Education: B.Sc (Medical): Maitreyi College, Delhi University, 2004; M.Sc. (Biochemistry): CSK HPKV, Palampur, 2006 ; Ph.D (Biochemistry):Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2010

Employment record

Field of Specialization: Plant Biochemistry

Research Interests: (Maximum upto three areas of interest)

1. Quality evaluation of breeding material of oilseed crops.
2. Association mapping of biochemical traits associated with various biotic and abiotic stress tolerance.
3. Genetic control of pod shattering in Brassica.

Research Projects (as PI/Co-PI): Six (funded by DBT, ICAR-NASF)

Research contributions

1. Brassica varieties/ hybrids: Associated with the release of ten varieties/hybrid viz. sesame variety Punjab Til no. 2, canola quality raya genotype RLC 3 (First Canola Raya in India), groundnut varieties: TG 37A and J 87, canola quality gobhi sarson hybrid GSH 1707, sunflower hybrid PSH 2080, mustard hybrid PHR 126, canola mustard hybrid RCH 1 for general cultivation at state level. Also associated with the release of canola quality gobhi sarson variety GSC 7 at national level.
2. Developed Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) based calibration model for a) estimation of nitrogen content in Brassica stem and roots b) rapid quantification of quality traits from seeds of B. juncea
3. Characterized floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in structuring the foraging decisions of honey bees in Brassica species
4. Identified genomic regions associated with the seed meal quality traits in B. napus germplasm
5. Molecular cloning of SHP-1 gene putatively associated with resistance to pod shattering in Brassica. Genetic stocks registered/genes designated/cloned/sequence submitted to Gene Bank [Banga SS, Sharma S, Kaur G, Sharma M (2016) Gene sequences of Shatter Proof gene of different species of Brassica submitted in NCBI database. Accesion number: KU535481-KU535485)].

Selected Research Publications (maximum upto 5):

1. Bala M, Sethi S, Sharma S, Mridula D and Kaur G (2022) Prediction of maize flour adulteration in chickpea flour (Besan) using near infrared spectroscopy. Journal of Food Science and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-022-05456-7
2. Bhinder G, Sharma S, Kaur H, Akhatar J, Mittal M and Sandhu S (2022) Genomic regions associated with seed meal quality traits in Brassica napus germplasm. Frontiers in Plant Science 13:882766. doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.882766
3. Sharma S, Kumar S, Kaur G and Banga S S (2022) Floral volatiles may influence honey bee visitations in oilseed Brassica species. Journal of Crop Improvement. DOI: 10.1080/15427528.2022.2059604
4. Sra SK, Sharma M, Kaur G, Sharma S, Akhatar J, Sharma A, Banga S S (2019) Evolutionary aspects of direct or indirect selection for seed size and seed metabolites in Brassica juncea and diploid progenitor species. Molecular Biology Reports. doi.org/10.1007/s11033-019-04591-3.
5. Sen R, Sharma S, Kaur G, Banga S S (2018) Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy calibrations for assessment of oil, phenols, glucosinolates and fatty acid content in the intact seeds of oilseed Brassica species. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. DOI 10.1002/jsfa.8919.

Awards/Honours/Distinctions:

• Poster /oral awards at National/International Conferences
• INSA-DFG fellowship 2017 (Competitive fellowship)