Megha Sharma

• Scientist with extensive experience in research and analysis
• Specialized in bioinformatics and molecular biology.
• Demonstrated expertise in genomics, transcriptomics, and pangenomics, with a strong background in experimental design and data interpretation.
• Skilled in crop and soil modeling, with proficiency in supervised and unsupervised machine learning,
• Have experience in field data collection and large data management.
• Proficient in experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation across various scientific disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to impactful research projects and collaborate effectively with interdisciplinary teams.

• Intellectual properties, National law university, Delhi, 2024
• Advanced art of prompt engineering, 2024
• Machine learning and Deep learning in Python and R, 2023
• Biostatistics: The Bare Essentials, University of Delhi, India, 2022
• Genomic Data Science Specialization, John's Hopkin university, Australia, 2021-22, Introduction to Genomic Technologies, Python for Genomic Data Science, Command Line Tools for Genomic Data Science, Bioconductor for Genomic Data Science, Algorithms for DNA Sequencing
• COP+24 International climate change short course, 2018-2019

PhD Thesis

Development of genomic resources and strategies for predictive breeding through global germplasm evaluation, pangenome assembly, genomic prediction and multi-environment assesment in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

Msc Dissertation

A minor project on microbial communities in sewage drains of Delhi - NCR, 2018-2019, Data analysis and literature review with special focus on Alpha Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes (M.Sc. Dissertation)

Research Article

• Predictive modeling of soil profiles for precision agriculture: a case study in safflower cultivation environments, Sharma, M., Goel, S., and Elias, A. A., Scientific Reports, 15, 1, 44, 20254.
• Exploring natural variation in seed oil traits across the global germplasm of the oilseed crop, Carthamus tinctorius L. Safflower using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy and gas chromatography,Sharma, M., Variath, M. T., Kaushik, P., Ambreen, H., Kumar, S., Patial, V., ... & Goel, S. (2025). Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 107700

Research article (in communication)

Improved assembly and core collection re-sequencing facilitates the exploration of important agronomical traits for the improvement of the oilseed crop, Carthamus tinctorius L, M Sharma et al. (Gigascience, accepted with minor revision)

Review article

• Srivastava, R., and Dubey, N. K., Sharma, M., Kharkwal, H., Bajpai, R., & Srivastava, R. (2025). Boosting the human antiviral response in conjunction with natural plant products Frontiers in Natural Products, 3, 1470639.

Chapters

• Current Status of Genomic Selection in Oilseed Crops, Sharma M, Kaushik P, Elias AA, Goelh S., Genomic Selection in Plants A Guide for Breeders, CRC Press, 2022, 153-173

Increasing Nutraceutical and Pharmaceutical Applications of Safflower: Genetic and Genomic Approaches, Sharma M, Bhardwaj V, Goswami P, Kalra A, Palchamy K, Jagannath A, et al., Compendium of Crop Genome Designing for Nutraceuticals, Kole C, Springer Nature Singapore, 2023, 545-567, https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-981-19-4169-6_20

Oral Presentations

• Genomic prediction of the yield-related traits in the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), 45th Annual Meeting of the Plant Tissue Culture Association (India) and National Symposium on Recent Advances in Plant Biotechnology, 01/22/24 - 01/25/24
• Evaluation of the role of micro and macro environmental features on the adaptability of safflower in a genomic crop improvement program, Fourth International Conference on Global Efforts on Agriculture, Forestry, Environment, and Food Security, 09/17/22 - 09/18/22

Poster Presentations

• Selection of Stable High-Yielding Multipurpose Lines of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius) through Genomic Selection, International Plant and Animal Genomics (PAG) Asia Conference, New Delhi, 03/18/25 - 03/20/25
• Generation of SNP markers from resequencing of 123 accessions of a core collection and genome-wide association study of eight traits of agronomic value, including oil content and oil quality in the oilseed crop, Carthamus tinctorius L, (safflower), International Plant and Animal Genomics (PAG) Conference, Perth, Australia, 09/18/24 - 09/20/24
• Construction of a high-density linkage map using SNP markers and QTL mapping of oil content and head diameter in the oilseed crop, Carthamus tinctorius L., 45th Annual Meeting of the Plant Tissue Culture Association (India) and National Symposium on Recent Advances in Plant Biotechnology, 01/22/24 - 01/25/24,
• Effect of temporal variability of rainfall patterns on vector-borne diseases, DST SERB supported National Conference on Climate Change - Impact, Adaptation, Mitigation Scenario and Future Challenges in the Indian Perspective, New Delhi, India, 03/02/15 - 03/03/15
• National Conference on Big Data Analysis, 08/03/24, Ahmedabad, India,
• PowerPoint using AI and ChatGPT, Live Workshop, 02/17/24, Skill Nation, India

• Resource speaker, third generation sequencing, HelixOmics Analytics LLP., 06/22/24
• Resource speaker, Bioinformatics and computational biology workshop, Institute of Forest Research and Education, Ministry of Environmental and forest, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, 03/01/22 - 03/05/22

Visiting researcher, Unravelling of the wild ancestry through Haplotype analysis, University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitet), Denmark, 11/01/23, 12/31/23, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India

• CSIR-UGC Junior research fellowship, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, 11/01/19, Current
• GATE Life Sciences, IIT Madras, 2019
• 2nd position in Poster presentation competition Kalpvriksha, Botanical society of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, 2015
• Position 1 in the university exam, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi, 2016, 2017
• Position 2 in the university exam, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, University of Delhi, 2015

• Treasurer, Kalpvriksha, Botanical society of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, 2015-2016
• Class representative, Kalpvriksha, Botanical Society of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, 2016-2017
• Volunteer, Flower show, University of Delhi, North Campus, 2018-2019

Debates and Quizzes (Participated in inter-college and intra-college quiz competitions)