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)

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 

• “Advanced Biological Imaging and Elemental Analysis” sponsored by DST-STUTI at Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Unversity of Delhi, South Campus, India (7th-13th Sept 2022).
• “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 

Scientometrics 

• Articles: 59
• Book Chapters: 7 
  
• Google Scholar Citations: 3988; H index: 30
• 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), Plant Biotechnology Journal (IF10.1), Environmental Pollution (IF 9.99), Plant Cell and Environment (IF 7.95), Critical Reviews in Biotechnology (IF 8.0), 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

Articles

• Kundu, P., Thorat, S. A., Kiran, A., Goel, K., & Zinta, G. (2025). Plant-derived triterpenoid saponins: multifaceted roles and bioengineering prospects. Plant Cell Reports. Accepted, DOI: 10.1080/07388551.2025.2490957.

• Vishal, Mali, S., Dutta, M., Chaudhary, A., & Zinta, G. (2025). Potato microtuberization: Its regulation and applications. Critical Reviews in Biotechnology. Accepted, DOI: 10.1007/s00299-025-03483-0.

• Wang, M., Zhong, Y., He, Y., Xie, J., Xie, H., Wang, Y., Xue, L., Wang, X., Zinta, G, Verma, V., Wang, H., Mao, Y., & Zhu, J.-K. (2024). Identifying resistant mutations in the herbicide target site of the plant 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase. Plant Biotechnology Journal, 22(9), 1–3.

• Renukdas, N. N., Kelly, A. M., Zinta, G, & Sinha, A. K. (2024). Hepatic transcriptome profiling of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacépède) injected with Flavobacterium covae or lipopolysaccharide. Journal of Fish Diseases, 47(7), e13948.

• Raturi, V., & Zinta, G. (2024). HSFA1 heat shock factors integrate warm temperature and heat signals in plants. Trends in Plant Science, 29(8), 885–887.

• Raturi, V., Mali, S., & Zinta, G. (2024). Himalayan moss Takakia: A tale of its evolution, adaptation, and climate crisis. Trends in Plant Science, 29(3), 272–274.

• Mali, S., & Zinta, G. (2024). Genome-wide identification and expression analysis reveal the role of histone methyltransferase and demethylase genes in heat stress response in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects, 1868(1), 130507.

• Kapoor, P., Mali, S., Verma, V., Katoch, M., Zinta, G, & Bhargava, B. (2024). Genome-wide characterization of melatonin biosynthetic pathway genes in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) and their expression analysis in response to exogenous melatonin. Scientia Horticulturae, 338, 113776.

• Dutta, M., Sharma, P., Raturi, V., Bhargava, B., & Zinta, G. (2024). SarCTAB: An efficient and cost-effective DNA isolation protocol from geophytes. 3 Biotech, 14(2), 36.

• Dutta, M., Mali, S., Raturi, V., & Zinta, G. (2024). Transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of tuberization in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, 43(1), 1–24.

• Chen, B., Wang, M., Guo, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhou, W., Cao, L., Zhang, T., Ali, S., Xie, L., Li, Y., Zinta, G, Sun, S., & Zhang, Q. (2024). Climate-related naturally occurring epimutation and their roles in plant adaptation in A. thaliana. Molecular Ecology, 33(14), e17356.

• Wang, J., Chen, B., Ali, S., Zhang, T., Wang, Y., Zhang, H., Wang, L., Zhang, Y., Xie, L., Jiang, T., Yin, J., Sederoff, H. W., Zinta, G, Sederoff, R. R., Li, Y., & Zhang, Q. (2023). Epigenetic modification associated with climate regulates betulin biosynthesis in birch. Journal of Forestry Research, 34(1), 21–35.

• Mali, S., Dutta, M., & Zinta, G. (2023). Genome editing advancements in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.): Operational challenges and solutions. Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 32(4), 730–742.

• Mali, S., Dutta, M., Goel, K., Raturi, V., Kundu, P., Kumar, R., Gahlaut, V., Acharya, V., Gupta, V. K., Sood, S. & Zinta, G. (2023). High temperature triggers differential expression of JUMONJI C (JmjC) domain-containing histone demethylase genes in leaf and stolon tissues of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) genotypes. Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, 42(10), 6417–6431.

• Goel, K., Kundu, P., Sharma, P., & Zinta, G. (2023). Thermosensitivity of pollen: A molecular perspective. Plant Cell Reports, 42(5), 843–857.

• Goel, K., Kundu, P., Gahlaut, V., Sharma, P., Kumar, A., Thakur, S., Verma, V., Bhargava, B., Chandora, R., & Zinta, G. (2023). Functional divergence of Heat Shock Factors (Hsfs) during heat stress and recovery at the tissue and developmental scales in C4 grain amaranth (Amaranthus hypochondriacus). Frontiers in Plant Science, 14, 1151057.

• Anuradha, Kumari, M., Zinta, G, Chauhan, R., Kumar, A., Singh, S., & Singh, S. (2023). Genetic resources and breeding approaches for improvement of amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) and quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa). Frontiers in Nutrition, 10, 1129723.

• AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, Hornbacher, J., Papenbrock, J., Markakis, M. N., Asard, H., & Beemster, G. T. (2023). Elevated CO2 mitigates the impact of drought stress by upregulating glucosinolate metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant, Cell & Environment, 46(3), 812–830.

• AbdElgawad, H., Negi, P., Zinta, G, Mohammed, A. E., Alotaibi, M. O., Beemster, G., Saleh, A. M., & Srivastava, A. K. (2023). Nocardiopsis lucentensis and thiourea co-application mitigates arsenic stress through enhanced antioxidant metabolism and lignin accumulation in rice. Science of the Total Environment, 873, 162295.

• Satyakam, Zinta, G, Singh, R. K., & Kumar, R. (2022). Cold adaptation strategies in plants—An emerging role of epigenetics and antifreeze proteins to engineer cold resilient plants. Frontiers in Genetics, 13, 909360.

• Jaiswal, V., Kakkar, M., Kumari, P., Zinta, G, Gahlaut, V., & Kumar, S. (2022). Multifaceted roles of GRAS transcription factors in growth and stress responses in plants. iScience, 25(10), 105026.

• Gautam, T., Dutta, M., Jaiswal, V., Zinta, G, Gahlaut, V., & Kumar, S. (2022). Emerging roles of SWEET sugar transporters in plant development and abiotic stress responses. Cells, 11(8), 1303.

• Dutta, M., Raturi, V., Gahlaut, V., Kumar, A., Sharma, P., Verma, V., Gupta, V., Sood, S., & Zinta, G. (2022). The interplay of DNA methyltransferases and demethylases with tuberization genes in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) genotypes under high temperature. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13, 933695.

• Chourasia, K. N., More, S. J., Kumar, A., Kumar, D., Singh, B., Bhardwaj, V., Kumar, A., Das, S. K., Singh, R. K., & Zinta, G. (2022). Salinity responses and tolerance mechanisms in underground vegetable crops: An integrative review. Planta, 255(3), 68.

• Verma, V., Zinta, G, & 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(1), 48–59.

• Tiwari, R. K., Lal, M. K., Kumar, R., Chourasia, K. N., Naga, K. C., Kumar, D., Das, S. K., & Zinta, G. (2021). Mechanistic insights on melatonin-mediated drought stress mitigation in plants. Physiologia Plantarum, 172(2), 1212–1226.

• Lal, M. K., Tiwari, R. K., Gahlaut, V., Mangal, V., Kumar, A., Singh, M. P., Paul, V., Kumar, S., Singh, B., & Zinta, G. (2021). Physiological and molecular insights on wheat responses to heat stress. Plant Cell Reports, 40(11), 1–18.

• Kiran, A., Sharma, P., Awasthi, R., Nayyar, H., Seth, R., Chandel, S. S., Siddique, K. H., Zinta, G, & Sharma, K. D. (2021). Disruption of carbohydrate and proline metabolism in anthers under low temperature causes pollen sterility in chickpea. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 188, 104500.

• He, L., Zhao, C., Zhang, Q., Zinta, G, Wang, D., Lozano-Durán, R., & Zhu, J.-K. (2021). Pathway conversion enables a double-lock mechanism to maintain DNA methylation and genome stability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(33), e2107320118.

• AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, Abuelsoud, W., Hassan, Y. M., Alkhalifah, D. H. M., Hozzein, W. N., Zrieq, R., Beemster, G. T., & Schoenaers, S. (2021). An actinomycete strain of Nocardiopsis lucentensis reduces arsenic toxicity in barley and maize. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 417, 126055.

• AbdElgawad, H., Schoenaers, S., Zinta, G, Hassan, Y. M., Abdel-Mawgoud, M., Alkhalifah, D. H. M., Hozzein, W. N., Asard, H., & 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.

• Yang, X., Liu, Y., Zhang, H., Wang, J., Zinta, G, Xie, S., Zhu, W., & Nie, W.-F. (2020). Genome-wide identification of circular RNAs in response to low-temperature stress in tomato leaves. Frontiers in Genetics, 11, 1336.

• Madany, M. M., Zinta, G, Abuelsoud, W., Hozzein, W. N., Selim, S., Asard, H., & AbdElgawad, H. (2020). Hormonal seed-priming improves tomato resistance against broomrape infection. Journal of Plant Physiology, 250, 153184.

• Gahlaut, V., Zinta, G, Jaiswal, V., & Kumar, S. (2020). Quantitative epigenetics: A new avenue for crop improvement. Epigenomes, 4(4), 25.

• Bhaskarla, V., Zinta, G, Ford, R., Jain, M., Varshney, R. K., & Mantri, N. (2020). Comparative root transcriptomics provide insights into drought adaptation strategies in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(5), 1781.

• AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, Hamed, B. A., Selim, S., Beemster, G., Hozzein, W. N., Wadaan, M. A., Asard, H., & Abuelsoud, W. (2020). Maize roots and shoots show distinct profiles of oxidative stress and antioxidant defense under heavy metal toxicity. Environmental Pollution, 258, 113705.

• AbdElgawad, H., Abuelsoud, W., Madany, M. M. Y., Selim, S., Zinta, G, Mousa, A. S. M., & Hozzein, W. N. (2020). Actinomycetes enrich soil rhizosphere and improve seed quality as well as productivity of legumes by boosting nitrogen availability and metabolism. Biomolecules, 10(1), 19.

• Zinta, G, AbdElgawad, H., Peshev, D., Weedon, J. T., Van den Ende, W., Nijs, I., Janssens, I. A., Beemster, G. T., & 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(8), 2159–2170.

• Srivastava, A. K., Lu, Y., Zinta, G, Lang, Z., & Zhu, J.-K. (2018). UTR-dependent control of gene expression in plants. Trends in Plant Science, 23(3), 248–259.

• He, L., Wu, W., Zinta, G, Yang, L., Wang, D., Liu, R., Zhang, H., Zheng, Z., Huang, H., & Zhang, Q. (2018). A naturally occurring epiallele associates with leaf senescence and local climate adaptation in Arabidopsis accessions. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1–11.

• Hamed, S. M., Zinta, G, Klöck, G., Asard, H., Selim, S., & AbdElgawad, H. (2017). Zinc-induced differential oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in Chlorella sorokiniana and Scenedesmus acuminatus. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 140, 256–263.

• Zinta, G, Khan, A., AbdElgawad, H., Verma, V., & Srivastava, A. K. (2016). Unveiling the redox control of plant reproductive development during abiotic stress. Frontiers in Plant Science, 7, 700.

• AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, Hegab, M. M., Pandey, R., Asard, H., & Abuelsoud, W. (2016). High salinity induces different oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in maize seedlings organs. Frontiers in Plant Science, 7, 276.

• AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, Beemster, G. T., Janssens, I. A., & Asard, H. (2016). Future climate CO2 levels mitigate stress impact on plants: Increased defense or decreased challenge? Frontiers in Plant Science, 7, 556.

• Sinha, A. K., Zinta, G, AbdElgawad, H., Asard, H., Blust, R., & 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, 174–175, 21–31.

• Sinha, A. K., AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, Dasan, A. F., Rasoloniriana, R., Asard, H., Blust, R., & 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(8), e0135091.

• Pandey, R., Zinta, G, AbdElgawad, H., Ahmad, A., Jain, V., & Janssens, I. A. (2015). Physiological and molecular alterations in plants exposed to high [CO2] under phosphorus stress. Biotechnology Advances, 33(3–4), 303–316.

• Pandey, R., Dubey, K. K., Ahmad, A., Nilofar, R., Verma, R., Jain, V., Zinta, G, & Kumar, V. (2015). Elevated CO2 improves growth and phosphorus utilization efficiency in cereal species under sub-optimal phosphorus supply. Journal of Plant Nutrition, 38(8), 1196–1217.

• Hamad, I., AbdElgawad, H., Al Jaouni, S., Zinta, G, Asard, H., Hassan, S., Hegab, M., Hagagy, N., & Selim, S. (2015). Metabolic analysis of various date palm fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Saudi Arabia to assess their nutritional quality. Molecules, 20(8), 13620–13641.

• AbdElgawad, H., De Vos, D., Zinta, G, Domagalska, M. A., Beemster, G. T., & Asard, H. (2015). Grassland species differentially regulate proline concentrations under future climate conditions: An integrated biochemical and modelling approach. New Phytologist, 208(2), 354–369.

• Zinta, G, AbdElgawad, H., Domagalska, M. A., Vergauwen, L., Knapen, D., Nijs, I., Janssens, I. A., Beemster, G. T., & Asard, H. (2014). Physiological, biochemical, and genome-wide transcriptional analysis reveals that elevated CO2 mitigates the impact of combined heat wave and drought stress in Arabidopsis thaliana at multiple organizational levels. Global Change Biology, 20(12), 3670–3685.

• Sinha, A. K., AbdElgawad, H., Giblen, T., Zinta, G, De Rop, M., Asard, H., Blust, R., & De Boeck, G. (2014). Anti-oxidative defences are modulated differentially in three freshwater teleosts in response to ammonia-induced oxidative stress. PLoS ONE, 9(4), e95319.

• AbdElgawad, H., Peshev, D., Zinta, G, Van den Ende, W., Janssens, I. A., & 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(3), e92044.

• Hegab, M., Abdelgawad, H., Abdelhamed, M., Hammouda, O., Pandey, R., Kumar, V., & 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(2), 345–356.

• El-Soud, W. A., Hegab, M. M., AbdElgawad, H., Zinta, G, & Asard, H. (2013). Ability of ellagic acid to alleviate osmotic stress on chickpea seedlings. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 71, 173–183.

• Suhasini, H., Bhardwaj, S., Rattan, R., Kanwar, K., & 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(7), 204–211.

• Sharma, A., Zinta, G, Rana, S., & Shirkot, P. (2010). Molecular identification of sex in Hippophae rhamnoides L. using isozyme and RAPD markers. Forestry Studies in China, 12(2), 62–66.

• Shirkot, P., Bhuria, M., & Zinta, G. (2009). Identification of gender in dioecious Hippophae salicifolis using isozyme as sex markers. Indian Journal of Forestry, 32(2), 231–237.

• Patial, H., Shirkot, P., Bhalla, R., & Zinta, G. (2007). Assessment of genetic variability in carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus Linn.) using isozymes as molecular markers. Journal of Ornamental Horticulture, 10(2), 78–84.

 Book Chapters/Protocols

• Raturi, V., and Zinta, G. (2025). Thermo-primed cellular networks for plant stress management. In Exogenous Priming and Engineering of Plant Metabolic and Regulatory Genes, (Academic Press), pp. 543-558.

• Vishal, Mali, S., Verma, V., and Zinta, G. (2024). Genome Editing in Ornamental Crops: Progress and Challenges. Ornamental Horticulture: Latest Cultivation Practices and Breeding Technologies, 193-209.

• Mali, S., and Zinta, G. (2024). Genome Editing for Trait Improvement in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). In Genetic Engineering of Crop Plants for Food and Health Security: Volume 2, (Springer Nature Singapore Singapore), pp. 405-423.

• Kundu, P., Goel, K., and Zinta, G. (2022). Nutritional imbalance in plants under rising atmospheric CO2. In Plant Nutrition and Food Security in the Era of Climate Change, (Academic Press), pp. 513-536.

• Dutta, M., Singh, R.K., and Zinta, G. (2022). Genomic approaches to improve abiotic stress tolerance in apple (Malus× domestica). In Genomic Designing for Abiotic Stress Resistant Fruit Crops, (Springer International Publishing Cham), pp. 1-17.

• Miki, D., Zinta, G., Zhang, W., Peng, F., Feng, Z., and Zhu, J.-K. (2021). CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing toolbox for Arabidopsis thaliana. Arabidopsis Protocols, 121-146.

• Khan, A., and Zinta, G. (2016). Drought stress and chromatin: an epigenetic perspective. Drought Stress Tolerance in Plants, Vol 2: Molecular and Genetic Perspectives, 571-586.

—

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, Surbhi Mali, Kirti Pandey, Dr. Asha Kiran, Dr. Anuj Choudhary, Vishal, Shubham, 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 qualified for CSIR-UGC-NET-JRF in 2019 with an All India Rank (AIR) of 94, and qualified for 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 for 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 educating 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 for 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 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 networks in Arabidopsis thaliana. Also, she will dissect the adaptive mechanisms underlying recurrent heat stress exposure (heat stress memory). 

In her spare time, she enjoys 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) 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 her 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 signaling & 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 traveling.

6) Kirti Pandey is a Ph.D. research scholar in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P. 

Kirti qualified GATE-2020 & 21, CSIR-NET-2022, and DBT-JRF 2022 in Life Sciences.

She did her schooling at APS Academy Lucknow. She did her B.Sc. in Biology and M.Sc. in Botany from the University of Lucknow, Lucknow. She did three months of training at CSIR-NBRI Lucknow, where she worked on “Molecular characterization of whitefly resistant transgenic cotton lines” in 2019. She worked as a Project Associate at CSIR-NBRI Lucknow from Dec-2020 to Sep-2021 on “Bioresource and sustainable likelihoods in NorthEast India”. She also worked as a project assistant at CSIR-NBRI Lucknow from Apr-2022 to Oct-2022 on “Elevated CO₂ induced small RNA directed DNA methylation regulation and miRNA expression in low and high altitude populations of Arabidopsis thaliana for adaptive advantages”.

The key areas of her research interest include secondary metabolites, bioinformatics, epigenetic regulation, and plant molecular biology.

During her spare time, she likes to dance, to get involved in extracurricular activities like anchoring, debates, etc.

7) Dr. Asha Kiran is a SERB-NPDF (PostDoc) in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P.

Asha has qualified GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test Engineering) examination 2013.

She did an M.Sc. in Biotechnology from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Panjab. Her M.Sc. dissertation work was on “Studies on Genetic diversity of Jatropha curcas L. genotypes by RAPD and ISSR molecular markers”. She did her Ph.D. in Agricultural Biotechnology from CSK Himachal  Pradesh  Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur, H.P. Her Ph.D. dissertation was entitled “Elucidation of molecular mechanisms governing cold tolerance during the reproductive stage in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)”.

Asha is a recipient of the University Rank Merit Scholarship in her Ph.D. program. She is also a recipient (2015-2019) of the UGC-Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship (RGNF) during her Ph. D.   

The key area of her research interest includes studying the impact of abiotic stresses on plant reproductive development biology and plant molecular biology.

In her post-doctoral program, she is dissecting the heat sensitivity of different species of C4 grain amaranths by using multi-omics approaches.

So far she has published papers in the Plant Cell & Environment, Environmental and Experimental Botany, Antioxidants, Journal of Genetics, etc.

8) Dr. Anuj Choudhary is a Senior project associate (SPA) in the lab of Dr. Gaurav Zinta at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, H.P.

He did his schooling from Govt. Sr. Sec. School, Paprola, Himachal Pradesh. He did his B.Sc. medical from Pandit Sant Ram Degree College, Baijnath, and his M.Sc. in Botany from Himachal Pradesh University Shimla with a specialization in plant physiology.

He qualified for CSIR-NET-JRF in June 2017 in the Life Sciences. He has also cleared ARS NET Exam twice. He joined the Ph.D. in Botany from Punjab Agricultural University with a fellowship from CSIR. His dissertation work was on “Mechanism of salinity tolerance in elite wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) germplasm”. During his Ph.D., he dissected the salinity tolerance potential in wheat germplasm. He screened salt-tolerant lines from the set of 278 wheat lines under lab conditions, naturally affected field conditions, and simulated conditions.

After completing his Ph.D. in March 2023, he joined as guest faculty in CSKHPKV, Palampur, and delivered lectures to B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D students. Later on, he joined CSIR-IHBT as SPA in January 2024 in the project “Integrating imaging, multi-omics, and machine learning to capture stress-resistant leaf traits”.    

During his spare time, he likes to travel and play badminton, table tennis, and cricket. 

9) Dr. Avriti Ranjan is a CSIR-Research Associate (CSIR-RA) in Dr. Gaurav Zinta’s lab at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur. She holds a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow, where she worked on functional characterization of AtGolS1 under arsenic stress. She earned her M.Sc. in Biochemistry from The Maharaja SayajiRao University of Baroda, focusing on ubiquitin mutations in yeast.

She qualified GATE in 2016 and was awarded the CSIR-SRF (2019–2023) and CSIR-RA fellowship in 2024. Her research interests lie in plant abiotic stress signaling and its crosstalk with light-regulated pathways. Currently, she is investigating the role of HSFA2 in modulating DNA methylation under heat stress in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Dr. Ranjan has authored papers in journals like Environmental and Experimental Botany, Plant Science, and Journal of Hazardous Materials. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, traveling, and practices naturopathy and Ayurveda for holistic well-being.

10) Sanjeet Kumar (Lab Technician)

11) Narender Kumar (Lab Assistant) 

                                           ALUMNI of Integrative Plant AdaptOmics Lab (iPAL)

Name: Aryaman Dewan

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 22^nd March 2021 to 26th March 2021 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Basic hands-on training in plant molecular biology

Current Position: Research Assistant

Current University, Country: Purdue University, United States

Current Area of Study/Work: Biology (major) and Bioinformatics (minor). Researching on the protein expression of interleukin 27

Name: Paras Sharma

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure:24^th August 2021 to 14^th June 2022 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Examine the physiological and molecular aspects of photosynthesis and tuberization processes in crops.

Current Position: Research Intern

Current University, Country: Plant Science Dual Master Program at the Université Grenoble Alpes, France and Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.

Current Area of Study/Work: Chloroplast Biology.

Name: Roshankumar Namdeo Jadhav

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 17^th Dec 2021 to 24^th Dec 2022 (Project Associate)

Research Topic Pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Transgenerational heat stress adaptation in Arabidopsis Current Position: PursuingPh.D.

Current University, Country: University of Tasmania, Australia

Current Area of Study/Work: Circadian clock influencing stomatal movement in non-flowering plants

Name: Ayush Kumar

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure:   7^th Feb 2022 to 31^st July 2022 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Molecular cloning of seed-shattering genes from pseudocereal of Amaranthaceae

Current Position: Pursuing M.Tech.

Current University, Country: National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Karnataka, India

Current Area of Study/Work: Industrial Biotechnology

Name: Dipanjali Kachhap

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 3^rd June 2022 to 3^rd August 2022 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Molecular cloning of HY5

Current Position: 5^th Year Integrated M.Sc., National Institute of Science Education and Research Bhubaneswar, Odisha

Current Area of Study/Work: Life Science

Name:  Aman Thakur

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure:   1^st Nov 2022 to 30^th May 2023 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Molecular cloning and characterization of squalene synthase from grain amaranth

Current Position: Research Intern

Current University, Country: Ariel University, Israel

Current Area of Study/Work: PursuingPh.D. on Grape Vine (Vitis vinifera)

Name: Anun Pandit

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 13^th July 2022 to 6^th September 2022 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Cloning of Heat Shock Factor (HSF) of Amaranth Grain

Current Position: Recently completed M.Sc. Biotechnology, Maharaja Agrasen University, Solan, H.P

Current Area of Study/Work: Preparing for JRF and other exams

Name: Anusha

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 6^th June 2023 to 17^th July 2023 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Heat Shock Factor A2 (HSFA2) from Potato: Expression analysis and molecular cloning

Current Position: B.Sc. 3rd year

Current University, Country: Panjab University, Chandigarh

Current Area of Study/Work: Biotechnology

Name: Shubham Sen

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 3^rd July 2023 to 13^th September 2023 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Investigating the allelopathic potential of peppermint oil on Arabidopsis, and molecular cloning of MYB transcription factor

Current Position: 3rd Semester M.Sc. St. Thomas College, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh

Current Area of Study/Work: Biotechnology

Name: Kartikeya Dubey

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure:   22^nd December 2022 to 22^nd March 2023 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Molecular cloning of cell death gene from Arabidopsis

Current Position: Completed M.Sc. Biotechnology from Shoolini Institute of Life Sciences & Business Management, Solan, HP

Current Area of Study/Work: Preparing for JRF and other exams

Name: Devashish Verma

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure:   3^rd July 2023 to 2^nd August 2023 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Grafting of heat contrasting potato genotypes

Current Position: Pursuing M.E. in Biotechnology

Current University, Country: BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, Rajasthan

Current Area of Study/Work: Applied Plant Biotechnology

Name: Rahul Sharma

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 16^th January 2023 to 12^th June 2023 (Trainee)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Dissecting redox regulation under high temperature in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Current Position: Completed M.Sc. Biotechnology

Current University, Country: Chandigarh University, Punjab

Current Area of Study/Work: Preparing for exams

Name: Shiwali Thakur

iPAL, CSIR-IHBT tenure: 12^th January 2022 to 12^th Jan 2024 (Project Associate-1)

Research Topic pursued at iPAL, CSIR-IHBT: Phosphate starvation stress responses in C4 pseudocereal grain amaranths (Amaranth spp.).

Current Position: Completed M.Sc. Biotechnology

Current University, Country: Will be joining as a Ph.D. scholar at Cambridge University, UK

Current Area of Study/Work: Will be working on hybrid potato.

Name: Vishal was a trainee in the lab and currently pursuing in MSc/PhD from USA

Name: Shubham Sen  was a trainee in the lab and M.Sc. Biotechnology at Saint Thomas College, Risali, Chhattisgarh