The Department of Plant Molecular Biology was established in 1988 under the Faculty of Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences to cater to the needs of students in frontier areas of plant biology and to carry out research on Molecular Aspects of Plant Biology and Biotechnology. The Department was enriched by merger of the Unit for Plant Cell and Molecular Biology in 1988 (originally established by the DST), and award of COSIST grant by the UGC (1990-1995). The Department has been recognized for Special Assistance (DRS Phase I & Phase II) by the UGC (2002-2012) to strengthen research/teaching in the area of Functional Genomics. Since its establishment in 1988, Prof. S.C. Maheshwari (1988-1992), Prof. Akhilesh K. Tyagi (1988, 1992-1995, 1998-2001), Prof. Jitendra P. Khurana (1995-1998, 2001-2004, 2014-2017), Prof. Paramjit Khurana (2004-2007, 2016-2019), Prof. Anil Grover (2007-2010, 2019-2022), Prof. Indranil Dasgupta (2010-2013), Prof. Madan Mohan (2013-2014), Prof. Sanjay Kapoor (2022-2025), and Prof. Girdhar K. Pandey (2025-till date) have served as Heads of the Department.
The department research has been supported by major grants in the form of “Centre for Plant Molecular Biology” and “Genome Initiatives on Sequencing, Gene Discovery and Function” by DBT, in addition to other competitive grants from BRNS, SERB/ANRF, CSIR, DST, UGC, European Commission and the Rockefeller Foundation. The faculty is involved in multi–institutional as well as international projects. The research has yielded about 1000 publications, and a few patents have been filed. Efforts of the faculty have been recognized in the form of fellowships to national/international scientific academies and national/international awards. While providing due emphasis for basic research and training, the Department endeavors to convert knowledge into application for human welfare.
Major Areas of Research
· Calcium-mediated signaling, functional genomics of stress signaling, and stress adaptation in plants
· Understanding molecular basis of plant reproduction and its genetic manipulation to develop alternative sources of human nutrition
· To understand the complicated regulatory networks composed of various genomic elements (proteins, regulatory RNAs, cis-acting elements, etc.) that interact with each other in response to various developmental and environmental cues
· Understanding the molecular basis of stress responses and senescence to develop crops with climate change-resilience and higher productivity
· Exploring the allelic variations for the development of climate-resilient and pathogen-tolerant high-yielding crop varieties
· Understand the role of epigenetics and COP9 Signalosome in plant reproduction and adaptation during abiotic stress
Department Information and other useful Links
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Head
Prof. Girdhar K. Pandey -
Address
Department of Plant Molecular Biology University of Delhi South Campus New Delhi 110021 -
Phone
011 91 24115096 -
Email
head@pmb.du.ac.in -
Website
https://www.dpmb.ac.in/
Faculty Members
Please Visit DU ERP Samarth Portal
Prof. Jitendra Paul Khurana(Rtd.);J.C.Bose National Fellow(SERB)
Note : This list is not in any particular order
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