About Me
I earned my Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Following my doctoral studies, I conducted postdoctoral research at the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) in Spain. After that, I joined the University of Arizona as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Currently, I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at Clemson University, where I continue to work in plant stress physiology and functional genomics.
Research Interests
My area of expertise is plant stress physiology, with a focus on understanding how plants perceive, respond, and adapt to environmental challenges at molecular, cellular, and physiological levels. My research integrates transcriptomics, gene regulation, and functional genomics approaches to investigate plant responses to abiotic stresses such as waterlogging, drought, and heat, as well as biotic stresses including pathogen attack.
I am particularly interested in regulatory networks involving transcription factors, signaling pathways, and metabolic reprogramming that shape plant growth, development, and resilience under stress conditions. Currently, in Prof. Shahid Mukhtar’s lab, I am applying high‑resolution technologies—including Single-Cell/Nucleus and Spatial/Stereo transcriptomics—to uncover how stress responses are coordinated across tissues and cell types.
Research Projects
Transcriptional regulation of soybean seed development under drought stress using single‑cell and spatial transcriptomics
This project aims to investigate how drought influences gene expression and regulatory networks during soybean embryo–endosperm development. Using high‑throughput Single‑Nucleus RNA sequencing and Stereo sequencing, I seek to map transcriptional changes at cellular and spatial resolution and identify key regulatory pathways involved in drought adaptation. The findings will provide insights into how environmental stress affects seed development and may contribute to developing strategies for improving drought resilience and productivity in soybean.
Transcriptional regulation of sorghum biomass production under drought stress at single‑cell and spatial resolution
In this project, I am studying how drought affects gene regulation and cellular processes that control biomass production in the biofuel crop sorghum. By integrating Single‑Nucleus RNA sequencing and Stereo sequencing, I aim to identify the molecular pathways that enable sorghum to maintain growth and productivity under drought conditions. This research will deepen our understanding of stress tolerance mechanisms in sorghum, an important crop for food, feed, and bioenergy production.
Understanding source–sink dynamics in Arabidopsis
This project focuses on how plants regulate the distribution of photosynthetically derived sugars between source tissues (such as leaves) and sink tissues (such as developing organs). Using Arabidopsis as a model system, I am investigating the transcriptional networks that govern resource allocation during stress responses such as senescence and pathogen attack. Insights from this work will enhance our understanding of fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying source–sink regulation in plants.
