Department of Botany

Dr. Janaki Subramanyan graduated from Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi, in 1978. She did her M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi. Subsequently, she moved on to the Publications and Information Division of the ICAR, New Delhi, as a Subeditor (English). Dr. Subramanyan joined Miranda House in 1991 and has been teaching courses on biology, cell biology, cell and molecular biology, genetics and biotechnology, analytical techniques in plant sciences, plant physiology, and plant metabolism; and has been on many outstation as well as local educational visits. From 2008 she has been with the D.S. Kothari Centre for Research and Innovation in Science Education, Miranda House, as a mentor for summer interns. Dr. Subramanyan has been a project investigator in four multidisciplinary DU Innovation Projects, and a department coordinator for the DBT Star College Scheme. As a recipient of the Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship (ALAF) she participated in Advancing Science by Enhancing Learning in the Laboratory (ASELL) National Science Workshops at the University of Sydney, Australia, in April 2013. She has been associated with INSPIRE internship programmes, and several other workshops as a resource person. She has served as the Bursar of the college from 29 November 2017 to 01 August 2021, and as the In-charge of the college NSS unit during 1996-99. Dr. Subramanyan has been a Member, Delhi University Flower Show Committee, during 2008-2015 and 2018-2021. She has 16 publications in research journals; three chapters in books, four papers in conference proceedings, seven semi-technical/ popular articles, several poster and oral presentations, and two book reviews to her credit.

Dr. Madhu Bajaj received her education from University of Delhi with B.Sc. from S.G.T.B. Khalsa College in 1980 followed by B.Ed from Department of Education (C.I.E.) in 1981. She completed her post-graduation in 1983 and subsequently Ph.D. with specialization in reproductive biology of higher plants in 1989 from Department of Botany, University of Delhi. She was a CSIR Research Associate at the Department of Botany for one year and was appointed as ad-hoc Lecturer in the Department of Botany, during the academic session 1990-91. Since 1991, she has been teaching courses on plant physiology, plant metabolism, cell biology, cell and molecular biology, genetics, plant anatomy, and plant biotechnology at Miranda House. She has five research publications in journals of repute.

Dr. Saloni Bahri completed her  Ph.D. in 2000 with specialization in Plant Tissue Culture from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi. She joined Miranda House in 2006 and has been teaching courses on reproductive biology of angiosperms, microbiology, cell biology, plant metabolism, economic botany, plant biodiversity, and biology. She has been a PI/Co-PI for three DU Innovation Projects and one DU Star Innovation Project. She is a recipient of Australian Leadership Award Fellow(ALAF) in 2013. She has been a facilitator and mentor for a variety of summer internship research projects carried out under the aegis of the D.S. Kothari Centre, Miranda House. She was a department coordinator for DBT Star College Scheme. She has been a resource person for several workshops including those organized for INSPIRE, DU Innovation Projects and others. She has also been the convener/coordinator for many capacity building workshops organized for faculty and undergraduate students. She was also the convener for an online short-term course on “Understanding Our Environment” in 2020. She has presented papers and posters in several National and International conferences, workshops, and symposia. She has authored and co-authored many chapters in books and research papers in journals of repute. She has also contributed to the development of e-content for NCERT text books on Biology.

Dr. Rashmi Shakya joined Miranda House in September 2006 as permanent faculty in the Department of Botany. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi in 2009. She was awarded a fellowship under the prestigious Faculty Development Program sponsored by the University of Delhi in 2012 to do a Master in Systems and Synthetic Biology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. She received international travel grants from UGC and INSA to present her research work in international conferences held abroad.  Recently, she was awarded SERB International Research Experience Award 2022 from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India for a Research Project in Valencia, Spain. She has published Fourteen research articles in journals of international repute. She has eight book chapters and four e-lessons to her credit. She teaches Biodiversity, Reproductive Biology of Angiosperms, Plant Physiology, and Bioinformatics. She has coordinated one add-on certificate course and one short-term online course on Bioinformatics for undergraduate students. She has mentored several undergraduate students in the summer internship program under the aegis of DSKC. She has actively organized various workshops, seminars, webinars, and training programs for students and teachers in various capacities. She is also associated with reviewing the e-content for undergraduate level in microbiology and Bioinformatics at Consortium for Educational Consortium (CEC), IUAC, New Delhi.   

Dr. Elangbam Geetanjali has been a student of Miranda House during B.Sc. (2004) and M.Sc. (2006). She was awarded ‘Science Meritorious Award’ in B.Sc. She obtained her Ph.D. (Botany) in 2013 from University of Delhi with specialization on ‘Carbon Sequestration by Algae’. During her Ph.D., she was a fellow of DST-funded JRF, later promoted to SRF. She then worked as an Assistant Professor (Ad-hoc) in Acharya Narendra Dev College, University of Delhi from 2012-13. Before joining the Department in 2015 as a permanent faculty, she was working as a Scientist-B at Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, an Autonomous Institute under Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, Takyelpat, Imphal, Manipur. She is the Co-Project Director in the project “Ecological, Agricultural and Livelihood Sustainability: An Integrated Rural Development Study of Loktak Lake Manipur” funded by Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education (MGNCRE) Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. She has mentored undergraduate students during summer internship program offered by DSKC. Dr. Geetanjali has been teaching courses on Microbiology and Phycology, Mycology and Phytopathology, Biodiversity, Intellectual Property Rights and Biofertilizers. She had participated in several workshops, training programs and conferences. She was also the resource person for several workshops and associated with North-East Society of the college. She is a lifetime member of Indian Phycological Society. She has seven publications, nine poster presentations to her credit. 

Dr. Deepali received her Ph.D. in Botany from Centre for Advance Study in Botany, Banaras Hindu University. Varanasi, in 2009 with specialization on ‘Isolation and Structural Elucidation of Biomolecules’. She is recipient of CSIR Junior Research Fellowship (2002) and Senior Research Fellowship (2005). She worked as a post-doctoral scholar from 2009-2010, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.  From 2010-2015 she worked as an assistant professor (Ad- hoc) in Department of Botany, Srivenkateswara college, University of Delhi. She has been associated with Miranda House since 2015 as a permanent faculty in Department of Botany. Along with teaching she is also involved in research projects, summer internship program offered by DSKC. She has supervised one Ph.D. student as a co-guide in the area of bioremediation. She has been PI/Co-PI for two DU Innovation Projects and Co-Project Director in the project “Ecological, Agricultural and Livelihood Sustainability: An Integrated Rural Development Study of Loktak Lake Manipur” funded by Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education (MGNCRE) Department of Higher Education, MHRD,Government of India. She is credited with ten research articles in International Journals of repute and three chapters in book. She has been involved in organization of various workshops, seminars, webinars, training programs for students and teachers in various capacities and also the resource person for several workshops. She is teaching courses on Biomolecules, Cell biology, Molecular Biology, Biofertilizer for undergraduate students and working with various societies of the college.

M.Sc., B.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D. (University of Delhi)

Dr. Renuka Agrawal graduated from Miranda House with B.Sc. (Hons.) in Botany (2000). She received her M.Sc. in Botany from University of Delhi in 2002 and B.Ed. in 2004 from Department of Education (C.I.E.). Subsequently she completed her M.Phil. (2005), and Ph.D. (2011) in Botany with specialization in Molecular Biology and Molecular Cytogenetics from University of Delhi. She has received CSIR Junior and Senior Research Fellowships during her Ph.D. She was invited by Tottori University, Japan as a Visiting Researcher (2008-2009). She has published four research articles, one review article in peer reviewed indexed international journals of repute and two book chapters. She joined the Department of Botany, Miranda House in July 2010. She has been teaching papers on cell and molecular biology, genetics, plant biotechnology, analytical techniques in plant sciences, bioinformatics and economic botany.

Dr. Somdutta Sinha Roy   M.Sc., Ph.D. (Delhi)

Dr. Sinha Roy graduated from Gargi College in 1992 with B.Sc. (Hons.) in Botany and subsequently did her M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi. Towards her Ph.D. dissertation, Dr. Sinha Roy investigated the root biology of grasses and worked extensively on the biochemical properties of root mucilages, particularly of species in the arid region. In 2002, Dr. Sinha Roy joined the Department of Biochemistry at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN, USA for her postdoctoral work. She has worked extensively on the effect of pollutants on lung and breast cancer development with a focus on membrane phospholipid biosynthesis and vitamin A metabolism. Before coming back to India, Dr. Sinha Roy worked as a senior postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. She has twelve peer-reviewed research publications and three book chapters. She joined Miranda House in January 2014.

Dr. Laishram Sundari Devi graduated from Miranda House (2011). She pursued her M.Sc. (2013) and Ph.D. (2021) degrees from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi. During her Ph.D., she was a fellow of UGC-funded JRF, later promoted to SRF. She was also selected as Indo-U.S. GETin Intern (2017) under Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, funded by DBT, Govt. of India and worked on the “Development of CRISPR interference vector for a Polycomb gene CcEZ1 isolated from apomictic Cenchrus ciliaris L.” under the supervision of Prof. Jian-Kang Zhu at Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University, USA. She has one research article to her credit. She is a lifetime member of the Delhi University Botanical Society.

Dr. Veena Beri graduated from S.G.T.B Khalsa College, University of Delhi, in 1999. She secured first position in the college. She did her M.Sc. Botany (2001) and Ph.D (2008) with specialization in “Inhibitors and Activators of Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and Trypsin in Plant Extracts” from Department of Botany, University of Delhi. She did her MCA in 2004. She is recipient of CSIR Junior Research Fellowship (2001-03) and Senior Research Fellowship (2003-06). She did her Post Doctorate (Enzyme Kinetics) from Department of Neurosciences, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, USA (2010-12) where she worked on “New Inhibitors of AChE that Block Organophosphate Poisoning” and “Mechanistic Approach of AChE”. She has been working as adhoc lecturer since 2007 and has worked at St. Stephen’s College, SACE, Maitreyi College, Gargi College and Dyal Singh College. She joined Miranda House in 2016 and has been teaching course of Anatomy of Angiosperms, Biodiversity, Ecology, Mycology and Phytopathology and Plant Ecology and Taxonomy. She has four research publications in peer reviewed International journals of repute. She has participated in several International conferences (9) for oral (5) and poster presentations (3). She has also attended several workshops and has been resource person for workshops including  INSPIRE organized at the Miranda House (2017-19, 21).

Dr. Neha Mann graduated from Ramjas college in 2009, University of Delhi. She did her Msc. Botany (2011) and Ph.D (2019) from Department of Botany, University of Delhi with specialization in reproductive biology of higher plants and plant molecular biology. She worked as research fellow in UGC funded project entitled “Some aspects of reproductive biology of podostemaceae” (2012),University of Delhi. She had participated in several workshops and conferences. She has three research publications in international peer reviewed journals, three poster presentations to her credit. She has been teaching courses of Biodiversity, Mycology and phytopathology, Ecology, Plant Ecology and taxonomy and Biofertilizers.