Dr. Sandhu is working as Principal Biotechnologist at School of Agricultural Biotechnology. His research interests are to enhance resistance in field and horticultural crops against fungal pathogens by expressing antifungal genes cloned from local Trichoderma strains along with quality improvement. The program uses transgenic and genome editing approaches that has led to development of rough lemon root stock displaying protection against foot rot, sugarcane possessing resistance against red rot, rice demonstrating tolerance to sheath blight, soybean with reduced seed lipoxygenase activity and rice with low silica accumulation in stems. He is actively involved in teaching and has offered 12 UG and 17 PG courses since 2001 with an average of four courses/semester; been class in-charge of three batches of B.Sc. biotechnology; guided 14 M.Sc., 5 Ph.D. students as major advisor and 168 students as advisory committee member for thesis research. In addition, he has imparted one month training on different aspects of plant biotechnology on 15 occasions to 764 B.Sc. and M.Sc. students from various colleges throughout north India. His four students won national level awards for thesis research and eighteen went overseas to pursue higher studies.

Professional Accomplishments

Education: B.Sc. Agriculture (Hons.) Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (1984-1990); M.Sc. Plant Breeding and Genetics, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (1990-1992); Ph.D. Plant Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (1993-1996); PDF Plant Molecular Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (1996-2000)

Positions Held: Assistant Biotechnologist, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (2001-2010); Biotechnologist, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (2010-2013); Senior Biotechnologist, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (2013-2016); Principal Biotechnologist, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (2016…)

Research Interests: 

1. Gene Cloning
2. Regulation of Gene Expression
3. Transgenesis
4. Genome Editing

Important Achievements:

1. US Patent Awarded-Enhancer Increased Gene Expression in Transgenic Plants. US6,323,393 B1 (2001).
2. US Patent Awarded-Plant Derived Vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial Virus. US8,591,915 B2 (2013).
3. Technical Expert Committee Member of Plant Biotechnology Program, DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, GOI (2022-2025).
4. Advisor to Edible Fruit Vaccine Company, USA (2021…).
5. Capacity Building in Emerging Areas of Plant Biotechnology at Hangzhou, China; Texas A&M, USA; Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Australia (1992…).
6. Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Government Laboratories by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2000-2001).
7. Cambridge Nehru Scholarship, Overseas Research Student Award, Downing Müller Scholarship, John Treherne Studentship for Pursuing Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge (1993-1996).
8. Fellow Cambridge Philosophical Society, Cambridge Commonwealth Society, Royal Society London (1993…).
9. University Merit Scholarship throughout B.Sc., M.Sc. and Gold Medal for Achievements in B.Sc. (1984-1992).

Research Project (Ongoing):

1. Development of Haploid Inducer Rice Lines using CRISPR Cas9 Gene Editing System for High Induction Frequency (DBT funded).
2. Unravelling the Diversity of R Genes against Yellow Mosaic Disease in Vigna (DBT funded).
3. Minimizing Post Harvest Sugar Losses and Enhancing Biofuel Efficiency from Bagasse in Sugarcane by Editing INV & COMT genes (DBT funded).
4. Enhancing Rice Bran Shelf Life to Maximize Oil Contents by Targeting Phospholipase (PLDα1) & Lipoxygenase (LOX3)  genes (DBT funded).

Research Publications :

1. E Patel, P Das, S Hazra, M Sharma, G Chhabra, BS Gill, S Sharma, A Kaur, D Singla, JS Sandhu† (2025) Mutation in soybean Lox 2 PLAT/LH2 domain through CRISPR/Cas9 reduces seed lipoxygenase activity: responsible for undesirable flavour. Transgenic Research 34: 10.1007/s11248-025-00447-8 (NAAS Score 8.70).
2. AS Sharma, A Kalia, A Sharma, MS Sidhu, GS Sanghera, G Chhabra, M Sharma, M Singh, E Patel, P Das, S Hazra, A Kaur, D Singla, JS Sandhu† (2024) Expression of Trichoderma spp. endochitinase gene improves red rot disease resistance in transgenic sugarcane. PLoS ONE 19(9): e0310306. https://doi.org/ 10.1371/journal.pone.0310306 (NAAS Score 9.80).
3. E Patel, P Kumar, P Priyadarshini, D Singla, JS Sandhu† (2023) Molecular docking and dynamic simulation studies of isoflavones inhibiting Lox-2 activity for reducing beany flavor in soybean seeds. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics https://doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2023. 2275179 (NAAS Score 11.24).
4. M Singh, A Kaur, GK Taggar, I Singh, S Singh, K Kaur, JS Sandhu† (2023) Inheritance and expression analysis of cry1Ab gene in transgenic pigeonpea tolerant to Maruca pod borer. Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology. 23(4): e458723412, 2023 (NAAS Score 7.48).
5. G Chhabra, M Sharma, A Kalia, A Kaur A, JS Sandhu† (2023) Monitoring dissociation of chimerism through real time-PCR and scanning electron microscopy following in planta transformation of rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri Lush.). Plant Biotechnology Reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-023-00877-y (NAAS Score 8.50)

Awards/Honours/Distinctions: 

1. US Patent Awarded-Enhancer Increased Gene Expression in Transgenic Plants. US6,323,393 B1 (2001) 
2. US Patent Awarded-Plant Derived Vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial Virus. US8,591,915 B2 (2013) 
3. Technical Expert Committee Member of Plant Biotechnology Program, DBT, Ministry of Science and Technology, GOI (2022-2025) 
4. Advisor to Edible FruitVaccine Company, USA (2021…) 
5. Capicity Building in Emerging Areas of Plant Biotechnology at Hangzhou, China; Texas A&M, USA; Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Australia (1992…) 
6. Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Government Laboratories by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2000-2001) 
7. Cambridge Nehru Scholarship, Overseas Research Student Award, Downing Müller Scholarship, John Treherne Studentship for Pursuing Ph.D. at University of Cambridge (1993-1996) 
8. Fellow Cambridge Philosophical Society, Cambridge Commonwealth Society, Royal Society London (1993…) 
9. University Merit Scholarship throughout B.Sc., M.Sc. and Gold Medal for Achievements in B.Sc. (1984-1992)