Harkamal Walia
Expertise
Plant Molecular Physiologist
Research Interests
Unfavorable environmental conditions such as drought, high and low temperature stress, salinity, and flooding result in heavy crop yield losses in the U.S. and worldwide. These stressful conditions are increasingly associated with a shift in agriculture to marginal lands and erratic climatic changes. My research interest is in understanding how plants adapt to these environmental stresses. I am particularly interested in the physiological and molecular characterization of crop responses to drought, heat and salt stress. Plant responses to stress depend on the developmental stage at which the stressful conditions arise. Research in the lab focuses on stress tolerance during developmental stages that are particularly sensitive to abiotic stresses resulting in yield and biomass losses. We are using genomics, biochemical, computational and physiological approaches to elucidate the mechanisms involved in abiotic stress tolerance in cereals such as wheat, maize, and rice among others. The overall research goal is to discover genes and genetic variants that can be used to improve crop performance in sub-optimal growing conditions.
Outreach Emphasis
n/a
Facilities
Standard molecular biology equipment, Photosynthesis Measurement Equipment, Computing abilities for next generation sequencing
US Collaborators
University of California, Riverside; University of California, Davis
International Interest Areas
Genetics, Functional Genomics, and Plant Physiology
International Gratuate Students
Dante Placido (Phillipines), Jing Jin (China)
International Experience
Bachelor's degree from Punjab Agriculture University, India; Research collaborations and contact with International Rice Research Insititute (IRRI, Philippines); Research collaborator at Plant Biotechnology Center, Rajasthan Agricultural University, INDIA (initiating work on drought and salinity stress in wheat); Past collaboration with Mark Tester at the Australian Center for Plant Functional Genomics, University of Adelaide on salinity stress in rice.
