Education: B.Sc., Punjab University, Chandigarh (2007); M.Sc., PAU, Ludhiana (2009); Ph.D., PAU, Ludhiana (2014)

Positions held: Assistant Biochemist (Since November 2015)

Field of Specialization: Plant Biochemistry

Research Interests:

• Molecular-genetic and biochemical basis of abiotic stress tolerance in wild wheat relatives

• Improvement of nutritional quality of bread wheat using genome editing

Research Projects:

• Reducing acrylamide forming potential of wheat using natural and genome editing induced genetic variation at TaASN2 locus (as PI: Early Career Research Award, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), New Delhi (2017-2020)

Selected Research Publications:

1. Suneja Y, Gupta AK, Chhuneja P and Bains NS (2019) Molecular evolution and structural variations in nuclear encoded chloroplast localized heat shock protein 26 (sHSP26) from genetically diverse wheat species. Comput Biol Chem 83:107144 [JIF: 1.581]
2. Suneja Y, Gupta AK and Bains NS (2019) Stress adaptive plasticity: Aegilops tauschii and Triticum dicoccoides as a potential donor for drought associated morpho-physiological traits in wheat. Frontiers Plant Sci https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00211 [JIF 4.106]
3. Suneja Y, Gupta AK and Bains NS (2017) Bread wheat progenitors: Aegilops tauschii (DD genome) and Triticum dicoccoides (AABB genome) reveal differential antioxidative response under stress. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 23:99–114 [JIF 1.351]
4. Suneja Y, Sharma A, Gupta AK and Bains NS (2015) Differential response of wild and cultivated wheats to water deficits during grain development: changes in soluble carbohydrates and invertases. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 21:169-177 [JIF 1.351]
5. Suneja Y, Kaur S, Gupta AK and Kaur N (2011) Levels of nutritional constituents and antinutritional factors in black gram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper). Food Res Intl 44: 621-28 [JIF 4.972]

Awards/Honours/Distinctions:

1. Awarded Early Career Research Award (2016-17) by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), DST, GOI for a period of three years for the project entitled “Reducing acrylamide forming potential of wheat using natural genetic and genome editing induced genetic variations at TaASN2 locus”
2. Awarded Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral and Professional Research Fellowship (August 2012- May 2013) for carrying out a part of PhD research work at Washington State University, USA for a period of nine months.
3. Certificate of achievement for participating in Global Food Security Workshop organized by U.S. Department of State and North Carolina State University from October 17^th to October 21^st 2012 at North Carolina State University, U.S.A.
4. Best Student Award Gold Medal for Master’s programme by SAASCA, COBS&H, PAU Ludhiana (2013)
5. Awarded G.S. Sidhu Gold Medal for scoring highest OCPA (8.79 on a 10 point scale) in Master programme in Biochemistry (2011)
6. Awarded JRF-INSPIRE (Innovation in Scientific Pursuit for Inspired Research) by Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India in April 2010, later upgraded to SRF in 2012.
7. Qualified Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board (ICAR) National Eligibility Test (NET) in Basic Plant Sciences (2010).
8. Qualified Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE 2010)
9. Qualified Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - National Eligibility Test (NET) in Life Sciences (2008).
10. University Merit Certificate (2010) and University Merit Scholarship during MSc. (2007-2009).
11. Award-of-Honour for qualifying CSIR-NET, highest OCPA in MSc (8.79/10), PhD (8.90/10) and Fulbright Fellowship during PhD programme by SAASCA, COBS&H, PAU Ludhiana.
12. II^nd in Punjab University, Chandigarh in BSc. Medical securing 86.3% (2007).
13. Certificate of Merit by CBSE for reasons of outstanding academic performance (94.40%) and for being among top 0.1% of successful candidates in All India Secondary School Examination (2002).