Dr. Kumar Shrestha

About

Kumar Shrestha is a motivated scientist with over 8 years of experience in bioinformatics and advanced molecular biology, specializing in crop protection (plant-pest interaction): discovering, evaluating, and screening host plant resistance. Expert in -OMICs approaches and statistical analysis to identify the genetic and molecular mechanism of resistance in plants and characterize its function through a lab, growth chamber and greenhouse bioassay.

His technical skills include:

• Molecular Biology: CRISPR/Cas9 vector construction, Overexpression gene construct, Bacterial and Plant transformations, RT-PCR, DNA sequence analysis,     and Plant tissue culture, Plant-pest Bioassay
• Bioinformatics: Phylogenetics, Protein models, Transcriptomics and metabolomics data pre-processing and analysis, SNPs analysis
• Computer skills: Statistical analysis (Rstudio, SAS), Programming language (R, Linux), High-performance computing, and Database (MySQL)

Education

• Ph.D. in Plant Science, Oklahoma State University - May 2023
• Bioinformatics Graduate Certificate, Oklahoma State University - December 2022
• Master of Science in Agriculture, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) - May 2018

Professional Responsibilities and Activities

• 1. Early career representative, American Society of Plant Biologist (ASPB) Midwest Committee (2024)
  2. Judge for poster/oral presentation, in more than 10 meetings/symposiums
  3. Participant of Nebraska Arthropod Research Initiative Research Jam event (Jan 9-10, 2024)
  4. Insect outreach activity, Lincoln, NE, participated in more than 5 outreach events
  5. Vice-President/Student Representative for faculty meetings/served on search committee for faculty, Botany Graduate Student Organization, PBEE, OSU (2020-2022)
  6. President and Co-Advisor, Nepalese Student Association, OSU (2019-2020, 2020-2021)
  7. Member, American Society of Plant Biologists (2021-present)
  8. Member, Entomology Society of America (2024-present)
  

Publications

• Grover, S., Mou, D., Shrestha, K., Puri, H., Pingault, L., Sattler. S, Louis, J (2024). Impaired Brown midrib12 function orchestrates sorghum resistance to aphids via an auxin conjugate indole-3-acetic acid–aspartic acid. New Phytologist
• Shrestha, K. *, Huang, J. *, Yan, L., Doust, A., and Huang, Y (2024). Integrated transcriptomic and pathway analyses of sorghum plants revealed the molecular mechanisms of host defense against aphids. Frontiers in Plant Science, DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1324085
• Shrestha, K.*, Zogli, P.*, Pingault, L., Grover, S., Cardona, J., Louis, J. (2024). Disruption of sorghum circadian clock impacts sorghum-sugarcane aphid interaction dynamics and aphid feeding behavior. Plant Stress, 100407. DOI: 10.1016/j.stress.2024.100407
• Shrestha, N., Hao, H., Shrestha, K. & Doust, A. (2023). Pearl millet response to drought: A review. Frontiers in Plant Science 14, 1059574. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1059574  
• Huang, J.*, Shrestha, K.*, & Huang, Y. (2022). Revealing differential expression of phytohormones in sorghum in response to aphid attack using the metabolomics approach. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(22), 13782. DOI: 10.3390/ijms232213782 
• Total publications (9) https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GkxwNhEAAAAJ&hl=en

Awards and Honors

• Graduate Research Excellence Award, OSU- 2024
• ASPB Midwest 2024 Conference travel award ($600), American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB)- 2024
• GPSGA Travel Award ($500), OSU- 2023
• Robberson Summer Dissertation Fellowship, OSU ($6000)- 2022
• McPherson Travel Award ($1000), Department of Plant Biology Ecology and Evolution (PBEE), OSU- 2021, 2022
• Mr. International Scholarship Pageant ($500), International Student Organization, OSU- 2018