Isha Goyal: Plant Physiology First Author

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Isha Goyal, co-first author of “N-hydroxypipecolic acid-induced transcription requires the salicylic acid (SA) signalling pathway at basal SA levels”

Current Position: PhD student, Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Physiology, Albrecht-von-Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany

Education: M.Sc. Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi, India; B.Sc. Botany Honors, University of Delhi, India.

Non-scientific Interests: Sketching, doodling, calligraphy, quilling, photography, and reading

Brief bio:

My fascination towards plants inspired me to undertake Botany as my Bachelor’s major. During this time, I carried out projects to study stomatal conductance and transmission genetics. This experience awoke my interest in molecular biology and genetics and I decided to pursue my Masters in the field of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. For my Master’s thesis, I worked in the lab of Prof. Anil Grover at the University of Delhi. We analyzed the differential response of diverse rice cultivars to high temperature stress. Having an inherent drive to solve problems, I was intrigued by the questions posed in the lab and finding ways to answer them. This is when I decided to pursue a research career. I continued working with Prof. Anil Grover as a research fellow. This experience allowed me to broaden my knowledge in various molecular biology techniques. In 2019, I started my PhD in the lab of Prof. Christiane Gatz as part of the International Research Training Group (IRTG 2172) PRoTECT at the Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Physiology in Göttingen, Germany. My PhD project focuses on deciphering components of the N-hydroxy-pipecolic acid (NHP)-induced gene regulatory network functioning in the establishment of systemic acquired resistance. In this manuscript, we addressed the importance of NPR1, a transcriptional co-activator known to play a critical role in salicylic acid-mediated immune response, in NHP-induced signaling.