Himalayan Medicinal Plants: Advances in Botany, Production & Research

Dr. Nikhil Malhotra is an experienced molecular biologist having ~9 years of designing and performing experiments related to genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics of high-value plant species with proven medicinal and nutraceutical potential. Owing to profound interest in Agricultural sciences, he also has been working on OMICS-assisted promotion of pseudocereals to recuperate global food security. He has utilized comparative genomics, metabolic & nutritional profiling along with NGS analysis to provide first time insights into molecular aspects of secondary metabolites biosynthesis and nutritional assessment of plethora of NW Himalayan plant species. In short research tenure, he has published several research articles in reputed international journals viz. Phytochemistry, Planta, Scientific Reports, Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 3Biotech, PLoS ONE, Molecular Biology Reports, Applied Biochemistry & Biotechnology, Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, and Plant Breeding.

Dr Mohar Singh currently works as Principal Scientist (Plant Genetic Resources) at ICAR- National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources Regional Station, Shimla India. He received his PhD degree in Plant Breeding from Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University Palampur, India followed by DSc from Himachal Pradesh University Shimla India. He is working on genetic and genomic resources of pulses, pseudo cereals and cereals including their crop wild relatives and landraces foe diversity analysis using next generation technologies, which resulted into identification of useful traits against nutritional and major biotic and abiotic stresses including agronomic improvement related characters, some which have been introgressed into the cultivated backgrounds for diversification of cultivated gene pool. He has published more than 120 research papers in journals of national and international repute and also holds three textbooks and eight edited books to his credit published by Elsevier Insight, Academic Press and Springer, among others.