Genome-wide introgression of tetraploid non-progenitor Aegilops peregrine (UUSS) in hexaploid wheat background and mapping of multiple disease resistance.
6. Application of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in Agriculture - BIC at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana”
7. Characterization and evaluation of wheat germplasm for biotic stress resistance.

Selected Research Publications:

1. International Wheat Genome Consortium, (2018). Shifting the limits in wheat research and breeding using a fully annotated reference genome. Science, 361(6403), eaar7191 (NAAS Rating= 20)
2. Kumar Gaurav, Sanu Arora, Paula Silva, Javier Sánchez-Martín, Richard Horsnell, Liangliang Gao, Gurcharn S Brar, Victoria Widrig, W John Raupp, Narinder Singh, Shuangye Wu, Sandip M Kale, Catherine Chinoy, Paul Nicholson, Jesús Quiroz-Chávez, James Simmonds, Sadiye Hayta, Mark A Smedley, Wendy Harwood, Suzannah Pearce, David Gilbert, Ngonidzashe Kangara, Catherine Gardener, Macarena Forner-Martínez, Jiaqian Liu, Guotai Yu, Scott A Boden, Attilio Pascucci, Sreya Ghosh, Amber N Hafeez, Tom O’Hara, Joshua Waites, Jitender Cheema, Burkhard Steuernagel, Mehran Patpour, Annemarie Fejer Justesen, Shuyu Liu, Jackie C Rudd, Raz Avni, Amir Sharon, Barbara Steiner, Rizky Pasthika Kirana, Hermann Buerstmayr, Ali A Mehrabi, Firuza Y Nasyrova, Noam Chayut, Oadi Matny, Brian J Steffenson, Nitika Sandhu, Parveen Chhuneja, Evans Lagudah, Ahmed F Elkot, Simon Tyrrell, Xingdong Bian, Robert P Davey, Martin Simonsen, Leif Schauser, Vijay K Tiwari, H Randy Kutcher, Pierre Hucl, Aili Li, Deng-Cai Liu, Long Mao, Steven Xu, Gina Brown-Guedira, Justin Faris, Jan Dvorak, Ming-Cheng Luo, Ksenia Krasileva, Thomas Lux, Susanne Artmeier, Klaus FX Mayer, Cristobal Uauy, Martin Mascher, Alison R Bentley, Beat Keller, Jesse Poland, Brande BH Wulff (2021): Population genomic analysis of Aegilops tauschii identifies targets for bread wheat improvement. Nature Biotechnology 40, 422–431 (NAAS Rating:20.0)
3. Maria Itria Ibba & Jesse Poland Emily Delorean, Liangliang Gao, Jose Fausto Cervantes Lopez, Open Wild Wheat Consortium, Brande B. H. Wulff (2021):High molecular weight glutenin gene diversity in Aegilops tauschii demonstrates unique origin of superior wheat quality. Communications Biology 4, 1-9 (NAAS Rating:12.27)
4. Boden, SA., McIntosh, RA., Uauy, C., Krattinger, SG., Dubcovsky,J., Rogers,WJ., Xia,XC., Badaeva,ED., Bentley,AR., Brown-Guedira,G., Caccamo,M., Cattivelli,L., Chhuneja,P., Cockram,J., Contreras-Moreira,B., Dreisigacker,S., Edwards,D., González,FG., Guzmán,C., Ikeda,TM., Karsai,I., Nasuda,S., Pozniak,C., Prins,R., Sen,TZ., Silva,P., Simkova,H., Zhang Y & the Wheat Initiative (2023) Updated guidelines for gene nomenclature in wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics 136:72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-023-04253-w (NAAS Rating=11.57)
5. Jordan K.W. et al and IWGSC. 2014. A haplotype map of allohexaploid wheat reveals distinct patterns of selection on homoeologous genomes. Genome Biology. 16:48. (NAAS Rating: 17.31)
6. International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium et al. (2014) A chromosome-based draft sequence of the hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome. Science 345 (6194): 1251788-1-11 (NAAS Rating: 20.0)

Awards/Honours/Distinctions :

1. Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum (WIT) Mentor award by Borlaug Global Rust Initiative (BGRI) 2022
2. Dr. S. Rajaram Outstanding Woman Scientist Award by Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research (SAWBAR) 2021
3. Fellowship of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) 2022
4. Fellowship of National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) 2022
5. Fellowship of Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding 2020
6. Gene Stewardship team Award by The Borlaug Global Rust Initiative,2018
7. Dr Gurdev Singh Khush Distinguished Professor Award by Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana for 2016-2019
8. Award of Plaque and Citation for 2013-14, 2014, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
9. Young Scientist Research Scheme Award, 1999, Department of Science and Technology, (DST)
10. Young Scientist Research Scheme Award, 1996, Department of Science and Technology, (DST)